Carl Jung pioneered the field of analytical psychology, which split with Freud's psychoanalysis and became Jungian psychology. Three of his most powerful conceptual understandings were the Shadow, Synchronicity, and Individuation. In this essay, I want to discuss individuation. Individuation is the process in which an individual self develops out of an undifferentiated (or chaotic) unconscious. This unconscious is in a sense the collective unconscious. Individuation is a process during which the elements of personality, components of the immature psyche and experiences from one's life compile into a integrated whole. It has been described as the process by which an individual leaves group attachment (collective unconscious) and self-absorption (narcissism).
I want to make a few points on this topic. One, related to the point I was trying to make in my essay, The Devolution of Authenticity, that the modern environment is preventing individuation, or at least providing a plethora of obstacles to it's success. Two, there is evidence, both historical and current, to show that when individuation isn't achieved there are consequences. And three, what the state presents itself as, when individuation is ignored on a macro scale. This will derive the importance of individuation.
Point One
Carl Jung described individuation as, "The process by which individual beings are formed and differentiated from other human beings; in particular, it is the development of the psychological individual as a being distinct from the general, collective psychology." It is important to note here that essentially Jung is saying that an individual must break free of the constraints of the 'collective' and embrace 'individualism' if they are to become psychologically mature. It isn't that this phase is optional, it is in fact optimal. This leads me to my first point; the modern environment is littered with barriers to the successful completion of individuation. As I described in The Devolution of Authenticity, every chore; every informed research session on available TVs to buy or the most cost effective internet package to purchase, every 2 hours spent at the DMV, 1 hour spent setting up autopay for the electricity bill, 4 hours spent with the broker or loan officer, are capacious drains for the psyche and the ledger of personal time. All in all, this means less time to develop the psyche by reading, thinking, writing, loving, experiencing, living. As discussed in the first paragraph, one of the inputs to individuation is "experiences from one's life." How are you expected to obtain such things when the vast majority of time is spent unable to do so? As I discussed in that essay, life is complicating, communication channels are growing, responsibilities are building, and discretionary time is shrinking. This is the obstacle course to individuation.
In 2021, when a person graduates from college, the expectation is to get a job, relocate, set up a life alone, and start anew. If they do not do that, they are expected to take out $100k in loans for more education, but still in a similar sense, as most graduate programs are at least 2 years, relocate, set up a life alone, and start anew. In both cases (so in all cases) the young person is expected to work hard, long hours, to achieve success and "get ahead of their peers" in whatever domain it may be. During the day they're expected to speak the way you must speak in a corporate environment; use the jargon, agree with certain things, avoid expressing opinions on other things. At night they must attend cocktail parties because they are networking events, intentioned on being comparative encounters and for establishing the social hierarchy. Many people wake up at 30 and realize they've been nose to the grindstone for the better part of a decade. I believe that your 20's are the time for individuation - not a time, the time. Once that individuation is successful, the conjunction of two individuals through the sacrament of marriage is possible and also most likely to be successful. Your 30's and 40's are for the production and expansion of a family. Your 50's are for the maturity of the family. And your 60's are for the legacy of the family. In the book of Genesis, Noah is chosen to build the arc and save humanity from the flood. God instructs him to bring along his family on the arc. God chooses Noah because he is a "man that walks with God" - in other words, he lives as a moral man. God also chooses Noah and his family because Noah "was perfect in his generations" - in other words, he raised his kids right, and they raised their kids right. I believe this all goes back to individuation. If you are not successful in individuating in your 20's, you are unlikely to get the rest right. You will not become Noah. Without successful psychological maturation, which involves individuation according to Jung, your marriage is less likely to be successful, the way in which you raise your kids is less likely to be successful and you will not be perfect in your generations, which in other words is a warning that you may not be well equipped to survive the flood that comes for us all in our own lives. Without individuation, you will be a cog in the wheel, a gear in the machine, a pawn in the game. You'll be stuck in the collective unconscious. You'll be undifferentiated.
Going back to the modern environment as it pertains to individuation, I've had realizations about the base layer of importance that it plays in the larger scheme of my life. Man does not live by bread alone, and I am certainly looking for things that feeds my soul; a life partner, a purpose, a family, a structure, a goal. But first, I must know my soul and what it desires, in order to find that which feeds my soul. I cannot know my soul if I am not successful individuated.
Point Two
At this point we've established the importance of individuation in the individual - it is necessary as a foundation for the rest of a life. It is necessary to become Noah. Now we've arrived at point two: there is evidence, both historical and current, to show that when individuation isn't achieved there are consequences. Jung and Freud both spoke of a period in their lives plagued by something described as Neurasthenia, which is a hodge podge disorder characterized by fatigue, anxiety, headache, high blood pressure, neuralgia, and depression. It was so commonly diagnosed in America in the last century, that it became known as Americanitis. If you've ever watched Mad Men, set in the 60's and 70's, you'll see Betty, the wife, is diagnosed with something approximating this by her psychiatrist. But, if you are a keen observer you'll see that Don, the husband, has it too, he just won't admit it and typically drowns it out with alcohol and sex. In Betty's case, her's is the result of not individuating. You'll see she is highly immature. She does what all the other ladies do and is overly concerned with public image and reputation. She is undifferentiated. In Don's case, he has it for the reasons we spoke of in the points above; he never had the chance to individuate. His ancestry was not "perfect in their generations", his father and mother were disorganized and poor parents. He went to war, then into corporate America. He bore secretes and hid them through deception. He certainly did not "walk with God" (he was a serial cheater). He never individuated either. Let us look to the state of modern America, a nation plagued by weakness, obesity, high blood pressure, anxiety and depression. To my earlier point about young adults and the importance of individuating, it is therefore no surprise that the biggest prevalence of said anxiety and depression is within young people. I can prove why that is too.
Let's analyze a very modern example of where individuation is not occurring, under the guise of its occurrence; Instagram. Instagram is supposed to be the place where individuals express their individualism, but is it actually that? Why is it that young people in particular report feelings of depression, anxiety and worthlessness after spending time on that platform? If it is a spot for individualism then why did the vast majority of users post a black square on the same day? Why did the majority of users post an Instagram story of their voting sticker or their vaccination card? These sound like hallmarks of a collective conscious, not an individuated one. Smaller still, I challenge you to find me a female on Instagram that has not posted a picture in a bikini. In fact, I challenge you to find me a single person who has not posted a selfie. In paragraph one we stated that individuation has been described as the process by which an individual leaves group attachment (collective unconscious) and self-absorption (narcissism). Instagram sounds to me a lot like a medium for the collective unconscious and narcissism. And thus, we can understand why young people are depressed, anxious, and lost. They are Betty and Don, in the modern era, undifferentiated and unindividuated.
(As a side note, I'm understanding the importance now of reading the works of great psychologists, philosophers, theologians and thinkers. It is easy to look at your world and draw conclusions from it. It is brilliantly impossible however to look at the world across all time and draw conclusions from it. The thinkers we regard as universally wise, like Aristotle, Locke, Nietzsche, and Jung were able to accomplish such a task, in however small a domain. Life is after all, the same stories being told in different settings. So, when we study the works of those few that were capable enough to distill life down and extrapolate concepts we are able to take a historical conception and apply our modern lens. This gives rise to the possibility of new interpretations and new discoveries. For example, I might be the first person to discover that Instagram is a living, breathing, dynamic expression of an unindividuated population.)
Point Three
Finally, we've looked at the importance of individuation in the individual and we've looked at the consequences for individuals when it is ignored or unsuccessful. Now, we must look at what happens to society, what becomes of the state, when mass scale individuation is ignored or unsuccessful. My thesis, derived from the studies of Jung and Peterson, is that when individuation is unsuccessful at a macro scale, it gives rise to tyranny. Essentially, when individuals aren't properly individuated, the state becomes the collective unconscious, which I spoke of a bit as well in The Devolution of Authenticity - the state and the individual are antitheses. The easiest example of this is communism. Despite revolutions happening across the globe, overthrowing monarchies and implementing democracy and systems based on liberty and the freedom of the individual, simultaneously, Soviet Russia was born. Communism is based on collectivization not individualization. Is is the embodiment of the ignorance of individuation. And in all cases where it was implemented, it led to tyranny and mass death - Maoist China, Vietnam, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, and Russia. But in order to understand why, we must dive deeper.
Jung saw the state as a "quasi-animate personality from whom everything is expected...but was only camouflage for those individuals who know how to manipulate it." He referred to the state as a form of slavery. In other words, individuation and the emphasis on true individualism is the counterbalance to the state, which is case-in-point as to why when it is tossed aside, state-led tyranny is born. Jung also believed that the state "swallowed up religious forces...taken the place of God...where state slavery is a form of worship." This is an interesting analogy given the comparison we made not long ago that Noah was chosen to save humanity because he walks with God (not with the state) and we decided that "being perfect in his generations" was a consequence of proper individuation. Thus, when individuation is ignored, slavery is born in the form of state-worship. Jung compared this replacement of God with the fanaticism of the church-states of the Dark Ages, in which freedom and morality were suppressed and worship of the state was mandatory. We saw the same thing happen in Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, Maoist China, and North Korea where "individuals who know how to manipulate it" rise to power and take hold of the state through tyranny. To beat a dead horse here, all of this is avoidable with proper individuation and proper emphasis of the individual.
My final point on this topic, and it is even more sinister still. Jung said that when the state becomes the God of the worship, it leaves individuals psychically undeveloped. In other words, if you do not have proper individuation of the mass population, tyranny will be born, which will prevent psychic development for the next generations. This is the exact opposite of Noah; it is being "absolutely imperfect in generations" and it is the deepest warning to not ignore individuation. One improperly individuated individual has the capacity to turn into a society of improperly individuated individuals, which has the capacity to turn into a state of ultimate tyranny, which has the capacity to produce generations of unindividuated, undifferentiated humans, which ultimately has the capacity to end humanity. And it is at this point that we've distilled down to the ultimate consequence of unsuccessful individuation, the destruction of man. Therefore, we now know the antithesis and thus the utmost importance of individuation, the flourishing of mankind.
Comments
Post a Comment