Sister Agnes Hughes, IHM, is a professor of psychology at Immaculata University, Immaculata, PA and a licensed Psychologist of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She received her B.A. in theology from Immaculata College and M A and Ph.D. in psychology from Fordham University. She did postdoctoral studies with Erik Erikson through the International Institute for Humanistic Studies in Vermont, and at the Jungian Institute in Zurich, Switzerland.
She has worked for the past twenty years on the renewal of religious life with Congregations of Men and Women Religious and diocesan clergy. She is currently teaching it both the Graduate and Undergraduate levels at Immaculata University and is a former member of the Faculty of the College Division and of the Religious Studies Division of St Charles Seminary, Overbrook, PA.
Publication
The Christian Perspective On Individuation: Psychological and Spiritual Helps For The Journey To Wholeness by Sister Agnes Hughes, I.H.M.
The Journal of Pastoral Counseling VOLUME XXII
Spring - Summer 1987
Fall - Winter, 1987
Abstract
The process of individuation, the journey toward wholeness, is best understood on the psychological level by examining stages of the journey and the needs experienced at each stage. The theories of Erik Erikson, Abraham Maslow, and Carl Jung increase our understanding of what is involved in personal development and motivation over a lifetime. However, for a Christian, the beliefs and truths of Christianity are an indispensable part of growth and need to be joined to the psychological if the fullness of life promised by Christ is to be realized. An effort is made in this article to plot the intersecting and complementary aspects of psychological and spiritual growth, thereby offering a Christian perspective on Individuation.
Introduction
By examining the process of individuation, the journey toward wholeness, through the lenses of Christian spirituality, we are afforded a fuller understanding of our unique personhood than were we to confine our analysis to either the insights of psychology alone or to the truths of Christianity exclusively. In the 1980's, we find ourselves in possession of rich insights which are the fruit of a powerful, historical convergence. Within the last twenty-five years, two significant streams of thought and investigation, namely, the documents of Vatican II and the findings of adult developmental psychology, have been providing both compelling inspiration and essential information for an increased motivation and understanding of the life journey of a Christian.
The compelling inspiration comes from one of the central messages of Vatican II; i.e., the radical call to personal holiness for all Christians. We are urged to internalize our beliefs, to take responsibility for our growth in holiness, and to strengthen the Body of Christ through our individual gifts and diversified ministries. The ongoing response to this invitation continues to be expressed in such events and practices as the personal reading of Scripture, the emergence of multiple prayer forms and experiences including such things as Centering prayer, Poustinia days of prayer and recollection, and the increased personalization of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and countless other religious attitudes and experiences.
The essential information emerged from the realm of psychology where the emphasis on adult development has greatly enlarged our understanding of the person who is seeking wholeness. We now know more about the how and why of our growth from the various investigations of the life cycle than ever before in our history. Consequently, at this time, as we strive for wholeness and holiness we are both well informed from psychology and deeply inspired from a post-Vatican II spirituality. Evidence of the powerful convergence of these two streams of thought can be observed on all sides. One such striking example is the recent book of John Welch, "Spiritual Pilgrims". His choice of a somewhat unlikely pair of pilgrims, Teresa of Avila and Carl Jung. demonstrates convincingly that the spiritual and psychological aspects of life are, or should be, interwoven into the fabric of the journey to fullness of personhood and life in abundance. Likewise, his designation of these persons as pilgrims underscores the recurring concept of Vatican II in its description of the People of God as pilgrims and provides the appropriate name for one who is making a journey for which the route is not always clearly mapped out.
When we acknowledge early in life that growth is an essential, continuous process of change and development and that the person in process is best described as a needy pilgrim, we have the necessary mindset and disposition of heart for an active, conscious pursuit of psychological and spiritual maturity. In addition, all pilgrims journeying toward this maturity or individuation need to ask repeatedly how their spiritual growth is dynamizing their personality development, or to express it another way, they need to ask frequently how and where the dimensions of psychological and spiritual growth intersect and complement each other.
A three-pronged framework for this questioning is inherent in the two concepts already introduced, namely, journey and pilgrim. On the journey, a pilgrim is 1) always somewhere along the way, 2) always needing things along the way, and 3) always trying to grow in awareness of himself and his surroundings as he makes his way along the route. So, as pilgrims, we profit from asking often, "Where am I? "What needs have I?", and "What is happening to me as I travel?" I The insights of psychology address these three aspects of growth directly and Sacred Scripture, filled as it is with human strivings and yearnings, sheds light on the religious aspects of the human journey.
In the following pages I will try to examine some psychological aspects of normal growth and development and point to the spiritual beliefs and truths which relate to them in an effort to unfold a viable, Christian perspective on the process of individuation.
From among many well-known personality theorists, three in particular examine relevant issues for the human journey and share a common concern for fullness of personhood or the actualization of full potential. First, for an understanding of where we are on any lap of the journey, the psychosocial theory of Erik Erikson offers invaluable guidelines and explanations. Next, Abraham Maslow equips us to assess the motivations and needs we have throughout our life span. Thirdly, Carl Jung identifies those aspects of the self of which we are readily aware and those of which we are unaware and describes the dynamics by which both are integrated through the process he has called Individuation. In addition to their common concern for wholeness, these theorists offer explanations of human behavior which are congenial to, although not identical with, the Christian concept of person. All three speak either directly or obliquely to a religious sense which is an integral part of human development. Thus, their theories can serve as functional tools for trying to understand the impact and meaning of Jesus' statement to His disciples, "I have come that you may have life and life in abundance", (John 15:11). Their concepts and explanations are useful for searching out what is involved in our movement toward the realization of that promise.
Stages Of The Journey
Erikson enables us to situate the pilgrim somewhere on the journey. In his psychosocial theory, he describes the interaction of the person with his social world in terms of a specific challenge at each turning point or significant stage of growth. Although each stage is essential to full growth, the stages most actively challenged in young and middle adulthood are stages five, six, and seven in Erikson's schema, so we will give special thought to their development within religious formation in particular and their contribution to full Christian maturity in general. Presently, every effort is made to invite and to admit into novitiates and seminaries, men and women who possess at least an adequate amount of trust, will power, initiative, and industry (the outcomes of a positive resolution of Erikson's first four stages), so that they are able to meet the joint challenges of human development and religious life. Many candidates are moving toward the end of the fifth stage. Most of them understand that their personal identity has emerged from the multiple roles and corresponding responsibilities they have lived out through the first eighteen to twenty years of life as they have searched for an answer to the persistent question, "Just who am I anyhow?" Gradually they have come to know that the consistently present part of each of us comes to be recognized as the "me" I am at this point in my life. This coming to know and to claim my unique self is experienced mainly in the psychological realm. It can be profoundly influenced, nonetheless, by the realization that I have not only been "called by name" by human parents but by God the Father of us all as well. So too, another important dimension of identity is communicated through a spiritual insight found in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 2:17). We read that our identity won't be revealed fully until we receive that white pebble on which our secret name will be written, that name known only to God and to me. From this scripture reading we learn that our identity remains incomplete until the end of time. On the psychological level, too, we come to appreciate that a healthy sense of self is substantial but nonetheless fluid, open to continual development and modification throughout our lifetime. Most assuredly, a young person can be helped greatly in his/her continued search for identity within a new religious family if the responses to "Who am l?" include input and inspiration from both the psychological and the spiritual areas of life.
One particularly crucial task of the identity stage is the movement from dependence to independence. The achievement of this state of independence can get threatened in the early years of religious life or seminary training when there seems to be a demand for what appears to be a dependence on some form of religious authority in the person of a director or a superior. It is, therefore, critical to healthy growth that the young person learn to distinguish immature, psychological dependence from a spiritually-motivated surrender that is part of the "yes" to a call to religious life or priesthood. The dynamic required by communal living is from independence to dependence but rather from independence to interdependence, the characteristic which is the hallmark of a healthy resolution of stage six.
The psychosocial stage of intimacy/isolation is possibly the most vital stage of adult development. For the person espousing celibacy, it becomes a challenge of even greater importance and struggle. While his contemporaries in the secular world are most probably attempting to develop intimacy through genital heterosexual relationships, the celibate living in a predominately single-sex environment must come to know intimacy by another route. In community, he comes to develop gradually those strengths which enable him to share deeply with another or others his beliefs, feelings, hopes, and fears. He learns, often painfully, that the demands of intimacy, mutuality, and self-disclosure are costly. Erikson designates the virtue of love as the outcome of this willingness to share one's identity; therefore, what more profound and explicit tutoring in the ways of loving could the young person be given than that found in Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians (1Cor. 13:4-13).
For the person answering a call to priesthood or religious life, stages six and seven tend to overlap considerably. It is as it he or she must know, share, and care simultaneously or quickly. How or why is this so? Initially, to make the choice of responding to the call requires a reasonably thorough assessment of one's identity (know myself). To live community demands intimacy (share myself). In a very short space of time, the focus is on service or ministry (care, for others). It seems as if, at least on the psychological level, the young person is expected to accelerate the stage of intimacy and be ready to care (the "virtue" of the generativity/stagnation.
In essence, then, Erikson helps us to understand the psychosocial aspect of where we are on each of the life stages along the journey. His underlying message, inherent in the term "psychosocial'' states that I grow in and through interactions with the others in my ever-widening world as they both affirm me in and call me to fuller growth. When the spiritual dimension is interlaced within these stages, the message is broadened to include the Other, and I come to acknowledge that ultimately it is in and through Christ that I live and move and have my being. Clearly, then, the spiritual and the psychosocial are joined at every stage of the journey for the Christian. And the spiritual empowers the psychosocial when the sources of spiritual growth are consciously and conscientiously
Needs Of The Pilgrim
The pilgrim always needs things on the journey. These "things" are obviously our needs and the well-known hierarchy suggested by Maslow can be useful in identifying the categories of needs constantly operative in our lives. By separating deficit (D) needs (physiological, safety, love and belonging, and self-esteem needs) from the growth or being (B) need (self-actualization), Maslow helps us to realize that deficit needs constantly press for response in the order of their prior potency. In other words, when physiological and safety needs have been adequately responded to, the need to be loved and to belong is felt. Likewise, when that level of need receives an adequate response, the need to experience my worth is felt. The four deficit needs are always present on the journey. I will always seek and require a response to them. The B need, on the other hand, is only experienced when the prior needs are "in place" or are recognized and responded to. The crux of this motivational explanation lies in the phrase "adequate response". There is always the possibility, even the probability, Maslow intimates, that I can get locked into seeking a satiating or inappropriate response to any of the deficit needs and consequently fail to experience the B need of self -actualization or the experience of living out of my full potential. I can eat more than I need; I can solve difficulties through sleeping them away; I can block out any discomfort to my emotional security by boxing myself in both physically and emotionally.
It is precisely in regard to learning a productive way of managing these needs that the lights and inspiration from the spiritual can be joined to those learned from human sources and interactions. To temper a gnawing anxiety or possible over-concern about physiological needs, the reminder of Jesus not to be anxious for even the lilies of the field are provided for by a provident Father (Mt. 7:31) can be invoked. When security or safety needs are threatened, there is genuine solace and comfort in remembering the constant exhortation throughout the Scriptures (e.g., Is. 43:5) to have no fear God is with us. In those inevitable times of feeling unloved or alienated (not belonging), we can find deep strength in the assurance of God's love - Hesed - constant, faithful, enduring, and most especially, offered to us with "no strings attached". Self-esteem or self-worth is significantly increased by the spiritual distinction of being a son or daughter of the loving Father whom we call "Abba".
Both the psychological insights drawn from the theories of Erikson and Maslow and the selected spiritual truths which speak to them are experienced in our consciousness. We are or can be aware of them by attending to arid by reflecting on our felt responses to persons, situations, and happenings in our day-to-day experiences. To these conscious source of self-knowledge, the all-important observations of Carl Jung can be added so that the value and impact of the unconscious in our lives can be acknowledged and utilized.
Integration Of The Self
Jung claims that the unconscious is the great guide, adviser, and friend of the conscious. Moreover, he distinguishes those parts of the total self which originate in the unconscious from those which operate in the conscious part of our lives. The ego, for example, in Jung's system, is the center of consciousness. It is the executive part of the total self. It performs the adaptive and coping functions of everyday living. Its attitudes and functions are well known to anyone familiar with the Myers-Briggs Inventory. Getting in touch with the extraversion/introversion, sensing/intuiting, thinking/feeling dimensions of the personality is a way of describing, through conscious assessment, a preferred (by temperament) way of being present to reality. For Jung, this awareness is only half of the picture of the full.
One part of the self which originates in the unconscious is the persona, the mask we show to others. This aspect of a person is determined mostly by cultural expectations. It is helpful and indispensable in given circumstances; e.g., the professional posture of the nurse on duty. However, self-knowledge would be greatly limited of a person failed to get under the social aspect of personality to explore the substance of the true self. Some of the warnings of Jesus to the Pharisees about cleaning only the outside of the cup or changing the appearance of their faces for others to know they are fasting (Mt. 23:24; Mt. 6:16) are sobering in this regard.
If we choose to equate our total selves with our persona, we don't see and don't want to see the shadow part of the personality, another aspect of self which resides in the unconscious. Volumes have been written on Jung's concept of shadow; however, even a brief definition helps us get to its meaning. It can be understood as the unacceptable in us, those characteristics which we deem inconsistent with our social roles or masks, or simply, the dark side of our personality. We are all conscious of some of our faults or shortcomings and these are difficult enough to accept or to change. But there are still others we are unconscious of and these may the very things we dislike in others. This is the shadow part of our personality. Jung advises we need to "waste time" on self-reflection if we want to discover the negatives, the unrest, anger, and even hatred, hidden in our selves. Jesus does more than advise it. He makes in an indispensable condition for salvation for we may be seeing the speck in our neighbor's eye and be missing the plank in our own (Mt 7:3-5).
The gradual bringing together of the conscious and unconscious parts of the personality results in the gradual attainment of selfhood, the formation of a whole person, Jung's meaning of self. This self, the fullness of our unique personhood, then, is the end product, the reward, so to speak, of all the efforts made along the journey to come to a fuller and clearer knowledge of myself. This is the process, which Jung calls Individuation - bringing the various components of the personality under the conscious control of the self. Through this process. the conscious and the unconscious within a person learn to know, respect, value, and accommodate each other. How effectively this is accomplished depends, though, on whether or not the ego is willing to listen to the messages of the unconscious aspects of self. Individuation is real only if the person is aware of it and consequently makes a living connection with it. It cannot happen automatically.
For Christians, the motivation to initiate this process is deep and compelling for they recognize that it leads to the discovery of what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God. For them, it is truly a gradual unfolding, under the light and power of the Holy Spirit, of that unique call to become what God intends me to be.
Jung maintains that individuation is ultimately a religious process which requires a corresponding religious attitude; i.e., the ego's will submits to God's will. In and of itself, however, the process of individuation is not an adequate model for Christian spiritual growth. It neglects the explicit ongoing dialogue with Christ which begins for the Christian in Baptism. To live out Paul's imperative regarding the putting on of the mind of Christ.
An essential question arises out of any discussion of individuation, namely, how can one actively be aware of and be involved in the process? Or, will we know we are moving toward wholeness and how will we know? There are many ways of participating in the process; e.g., attempting to listen to our unconscious prompting. The lights, the intuitions. the inspirations we receive should be ''heard'' and voiced, most often to a friend, a spiritual director, or a mentor. Ultimately, reflection is the indispensable key to self- awareness and personal growth. When we take time to observe and contemplate our inner workings (convictions. feelings, judgments, doubts, resolutions, and hesitancies), we are in dialogue with our unconscious. Being in contact with nature puts us in line with messages communicated through God's manifold creation. Modern science and technology continue to take much of the mystery and wonder out of life. By cherishing mystery, to stand in awe of it, we activate the creative capacity within us. A Christian cherishes a most profound mystery in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and consequently recognizes that the Spirit of God speaks to us from our inner depths and from the world around us - the unconscious and conscious aspects of our individual and collective lives.
Conclusion
Essentially, the call to wholeness through the process of individuation is best accomplished by centering our life in God as we journey through the stages and wrestle with the needs of our humanity. To do this requires spirituality and the gradual unfolding of a mature faith that keeps pace with psychological growth. For too many persons, a routine, ritualistic spirituality leaves them limping through the hardest years of their lives To offset this deprivation, spiritual energy must be consciously acknowledged and absorbed into the fabric of everyday situations, responsibilities, and interactions. Religiously energized persons with a vital, life-giving spirituality are best equipped for the demands of the journey. The operational definition of what it means to be equipped for the journey is the Person of Jesus Christ. He lived through a life span, experienced our needs, and integrated His humanity with Divine energy every step of the way from Bethlehem to Calvary. For us, then, He is at once the pattern, the process, and the power for our journey. To travel with Jesus to the Father is to maintain a Christian perspective on Individuation.
Recommended
Erikson, E. (1963). Childhood and Society. New York: Norton and Co
Jung, C.G. (1960). The Structure and dynamics of the psyche in Collected Works, vol.
Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and Personality. New York Harper
Welch. J. (1982). Spiritual Pilgrims: Carl Jung and Teresa of Avila. New York: Paulist Press.