Individuation Quotes

• Subjects who reciprocally recognize each other as such, must consider each other as identical, insofar as they both take up the position of subject; they must at all times subsume themselves and the other under the same category. At the same time, the relation of reciprocity of recognition demands the non-identity of one and the other, both must also maintain their absolute difference, for to be a subject implies the claim of individuation.

  Jurgen Habermas

  Differences, Identity, Demand

  "Sprachanalyse und Soziologie". Book by Rolf Wiggershaus, 1972.

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• So that individuation may be compared to a pyramid in that it is only achieved by the placement of the top stone… The Jews, Ford said. They ain't like anyone else I know. There goes you theory up shits creek. He smiled.

  E. L. Doctorow

  Pyramids, May, Stones

  E.L. Doctorow (2010). “Ragtime: A Novel”, p.113, Random House

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• Be grateful for your difficulties and challenges, for they hold blessings. In fact... Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health personal growth, individuation and self-actualisation.

  Carl Jung

  Gratitude, Grateful, Blessing

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• The act of consciousness is central; otherwise we are overrun by the complexes.
  The hero in each of us is required to answer the call of individuation.
  We must turn away from the cacaphony of the outerworld to hear the inner voice.
  When we can dare to live its promptings, then we achieve personhood.
  We may become strangers to those who thought they knew us, but at least we are no longer strangers to ourselves.

  James Hollis

  Hero, Voice, Knowing

  James Hollis (1993). “The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife”, p.116, Inner City Books

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• To find out what is truly individual in ourselves, profound reflection is needed; and suddenly we realize how uncommonly difficult the discovery of individuality is.

  Carl Jung

  Reflection, Discovery, Profound

  Carl Gustav Jung (1968). “The collected works”

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• Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.

  Carl Jung

  Life, Leadership, Thoughtful

  Carl Gustav Jung (1973). “Letters”

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• Individuation is to divest the self of false wrappings.

  Carl Jung

  Self, Wrapping

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• One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.

  Carl Jung

  Love Life, Suicidal, Knowledge

  Carl Gustav Jung, Herbert Read, Gerhard Adler, Michael Scott Montague Fordham (1973). “The Collected Works of C.G. Jung: Alchemical studies”

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• I saw that everything, all paths I had been following, all steps I had taken, were leading back to a single point - namely, to the mid-point. It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the center. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the center, to individuation. I knew that in finding the mandala as an expression of the self I had attained what was for me the ultimate.

  Carl Jung

  Taken, Self, Expression

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• Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health.

  Carl Jung

  Life And Love, Inspiration, Health

  Carl Gustav Jung (1981). “The Collected Works of C. G. Jung: Structure and dynamics of the psyche”

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• Asking the proper question is the central act of transformation!

  Clarissa Pinkola Estes

  Growth, Curiosity, Asking

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• The difference between the "natural" individuation process, which runs its course unconsciously, and the one that is consciously realized is tremendous. In the first case, consciousness nowhere intervenes; the end remains as dark as the beginning. In the second case, so much darkness comes to light that the personality is permeated with light and consciousness necessarily gains in scope and insight. The encounter between conscious and unconscious has to ensure that the light that shines in the darkness is not only comprehended by the darkness, but comprehends it.

  Carl Jung

  Running, Dark, Differences

  Carl Gustav Jung (1968). “The Collected Works”

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• It looks as if there were a single ultimate goal for mankind, a far goal toward which all persons strive. This is called variously by different authors self-actualization, self-realization, integration, psychological health, individuation, autonomy, creativity, productivity, but they all agree that this amounts to realizing the potentialities of the person, that is to say, becoming fully human, everything that person can be.

  Abraham Maslow

  Creativity, Psychological Health, Self

  Abraham Harold Maslow (1999). “Toward a psychology of being”, Wiley

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• It’s not enough to withdraw from society and seek your own salvation, your own individuation. The individuator must return to society (“collectivity”) to contribute his or her new insights, his or her new values, which must be at least equal to if not greater than the norm.

  Gary Valentine Lachman

  Return, Enough, Salvation

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• We best serve intimate relationship by becoming sufficiently developed in ourselves that we do not need to feed off others.

  James Hollis

  Intimate Relationships, Needs, Becoming

  James Hollis (1993). “The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife”, p.99, Inner City Books

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• Our "job," our intention as spiritual beings in a body, is to express our true nature - to fully know ourselves as expressions and individuations of the Divine.

  Neale Donald Walsch

  Spiritual, Jobs, Expression

  "A Revolution Is What's Called For Here" by Neale Donald Walsch, www.marandapleasantmedia.com. April 7, 2013.

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• I hold the view that the alchemist’s hope of conjuring out of matter the philosophical gold, or the panacea, or the wonderful stone, was only in part an illusion, an effect of projection; for the rest it corresponded to certain psychic facts that are of great importance in the psychology of the unconscious. As is shown by the texts and their symbolism, the alchemist projected what I have called the process of individuation into the phenomena of chemical change.

  Carl Jung

  Philosophical, Views, Psychics

  Carl Gustav Jung (1977). “The Collected Works of C. G. Jung”, Bollingen

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• The individual mirrors in his individuation the preordained social laws of exploitation, however mediated.

  Theodor Adorno

  Mirrors, Law, Individual

  Theodor W. Adorno (1978). “Minima Moralia”, p.148, Verso

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• How can we know ourselves by ourselves? . . . Soul needs intimate connection, not only to individuate, but simply to live. For this we need relationships of the profoundest kind through which we can realize ourselves, where self-revelation is possible, where interest in and love for soul is paramount.

  James Hillman

  Love, Inspirational, Relationship

  James Hillman (1972). “The Myth of Analysis: Three Essays in Archetypal Psychology”, p.92, Northwestern University Press

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• The self is not only the centre but also the whole circumference which embraces both conscious and unconscious; it is the centre of this totality, just as the ego is the centre of consciousness.

  Carl Jung

  Self, Psychology, Ego

  Carl Gustav Jung (1973). “Memories, dreams, reflections”, Random House Inc

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• we all begin the process before we are ready, before we are strong enough, before we know enough; we begin a dialogue with thoughts and feelings that both tickle and thunder within us. We respond before we know how to speak the language, before we know all the answers, and before we know exactly to whom we are speaking.

  Clarissa Pinkola Estes

  Strong, Feelings, Answers

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• 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

  Men, Reflection, Circles

  Carl Gustav Jung (1968). “The Collected Works”

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• Socialism, whether it's the 'soft tyranny' of the EuroAmerican management state or the murderously repressive forms taken by Hitler, Stalin, Mao, or Pol Pot, is all about disindividuation, a steady, relentless erasure of the individual differences among us, everything that makes us who we are. 'Everybody in, nobody out!' is the marching mantra of militant collectivized medicine, but it accurately describes all other aspects of collectivism as well. No alternatives allowed, no choices, no individualism, no individuality, and ultimately, no individuation.

  L. Neil Smith

  Taken, Individual Differences, Medicine

  "Back to the Trees!". The Libertarian Enterprise, www.ncc-1776.org. April 11, 2010.

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• Central to Jungian psychology is the concept of "individuation," the process whereby a person discovers and evolves his Self, as opposed to his ego. The ego is a persona, a mask created and demanded by everyday social interaction, and, as such, it constitutes the center of our conscious life, our understanding of ourselves through the eyes of others. The Self, on the other hand, is our true center, our awareness of ourselves without outside interference, and it is developed by bringing the conscious and unconscious parts of our minds into harmony.

  Morris Berman

  Eye, Hands, Self

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• The act of consciousness is central; otherwise we are overrun by the complexes.

  James Hollis

  Consciousness, Personhood, Complexes

  James Hollis (1993). “The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife”, p.116, Inner City Books

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