The definition of the word 'individuation' implies a process of "othering", that is, to differentiate out of group identity. To see the "Other" is necessary for a true relationship to develop, so it is not anti-social. But the notion of "othering" has also been used to denote a political agenda of domination and oppression. Individuation has both light and dark consequences, but it is a force that cannot be stopped. There is only a choice to articulate it through the lens of the individual or the collective. Webster's Dictionary gives:
Individuation.
(1) : the development of the individual from the universal.
(2) : the determination of the individual in the general.
b : the process by which individuals in society become differentiated from one another.
Individuation is experienced as a painful process. We are averse to being existentially alone, disconnected from everything else in the universe. The self as a goal of individuation is a 'complexio oppositorum'. It seems contradictory that utmost individuation, which leads to a distinctive character and consciousness, is also the archetype of totality. I think it has to do with the fact that individuation is a necessary prerequisite for attaining that divine form of unconsciousness which, in Christian history, has been denoted the mystical union with God. Individuation implies that consciousness is extended, as you more and more stand out from collective unconsciousness through disidentification, thus gaining a perspective. But at a point in time one must allow oneself to sink back into the 'darkness of God'. Unpolluted by collective identification and unconsciousness one may descend into that other form of unconsciousness, the dark night of the soul, as into a bath. Hence the disidentified and differentiated individual returns to the all-encompassing Oneness, which is God. C.G. Jung often cited that anonymous 12th century philosopher who said that "God is a circle whose centre is everywhere, whose circumference is nowhere." It means that the centre of God is the differentiated individual. So a human being can only attain wholeness by becoming an individual, i.e. differentiating himself out of unconscious wholeness and collective identity.
Individuation is coupled with great difficulties. When the children grow out of Kindergarten, they begin to lose their group identity, when all children exist in naive togetherness - Blacks and Whites, too. A complication of the first phase in natural individuation is 'shadow-projection'. (The 'shadow' is the hidden or unconscious aspects of oneself, which the ego has either repressed or never recognized.) But an important step is when the individual realizes that something has emerged out of his own unconscious as a projection. The shadow is only integrated after having been projected.
However, the term "othering" cannot simplistically be equated with shadow-projection. The process of othering is discussed by many philosophers and psychoanalysts. The notion of the "Other" does not simply denote "the scapegoat". In fact, according to Levinas, God is "The Infinite Other". The notion of the Other is relevant in individuation. If one fails to distinguish otherness, it only means that one has failed to differentiate out of collective identity. According to Freudians and Lacanians, if the individual fails to distinguish between self and other, identification and desire, he/she is bound to develop some form of narcissistic pathology.
The ideal of "sameness" today dominates the discourse. The purport of politically correct thinking is that we must stay put in Kindergarten, when One is All and All is One. This merely serves to curb individuation. We won't prevent the phase of shadow-projection by prolonging the immature phase of collective mass-psychology. In fact, it gets even worse, because the force of individuation will break out of its prison and create a massive collective shadow-projection. We cannot prevent individuation. We can only further a sophisticated process of othering on individual basis, known as 'individuation'. Alternatively, we can curb this process by building a collective ideology of "sameness", thus paving the way for primitive collective shadow-projection. In the end, sameness cannot be maintained without otherness. There are still those people who cannot be fitted into sameneness. These are the "others" who must be destroyed, so that we can maintain sameness. This means that the ideology of sameness is bound to shoot itself in the foot and destroy itself. In Mao's China the authorities launched campaigns against the capitalist traitors who had infiltrated society. The people who suffer persecution are typically intellectuals and successful people. In Kampuchea they went as far as shooting every intellectual. If you have developed your intellect, it means that you are a traitor in that you have begun to differentiate out of group identity.
Mats Winther
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