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The Ego and the Self

In the first half of life we develop an ego. This is the centre of consciousness. This is the point from which we make decisions. We get married, we buy a certain house, we get a certain job, we wear a blue shirt. We have made for ourselves an identity. However in the second half of life (the second half of life begins at any time from age 15 to 75 and even older. We are talking about the second half of our psychological life, the most common time for this journey to begin is in the mid 30's) we begin to question who we are and to some extent we let go of the person we thought we were and we journey towards the self. The self is the real centre of the psyche; the place from where we can be at peace, where we are able to integrate the opposites and from where we can love in an unconditional way. This letting go of the ego and integrating to some extent the contents of the unconscious is what Jung called Individuation. Marie Louise Von Franz, one of Jung's close associates made the following comments about individuation and quoted from a book Jungian Psychology Unplugged, by a Jungian Analyst, Daryl Sharp.

Individuation means being yourself, becoming yourself. Nowadays one always uses the cheap word "self-realization," but what one really means is ego realization.. Jung means something quite different. He means the realization of one's own predestined development. That does not always suit the ego, but it is what one intrinsically feels could or should be. Basically that is what individuation is all about. One lives one's destiny. Then usually one is more humane, less criminal, less destructive to one's environment.