Individuation
Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30
CORE DEFINITION
The lifelong process of moving toward wholeness. Integrating consciousness and the unconscious, the shadow and the persona, the anima and the animus, ultimately becoming a unique and indivisible "Self."
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
The ultimate project of life. In the first half of life, we establish the "Ego" (who I am, who I am not) through subtraction; in the second half, we return to the "Self" (accepting everything I have rejected) through addition. The essence of a midlife crisis is the beginning of the call to individuation.
Anchor fast decisions
Jung proposed that individuation is the lifelong process of moving toward "wholeness": integrating opposites such as consciousness and the unconscious, the persona and the shadow, the anima and the animus, to become a unique and indivisible "Self." In the first half of life, one typically establishes the Ego (who I am / who I am not) through "subtraction"; in the second half, one returns to and accepts previously rejected parts through "addition."
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/2Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individuationverified
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