The Way of Individuation

by Jolande Jacobi

From Kirkus Reviews ( Jolande Jacobi first met Carl Jung on a social occasion when she was thirty-eight; she then experienced a dream which she described to him, and he replied, ""Now you are caught, now you can't get away."" Dr. Jacobi's studies had been curtailed by marriage at nineteen; Jung insisted that she get her doctorate even though she was physically in danger in pre-World War II Vienna--a danger that became imminent for her husband and sons in Hungary, but saw her to safety in Switzerland, where her life today has, according to David Holt, an ""extraordinarily vivid quality, wounded yet inviolate."" This exposition of Jung's concept of individuation has importance, she feels, for present survival and for shaping the it deals with social, ethical, and religious problems through a growing self-awareness of the individual and society. The ""individuation process"" can be experienced in natural (occurring almost autonomously) or artificial form (aided for instance by analysis, developed by definite methods, and consciously experienced). Dr. Jacobi describes the two main phases of the transformation with the ""change of dominance"" in the second half; the stages of individuation; the relation of ego and Self; the finding of the ""individual way"" (what is needed is a vocation); conscious realization, the religious factor. A lucid presentation of a major if not dominant theorist which will appeal to a special, predisposed audience.

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy, Nonfiction

177 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Jolande Jacobi was a Swiss psychologist, best remembered for her work with Carl Jung and her writings on Jungian psychology. She was born in Budapest, Hungary as Jolande Szekacs, but became known as Jolande Jacobi after her marriage at the age of nineteen to Andor Jacobi.She spent part of her life in Budapest, part in Zurich and part in Vienna. Her parents were Jewish, but Jacobi converted to Roman Catholicism later in life. Jacobi met Jung in 1927, and later was influential in the establishment of the C.G. Jung Institute for Analytical Psychology in Zurich in 1948. Her students at the C.G. Jung Institute included Wallace Clift. She died in Zurich.

Reviews

[Jonathan Karmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

We spend the first half of our lives developing the part of ourselves that we are conscious of: our ego. We decide how we are going to play various roles: friend, lover, professional, parent. We hone our personality traits and figure out how to get the objects of our desire.

Then, in middle age, we are confronted with thoughts of death. According to this book, we should embrace this change of life, and rather than just searching for happiness, we should seek the inner peace that will make it possible to think of death as a goal, not as an ending.

Individuation can occur naturally or through psychoanalysis, but either way it is made possible by opening up to signs from our unconscious. First, we need to recognize that the ego and persona that make up our conscious selves are only part of our entire Self. In addition to the personality and roles that we are aware of, there are also complexes buried in our unconscious.

One complex is the shadow, our "bad" side, which we tend to project onto others of the same sex. "I can't stand that guy (because he does everything I secretly would like to do)." Another complex is our female side (for men) or male side (for women). We need to fecundate our contrasexual nature.

We cannot become aware of our unconscious simply by making a conscious effort to do so. Rather, we need to tap into our creativity and become open to the archtypes that are all around us in the form of symbols, myths, religion, literature and pretty much anything that seems mysterious and spiritual (non-rational). Our unconscious is also revealed in our dreams.

Some specific archtypes to become aware of are: mandalas (symbols of unity), hero myths in which a person struggles and is swallowed up but then is "born again." Jung was fascinated with alchemy, which tried to figure out how to turn lead into gold. He probably would have enjoyed the current popularity of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Everything in our personal unconscious can theoretically be made conscious, but we only have access to some of what is in the collective unconscious (which may be local, national or for all of humanity).

The search for wholeness and becoming centered involves embracing something irrational and spiritual: a religious attitude or search for a god-image. But I thought it was interesting to learn all of the things Jung rejected. He thought meditation was withdrawing into fear-ridden passivity. Jung did not believe that Westerners should seek enlightenment through Eastern means, such as Zen Buddhism or yoga. Rather, we should embrace our own cultural archtypes, such as the story of Jonah and the Whale.

He did believe in the concept of grace. When our conscience makes us feel guilty, we need to listen for the vox dei. On the other hand, the conventional mores that comprise society's moral code may well conflict with our personal conscience, and we need to figure out how to follow the "right" conscience and reject the "fake" one. The inner man calls you to your vocation, and you must accept your fate, lest you be plagued by constant, indefinable anxiety (according to the woman who wrote this book).

Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism. Jung thought good and evil were part of the same whole. Evil ever dwells within us; and we should bear this knowledge instead of erecting a facade against evil. Inner peace is gained by becoming whole, and we should not seek perfection.

We need to develop a weltanschauung: a philosophy of life. To me, the concept seems very similar to Taoism, which is about finding the "Way." I guess the good news is that in order to individuate, I don't have to actually "do" any thing. If I have an open mind, I can constellate archtypal signs as I embrace both my good side and my evil side.

On the other hand, confronting and embracing all of our complexes is supposed to involve suffering as well as happiness and is not the same as just doing nothing and being unaware of our unconscious. "Anyone who takes the safe road is as good as dead."

All of this makes me want to listen to My Hero, by the Foo Fighters -- seems like an appropriate place to look for inspiration regarding the above.

[Bo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. Helped me sort out some mental dilemmas without resorting to corrupt institutions. I especially like the diagnosis of modern man's neurosis being a result of spiritually vacuous materialism spawning from fear of death, lack of meaning, and outdated religious doctrine. The metaphors are all around, all pointing in the same direction, and all unique. Each path, ultimately, must be taken alone.

[alexanderalava · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful splendid wonderful little book.

Essentially a compiled collection of Jung's thoughts on Individuation through the perspective of one of his best students. Lots of very interesting pieces with wonderful analysis, insight, and commentary. Really just a really great reading experience. I would buy the physical book outright if it wasn't so expensive. Especially in the final third of the book, I was getting blown away. I'm probably not going to have enough space allotted to fit all my notes as they were plentiful, but man. This was a great book. It has left me feeling somewhat warm and happy.

"The meaning and purpose of a problem seem to lie not in its solution but in
our working at it incessantly."

I went into this book simply seeking for more clarification and reading material on Jung's concept of Individuation and left with much more than I could have expected. Highly recommend to anyone.

Notes:

"Conscience may indeed demand that the individual follow his inner voice even at the risk of going astray. If he refuses to obey it, and, for fear of taking the wrong road, adapts to the generally accepted, traditional morality, he will nevertheless feel uneasy because he has been untrue to his real nature. His adaptation will be forced and his "ethical" conscience will continue to plague him until "a creative solution emerges which ... is in accord with the deepest foundations of the personality as well as with its wholeness; it embraces conscious and unconscious and therefore transcends the ego" by producing a "third standpoint" that bridges the opposites 24 It goes without saying that confusion and error cannot be avoided. Yet this must be accepted by anyone who has submitted himself to the pains of the individuation process. For it is not only a "road of endless compromises", the "middle road", but also a quest, a thorny path strewn with mistakes and wrong deeds that also have to be experienced. They too have their function; they help us to insights that broaden and deepen the field of consciousness, and we know that they are the precondition of any further development.

Thus conscience becomes a monitor urging us to a confrontation with the world within and without, the examiner of the genuineness of our deeds and behaviour, the messenger between the "voice of God" and our consciousness. People who declare they have no conscience because they never hear its call are as good as dead, for their psychic life is extinct.

Experience shows that the achievement demanded by the analytically assisted individuation process—the resolute courage to face and endure one's own darkness—is forthcoming only in exceptional cases. The price that has to be paid seems too high for most people. For this reason they remain stuck in a more or less unconscious state and live without reflecting in the mist of participation mystique with the surrounding world. "What is it, in the end, that induces a man to go his own way and to rise out of unconscious identity with the mass as out of a swathing mist? ... It is what is commonly called vocation: an irrational factor that destines a man to emancipate himself from the herd and from its well-worn paths . . . Vocation acts like a law of God from which there is no escape . . . Anyone with a vocation hears the voice of the inner man: he is called." 25 "What would have happened if Paul had allowed himself to be talked out of his journey to Damascus?" Jung asks. 26 "Unless one accepts one's fate . . . there is no individuation; one remains a mere accident, a mortal nothing." 27 That is why those people who have been most deeply affected by the problems and images of the psychic background cannot but feel, looking back on their lives, that their path of development could not have been otherwise.

Not following one's destiny, or trying to avoid one's fate, is a frequent cause of numerous psychic difficulties. It may even be that the steady increase in the number of neurotics today is due to the fact that more and more individuals are called upon by fate to work for their psychic wholeness, but that fewer and fewer of them are ready to do so. Any obstruction of the natural process of development, any avoidance of the law of life, or getting stuck on a level unsuited to one's age, takes its revenge, if not immediately, then later at the onset of the second half of life, in the form of serious crises, nervous breakdowns, and all manner of physical and psychic sufferings. Mostly they are accompanied by vague feelings of guilt, by tormenting pangs of conscience, often not understood, in face of which the individual is helpless. He knows he is not guilty of any bad deed, he has not given way to any illicit impulse, and yet he is plagued by uncertainty, discontent, despair, and above all by anxiety— a constant, indefinable anxiety. And in truth he must usually be pronounced "guilty". His guilt does not lie in the fact that he has a neurosis, but in the fact that, knowing he has one, he does nothing to set about curing it."

...

"Human imperfection, which clings to every one of us since the expulsion from Paradise, from that unconscious containment in and oneness with God, can presumably be sloughed off only through an act of divine grace."

...

"Jung mournfully admits: "The individual may strive after perfection . . . but must suffer from the opposite of his intentions for the sake of his completeness." 6 This suffering can be a powerful spur to his further striving and hold him to the road of his inner development. One must agree with Jung when he says: "There is no light without shadow and no psychic wholeness without imperfection. To round itself out, life calls not for perfection but for completeness; and for this the 'thorn in the flesh' is needed, the suffering of defects without which there is no progress and no ascent." 6 "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."

...

"For each of us would like to live only in a straight line, to have only one meaning, and not to be torn between our own inner contradictions. The fact that these cannot always be overcome, that not all of them can be cancelled out or neutralized, is a lesson which we learn in the course of life only through a long chain of experiences. But this exempts us neither from having to endure them nor from seeking to reconcile them. To be "whole" means, at the same time: to be full of contradictions. We falsify man when we try to sketch a homogeneous picture of him. The picture is true to life only when it is ambiguous and paradoxical. That is why it is so difficult to give an adequate description of him and of his psyche, and to relate oneself to his wholeness. One of the most valuable insights and conclusions conveyed by the individuation process is that paradox is an essential feature of human existence and of the psyche, and that one must learn to accept it and live with it."

..

As mentioned I have a lot of notes and it will take me quite a while to compile them here, so I will leave such a task up to myself in 3 days once I have some time in between working hours.

[Vladan Krečković · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good and systematic review of Jung's work. This book is good literature for people who want to learn more about analytical psychology or understand Jung's teachings. Also, it can be perceived as a good introduction to the whole topic.

[Sybe Starkenburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much of my writings are based on the notion of Jung's Individuation process or personal growth. Our home is filled with literature on Jung by authors such as June Singer, Daryl Sharp, James Hollis and others. Jacobi stands out for her clarity of writing. As relevant today as ever.

[Aaron😎 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Accessible to understand the Individuation. Not much about the 1st phase of the process, a lot about the 2nd. Although I think the essence of Jung‘s work is the intensive study of the 2nd half, it would be nice, especially for leaners not in their 2nd, to learn more about the processes for the 1st. Overall very readable and insightful.

[Spacehuttel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enormously helpful and well-written overview of Jung's main topic, which, as a child of its time, does not deconstruct Jung's problematic concepts enough and dwells in almost charmingly unfazed eurocentrism.

[Deken Flaherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful book in understanding Jung’s complicated idea of individuation. Well written and concise. A good summary of life’s meaning and some of the complications faced during its attempt.

[Katja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dieses Buch ist von einer von C.G.Jungs treuen Nachfolgerinnen geschrieben. Es setzt sich als Ziel zu erklären, wie man den Individuationsprozess verstehen soll und wie er in der Beziehung zur Religion, zum Gewissen, Archetypen, Gesellschaft etc. steht. Persönlich bin ich froh, dass ich dieses Buch gelesen habe, weil ich explizit ein Buch über Individuation suchte und nun Jungs Theorie besser nachvollziehen kann. An vielen Stellen könnte man sich wegen des Stils der Autorin aufregen. Z.B. findet man immer wieder kaum fundierte Sätze wie "Es ist allgemein bekannt, dass viele Leute...", was heutzutage in einem quasi-wissenschaftlichen Buch unangebracht aussieht.