ABSTRACT
C. G. Jung’s concept of the self and of individuation marked his personal and philosophical maturity, achieved after prolonged self-questioning and self-exploration following the break with A. Freud. In Jung’s own terminology, the royal phallus would be a Self-image or a symbol of the Self. The numinosity, the mystery, the ambiguity, the super-human power and the terror all would be attributes of the divine Self. Jung’s partial Self-realization, achieved with suffering, is in itself an example of the individuation process. The separating out from collective values and the self-awareness which Jung achieved in maturity would be a not untypical example of the individuation process as it is met in adulthood. Jung’s important concept of the symbol treats the living symbol, as distinct from the mere token or sign, as the expression of the middle path, the higher synthesis, the living expression of the inexpressible.
