Individuation. What it is and what it isn't.

"Self-reflection, or - what comes to the same thing - the urge to individuation, gathers together what is scattered and multifarious and exalts it to the original of the One, the Primordial Man. In this way our existence as separate beings, our former ego nature, is abolished, the circle of consciousness is widened, and because the paradoxes have been made conscious, the sources of conflict are dried up." ~ Carl Jung

"Individuation is to divest the self of false wrappings." ~ Carl Jung"  -  Carl Jung

"Individualization does not shut one out from the world, but gathers the world to oneself." ~ Carl Jung

"Individuation answers the question, who are you, beneath all of your social roles and responsibilities? If you took off the ‘masks’, or personas, that you hide behind? Who would you be if you faced up to all your hidden secrets and made peace with your darkest corners? And dared to be yourself no matter how different you are from others?" - Unknown

A very dear friend and I had a conversation via email. The friend I speak of is an incredibly creative person. A truly gifted painter whose recent works have held me spellbound. Not only his paintings but his gift with improvised music. Also his talent with words, with writing. During our email conflab, I took, as I did back then, the role of 'Devils Advocate.' It was a role that perhaps I played too well, as so many 'roles' are it was a projection. Me being or behaving as thought suggested I was.  The nature of our conversation was with regard to individuality. It is a subject neither I nor my friend has much time for. When asked if I believed in individuality I said I did. Which sounds as though I was presenting myself as being something other than what I am. My response may have softened the blow as I said I was an individual within my family. Family being a collective. What I should have said was that I know that there are characters, personalities who exist within the collective. Not one of us exists outside this collective. All life is indeed interconnected. You can only learn from the errors made. I apologise to my friend.

Possibly one of if not the worlds first psychologists was Gautama Siddhartha. The man most commonly known now as Buddha or by some as Lord Buddha. A man who was raised in the Hindu tradition. It was Buddha who said, many centuries before Carl Jung, "All that we are is a result of all that we have thought." I am not Buddhist. I am not of the East nor solely influenced by the East. Not Tao, not Buddhism or Dharma or Jainism. If those philosophies have played a part in my life practice then so has Stoicism and that is very much of the West. But it wasn't Buddhism, with its constant reminder of what they call 'oneness,' that is a 'oneness' shared by all life, that conceived the notion of Individuation.' That concept, so hard to disagree with, was first posited by Carl Jung. Individuation That is the point when an infant, having been weaned, starts to seek the self part. That is to establish its own character, its personality, its own identity within the larger part, that of the collective we are all part of. It has nothing whatsoever to do with establishing personal individuality. To be truly individual you would need to live a separate existence. No organism on this planet does. We all contain sulphur, phosphorous, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon and hydrogen. Along with water and many other elements Of the 92 natural elements, 25 are essential for life. Six vital for all organisms on planet Earth.

The self part is but a part. The part that makes up the collective. Just as a willow is a tree that willow also has roots. The tree is like us humans. We too have roots. We are connected to all life. I have observed first-hand how two self parts are able or were able, to act as one collective within the greater collective. My grandsons are twins. The firstborn is one minute older than the other. I have seen, as have many others, occasions when the two have communicated without the need for speech.  They are so close that when one feels upset the other instinctively knows. One boy takes hold of the other's hand in moments of crisis. This closeness, this oneness, has been spotted by the school they attend who has suggested that they, the school, need to 'break' this habit. The habit is the twins sharing close communion. There is absolutely nothing incredible or supernatural about the boys' ability to act as though they were one. They are not one. They are two characters with their own personalities. However, the school, and society at large, now believe in the fabrication of the individual. The reason this myth has been manufactured is that commerce enjoys manipulating the one by granting the one certain powers. The power of the self.  The pretence of individualism rather than personality. The I, Me, Mine. The I, Me, Mine is selfish. It is not self-possessed but self-obsessed. 

As I said, foremost in Buddhism is 'oneness.' Reading Friar Richard Rhor, a Christian priest,. we are reminded that the word 'Catholic' means universal. The two disciplines share the same accord as do Hinduism and Taoism. Individuation is not individuality but rather the personality.

So am I an individual or am I a personality, a character sharing my existence as Dharma,  Taoist, Buddhist, Jains along with Stoic's all say we are? The answer is yes. I am the self part within the collective. We all are.

In summary individuation is where ego conflicts with self awareness.

Love and blessings to my old dear friend. Without who our collective Blog Site discharge would have been far less than it was. The blog was one. The collective artists were one.

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Russell Cuts the Corn From The Brewers Whiskers.