One of the best known features of the psychology developed by Swiss psychoanalyst, Carl Gustav Jung, was the concept of individuation, that is, the process by which a person becomes his or her self as distinct from other persons or from the collective. According to Jung it is the process by which the individual becomes "whole" (rather than "perfect"). Jung stressed, however, that individuation could be achieved only in relationship with others. He wrote that "The self is relatedness; the self doesn't exist without relationship. Only when the self mirrors itself in so many mirrors does it really exist. . .You can never come to your self by building a meditation hut on the top of Mount Everest; you will only be visited by your own ghosts and that is not individuation. . .You are all along with yourself and the self doesn't exist. . .Not that you are, but that you do is the self. The self appears in your deeds, and deeds always mean relationship.
In these essays, five eminent Jungian analysts explore the implications of this individuation process from different perspectives, drawing on their intensive knowledge of Jung's thought and the experiences of their clients in analysis. Also included, as an illustration of the individuation process, is the entire Indian folk tale "The King and the Corpse" as told by Heinrich Zimmer as well as an interpretation of the popular musical "Phantom of the Opera".
