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Falling Off The Tree
Individuation is not self-actualization. The mythologist Joseph Campbell noted that self-actualization is for people with nothing better to do — people who don’t know their personal myth or deeper purpose in life. The humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs for security, prestige, self-development and even personal relationships are not the primary values a person inspired by their deeper Self, or the thread of their individuation, lives for.
Simply put, individuation is about transformation. It means being willing to embrace a lifetime of full-fledged metamorphosis analogous to a caterpillar becoming a butterfly over and over again. It means letting go of the defining characteristics that make up our identity for the sake of becoming something further enhanced by the Self, with a capital “S”, the Divine spark within us. The pain in this process is the pain of breaking through our own limitations. The joy is our increased capacity for living and feeling at home within ourselves, and experiencing our wholeness.
— from Becoming Whole: By Bud Harris, Ph.D.
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When a cat falls out of a tree, it lets go of itself. The cat becomes completely relaxed, and lands lightly on the ground. But if a cat were about to fall out of a tree and suddenly make up its mind that it didn’t want to fall, it would become tense and rigid…
