Self Individuation

Find answers  of the questions hidden in the deepest/ darkest corner of your mind

There are certain questions which we don’t want to find answers of. Questions like who are we beneath the roles and responsibilities we feel for our society? What happens when we remove the masks of the different personas we wear in our everyday life? Who would we be if we face our secrets hidden in the darkest corner and make peace with them? And dared to be ourselves no matter how different we are from others.

To find answers to these questions and to explore our inner self Carl Jung, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst founded analytical psychology also know as Jungian’s psychology defined the term self individuation as the journey to understand ourselves. It involves becoming the most integrated, whole version of our unique self as possible or often referred to as the art of personal transformation.

While growing up, we pick different values, experiences and responsibilities from the people we see beside us whether it’s from our parents, our teachers or whoever we grow up with and get molded according to them. We forget to explore ourselves and our own personalities and become what others wanted us to become. We wear their personas and suppress our individual self. Thus self individuation is a way to know ourselves and to unfold and accept our hidden secrets which we are afraid to show to others.

The process of self individuation is carried out in three stages or archetypes. The first archetype is Shadow. Many of the things we deny our the parts of ourselves we deem ‘bad’ or ‘unworthy’. This is what is called our shadow. The shadow archetype represents all the personal traits we have ignored, denied, or cut off from ourselves. Individuals first get to know and integrate their shadow which are all the disown parts of themselves they alienated to create their personality. When we find the courage to look at our shadows we might see it as a gift and power to ourselves. When facing our shadow and our unconscious mind the idea is to learn to accept and integrate all that we are. We essentially ‘crucify’ our ego, and by becoming more accepting of ourselves become more accepting of others.

The second archetype of the self individuation process is the Anima /Animus. Anima is referred to the feminine component of men’s personality. Animus is referred to the masculine component of women’s personality. Jung saw the anima/animus as enlivening souls or spirits within men and women. This archetype connects. This archetype connects us to the impersonal collective unconscious. They are the essential building blocks in the psychic structure of every man and woman.

The third archetype of the self individuation process is the Self. This archetype is the wholeness and self-transcendence. A wise old man or woman represents this archetype. Jung borrowed the concept of the Self from Hindu philosophy. He described the Self as the “totality of the whole psyche,” distinguishing it from the ego. The ego represents a small part of this whole psyche. Think of the Self as an unknown, inner Divine center we explore throughout our lives.

In some ways individuation happens whether we want it or not. As life keep teaching us lessons and pushes us to grow up, we ourselves starts learning about us as an individual. We start following our own path instead of walking down on the path created by others.