Jungaism: The Concept of Individuation - Iloka Benneth Chiemelie, Anwar Mahathir

0.1 INTRODUCTION

Individuation is one of Carl Gustav Jung's important concepts. Together with other analytic psychologists, they developed a series of techniques for facilitating individuation based on active imagination, dream analyses and personal evaluation. However, individuation is a global human potential, and different traditions have different ways of facilitating individuation. For instance, Neoplatonism maintains numerous similarities with psychology and its technique, and this is not surprising because Jung was influenced by Neoplatonism, both directly and indirectly through the related systems of Gnosticism and alchemy.

Carl Gustav Jung was born in Kesswil, Switzerland, in 1875, the only child of a Swiss clergyman. It is without a doubt that his family also influenced his theory as he had a worldly and outgoing mother, and a staid and religious father. As a young man, Jung was fascinated by spiritualism and occultism, was lured by repetitive themes, symbols, anecdote, and spiritualistic phenomenon that he frequently found in numerous writings and reported experience.

Jungian analytical psychology was practically inexistent until the 1960s (Kaufmann, 1989), when two unrelated movement forged the room and growth of Jungian psychology. The first was emergence of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) that measures personality in relation to Jungian function (Myers & McCaulley, 1985) and the emergence of high interest in the hallucinogenic 1970s that ushered in an increased interested in altered states of consciousness, and development of transpersonal psychology as a legal field in the United Sates.

Such developments are key essentials in this paperwork, and the objective is to conduct and develop critical self-analyses by adopting Jung's notion of individuation and relating it to my leadership archetype.  This project paper is basically divided into three sections, which contains a detailed background overview on Jung's notion of individuation, critical self-analyses by adopting the notion, and a relation of my self-analyses to my leadership archetype respectively.

1.0 JUNGIANISM – A BACKGROUND OVERVIEW OF INDIVIDUATION

Jung viewed human as on a positive note, and believed they are inherently capable of becoming whatever they wish to be. However, the individuation process as he believes is not achieved only by material possessions, glory, fame or notoriety (Jung, 1971). To become truly individualized, human beings must transcend to the unconscious part of their personalities, and individuals who are not able to fully integrate the oppositional forces of conscious and unconscious components of their personality will eventually not be able to grow to optimal capacity or achieve self-realization.

Thus, individuation can be described as the process by which people transcend toward self-realization and are the goal of living. It is a sophisticated process and requires reconciliation and integration of numerous forces, characteristics and attitudes, and is like to be beyond the capability of many people. In order to become individuated, people must grab hold of their powerful, unconscious, archetypical complexities that are in constant and submerged change.

Right from the history of humanity, people have asked themselves the "Who am i?" question at certain point in their lives. But a common phenomenon is the lack of clear answer. Jung's individuation process provided us with guidelines towards understanding ourselves in relation to who we are and who we want to be.

1.1 THE INDIVIDUATION THEORY OF PERSONALITY

Jung believed that the psyche is made of independent systems that consists of conscious, that provides consistency and steps and oversees perceptions, memories, feelings, and thought; the personal unconscious, which is made of forgotten and replaced materials that have been displaced by conscious thoughts but still retrievable; and the collective unconscious, which is a transpersonal conscious that is not related to any personal experiences (Jung, 1971a). Our individual personalities consist of these parts in an integrated format (Smith & Vetter, 1991). Jung noted five primary functions of the psyche that are themselves archetypes, or universal patterns of experience. The Jungian view of individual personality can be described as an upright, flexible and changing cylinder (Rychlak, 1973; Smith & Vetter, 1991).

Figure (1): Jung's universal patter of experience

1.1.1 The Person – it is the thick shade that covers the ego. The persona is developed during childhood and is the image an individual presents to the public as a reflection of himself. It is the alternative one must forgo between personal desires and the desires of society (Smith & Vetter, 1991). It is the conscious everyday components of ourselves, and is mirrored in various undertakings such as work, family, social settings and leisure. As Jung proposed, the goal of individuation is inversely related to one's persona. This implies that the more we are aware of and operate on the social personal life, the less we are able to understand and act o the private personal life (Nystul, 1993).

1.1.2 The ego – the ego is at the center of the Jungian conscious. It seats on total areas of both conscious and unconscious elements of personality and it is the central point of reference in the area of consciousness (Hall, 1989; Jung, 1971a). The ego is made of thoughts, feelings, evaluation, sensations, perceptions, and vigorous memories. It contains both internal and external frame of references, provides a format for perception and identity, and is real foundation for interaction with our environment (Smith & Vetter, 1991).

1.1.3 The Shadow – it is a product of both personal and collective unconscious, and contains the primary and remote elements within our self that are not acceptable in the society and generally repressed (Smith & Vetter, 1991). Basically, it represents the negative personalities and attitudes that we fail to recognized or deny exists (Hall, 1989). It is speculated that these negative thoughts and actions are inherited through evolutional process from animal instincts (Nystul, 1993).

The shadow is an antithesis of one's persona. It is the pool of characteristics that re find repulsive in ourselves and try to eliminate. While the personal shadow is considered easy to identify and handle, the archetypical shadow is much deeper and wider in its negative nature (Harris, 1996). The shadow is a demonstrated by defense mechanism of projection, which implies that another person of the same sex, will be always be projected as the cause of the individuals negative feelings, unendurable characteristics, and rotten behavior (Jung, 1971a).

1.1.4 Anima and Animus – these are the masculine and feminine archetype exhibited in varying degrees amongst all individuals. Anima is the feminine characteristics in men, and Animus is the masculine characteristics in women (Hall, 1989). Each is responsible for certain stereotypical characteristics associated with oppose sex. For instance, the anima can sometimes manifest itself as tenderness in the man, and animus as aggressiveness in the woman. These contrasting traits allow opposite sex to understand and react appropriately towards each other (Jung, 1971a). Jung believed that these qualities are as a result of men and women living together over generations and slowly picking up parts of each other's personalities (Hall & Lindzey, 1978).

1.1.5 Self – at the center of the personal unconscious is the self. It is the unifying and equalizing agent of personality. The self is the regulating center of personality and negotiates between conscious, personal unconscious, and collective unconscious (Hall, 1989). The self cannot be produced unless other elements of the personality have been fully developed, and this usually occurs before middle age. The development of self begins when an individual migrates from sole reliance on the conscious ego to a mediating middle group between the conscious and the unconscious. Thus, the emergence of a more spiritual, philosophical self is the product of a great combination of the conscious and unconscious (Nystul, 1993).

In summary, the whole context is implying that individuation is a definition someone becoming a person, an individual, and a totally intergraded personality. It is a process of self-realization during which we integrate the contents of the psyche and developed the ability to become conscious. It is a natural and inherent process in man, and cannot be stimulated by external forces but must grow internally.

2.0 CRITICAL SELF-ANALYSIS IN RELATION TO INDIVIDUATION

Prior to this study, I always believed the popular saying of "we are what we make ourselves", but this study have come to illustrate to me that individuation as a process is not acquired but inherent with human and it is true with reference to my personal lives and the person I am today. The conscious me was developed through a series of subconscious and unconscious experiences that have transformed me from a crying kid to a brave man. Thus, I will proceed to critically analyze myself by following the five psyches as demonstrated by Jung.

2.1 My Persona – Persona is the alternative we must forgo in order to meet the desires of the society. It is the image we present to the outside public. Personally, I believe my persona can be divided into four types. They include, hardworking, responsible, caring and aggressive. These qualities form a unique persona that puts in a position where I can gain the trust, appraise and love of others as they believe that I have all the necessary elements to yield success in whatever the activity might be.

However, to be hardworking as a way of achieving either individual or personal goals implies that I must commit leisure times into production thus forfeiting spending time with friends and socializing. The same is applicable to responsibility, while my carrying attitude can sometimes lead to me being used by people as they will always seek me as the solution to all their problems and expect that I will be able to resolve all of them. My aggressiveness on the other hand can sometimes be risky, as I don't believe in giving up in whatever the undertaking might be and high risk while associated with high benefits is also associated with high lose.

Thus, from the above analyses, it was illustrated that while I have the qualities considered to be acceptable to the society, the society sometimes use these traits against me such as frequently demanding my helped, and I also have to compromise my time for leisure in order to make the society happy by being hardworking and aggressive. On the other hand, the aggressiveness can also be seen as offensive in some situation and amongst certain individuals.

2.2 My Ego - The ego is made of thoughts, feelings, evaluation, sensations, perceptions, and vigorous memories. My ego can be said to be "high self-insight". This implies that I always considered my opinions to me the best and other people somewhat inferior to me in the essence that I believe I am better than them in numerous ways. Self-esteem without a doubt is necessary for developing an inwards characteristic that makes us feel a sense of completeness in the sense that we believe we can do anything, but self-esteem when adopted at the expense of others in the form of ego can be offensive.

For instance, I have engaged in arguments with a couple of friends who think that I am arrogant and rude because I always considered myself to be the master and not easily opening to opinions that contradict believe even if they are productive opinion. This is true, as I have sat down and thought about it in numerous occasions and it can make people less willing and interested to engage in conversation with me. However, I still believe they might somewhat be confusing arrogance with my critical nature because I believe in critiquing ideas that I find lacking in important elements. 

2.3 My Shadow – contains the primary and remote elements within our self that are not acceptable in the society and generally repressed. Underlying in my ego is my shadow of manipulation. Unfortunately this is the truth. I always want to be the winner in every aspect of my life, and it can easily led me to manipulate either my colleague or people under my supervision to undertake their daily tasks in a way that pleases my desire. The mainly cause for my manipulative nature is not always self-centered, but most of the time goal oriented.

For instance, if I am in a group assignment and I find that the member are not competent enough either to their lack of willingness and/or desire to contribute sufficiently, I will immediately look for a way to manipulate their behavior and tailor it towards believing that their opinions and ideas are crucial for our success and this usually result in a positive output.

2.4 My Anima – Anima is the feminine characteristic that is present in a man. This element would be my caring nature which is also highlighted in my persona. I am very sensitive to my environment and apply additional efforts to ensure that everybody around me is always happy. This is great quality and a persona that is greatly appraised by the society, but it can also be offensive to some extent.

For instance, certain individuals value privacy to a great extent and extending kind gestures such as knocking at their doors to check is they are fine can be considered offensive. Thus, while this trait is widely appreciated, it is also unwelcomed to some extents in certain situations.

2.5 My Self – As pointed earlier, the self is the regulating center of personality and negotiates between conscious, personal unconscious, and collective unconscious (Hall, 1989). My personality can still be considered to be on the development phase, but at the center of myself is the desire to maintain harmony with the society. This implies that I at all times, ensure that undertake my activities in manners that are acceptable by the society and present a good public image.

This is in line with my persona, and can be considered as both self-realizing and societally appreciated. This is because good mannered individuals have a lower possibility of coming to conflict with the society, and they are generally adored and honored with the society. Thus, they will be able to realize their personal goals as they are more likely to be helped and preferred within the society.   

Although Jung's universal patter of experience has been able to explain my personal growth, they are certain elements of growth which the framework doesn't touch. Such areas can be in my level of emotional intelligence, my carrying and reading process, motivation and my behavioral pattern. Thus, additional theories will be adopted in elaborating on these areas of my life.

2.6.1 JAMES AND ARROBA'S READING AND CARRYING FRAMEWORK

James and Arroba (2005) developed the reading and carrying framework, where the reading dimension deals with the ability to read meaning of a situation without applying our personal emotions as the base for judgment, and the carrying dimension implies the emotional aspects of our life that we carry into a situation and utilize it as the base for our decision making process in that particular situation. This can be elaborated as:

2.6.1 My Reading ability – I have also matured in my reading ability, in the sense that I presently tend to look at a situation based on the components of that situation rather than previous experience or emotional attachment. This doesn't imply that I am never emotionally attached to a situation, but in reality, I tend to have a full control of my personal emotions when analyses situations.

2.6.2 My Carrying ability – unlike my reading aspect, I tend to carry numerous past experiences into a situation.  I can attribute this to my culture which is of the opinion that the present can be determine by reviewing the past, and the future than also be predicted based on the present. Therefore, when I am faced with complex situation, I tend to carry previous experience and knowledge as a means of finding the solution to the situation.

Thus, it can be said that I have matured in my decision making process, as I have control of my emotion and make decisions based on elements of a situation rather than gut feelings.

2.7 GOLEMAN'S MODEL OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Daniel Goleman (1998) formulated four elements of emotional intelligence, and these elements are applied below to further elaborate on my emotional maturity in relation to individuation.

2.7.1 Self-awareness – it is the ability to read one's emotion and feel the impact while adopting gut feeling as the base of our judgment (Goleman, 1998). This is more like a talent than a equality, as the first approach I adopt in new situations is gaining an understanding of the characters in the situation. This implies that I have matured in my ability to read my personal emotion and decide whether or not to adopt gut feeling as my decision making base.

2.7.2 Self-management - it is the ability to control one's emotion and impulse, while adapting to the situation in hand (Goleman, 1998).   This was also elaborated in my reading ability discussed above, and it states that I have matured within myself and have full control of my emotions, thus my decision in relation to a situation is not influenced by my emotion but rather based on the context of the situation.

2.7.3 Social awareness – it is the ability to see, understand and interpret the emotions of other people in relation to social norms (Goleman, 1998). Basically, it can be said that I am not matured in this sense as I don't see a good reason to command people on ways to live their lives. I believe every human being is unique and whatever they do is a product of their choice, thus, I seldom link people's emotion to any social norms as I think people have freedom to express how they fell.

2.7.4 Relationship management – it is the ability to inspire, influence and develop others during conflict management (Goleman, 1998).  Human development is important to me and I have matured in my dealing of humanity in conflicts. This is because I was personally inspired by my Uncle and I believe that people can be transformed from nothing to something with just words of inspiration. Therefore, in conflict resolution I try to create a base of mutual understanding by highlight the negatives and positives and encouraging involved parties to choose the positive aspect and reject the negative one. Thus, it can be said that I am very motivational.

3.0 MY LEADERSHIP ARCHETYPE

3.1 A DRAMATIC LEADER

A dramatic leader was define by Kets de vries, (2007) is superficially warm and charming, but lack sincerity and consideration for other and their work relationship are not stable. The goal of a dramatic leader is unbridled growth, in order to meet their own narcissistic needs. The above definition is a true and realistic demonstration of my leadership archetype.

I see myself as the wise man that Jung (1971a) defined as seeing himself in the position of God and a hero to other. His ideas are endless and he constantly seeks for new ways to improve his knowledge in order to maintain his self-attained ego of superiority over other. Sometimes it is based on experience but mostly inherent in their level of self-realization and life actualization.

As a leader, I always want to have every element under my disposure within my full control. Through this means, I can better coordinate the activities to ensure that it constantly yields the best results. I always compare my output with that of other people in the society, and the desire is to constantly be the best.

Thus, when people are under my control, I always push them to the limit of their capabilities and constantly seek nothing less of perfection form them. As human when I sit back and think of it, it is unfair but I believe that in so doing, I can maintain the flow with the situation and take every opportunities that arises within to continue developing and growing both as human and as an organization.

As the definition highlighted, they are insincere and lack consideration for other. This is true but the fact is that I always believe in setting myself as an example. If I want people to work for 10 hours without a break, I will also work the same exact hour and sometimes more than 10 hours without a break too. But, when people constantly seek for break for numerous reasons I consider unrealistic, I can easily deny such request and it can lead to demoralization of people under my supervision which will eventually yield lower productivity.

Thus, it can be said that my persona of constant improvement through hard work which is hidden in my ego of self superiority mirrors my shadow of desire to gain power and full control of every situation. But my Anima of maintaining harmony with the environment ensures that I sacrifice myself as much as I want others to sacrifice theirs.

4.0 CONCLUSION

The Jungian literature has demonstrated numerous aspects of individuation in both conscious, personal unconscious and collective unconscious ways. Individuation as a process of totally integrated personality that is built around the psyche of experience is an element that defines and differentiates people from the other.

This study also illustrated that it is not acquired but inherent amongst the 5 psyche spheres of persona which is the public image we present to others, ego which is conscious traits that we use in defense for our actions, shadow which mirrors our traits that are unacceptable within the society, the Anima and animus as elements of opposite sex present in our characteristics and the self which is built through negotiation between the conscious and unconscious.

Based on the psyche, I conducted a critical review of myself on the four main principles of individuation as proposed by Jung. The paper went on to present an illustration of my leadership psyche which was found to be a dramatic leader. Therefore, it can be concluded that the study has been successful in the essence that all required objectives and set goals were achieved.

5.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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