4 Milestones on the Road to Individuation

March, 2011 by Matt Laughlin

Not long ago I was reading Carl G. Jung's autobiography, Memories, Dreams, Reflections and a statement stopped me cold.

You know the experience.

You're reading a great work and something in it speaks to you so powerfully all you can do is stare off into space, contemplating the significance it has in your life. Here it is...

"When one follows the path of individuation, when one lives one's own life, one must take mistakes into the bargain; life would not be complete without them. There is no guarantee - not for a single moment - that we will not fall into error or stumble into deadly peril. We may think there is a safe road. But that would be the road of death. Then nothing happens any longer - at any rate, not the right things. Anyone who takes the safe road is as good as dead."

To put this passage in proper context it should be noted that Jung wrote this after having a high spiritual experience while recovering in a hospital from an illness in the later years of his life. He experienced and out-of-body almost near-death-like vision in which he realized, without a doubt, that what he is lies forever beyond this earthly existence; timeless, infinite and eternal. Jung's spiritual vision, the details of which I'll leave for the curious reader, seemed to imbue his heart with a great sense of courage and fortitude thereafter.

So, what is individuation?

Jung's own writings on the topic are so varied and extensive that no one sentence or phrase can capture it precisely. In my own experience, reading and reflection on Jung's work as well as related topics, it seems to involve four central elements worth contemplating.

1. Courage and self-expression. As a man entering the "afternoon" of his life, the stage in which Jung wrote that individuation truly commenced, I can personally relate to the courage required to walk the road of individuation. In many respects, to individuate is to have the willingness and fortitude to express one's "true personality," as Jung described it.

An individuated person has the courage to be what they are to the fullest no matter the consequences. This doesn't mean one acts with reckless abandon or tosses aside discretion or prudence. Rather, fears of failure, loss of approval from others, and the humbling recognition that one has no control over the outcomes in life are no longer enough to keep one from acting on their innermost inspirations.

2. Vocation and inner guidance. Jung once wrote that "vocation acts like a law of God from which there is no escape." If you read my post "The consequences of ignoring an inner calling" you'll have a greater sense of how seriously Jung took his own sense of vocation. Acting on one's inner calling involves being receptive to guidance from within. In Jung's case, such guidance came through powerfully in dreams. It is thought that the Self communicates to the personal self through dreams, especially when the latter is imbalanced and not attuned to their innermost callings in life.

In my own experience, vivid and powerful dreams seem to come when I am deviating from my calling, dragging my feet or going through a period of restlessness. This makes sense in the context of Jungian thought, which holds that the unconscious, via dreams and other avenues, acts to serve as a counterbalance to the conscious life of the psyche. Prayer, meditation, mentorship and contemplation may all serve equally well, even more powerfully, as avenues of seeking inner guidance.

3. Awareness of our higher and lower nature. A central element of the road to individuation is to become aware of both our higher and lower natures. To lead a so called "unconscious life" is to be oblivious of our true nature, our higher Self, as much as it is to be in the dark about the primitive, destructive and self-seeking qualities of the ego. Individuation requires that we come to accept, forgive and acknowledge our lower nature; our defects, our downside, and all the selfish, false and limiting aspects of our ego and personality.

This is not possible, however, without a conscious recognition and turning towards our higher Self, which gives us the strength, courage and willingness needed to confront and heal our lower selves. This, again, speaks to the immense value of living a spiritually aligned life. In essence, to individuate is to become increasingly aware of what we are in truth.

4. Resting in the Self. Lesson 50 of A Course in Miracles reads "I am sustained by the love of God." I cannot pretend to know what Carl G. Jung was experiencing following his high spiritual experience which lead to the opening quotation I shared above. But, my sense of it is that he experienced, in some way, that taking the steps toward individuation were easier thanks to an awareness that he was sustained by something far greater than the personal self. I got the impression that individuation required less effort and struggle in direct measure to how much faith Jung placed in something greater.

I'll conclude by sharing Jung's thoughts on that something greater - his final commentary in Memories, Dreams, Reflections:

"Man can try to name love, showering upon it all the names at his command, and still he will involve himself in endless self-deceptions. If he possesses a grain of wisdom, he will lay down his arms and name the unknown by the more unknown, ignotum per ignotius - that is, by the name of God. That is a confession of his subjection, his imperfection, and his dependence; but at the same time a testimony to his freedom to choose between truth and error."

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The Consequences of Ignoring an Inner Calling

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