Carl Jung on individualization. If you’ve ever been to one my workshops, you know I am a big fan of Carl Jung. There are many quotes from Jung that resonate with me.  Here’s one:

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, only dreams; who looks inside, also awakes.”

Carl G. Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist who is known as the founder of analytical psychology. Early in his career, Jung worked closely with Freud, but later went his own way after developing new theories about the deep unconscious.

Freud considered religious expression to arise from neurotic “illusion”. By contrast, Jung considered it to arise from the psyche’s inner drive toward a healthy balance of individual consciousness and the collective unconscious.

The collective unconscious, or objective psyche, is shared by all humankind. This instinctual heritage includes certain definite patterns, or archetypes, which govern the way symbols and psychic images are processed. Studies of dream and myth show these same patterns from all cultures and all eras of human history. Recognizing these archetypal patterns is the key to understanding dreams and the process of individuation.

The process of fulfillment, or “individualization,” is the striving toward a personal unity of consciousness and unconsciousness. And, it takes place over the course of a lifetime.

For more information on Carl Jung,   http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung.