Individuation

Individuation is a process (not a realized goal) in which the ego becomes increasingly aware of its origin from, and dependence upon, an archetypal psyche. The individuation urge promotes a state in which the ego is related to the self without being identified with it. Out of this state there emerges a more or less continuous dialogue between the conscious ego and the unconscious, and also between outer and inner experience. A two-fold split is healed to the extent that individuation is achieved, namely the split between conscious and unconscious (which began at the birth of consciousness), and the split between subject and object. The dichotomy between outer and inner reality is replaced by a sense of unitary reality.

The process of individuation is symbolized by the trinity archetype, while the quaternity symbolizes its goal or completed state when, through the [transcendent function]

, integration is complete. Three is the number for egohood; four is the number for wholeness, the self. But since individuation never truly completes integration, each temporary state of completion or wholeness must be submitted once again to the dialectic of the trinity in order for life to go on.