Lately, I have been reflecting on my use of art and creativity in my individuation process. I would like to tell you more about it but first I want to give you an explanation for ‘what individuation means to me’ before I get into my art and creativity. I have given my explanation much consideration: how will I explain it? I ask myself. I could give you Carl Jung’s teaching on it but I want to break it down to something simpler, first, before I quote him. His writing is highly intellectual and theoretical.  

What is individuation?

First of all, if you look at the word: individuation, from an etymological perspective, individuation comes from the Latin word in+dividuus: in = not or opposite and dividuus = to divide; therefore the root word means indivisible. I am stating the obvious but – we, as an individual, cannot be divided up.

The word individuate is a verb as it has a suffix added: ate. The sense of this verb is ‘the becoming of the individual’.

Collins dictionary

Individuation:

1. the act or process of individuating

• (in the psychology of Jung) the process by which the wholeness of the individual is established through the integration of consciousness and the collective unconscious

•   Zoology: the development of separate but mutually interdependent units, as in the development of zooids forming a colony

I like the meaning given by Merriam-Webster: individuation is the process by which individuals in society become differentiated from one another.

Interestingly, Merriam-Webster dictionary says: earliest evidence for individuation is from 1616, in the writing of Godfrey Goodman, bishop of Gloucester. In what way did he use it? Individuate: to make separate from the whole.

Bear with me for a moment again; I want to use the metaphor of fruit. Let’s take a bowl of fruit. There are pears, apples, bananas, plumbs, oranges and grapes and they are displayed in a big, beautiful glass bowl, symbolizing the community. Then a little girl comes along and wants to put them into families. They are all laid out on the table, in their separate groups: pears, apples bananas etc. Then our little friend notices that the apples are not all the same; neither are the pears and so on. She notices that all the fruit have their own markings and so they are all different. She has a busy afternoon separating them again. This process of displaying each fruit ‘on their own,’ as individuals, could remind you of number 3 of Colin’s dictionary. For my example, if fruit were humans: individuation takes place when the actual fruit itself is conscious of its own separateness and uniqueness. Each fruit needs to begin to understand what it like to be whole and separate, yet interdependent in community.

Carl Jung says’ Individuation is to divest the self of false wrappings’ and I think we begin, unconsciously, to do this as little children: for example, when two year olds say ‘no’ or ‘mine’ to everything in a contrary way. It is as if we are asserting our will to deviate from ‘the other person.’ We react against the rules of the home, societies and cultural expectations but it doesn’t stop there, it continues for a long time in our lives. This behavior looks like rebellion, perhaps, but we can also see the unrefined steps to independence. Abraham Maslow says:  ‘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.’ We start as children, we face challenges of all types, and over times as we refine our observations of ourselves and life, we ultimately mature.  So we live our lives becoming fully human over time but we can’t do this on our own, in a vacuum. See the lyrics of Simon & Garfunkel’s song in I am a rock:

Lyrics of I Am a Rock

A winter’s day
In a deep and dark December

I am alone
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow
I am a rock I am an island

I’ve built walls
A fortress deep and mighty
That none may penetrate
I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain
It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain
I am a rock I am an island

Don’t talk of love
Well I’ve heard the word before
It’s sleeping in my memory
I won’t disturb the slumber of feelings that have died
If I never loved I never would have cried
I am a rock I am an island

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me
I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me
I am a rock I am an island

And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriter: Paul Simon

Although it is a lovely sounding song it is not our goal to live like that but rather to heed James Hillman’s words: ‘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. ‘

In my understanding, the term individuation is about growing emotionally, spiritually and psychologically and becoming one’s own person, separate from ones family, friends and culture but still interdependent. It is an urge to develop into a unique individual (self-actualize). An individual who is able to know one’s own mind and also be able to work with others with respect. Being conscious and aware is important for this growth.

It starts as a young child and should continue until maturity but often gets arrested at some point because of trauma. The trauma doesn’t have to be huge. As young children we suffer minor traumas every day when we discover the world doesn’t revolve around us. Of course neglect, emotional abuse and physical abuse impact us as well. Situations like school and culture are a minefield of humiliations: when we become preteens and teenagers we are very aware of the differences of intellect, money status and looks and the onslaught bombards our self-esteems, even if it is only in our heads. Some of us become ever more fragile.

Early adulthood is the first challenge to grow up and mature beyond our battered self-esteems. Very much like the hero’s journey of Joseph Campbell, where the hero goes to fight and conquer the monster/villain, we are sent into the world to find our way. Other than learning how to make a life for ourselves we must master our lives and conquer the monsters within through conscious observation and reflection. Life offers us the challenges to grow in depth, self-esteem, self-belief, resilience, boundaries, etc. We become separate yet part of society; being at peace with ourselves and the world so that we become mature people.    

I found that bumbling through my life wasn’t enough to help me on my journey of growth (individuation). As I mentioned in a post, Growth: Butterfly Cycles, life did challenge me to grow BUT I also use some tools to live consciously and to help me in my individuation process. These tools are pretty simple but personal and might not resonate with everyone. I have used journaling, meditation, art, physical movement, music, play and some sort of mentorship throughout my life. I plan to tell you more specifically how I use these tools in future posts. Hopefully this post will continue to shed light on why I use them as I share my different processes in future posts.   

Here is a video of some of my art process specifically using the butterfly image to think about my process. You may have seen some of the images before. I look forward to sharing more next time.

In Growth: Butterfly Cycles I use the metaphor of the metamorphosis of the butterfly, in this post I use the metaphor of the bowl of fruit individuating. What’s next?

Have you consciously reflected on your process?

I hope you had a restful weekend.