Jung

I've been taking classes at the Jung Center which I find extremely helpful to my psychological and spiritual growth. This has me recently checking out a few basic books about Jung and Jungian Theory. It's so unfortunate to think how much I didn't know or either forgotten about his studies; they truly are helpful. I liked how he traveled and explored other areas unknown to him to fully realize the psyche. For example, he was interested in Buddhism. He liked that the goal of Buddhism is to attain an inner stage of enlightenment, detaching oneself from the the physical world and the endless chatter of the psyche. Some other points on Buddhism:
• It is up to each person to follow their own path to enlightenment - there is little emphasis upon dogma and faith.
• The answer to spiritual growth is seen as lying within - there is no external deity as such
• Jung disagreed with Buddhism's view on suffering as an illusion from which one can ultimately escape through attaining enlightenment. Jung thought suffering is real and unavoidable. We can only overcome by living through it. Also, withdrawal from life is in itself a form of repression.
I feel like Buddhism is a part of the "individuation" process - finding enlightenment can kind of be like finding yourself.

The individuation process in never complete. The spiral path takes us on a lifelong journey. As we travel we gradually unravel the conditioning imposed by our own parents and society and peel away what Jung calls the "false wrappings" of our persona. This frees us to meet our own shadow and acknowledge its power within us, so that we can try to stop projecting it onto others. Gradually, our psyche becomes more balanced and we are able to become much more whole and effective humans.