This gives an added emphasis on the need to come together as a species. Not just because we need to be nice to each other, but that there is a deeper reason. There is a divine purpose. It is a divine fact of life that we are connected. Now, I always say that we are not here to prove if we are related. We are related. What we're here to do is to find ways of honoring that relationship. These relationships are there to bring through something greater than the sum of their parts. So it isn't just a self-serving relationship because when we come together as human family, we give birth to something that is of value to the larger planet, to the larger life.

I believe it's that sense of wonder - the joy, beauty and truth which lives inside each of us - that is seeking to be born. Hopefully, the realization of this can rekindle the fire of meaning and passion in our lives instead of the burdensome feeling that life is just a struggle and a passageway ending in emptiness. It really is an invitation to be part of something so grand that we are absolutely overawed and overjoyed to be part of the opportunity. Something that is more uplifting. To be told that I'm born a sinner is not uplifting. Yes, I do have shadow aspects of myself to work through, but I don't believe we were born with the stamp of sinner seared into our souls. I don't buy that one.

Tammie: Part of what you're talking about makes me think of Matthew Fox and some of his work, where he talks about original blessings rather than original sins. That really resonates with me.

Michael Lindfield: I haven't met Matthew Fox but I know that he and I resonate. Someone who studied with him mentioned that he had included my book in the bibliography for his course. I am very flattered that he would do that and all this says, is that we're probably picking up on a similar outpouring. We are attempting to articulate and give shape to a common inner truth and this is how it's showing up in our writing and speaking.

Tammie: There certainly seems to be some significant common ground between the two of you.

Michael Lindfield: I've been told that and I look forward to meeting him.

Tammie: You indicated that your relationship with the late Roberto Assagioli, the father of psychosynthesis, had significantly influenced your thinking. Would you share a little bit about your contact with him?

Michael Lindfield: Yes, I first met Roberto in 1968, in the south of England and I didn't know at that time of his pioneering work in the field of psychology. I was introduced to him as the nominal head of a meditation group I had recently joined. The group was holding its annual convention in the south of England.

I arrived and I spoke with the person who was organizing the event. We had talked previously and she knew that I was going through some pretty dark times. I was meeting my shadow, as its called, in a variety of unsettling ways. Yes, they were pretty dark inner times. If I were to have told my story to a conventionally trained psychiatrist or doctor, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be allowed to leave their office. Men in white coats might have taken me away because my ramblings would not have made sense to the accepted medical version of life. That scenario seems to lack a vision of who we are on an "essential level" and what happens to us in that magical process we call the "spiritual search".

The conference organizer said, "look, you need to have a session with Roberto, I'll arrange it for you. Just write out your story." And so I wrote out the story of my journey and all the things that were happening to me. I went to see him and all I could feel when I entered the room and shook hands was this wave of love, this wave of wisdom. He had written a study paper called, "Smiling Wisdom" and that title really sums him up for me.

This was a very important session for me and my mind had played out various scenarios. I had indulged in some fantasies of what might take place. I fully expected to be given the esoteric guidelines for aspiring souls – full of hidden hints and words of power. Instead, he just looked at me and said, "you need to be kind to yourself at this time in your life. You need to treat yourself. If you feel like having an ice cream, go and have one. Take yourself for long walks and don't read your Alice Bailey books at night. Read them in the light of day."

He was doing everything he could to help heal me in a way that still affirmed the path that I was on. As I later discovered, he was very lovingly nudging me and telling not to take myself too seriously because the spiritual path is serious stuff. It came across as serious fun when Roberto spoke. So, even though I was having some very heavy experiences, he helped bring out and reveal the light that lived within my shadow. By his words and compassionate listening, I could tell that he was very, very generous in sharing himself.

At the end of the session, he said, "look, this might be useful to you." He handed me his book, "Psychosynthesis: A Manual of Principles and Techniques". I said, "oh, great - thanks!" I finally realized that he was the founder of psychosynthesis. At that time in the sixties, there was "a wall of silence" between his work as a spiritual teacher and his work as a psychologist, because it was felt that this knowledge, if made public, could possibly harm his professional reputation. We didn't want that because he had a mission to fulfill in several worlds, one being that of a spiritual mentor and the other, a pioneer in the field of psychology. Today, these facts about Roberto’s life are fairly well known to students of Psychosynthesis, but at an earlier time, it was kept quiet.

I went down to visit him in Florence, Italy the following year. I felt drawn to go and he very graciously received me even though he was suffering from a bad cold. He was very busy and didn't have long to live. I think he sensed it as he was told to put all his other work aside and focus on completing a book called, "An Act of Will."

I had a number of questions for him about the use of the psychosynthesis materials. I remember saying, " look, normally, I don't belong to schools or go to colleges or go to training courses. I’m enrolled in the "School of Life" and daily situations are my classrooms. I know in psychosynthesis that you have to be certified to use it publicly, but I'd love to take what you have done, and just add to it and translate it into my own form of expression. Is that okay? Do I have your permission?"

He smiled at me and said, "Psychosynthesis is not an institution, it's an intuition. Be in touch with the quality and the energy of synthesis and be guided by it and it will show up in different ways. This isn't a fixed form that has to be copyrighted."

Once again, his wise words helped me from overly focusing on the form-side of life and pointed me to the essential nature of the work. Form is important as it provides a vehicle through which the spiritual identity may express itself, but form is not the identity.