Conscious and unconscious do not make a whole when one of them is suppressed and injured
by the other.
If they must contend, let it at least be a fair fight with equal rights on both sides.
Both are aspects of life.
Carl Jung.
In my previous videos about the shadow I have discussed the world of the unconscious, and
how we can recognize its manifestations in our behavior.
According to Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, the ultimate self-realization is the integration
of the unconscious into the conscious.
This is called the individuation process.
First of all, thank you Daniel for your generous PayPal donation and thank you Matt and Seeking
Spire for supporting me on Patreon.
I appreciate it very much.
Now, let’s dive in.
The process of individuation is complicated.
So, for making this video I have tried to simplify the information I've found when studying
it and combine it with a few observations.
Before we get to the individuation process itself, it is essential to clarify the associated
elements: the self, the ego, the persona, the conscious & unconscious, the shadow & the
anima and animus.
Now, according to Jung, at the core of our personality there is something called the self.
The self is the totality of the conscious and unconscious.
The problem, however, is that the vast majority of the self lies hidden in the unconscious.
Part of that unconscious cannot be entered.
There is a personal unconscious that consists of all information of an individual's mind,
which is not readily available, like repressed or forgotten memories about oneself or the
environment.
There is also a collective unconscious that is basically the same for all human beings,
and probably shared among all members from a same species.
For example: dogs are collectively driven by the same instincts.
The same is true for humans.
Jung noticed that the human collective unconscious brings forth a series of archetypal figures
as well, which are universal symbols that we see in mythologies all across the world.
These archetypes tend to appear in dreams too.
Examples of these are: the hero, the trickster, the wise old man, the great mother and even
God.
These figures are not fixed archetypes themselves but, rather, representations of what lingers
in the unconscious in an archaic language that most humans would recognize.
I have called these motifs “archetypes,” and by this I mean forms or images of a collective
nature which occur practically all over the earth as constituents of myths and at the
same time as autochthonous, individual products of unconscious origin.
...said Jung.
Before we dive deeper in the unconscious, I'd like to explore the four main elements
that we'll find across the conscious and unconscious, which make up the psyche and,
thus, form the self.
These are the ego, the persona, the shadow, the anima or animus.
The ego rests on the conscious as well as the unconscious and is basically the story
we tell ourselves about who we are, which is accumulated over the years by different
experiences but also a direct product of the realization that we are, in a way, separate
from others.
This realization happens in early childhood when an infant starts to use the world ‘I’,
that refers to the ego.
The ego is the center of the field of consciousness but not the center of the personality, since
it is still subordinated to the self.
The persona is the mask we wear, in order to conform to society.
We could describe it as the societal role we (quote on quote) “wear” in order to
fit it, based on norms and ethics.
An example is the definition of masculinity and femininity: what does it mean to be a
man or a woman?
Most cultures and subcultures propose certain criteria for this, and the persona is the
product of us meeting these criteria to fit in.
The persona is nothing more than a superficial construct of how we want the world to perceive us.
The shadow lies in the unconscious and consists of undesirable characteristics that we have
repressed and want to keep in the dark.
This happens consciously as well as unconsciously.
Jung stated that the less the shadow is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the
blacker and denser it is.
I quote:
If the repressed tendencies, the shadow as I call them, were obviously evil, there would
be no problem whatever.
But the shadow is merely somewhat inferior, primitive, unadapted, and awkward; not wholly bad.
It even contains childish or primitive qualities which would in a way vitalize and embellish
human existence, but—convention forbids!
End quote.
Many people aren’t even aware that they have a shadow.
When parts of it inevitably come to the surface, they tend to brush this off as something outside
themselves.
I have created a separate video about the shadow; you'll find a link at the top of the screen.
According to Jung, in every male there's a female and in every female there's a male,
both hidden in the unconscious part of the psyche.
This doesn't mean that we have a completely separate human being inside of us; rather,
it means that men possess characteristics that are classically considered feminine and
women possess characteristics that are classically considered masculine.
Jung calls the feminine part of the male the anima and the masculine part of the female
the animus.
Now we have created a map of the psyche according to the ideas of Jung, it's time to talk about
the individuation process.
Individuation is the integration of unconscious elements of the psyche, as far as this is
possible, into the wholeness of the personality.
Generally, this process goes naturally when we get older.
But there also the possibility to stimulate it by forms of intervention like therapy.
This means that the ego should, first of all, acknowledge that it is not the center of the
psyche, and that a great part of who we truly are, lurks in the darkness of the unconscious.
But if we understand anything of the unconscious, we know that it cannot be swallowed.
We also know that it is dangerous to suppress it, because the unconscious is life and this
life turns against us if suppressed, as happens in neurosis.
..said Jung.
So, making the unconscious conscious can never be done in its entirety, because there simply
are areas of the psyche that we cannot enter.
Part of the individuation process is the integration of the shadow.
In a practical sense, this would mean that we should not only become aware of our dark
side; we should incorporate it in our conscious personality as well.
Exploring the unconscious means that we have to take certain elements of our personality
to the surface that aren't pretty.
As Jung stated and I quote:
Individuation is an exceedingly difficult task: it always involves a conflict of duties,
whose solution requires us to understand that our “counter-will” is also an aspect of
God’s will.
End quote.
In other words: our dark side is as valuable as our light side.
Another dimension is the confrontation with the contra-sexual part of our psyche known
as the anima or animus.
In many cases, men have not incorporated their feminine aspects in a healthy way and the
same is true for women and their masculine aspects.
Chances are high that we have repressed the masculine or feminine side of ourselves in
its completeness, which is equivalent to throwing away the baby with the bathwater.
The goal here, is a healthy integration of the anima or animus, which will actually empower
our personalities regardless of what sex we are.
There’s also the possibility of unhealthy integration, which manifests itself as harmful
and negative aspects of the opposite sex.
Therefore, toxic masculinity can very much be a part of female behavior.
And toxic femininity - something less talked about - can be a part of male behavior.
When it comes to individuation, there is no one-size-fits-all.
So it’s up to the individual to bring forth the unconscious and decide the necessary steps.
Because individuation is in essence a natural process, it cannot be forced within a certain
timeframe.
Self-realization is something that can take a lifetime and very well may never be completed
before we meet the grave.
Thank you for watching.