The Quest for Consciousness: Individuation, Wholeness, and the Mystery of Existence

This three-hour presentation explores Jung’s concept of individuation and its relationship to consciousness, psychological wholeness, mental health, and personal growth. It examines the movement from unconscious identification and projection towards self-reflection, shadow integration, the reconciliation of opposites, and a deeper relationship between the ego and the Self. It also considers the stages of alchemical transformation researched by Jung as symbolic expressions of psychological development and individuation.

Jung’s ideas will be placed in dialogue with mystical and Asian traditions, including the Mundaka and Mandukya Upanishads, Atman and Brahman, turiya, Buddhist mindfulness and non-duality, and unio mystica. The presentation will consider their parallels with Jung’s understanding of consciousness and individuation while recognizing the distinctions among these traditions.

Learning objectives
As a result of attending this course, participants will be able to:

1. Define Jung’s concepts of the ego, the Self, consciousness, and individuation.
2. Recognise the movement from unconscious identification and projection towards self-reflection and greater psychological integration.
3. Explain the roles of shadow integration and the reconciliation of opposites in the individuation process.
4. Describe Jung’s interpretation of alchemical stages as symbolic expressions of psychological transformation.
5. Differentiate ego-centred consciousness from a broader psychological relationship with the Self and its implication for Jungian Analysis
6. Compare Jung’s understanding of consciousness with selected concepts from Upanishadic, Buddhist, and Western mystical traditions.
7. Describe how individuation may contribute to psychological wholeness, mental health, resilience, and personal growth.

After the course participants will:

• Have a good enough understanding of the relationship between the ego and the Self.
• Recognise how projection, unconscious identification, and shadow dynamics may limit consciousness and psychological development.
• Be familiar with the role of inner opposites and alchemical symbolism in Jung’s model of individuation.
• Understand selected parallels and distinctions between Jungian psychology and mystical or Asian traditions.
• Be better able to relate the process of individuation to clinical work, mental health, personal growth, and psychological wholeness.

Required reading
Links to download these readings will be included in the ticket confirmation email.

• Jung, C. G. (1969). On the nature of the psyche (R. F. C. Hull, Trans.). In The collected works of C. G. Jung: Vol. 8. The structure and dynamics of the psyche (§§365-420). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1954).

Recommended reading

• Addison, A. (2016). Jung’s psychoid concept and Bion’s proto-mental concept: A comparison. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 61(5), 567–587. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5922.12259
• van Lommel, P. (2010). Consciousness beyond life: The science of the near-death experience. HarperOne.

Instructor

Vlado Šolc is a professional psychotherapist and Diplomate Jungian Analyst practising in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Chicago, Illinois. He received his training at the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago and Charles University. He is an active member of the Chicago Society of Jungian Analysts and the C. G. Jung Institute of Chicago, where he serves as co-director of the JPP and JSP programs.

Vlado lives in constant awe of the miracle of existence. His clinical focus includes psycho-spiritual crises involving loss of meaning and direction in life, the mind–body connection and psychosomatic issues, immigration and cultural identity, and women’s empowerment.

He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles and books, including Psyche, Matrix, Reality; The Father Archetype; In the Name of God—Fanaticism from the Perspective of Depth Psychology; Dark Religion: Fundamentalism from the Perspective of Jungian Psychology (with George Didier, 2018); Democracy and Individuation in the Age of Conspiracy Theories; and Temná Religia (Ukrainian edition, Exist, 2025). He is currently completing his forthcoming book, Symbolic Life, Contemporary Culture and Psyche in Transformation: The Art of Jungian Analysis, (Routledge, 2027) which explores the clinical encounter, symbolic life, individuation, and transformations of the individual and collective psyche.