The Principle of Individuation: Toward the Development of Human Consciousness

The Principle of Individuation suggests new approaches, on both personal and communal levels, for gaining freedom from the compulsion to repeat endlessly the dysfunctional patterns that have conditioned us. In this concise and contemporary account of the process of individuation, Murray Stein sets out its two basic movements and then examines the central role of numinous experience, the critical importance of initiation, and the unique psychic space required for its unfolding. Using psychological insights from Carl Jung’s writings, from myths and fairytales, and from years of clinical experience, he offers a vivid description of this lifelong and dynamic process that will be useful to clinicians and the general public alike.

Stein suggests new approaches—on both personal and communal levels—for gaining freedom from the compulsion to repeat endlessly the dysfunctional patterns that have conditioned us. In this concise and contemporary account of the process of individuation, he sets out its two basic movements and then examines the central role of numinous experience, the critical importance of initiation, and the unique psychic space required for its unfolding. Using psychological insights from C. G. Jung's writings, from myths and fairytales, and from years of clinical experience, Stein offers a vivid description of this lifelong and dynamic process that will be useful to clinicians and the general public alike.

As a movement toward the further development of human consciousness in individuals, in cultural traditions, and in international arenas where the relations among diverse cultures have become such a pressing issue today, understanding the principle of individuation has relevance for students and workers in many fields. The principium individuation is a phrase with a long and distinguished history in philosophy, extending from the Middle Ages to Leibniz, Locke, and Schopenhauer. In Jungian psychology, it is brought into the contemporary world as a psychological principle that speaks of the innate human tendency to become distinct and integrated-to become conscious of our purpose, who and what we are, and where we are going.

Murray Stein, Ph.D. is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the International School of Analytical Psychology Zurich (ISAP-ZURICH). He is a founding member of the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts (1977) and of the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts (1980). He was president of the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP) from 2001 to 2004 and President of ISAP-ZURICH from 2008 to 2012. He has lectured internationally and authored countless papers and well over 45 books, including Jung’s Treatment of Christianity, In Midlife, Jung’s Map of the Soul, Minding the Self, Outside Inside and All Around and Jung’s Red Book for Our Time Volume 1 through 5 (co-edited with Thomas Arzt). He is currently preparing his Collected Writings, 6 volumes of which have been published to date. He lives in Switzerland and has a private practice in Zurich and from his home in Goldiwil.