ABSTRACT
The metamorphosis of one’s false (non-genuine) self into one’s true (genuine) self is a central aspect of Taoism and the psychologies of Jung, Erikson, and Maslow. Through the transformation of the inauthentic into the authentic self, one attains integrity (wholeness) and wisdom (spiritual knowledge). While transcendence is a vital step in the process, it is not the place to remain, because only continual acts of transformation lead to real personality change. In this chapter, we focus on the lifelong development towards wholeness as described in Taoism and the psychologies of Jung, Erikson, and Maslow. In the end, death completes the cycle of development, returning us to the state of wholeness from which we emerged at birth.
