The Ontopsychology intends to be the science that "studies the psychic activity in its specific global behaviors". More especifically, its worshipers think it is "the inner contribution to the psychology science in order to exercise a function of accuracy", that is, a more efficient psychology. It is not only this. It concerns of "a movement of rational-humanistic thought that contains all the analyses that are always motivated by the ontologic intentionality: to identify, to isolate, and to carry out the principle that motivates the human, at a historical and metaphysics affirmation".¹

The analysis of the history and the foundations of this movement could show us a new side of the dogmatically mystic groups: the systematic use of technical jargons - in this case of psychology and physics - to the reconstruction of a religious speech based, in the present example, on the Christian theology.

This strange movement was created in the 70´s, by an Italian librarian, ex-Franciscan religious man, Tonino or Antonio Meneghetti that affirms to have PhD diplomas in theology, psychology, philosophy and social science - all obtained before he was 36 years old! - and, still, another long list of titles, decorations and diplomas, some proved to be false. For instance, two texts about this academic-scientist, as he entitles himself, inform that he received, in 1994, the title of Dr. Honoris Causa in Physics because of the discovery of something called "semantic field", given by the Pro Deo University¹,2, from New York that does not exist.

Meneghetti was even able to obtain the title of PhD in Philosophy in 1969, before he could obtain a graduation diploma in this area, which was only obtained in 1972.¹

Even though he does not inform any academic degree in psychology, Meneghetti says, in his resume, that he used to teach psychology and psychotherapy in an Italian university, in the 70´s and that his science was born from "the inner evidence of the clinical practice" that, apparently, he has never exercised because it is not described anywhere.

According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica³, there is information that the ontopsychology uses psychologic technics to promote a total devotion to its founder. At least is possible to confirm that he is described, in the ontopsychological bibliography, as a genius without precedents, in all fields of knowledge.

It is not very easy to obtain information about this supposed science, that was considered to be a religious sect by the Servizio per l´Linformazione e la Sicurezza Democratica in Italy⁴. The main difficulty is that most of the bibliography was written by Meneghetti himself and published exclusively by his own companies, in Brazil, in Russia and in Italy, the Editrice publishing company. Meneghetti, apparently, has never published one only article in an independent scientific magazine.

In his manual of Ontopsychology Meneghetti lists, in the bibliography, only his own articles and texts, all of them published by his own publishing company, not including one only result of a research, either his or from anyone else⁵, showing an absolutely incompatible conduct to a scientific text writer.

The language of the ontopsychological texts seems to be deliberately obscure, with terms that sound known, but that are used in an uncommon way or even unintelligible. For instance: "The I finds itself opposed to the Non-I when is not capable of being transparent transcendence of its own projection of historical clearness".⁶

This literary technic intends to give the impression, to the reader, that he needs a exegesis (a fundamental explaination to give sense to the interpretation of religious texts) to pass through a similar experience to a revelation in order to understand the content. This motivated the following critics from the Council of Psychology from a Brazilian state: "Throughout obscure concepts like the "ontic In Sé"… Dr Meneghetti works hard in transvesting into science arguments more likelly of a fiction of doubtfull taste."⁷

The ontopsychology is not, even though its denomination, an specialization, ramification or division of the psychology. Examples of specialities, ramifications or divisions, officially recognized, of the psychology are the psychoanalysis, the cognitive psychology and the family therapy. It is not ministrated or taught in any psychology course in Brazil. Occasinally, it is possible to find some "latu sensu" specialization course, in universities or colleges of little expression, in the countryside of south Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná and Santa Catarina.

In Brazil, the ontopsychology is not recognized as a method or technique by the Federal Council of Psychology. Therefore the psychologist is not allowed to practice this activity. To have a point of comparison, another practice that is given the same treatment as the one given to the ontopsychology is the past-life regression. In spite of this, at the Brazilian Ontopsychology Association (ABO - Associação Brasileira de Ontopsicologia)⁸ site we found that, among the instruments of intervention of this supposed science, there are the individual psychotherapy and the group psychotherapy. The entity offers a post-graduation course in psychotherapy for physicians and psychologists but it does not have official recognition.

The São Paulo State Regional Council of Psychology (CRP SP) recommends: "…this practice does not constitute a scientific technique recognized by the psychology. So, its use by any psychologist breaks the ethics and it must be denounced to the CRP SP".⁹

The ABO states that ontopsychology differs from the traditional psychology concerning the cure, because it solves the problem dramatically, in a few interviews, in less then three months.⁸ It affirms too that Meneghetti´s discoveries explain process inherent to the cancer and schizophrenia. It was not possible to identify any empirical evidence to this statements.

By the way, concerning schizophrenia, the ontopsychologists have very original ideas. Among them is the existential schizophrenia, that is the basis to all (!) mental illnesses. So, an ontotherapist, properly certified by Meneghetti, can heal all mental pathologies.¹⁰ There is no doubt that the ontopsychology contradicts all that has been published in neurosciences about this disorder. If the ontopsychology is correct, the scientific evidences gathered during the last decades could be discarded as mistaken.

In the world, the ontopsychology is coordenated by the president of the International Ontopsychology Association, Tonino Meneghetti himself. There are national associations, in Russia (which Meneghetti is the honor president), in Italy and in Brazil. The ontopsychologists built, at the south Brazilian city of S. José do Polesine, an "International Center of Humanism - Recanto Maestro" for the training of leaders and entrepreneurs and to promote the ontopsychology, in more than 30 hectare area.

The ontopsychology has several ramifications through many fields of knowlegde, like musictherapy and bussines psychology. One of them deserves prominece: the ontoart.

The ontoart "is understood as the apriorist formalized of the happening of our being". It was founded in 1976 by nobody else but Tonino Meneghetti that shows himself as fashion designer, concert performer, painter, interior designer and photographer, among other abilities.¹¹

It is not a technic or style. It is a movement of thought that covers all the arts and has the objective to "promote the inner sense of the aesthetic pleasure". It is necessary the biological sanity to practice the ontoart. This requisite is important to differ it from the schizophrenia art that is the one "produced by a precise complex situation".

At the International Association of Ontopsychology site we are informed that Meneghetti had exposed at the São Paulo`s Museum of Art (MASP), in 1996 (Meneghetti´s personal exhibitions).¹¹ A check at MASP and newspapers from S. Paulo drove us to a confirmation of an exposition at a private art gallery. Meneghetti only rented MASP´s rooms to do a seminar. It seems to be a frequent phenomenon, in the ontopsychology, a certain exageration in the information, either scientific, or about titles, or even artistic activities.

In the ontopsychological theory, a central concept is the "semantic field". Meneghetti explains it as "the reading about the relations that life and nature from this planet use in the dealing with its own individualities".⁶ Nevertheless, it has to be something physical, that has already motivated, according to its author resume, several awards in psysics. It is the catholic phenomenon of the verb becoming flesh, presented again by scientific concept means.

In the same way, the definitions and exemples of ontoart are the same as the ones from other forms of mystical art, in which the visualization of something makes the subject to transcend the general people level of existence, not initialized in holy knowledge. According to its author, "the ontoart recuperates the intimate contact, the proximity and the reunion between…man and God".

Nevertheless, the main ontopshycology discovery, that allows a more efficient superior vision, when compared with the other sciences of the mind, would be the "ontic In Sé" that is something hard to be understood by those not iniciated on it. It would be "the existencial sanity criteria" and, by its means it "is possible to predict the life behavior in the human being interior". The "ontic In Sé", also known as the "nature´s iso" is "the operative and certificant criteria assuring the accuracy of the knowlegde in the biological, pshychological and rational fields".⁵ It does not seems to be available to a non-ontopshycologist, once it may be perceived by non-rational methods like intuition and the use of other physical dimensions: "the intuition of the ontic In Sé is the specular projection of the historical-real organic architecture. It is only necessery to have an operative I on the Fourth Dimension, the intuição is normative praxis".⁶

The only thing that is clear after an exegesis is that the "ontic In Sé" is just a sophisticated term to soul or spirit. According to one adherent, it is "the strange element of the ontopshycological focus in the experimental scientific language". So, it creates a new category of ilnesses to those that are healthy of mind and body, the ontopshychic neuroses, that may include any form of insatisfaction with life.¹² They are sicknesses of the spirit, treatable by religious methods, once more disguised of science and with the same objectives of many religions: to produce more and more worshipers, not caring, many times, about how much the personal costs would be.

Finally, the ontopshycology starts from a very intelligent paradigm: all the healthy part of the population that does not consider the human existence as satisfactory is ready to be treated by an ontopshycologist in order to obtain the cure of its ontopshycological neurosis. There is no way the therapist can avoid making money if this idea spreds around.

Notes

1 - Miliacca, C. & Cioccari, L. Ontopsicologia - a última fronteira da psicologia contemporânea. S.Paulo: Psicologica Editrice/ABO, 1998(?) Back

2 - Zero Hora (Porto Alegre) Caderno de Cultura, page 2, 24/01/1998 Back

3 - http://www.repubblica.it/online/sessi_stili/sette/panorama/panorama.html Back

4 - www.xs4all.nl/~oracle/ops/min-po.htm or homer.span.ch/~spaw1736/ontopsychology/min-po.htm Back

5 - Meneghetti, A. Manual de ontopsicologia. Porto Alegre: Psicologica Editrice do Brasil, 1996 Back

6 - Zero Hora (Porto Alegre) Caderno de Cultura, pages 2 and 3, 12/29/1997 Back

7 - Zero Hora (Porto Alegre) Caderno de Cultura, page 2, 01/10/1998 Back

8 - http://www.ontopsicologia.org.br Back

9 - http://www.crpsp.org.br/a_acerv/jornal_crp/124/frames/fr_cartas.htm Back

10 - http://utenti.tripod.it/ontopsicologia Back

11 - http://www.ontopsicologia.org/english/ontoarte/index.htm Back

12 - http://www.angelfire.com/pe/actualidadpsi/inocencia.html Back

13 - Jornal Nacional's news againt the Ontopsychology