The Four Steps of Individuation — Self-Realization Demands Much More Than Meditation!

Psychological work, de-armouring and courageous integration are essential aspects of our spiritual journey.

Ghassan Salman Faidi: Contemplation. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International, 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

Self-realization is a lifelong and complex quest that can take many different expressions. On our path of shedding our persona and return to the profundity of just… being US, many of us test out a variety of approaches: meditation, breath work, group work, therapy, tantric work, yoga, etc… Based on my own individuation process, I’ve recognized four aspects I believe HAVE to be involved in an effective individuation quest:

I. Meditation — the classical spiritual path

Yoshitoshi (1839 -1892): The moon through a crumbling window. In public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

As many others, I started my individuation journey as a path of meditation. For several years, I spent months in silent meditations retreats. I loved it, but over the years, I grew frustrated. Because, as I returned back home, it seemed almost impossible to sort out how to be myself through my meetings with my world. Although I could stay with the essence of myself in the supportive environment of my meditation retreats, I flipped out of integrity the moment I went back out in the world.