Individuation: The Process of Psychological Rebirth

For Carl Jung, individuation is the process by which individuals achieve a sense of self-actualization. Akin to the process that Maslow describes at the top of his Hierarchy of Needs, it involves the Self actively trying to grapple with their worst thoughts and insecurities, navigating through the very things that they may find difficult to accept, yet is still essential to their human nature.

Now, the key thing to understand here is that Jung does not call for a rejection of one’s worst traits. On the contrary, when you reject your worst aspects, it is theorized that this could lead to mental illness or imbalance. After all, he acknowledges that no one is perfect– that you can make mistakes too.

The point isn’t to try and make yourself perfect, but better and whole. And it is precisely the acknowledgment of this particular imperfection that one can finally begin forging a healthy identity through self realization.

Further, for Carl Jung, this intimate and personal work is a lifelong process  that can easily take up the whole of a person’s life. The goal of analytical psychology in this particular matter is to help facilitate this particular step through a series of programs that would help people understand themselves better. This includes, of course, all the information you shall read further down the line.

Self-Realization: The Goal of Individuation

Picture this: you are currently thinking at the peak of your life in terms of your career, social life, and everything else in between. However, you feel as though you haven’t yet fulfilled something despite this. Despite everything you have achieved, you can’t help but want something more, and when you try to ask yourself what it is that you want, you fall silent wondering how things will end.

Now, if you have these thoughts, there’s a chance that you need some sort of fulfillment in life and that there are things that you need to grapple with regarding your inner self. Within you are questions that need answering and aspects of your life that require reckoning in order to find your true self and be at one with your individuality and humanity.

The way that one can achieve all of this is what Carl Jung calls individuation. When you focus on reconciling all facets of your personality– from the conscious to the unconscious in a way that actually creates an important reckoning for your psyche, the end result is something that will truly help you overcome any anxiety or adversity as it means that your personality ends up becoming whole.

This is why Jung took great care to make sure that individuation becomes an important part of any self-development program. As mentioned earlier, the objective of the self isn’t to eliminate the worst aspects of oneself but to reconcile and form something better as a result.

From Consciousness to Collective Unconscious

In Jungian psychology, the conscious is not just a personal matter unique to every individual.  It is, in fact, dynamic and has a complex interplay between one’s personal consciousness and the collective psyche. The way it works is that the conscious mind tries to reconcile its own desires with that of society and the general public, while at the same time drawing wisdom from each other.

Think of how society works, for example. Generally speaking, you are expected to obey certain norms in order to maintain your social standing. The more you adhere to these norms, the more you become recognized by society itself. However, in the process, you are also called upon by your psyche to act on your personal wishes, such that these wishes also inform the world around you.

In other words, what we have is a give-and-take system between the self and societies as a whole. The self draws its desires from society’s many resources, while the totality of society’s collective identity is shaped by every person’s individual needs on earth. The latter phenomenon is what therefore facilitates what Jung calls the collective unconscious.

In this case, the goal of Jungian psychology is to make sure that you can reconcile your personal selfhood with that of society, as it is this reconciliation that helps facilitate a better life and the realization that you can do better things for the people around you.

Ego Death: Accepting Your Archetype

The Ego is a complex part of the psyche that is not so easily understood. The quickest way to describe it would have to be that it is the conscious part of the psyche. It is the one we readily take for granted and knowingly project unto others. How the ego works tends to differ from person to person, but one thing is for sure: it governs your sense of self.

However, as you may notice, the Ego is not exactly easy to deal with. After all, it is the part of your psyche that houses all your limiting beliefs, which in turn may be the result of all your experiences in the past. You may, for example, have had people tell you that you aren’t meant for whatever it is you tried to pursue before. This, in turn, has implanted thoughts of negativity– thoughts which you now take for granted.

Similarly, there are also the things that you think are positive, but are in fact negative. For example, if you’re an achiever all your life, you may receive failure with less warmth. In such a scenario, loss and despair can become a blessing. This, in turn, leads to the term “Ego death.” As you can probably imagine, ego death means a partial loss of a sense of self.

But what makes this another great objective for Jungian psychology is that it actually helps alleviate mental problems and open the way for a complete transcendence of existence. It may result in a loss of one’s self, at least initially, but it ultimately means being able to integrate the unconscious and achieving release from one’s impulses and automatic mechanisms.