On the Purposeful Orientation of the Individual.

‘What is it, in the end, that induces a man to go his own way and to rise out of unconscious identity with the mass as out of a swathing mist?

It is what is commonly called vocation: an irrational factor that destines a man to emancipate himself from the herd and from its well-worn paths. Anyone with a vocation hears the voice of the inner man: he is called.’ — C. Jung.

As the individual becomes gradually more and more aware of his own nakedness; that the shared concept of reality as defined by the state; perpetuated by the mass man, that this set of ideological presuppositions does not fit with his values after a period of critical reflection and individuation, he will reach a point on his path where it becomes quite clear that it is now his responsibility — his task, to define his own boundaries, his own values, his own purpose, his own reality, or, rather: the psychological frame through which he interprets the environment.

I will call this the process of orientation.

For clarification: this process applies to women, I simply use the male pronoun for convenience.

There is a certain psychological slip where the individual begins to realise the relativity of the values, morality and social values of his culture; of his parents, his peers, his teachers.

At this point, before he has yet orientated himself, he is extremely susceptible to intense inner torment; shifting sands.

The pre-established language structures of his upbringing slowly dismantle themselves; at times, the acuteness of this process is overwhelming — and rightly so, for in this process he faces the searing heat that is necessary for the dissolvement of illusion; he is deranged, turbulent, but empowered. His capacity for critical thought is expanded, because it is no longer as repressed; he naturally becomes a skeptic, a cynic perhaps — though these are all phases he must go through in order to deepen his intellectual awakening.

Thus, he must now introspect; he must enter the dark veiled caverns of his own being, he ventures into his most integrated beliefs and assumptions in search for what is real, what is unchanging, what is true.

And, when he finds nothing; he is then obliged to create his own structure.

Thus, slowly; usually unconsciously, he begins to create his own order from the infinite chaos of existence. He must define, sort, order, and direct from within; and, to his amazement, the environment subtly begins to conform.

And as his mastery of form develops, so; parallel, his soul expands deeper into the realms beyond language, into being. He slowly acquaints himself with a subtle but profound awareness of that which is beyond all that his mind alone can grasp and hold. And yet, he knows the truth of it; he feels it.

It is easy during this process to lose oneself in the chaos beyond linguistic and conceptual structures; as, in a way, since the safe boundaries of cultural and social mindsets are deconstructed, so too are the pillars of linear interpretation of his experience that he so rested upon during youth.

So then, understanding this experience; which over time he will, allows him to begin to consciously direct his process of orientation — he inspects his experience for his own pillars of form: his own philosophy; his own identity; his own values; his own purpose.

Over time, the events in his environment are no longer as fundamentally valued as reflections of his own sense of self; he has more clearly defined the desires, fears, and motivations of his ego — what he deems important, necessary and virtuous. Thus he judges himself based upon personal congruence with his own values, allowing him to steadily grow in his character into more harmonious alignment with his soul; less affected by external conditions, he is able to thrive and play effectively and fluently no matter what hand life deals him — no matter the external situation.

He slowly becomes more whole; this is the process of orientation briefly defined.

Axle.