Not super familiar with his or any of his ilk’s work it is a keyword and idea I think about a lot
Do you perhaps mean self-individuation? That’s what jung talks about the most. As I understood it, it’s the process of facing up to who you really are and coming to terms with that. Jung’s theory of the self proposes that our conscious self is only part of what’s going on in our brains, and there’s all these instinctual, repressed or just ignored parts of us that influence our decisions and reactions. The process of individuation is exploring, confronting and integrating all those parts, so that we understand and better manage their influence on us.
The idea is that while we grow up parents, teachers, other kids or adults, all teach us (intentionally or not) what is good and what is unacceptable for us to be. Some traits are not right for us, but still acceptable to society, and they often become part of our projection onto romantic figures, because we want to have those traits indirectly through them. So if you’ve been told to bottle up your feelings, and never express emotions you might be attracted to a parter who is kind and intuitive and emotionally aware. Or if you’ve been taught to always follow the rules and behave, you might find a wild, freespirit type strongly appealing.
Other traits are perceived very negatively, and so we don’t consciously identify with or want them. But they’re still there inside of us, and Jung argues these still influence us, however hard we try to suppress them. As is seen in how people project their negative traits onto other groups, and then punish those others rather than face the reality that those traits are inside all of us. This is called projection, and I sure you can probably think of some examples in contemporary life…
The process of individuation is learning to spot these traits in our subconscious, and bring them into conciousness and figure out how to integrate them into ourselves. By doing this we become deeper and more rounded individuals, gaining skills and qualities that we’d previously denied ourselves because “feelings are for girls” or “standing up for yourself is too aggressive and gross, and I hate violence so I’m not going to argue with this person instead I’ll just go home and be passive-aggressive to my family”.
I think that’s the word I actually had in mind, (self) individuation
Jung didn’t have much to say about self actualization I dont think. it was more Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. The term refers to what is possible after you’ve managed to take care of all your other needs, and what is left is to become the best most genuine expression of your possibilities you can be. Most people will never get their needs met and so actualization in its purest form will be elusive and fleeting.
I don’t think this is quite right - the “hierarchy of needs” pyramid is misleading. Self-actualization is fleeting just like physical care (eg meeting basic needs) is fleeting - if you stop doing it, things go downhill quickly, and so you’re always doing it at least a little bit.
While a lot of people frame self actualization as what they would do if only all other needs are met, they really should be thought of as needs you must meet to feel fulfilled. Could be as simple as reading a good book, getting out into nature or cooking a nice meal. Anything that you get value from ticks the box for a little while.
I interpret the self-actualization part more as something like following one’s dream, or doing something one is really passionate about.
Not everyone have this luxury, but then people live just fine without it.
I don’t think this is quite right - the “hierarchy of needs” pyramid is misleading. Self-actualization is fleeting just like physical care (eg meeting basic needs) is fleeting - if you stop doing it, things go downhill quickly, and so you’re always doing it at least a little bit.
While a lot of people frame self actualization as what they would do if only all other needs are met, they really should be thought of as needs you must meet to feel fulfilled. Could be as simple as reading a good book, getting out into nature or cooking a nice meal. Anything that you get value from ticks the box for a little while.
I just figured that’s what being a sigma male/chad is.
(Is there a non-gendered word for it?)
First time I ever heard of sigma males. I wonder if there are also pi males. (Math joke).
I agree with the stuff saying the whole alpha/beta stuff in wolves is incorrect and unnuanced but I sort of agree with the concept of a sigma male out of my own selfishness and recognition of its characteristics in myself. Like, I think it gets painted as more masculine stereotyped than it is but I also disagree entirely with the modern and even historical understanding or portrayl of masculinity. I think the Sigma male is a bit autism-coded in a way. Like it packages up basically autistic characteristics and makes them palatable to a more neurotypical or general audience
Why are American men so concerned about their masculinity? From the outside it doesn’t look like they have anything to worry about.
