Individuation: The Concept of Self

“How are you fulfilling your life’s task, your raison d’être, the meaning and purpose of your existence? This is the question of individuation, the most fateful of all questions”

Life in an MBA college is a gateway to finding yourself. Somewhere in the never-ending classes and projects, you test yourself against this hard-built course to find out what you are capable of, but beneath this lies a deeper journey, called Individuation. This is one of the major themes present in the evergreen work of Carl Jung’s philosophical writing on how to live a better life.

The process of Individuation, as per Jung, is an endless pursuit to become whole. It involves integrating parts of the subconscious into the light of consciousness, thus integrating them into our identity. Individuation implies becoming your true self, as Jung quotes, “coming to selfhood” or “self-realization”. As mentioned, it is an endless cycle, meaning it is never fully reachable, but moving in this direction creates fulfilment and cultivation of a character that becomes rooted in our personality. It shows you how you are unlike others, your actual individual differences. Individuation is different for everyone, but Jung’s three archetypes are broadly applicable to all forms of personal development. These are The Shadow, The Anima-Animus, and The Self.

The Shadow is the archetype that represents all the traits that we disowned from ourselves. These can be the same ones you find annoying in others. Jung pointed out that without integrating the other side of the coin, you can’t ever truly know yourself. The Anima is the feminine side of a man’s personality, which includes features such as self-nurturing, self-love, empathy, and the ability to make judgements beyond pure rationality. The Animus is the masculine side in a woman’s psyche, which would imbue features such as rationality, logical ability, problem solving, ability for non-attached thought, and a good external strength in persona. To attain greater psychological balance, it is crucial to recognise these traits in your psyche through active evaluation and identifying projections. Many Jung analysts, such as Naomi Goldenberg, have pointed out that this archetype is considered sexist and outdated and that the Animus is portrayed negatively, leading to the view of it being a psychic quality applicable to all people, regardless of the gender identity. The last archetype is Self, the archetype of Wholeness, which aligns with the Hindu idea of “Atman”, the eternal true self.

When you look at your life here in college, you can find these traits readily, such as imposter syndrome during exams or case competition, which is part of your Shadow or moments of clarity that hit you when you least expect, are just glimpses into your true self. A Conscious integration of all these elements is necessary to achieve the wholeness we have been talking about.

Individuation makes you more capable. It gives you the gift of taking in life’s new opportunities and adjusting to the diseases of despair such as existential dread, anxiety, and depression. In today’s world, another looming threat is of stagnation, the one where you feel like everything remains the same. Taking a closer look inside yourself, it equips you to move forward from who you were yesterday. This process also builds strength, authenticity, and resilience, highly sought-after features in managers.

Psychological wholeness can be approached from many angles, so to begin we must find something that is intrinsically motivating enough to keep us going and challenging enough to create experiences necessary for self-realisation. We must merely work towards achievement in a consistent manner to individuate. You can take concrete steps by reflecting through a journal, exploring clubs, writing, or practicing any other art form, connecting with others in honest conversation, and saving the best for last, reading works from Carl Jung himself, such as “Man and His Symbols”.

Source: https://ruya.co/en-SG/articles/carl-jung-dream-interpretation-explained