Personal development

Unlike Freud, who emphasized the early years of life as a decisive stage in the formation of personality patterns, Jung viewed personality development as a dynamic process, as a lifelong evolution.
He spoke almost nothing about socialization in childhood and did not share Freud's views that the events of the past (especially psychosexual conflicts) are decisive for human behavior. From the point of view of Jung, a person constantly acquires new skills, achieves new goals and realizes himself more and more fully. He attached great importance to such a life goal of an individual as “finding the self”, which is the result of the striving of the various components of the personality towards unity. This theme of striving for integration, harmony and integrity was subsequently repeated in the existential and humanistic theories of the individual.

According to Jung, the ultimate goal of life is the full realization of the “I”, that is, the formation of a single, unique and integral individual. The development of each person in this direction is unique, it continues throughout life and includes a process called individuation. Simply put, individuation is a dynamic and evolving process of integrating many opposing intrapersonal forces and tendencies.
In its final expression, individuation involves the conscious realization by man of his unique mental reality, the full development and expression of all elements of the personality. Thus, the archetype of the self becomes the center of the personality and balances many of the opposing qualities that make up the personality as a single main whole.
As a result, the energy necessary for continued personal growth is released. The result of the implementation of individuation, very difficult to achieve, Jung called self-realization. He believed that this final stage of personal development is available only to capable and highly educated people, who also have enough leisure for that. Because of these limitations, self-realization is not available to the vast majority of people.