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Child Psychiatrist /Adult Psychiatrist

Writer's pictureVilash Reddy, MD

Carl Jung - How To Be Authentic (Jungian Philosophy)

Updated: Aug 26

One of the most famous psychiatrist Carl Jung who developed Jungian Analysis. His approach to the human mind deferred from Sigmund Freud who believed it that alll mental illness started from childhood.Carl Jung - How To Be Authentic (Jungian Philosophy)


Carl Jung - How To Be Authentic (Jungian Philosophy)



The Individuation Process: Finding Your Authentic Self

How many of us can say that we live fully authentic lives?

Have you ever met someone who has undeniably discovered his authentic self? There is a confidence, a conviction in their passion for whatever path they are on. Psychologist Carl Jung described such flowering as individuation, the process by which personal and collective unconscious are brought into consciousness to reveal one’s whole personality. In short: it is the process of becoming self-actualized.


How many of us can say that we live fully authentic lives? In our quest for approval from peers, parents, mentors, and even from strangers, we often set aside what our intuition tells us is right, what is true for us, to fall in line with the rest of the pack. Think of the classic tale of the would-be artist son or daughter who goes to law school or medical school to please their parents.


Ironically, the energy that we use to suppress our inner voice is the very creative energy that returns to us, to be used for our own vocation. Fear of failure or low self-esteem may further work to push our passions down to a forgotten place—where, we tell ourselves, they belong. The problem is that by attempting to silence our inner voice, we limit our true potential and our ability to lead full and happy lives.


“What is it, in the end, that induces a man to go his own way and to rise out of unconscious identity with the mass as out of a swathing mist?” Jung asked in his collected works, The Development of Personality. “It is what is commonly called vocation: an irrational factor that destines a man to emancipate himself from the herd and from its well-worn paths." Anyone with a vocation hears that voice of his inner man: He is called.


The individuation process leads one ever closer to the person he is meant to be, with both a sense of awareness and a sense of wholeness. This journey is not just one of becoming whole but also one of expansion. Through individuation, boundaries of who we are and what we allow ourselves to know and feel extend even further out into the far reaches of what is possible: our potential.


As you prepare to embrace possibility, ask yourself: What is your passion—your vocation?

By learning to listen and following your inner voice, you will be able to direct your journey toward a unique and self-actualized life. If you don’t follow herd consciousness but rather your own destiny, you will be able to unlock your true potential and discover, at last, a sense of personal wholeness.


Only the outcasts can lead, for they stand ahead and above the rest and, from that place, can contribute back to the group and lead. By listening to that inner calling and pursuing your dreams, you can individuate and live a happy, fulfilled, and self-directed life of authenticity and purpose.


Source: Psychology Today

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