Jung_Vocation_Individuation

							Jung, Vocation, and Individuation—6 May 2010
Drs. Mark Grandstaff and Cliff Mayes

"Trust that which gives you meaning and accept it as your guide." CG Jung

INDIVIDUATION. Jung believed that a human being is inwardly whole, but that most of
us have lost touch with important parts of our selves. Through listening to the messages of our
dreams and waking imagination, we can contact and reintegrate our different parts. The goal of
life is individuation, the process of coming to know, giving expression to, and harmonizing the
various components of the psyche. If we realize our uniqueness, we can undertake a process of
individuation and tap into our true self. Each human being has a specific nature and calling
which is uniquely his or her own, and unless these are fulfilled through a union of conscious and
unconscious, the person can become sick.

NARRATIVE. STORY. PERSONAL MYTHOLOGY Jung concluded that every person has a
story, and when a psychological issue occurs, it is because the personal story has been denied or
rejected. Healing and integration comes when the person discovers or rediscovers his or her own
personal story.


NEUROSIS. Jung had a hunch that what passed for normality often was the very force which
shattered the personality of the patient. That trying to be "normal", when this violates our inner
nature, is itself a form of pathology. In the psychiatric hospital, he wondered why psychiatrists
were not interested in what their patients had to say.

MYSTERY. For Jung life was a great mystery. We know and understand very little of it. He
never hesitated to say, "I don't know." Always admitted when he came to the end of his
understanding.

THE UNCONSCIOUS. A basic tenet: All products of the unconscious are symbolic
and can be taken as guiding messages. What is the dream or fantasy leading the person toward?
The unconscious will live, and will move us, whether we like it or not.

       Personal unconscious. That aspect of the psyche which does not usually enter
       the individual's awareness and which appears in overt behavior or in dreams. It is the
       source of new thoughts and creative ideals, and produces meaningful symbols.

       Collective unconscious. That aspect of the unconscious which manifests
       inherited, universal themes which run through all human life. Inwardly, the whole history
       of the human race, back to the most primitive times, lives on in us.



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      SYMBOL. A name, term, picture which is familiar in daily life, yet has other
      connotations besides its conventional and obvious meaning. Implies something vague and
      partially unknown or hidden, and is never precisely defined. Dream symbols carry
      messages from the unconscious to the rational mind.

      ARCHETYPES.               Foundational images which reflect basic patterns or universal
      themes common to us all that are present in the unconscious. These symbolic images
      exist outside space and time. Examples: Shadow, animus, anima, the old wise person, the
      innocent child, the trickster, the sage, the magician, the hero. There also seem to be
      nature archetypes, like fire, ocean, river, mountain as well as metaphoric archetypes as
      the hero’s or heroine’s journey.

      PERSONA. The "mask" or image we present to the world. Designed to make a particular
      impression on others, while concealing our true nature.

      SHADOW. The side of our personality which we do not consciously display in
      public. May have positive or negative qualities. If it remains unconscious, the shadow is
      often projected onto other individuals or groups.

      ANIMA. Archetype symbolizing the unconscious female component of the male
      psyche. Tendencies or qualities often thought of as "feminine."

      ANIMUS. Archetype symbolizing the unconscious male component of the female
      psyche. Tendencies or qualities often thought of as "masculine."

      DREAMS. Specific expressions of the unconscious which have a definite, purposeful
      structure indicating an underlying idea or intention. The general function of dreams is to
      restore one's total psychic equilibrium. They tend to play a complementary or
      compensatory role in our psychic makeup.

      COMPLEXES: Usually unconscious and repressed emotionally-toned symbolic material
      that is incompatible with consciousness. "Stuck-together" agglomerations of thoughts,
      feelings, behavior patterns, and somatic forms of expression. Can cause constant
      psychological disturbances and symptoms of neurosis. With intervention, can become
      conscious and greatly reduced in their impact.

      SYNCHRONICITY. The meaningful coincidence of a psychic and a physical state or
      event which have no causal relationship to each other.

      SELF. Archetype symbolizing the totality of the personality. It represents the striving
      for unity, wholeness, and integration.

      AMPLIFICATION. To get a larger sense of a dream, a kind of spreading-out of
      associations by referring to mythology, art, literature, music. ("Where have we heard this
      before."

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      ACTIVE IMAGINATION. A concept embracing a variety of techniques for activating
      our imaginal processes in waking life in order to tap into the unconscious meanings of
      our symbols.

      ARCHETYPAL REFLECTIVITY AND CAREER. A process
      whereby people think deeply about the reasons that they chose their career, how that
      choice fits into their most important goals in life, the ways in which it is or perhaps isn’t
      doing so now, and what can be done to build upon what is positive in their career and
      change what might be blocking their creativity and satisfaction. In this way, their
      “narratives” of themselves as having a “sense of calling” and their “narratives” of
      themselves as complete and complex individuals interweave. This may well involve
      changing jobs or complete careers. The result is a more powerful person and a stimulated
      movement toward individuation. It is a key trigger for the individuation process.

      VOCATUS. The process whereby we become ourselves as fully as we are able; the
      task is to find out how. See SENSE OF CALLING and ARCHETYPAL
      REFLECTIVITY AND CAREER.

      SENSE OF CALLING. The urge stimulated by the individuation process to
      discover who one is and to what he or she is beckoned to do with their lives. Often a
      second half of life issue.

      PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPES. People differ in certain basic ways, even though the
      instincts which drive us are the same. He distinguished two general attitudes--
      introversion and extraversion; and four functions--thinking, feeling, sensing, and
      intuiting.

                     Extravert: Outer-directed, need for sociability, chooses people as a
                     source of energy, often action-oriented.

                     Introvert: Inner-directed, need for privacy and space; chooses solitude to
                     recover energy, often reflective.

                     Thinking function: Logical, sees cause & effect relations, cool, distant,
                     frank, questioning. Sees categories and patterns.

                     Feeling function: Creative, warm, intimate, a sense of valuing positively
                     or negatively. Seeks Harmony (Note that this is not the same as emotion)

                     Sensing function: Sensory, oriented toward the body and senses, detailed,
                     concrete, present. Remembered experience.

                     Intuitive function: Sees many possibilities in situations, goes with
                     hunches, impatient with earthy details, impractical, sometimes not present.

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        In the field of strategic leadership education and personal reflectivity, Dr. Mark
Grandstaff, a Senior Fellow at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the
University of Maryland is internationally known for extending the Reflectivity Movement to a
wide variety of business and military venues. His latest book on strategic leadership education
has received critical acclaim from Drs. Stephen Covey (Seven Habits of Highly Effective People)
and Michael Ray, author of Creativity in Business. Additionally, he has advised Presidents
George Bush and Bill Clinton, served on the President’s Council for National Service, and has
taught at UC Berkeley, Oxford, UCLA, the University of Auckland, and the Army’s and Air
Force’s War Colleges. Trained in Depth Psychology, Dr. Grandstaff engages professionals in an
analysis of their personality and temperament types and archetypal selves, thus helping them
gain profound insight into their way of seeing and doing things, and providing them with the
tools to help understand colleagues and clients whose ways of interpreting and communicating
with others are different. In a work world that is experiencing greater personal, cultural and
ideological diversity, the model and skills Dr. Grandstaff helps employees and leaders cultivate
are essential to an effective work force, a strong corporate brand and a significant return on
investment. He is a master at helping leaders and companies reflect on the essence of who they
are and what they bring to the table. His research in the field of midlife at work has lead to our
understanding better how archetypal reflectivity stimulates the individuation process and the
quest for calling.

        Dr. Clifford Mayes, a professor of educational psychology at Brigham Young
University in Provo, Utah, is one of the founders of the Teacher Reflectivity Movement in the
U.S. and U.K. over the last decade. He is the author of seven nationally recognized books in the
field (including Inside Education: Depth Psychology in Teaching and Learning and The Hero’s
Journey in Teaching and Learning) as well as more than 40 articles in scholarly and professional
educational journals. Dr. Mayes holds two doctorates—one in education and one in clinical
psychology—and has helped many teachers across the nation reflect upon their practice in the
fascinating terms provided by depth psychology, especially archetypal psychology. His focus in
both his research and in workshops is on helping teachers and school leaders (re)connect with the
personal and transpersonal (or higher ethical and more universally spiritual) sources of their
sense of calling as school people. Dr. Mayes accomplishes this by offering teachers a wide and
stimulating variety of activities, perspectives, tools, and techniques for understanding
themselves, their colleagues, and their students better. The result is teachers who are happier and
more effective in their work, which in turn helps students find greater satisfaction and efficacy in
their classroom life.

        Together, Drs. Mayes and Grandstaff guide leaders and employees through a variety of
exercises and activities in these workshops. They assist people getting to know themselves
better through tying their work into their larger life journey, and finding a renewed sense of
mission, excitement, and satisfaction in their career.




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