History of The Will Project

This page contains a brief history of The Will Project, from its genesis in the 1930s through to web presence of The Will Project website.

1934-1935

Although there is no mention of the Will Project, this is the time period that Roberto Assagioli appears to have began his life-long study of the Will. In June 1934 the Tibetan Master Djwahl Kuhl stated to Assagioli “I would like you to write an article upon the Power of the dedicated Will”. (Source: June 1934 Discipleship in the New Age I – Personal Instructions to Disciples – F.C.D. Accessed 27th November 2007)

In July 1935 an additional statement is given of “You could write a book (The Act of Will) which would be a synthesis of these new psychological ideas, subordinated to a central theme which would dominate them as the head dominates the activities of the body”. (Source: July 1935 Discipleship in the New Age I – Personal Instructions to Disciples – F.C.D. Accessed 27th November 2007)

For more information see: Roberto Assagioli, Psychosynthesis, and the Esoteric Roots of Transpersonal Psychology by Al Mankoff. Accessed 31st October 2006)

1973

Roberto Assagioli outlined the Will Project in his book The Act of Will, first published in 1973.

He further refers to it in a brief article entitled The Horizons of Psychosynthesis which was released at a meeting of Directors of Italian Centers of Psychosynthesis, December 1973. In this, Assagioli comments: “Second, the theme of the Will, which some of you have already started on. I will let you have the translation of the new chapters, that is of those that are not in the issues that you have of the last few years. This could be the start of what is called in the book the Will Project: there is also a questionnaire for you, an actuation program of the Act of Will.”

1998

During the International Congress of Psychosynthesis in Canada from 11 to 15 September 1998 a co-creative group was established to “develop the work plan proposed by Roberto Assagioli through a creative group process, brain-storming, and reciprocal stimulation.” The participants comprised 8 people from Canada, the USA and Italy.(Source: Will Project from Psicosintesi – Psychosyinthesis Institute Magazine last archived by Archive.org 6th March 2005).

2000

After the International Psychosynthesis Conference in Bologna in the year 2000, a group of people decided to work on the Will Project using the collaborative possibilities of the internet. The Istituto di Psicosintesi of Florence collected some written contributions and it seemed to be the beginning of a new age for the development of the project. But after a couple of years of discussion about how to work, the Istituto stopped this project and canceled immediately it from its agenda. (Source: Andrea Landriscina, Psychosynthesis Yahoo Group post, 17th October 2006)

The Istituto di Psicosintesi page relating to the International Psychosynthesis Conference:

So far, will has been considered almost exclusively from a philosophic and existential point of view, while being ignored or denied as a psychic function. No aspect of the human psyche has been so poorly understood and so greatly underestimated. Roberto Assagioli, the founder of psychosynthesis, has placed the will at the centre of the psychosynthetic path. He has shown how we can develop it through specific training and because of its power to release the creativity with which every human being is endowed, he proclaimed it a prerequisite in the process of self actualisation. Through learning to will, our human experience moves from the periphery to the centre of consciousness, we bring ourselves from inner chaos to the harmonic expression of the physical, emotional and mental levels; we support the alignment with the laws which regulate life in the universe. The Istituto di Psicosintesi proposes an International Conference on the Culture of the Will showing the seed not only of a new culture in knowledge but also for creative action. This Conference aims to cover both the potentialities and puzzles linked to the will. It offers the opportunity for:

exchanging, confronting and synthesizing recent advances on the will from around the world;
recognising the mistaken images and concepts of the will that cause resistance and difficulty, thus allowing new perceptions, visions and attitudes to emerge;
elaborating new research, experiments, and working projects to establish a Culture of Will.

—Mariagrazia G. Sassi, President of the Istituto di Psicosintesi

2006

The current online initiative for the Will Project started in October 2006, with the registration of the domain name willproject.org and the establishment of the Will Project wiki.

This website is not an official Will Project website, in that it has been set up independently of the Instituto di Psicosintesi (Psychosynthesis Institute). At present the official status of the Will Project has not been determined. However it is no longer listed on the Instituto di Psicosintesi website. The last known update so far found on the internet was from work carried out by the co-creative group on the Will Project during the International Congress of Psychosynthesis in Canada from 11 to 15 September 1998.

The initial phase of this online project will be structured along the outline given by Roberto Assagioli. This will allow individuals who have previously been involved (officially or unofficially) with the Will Project to easily add information.

2011

Due to a number of factors, The Will Project website has been converted to WordPress. These factors include:

A lack of collaboration, meaning a wiki is largely redundant.
MediaWiki software is large, and many things need to be done manually, which WordPress can do them automatically.
A recent increase in spam submissions can be dealt with better by WordPress anti-spam addons.
WordPress has good security and is easy to upgrade.
WordPress functionality is easier to extend.

2023

For the foreseeable future, the focus of The Will Project website will be around education, training, and coaching that lead to direct, existential experience of willing. This is in line with Assagioli’s conclusion at the end of his historical survey of the will (emphasis added):

The most striking conclusion to be drawn from this historical survey is that attempts to solve the problem of the will on theoretical, intellectualistic lines have led not only to no solution but to contradiction, confusion, and bewilderment. This being so, a way out of the impasse needs to be sought in another direction, one that can produce useful and practical results. Such a way exists: its starting point is the direct, existential experience of willing, unhampered by preconceived notions; and it proceeds to a description of the data yielded and to the institution of experiments on the various stages, characteristics, and uses of the willing action.
The Act of Will – Appendix Four: Historical Survey

The full program of The Will Project, while being admirable, is vast and all encompassing. For most people, a more conscious experiencing of willing will suffice; they won’t have the desire to attempt solving the contradictions, confusion, and bewilderment of the theoretical and intellectualistic aspects of the will.

Since the 1990s, life coaching has offered ways for empowering people through purpose, choice, and planning (goal setting). Martha Crampton pointed to the synergy of psychosynthesis and life coaching in her article Empowerment of the Will through Life Coaching. Therefore, it makes sense to align The Will Project website with life coaching, as coaching aligns well with Assagioli’s point that “training in psychosynthesis has no end. At a certain point hetero-training (meaning training guided by someone else) is replaced by self-training.” See Training: A Statement by Roberto Assagioli. Many life coaches already advocate self-coaching, as it empowers individuals to be 100% responsible for discovering purpose, making choices, and planning and executing their life goals.