Massimo Rosselli – In Loving Memory

On the night of December 26th, Massimo Rosselli passed away without warning at the age of 73. With his death, psychosynthesis has lost a great teacher, one who had been carrying on the legacy of Roberto Assagioli, together with Piero Ferrucci for over 40 years.

After the initial shock, what remains is my deep grief at this tragic loss. While I reflect on our work together, the funeral service is taking place in the beautiful church of San Miniato al Monte, perched high over Florence.

For me, Massimo has always been deeply connected with psychosynthesis – he lived and breathed psychosynthesis.

From our very first meeting on Easter in 1991, when he opened Assagioli’s office for me so that I could study the precious written materials kept in the villa on Via San Domenico 16, he always made me feel genuinely welcome.

Then came his phone call in 1997 asking our Circadian Institute to join a planned Europe-wide organization devoted to spreading word of psychosynthesis, to giving it a voice within the circle of all the other great psychotherapy methods. It was to take on a higher profile and greater political weight (for example in the EAP in Vienna).

From that moment on, we were in regular contact, and for over 20 years we were colleagues in EFPP (European Federation for Psychosynthesis Psychotherapy) and several years members of the board.

I was witness to Massimo’s commitment and his tireless efforts (his wife, Susie, told us that he worked many nights on putting together programs and guidelines) to secure for psychosynthesis the place it deserves as the most effective and spiritual form of transpersonal therapy.

Massimo worked hard to keep the schools together. With great humility, never insisting on his personal expertise or professional status (as professor, physician, psychiatrist, clinical psychologist and psychotherapist), he lovingly and non-judgmentally united us all behind a common cause, always showing the greatest of respect for the work of his colleagues.

With his warm, humorous presence, he also made our board of directors feel like a close-knit family.

When we convened in London in 2014 to search for a new vision for the EFPP and decided to make working toward peace our agenda, he was just the right chairman to launch this program.

The wonderful, healing Peace Summer School this summer was a highlight and once again demonstrated Massimo’s outstanding qualities to us all. (We will cherish the above photo forever.)

At noon on the day before his death, he sent us a beautiful short film of people all over the world singing and playing John Lennon’s “Imagine – Playing for Change, Song around the World”.

Death is almost always untimely – Massimo still had so many projects and plans. We are left behind to carry on, bereft and saddened.

What a great loss for the psychosynthesis community!

We have lost more than a colleague. We have lost an esteemed role model.

Kristina Brode