Harmony in the soul is achieved when these three elements are correctly ordered. Reason rules much like a benevolent and wise ruler governs a city. Aided by the Spirit who provides the means to enforce the decisions based on truth and wisdom that Reason makes. The Spirit is also responsible for containing the Appetite, as the Appetite constantly tries to subjugate the Reason and rule in its stead. This harmony creates justice within the internal soul/psyche and enables a person to have advantageous internal conditions to pursue personal growth.
Plato, in developing his concept of a tripartite soul and the relationship between a harmonised soul and inner justice in contrast to a disordered soul and inner chaos is recognising that humans have an innate internal struggle for control and integration of themselves. In the spirit of ‘Know Thyself’ Plato’s concept offers us a workable framework to understand different aspects of our soul at a foundational level and how to harmonise and order them in order to lay a balanced foundation internally which prepares us for a more complex psychological concept of self-realisation given to us by Carl Jung, known as Individuation.
Individuation is Jung’s complex mechanism for complete Self-realisation, ‘Know Thyself’ made manifest in a person. It is this process that can build off of a harmonious and well-ordered just soul, with Reason ruling. As we transition into the concepts of Carl Jung, I will use the term, “psyche” instead of “soul” since we now move into the more psychological understanding of our internal soul as opposed to the metaphysical of Plato.
Individuation is in the most basic terms the process by which a person takes the various aspects of the self including the suppressed and forgotten aspects and brings them forward into the conscious mind from the unconscious mind—acknowledging all these aspects, good, bad, and ugly and integrating them all, bringing together opposites, the conscious and unconscious leading to a realisation of the “whole” Self. It brings about ‘the full experience of the archetype of the self’ (Fordham, 1991, p. 66). It is a union of opposites, the conscious and unconscious, the Ego and the Shadow, the Anima and Animus. Once these opposites within oneself are no longer in conflict and become integrated and unified as Fordham says once again, ‘the personality is liberated, healed, and transformed and becomes individual in the fullest sense of the word, but not however individualistic.’
Just as Plato discovered the metaphysical structure of the soul, Jung uncovered the structure of the internalised psyche. I will briefly outline this now; firstly Jung’s structure is complex and multilayered but in its most basic form, it comprises three parts, which mirrors that of the metaphysical structure of the soul.
In its most basic structural form, the psyche is tripartite much like the soul is in Plato and consists of the personal consciousness, the personal unconsciousness, and the collective unconsciousness. The Ego is the centre of a person’s consciousness. Here the personal identity resides and the self-awareness and an individual’s personal reality is perceived. It is the Ego that is responsible for thought processes, organising thoughts, perceptions of the things and people around the individual, and all memories. The Ego serves as a mediator between the unconscious and the external reality around us.
The second part of the psyche is the personal unconscious. This is the part of the unconscious mind that is unique to each individual. It comprises of all the memories, thoughts, experiences, feelings, and all and any psychic activities that have been suppressed, repressed or forgotten by the Ego because they are painful emotionally or are simply thoughts that are not in use. An important collection of memories called complexes resides here which influences a person’s behaviour unconsciously. Personal unconscious unlike the collective unconscious is shaped primarily by a person’s life experiences.
The final element is the collective unconscious. This part is a shared component by all humans and is not unique to each individual. It contains all of man’s universal experiences, collective memories, and archetypes that have been inherited over time.
The path to Self-realisation (individuation) follows a four-stage process. Starting with confronting the Persona which is lodged in the personal consciousness and is an aspect of the Ego. It is here that we must confront and see past the ‘masks’ we adopt in society and realise that this is not the true Self, but simply a facade which we create and wear to fit in with the society around us. Having an ordered Soul in the metaphysical sense, in the manner that Plato discusses, ensures that Reason is governing. This allows Reason to contemplate and see through the flimsy facade of the chameleon nature of the Persona, laying the foundation for the beginning of the individuation process.
The second step to individuation after the initial confrontation and integration of the Persona is the encounter with the Shadow. During this process, after transcending our Persona we must dig deep and delve into the personal unconscious mind. Seeking our suppressed, repressed, and forgotten thoughts and aspects of ourselves we have cut away, bringing them into the conscious mind. This process is inevitably incredibly scary and disconcerting, for who knows what terrible and malevolent thoughts have been hidden away or uncomfortable memories that will come to the forefront. This exploration of the deep, dark, and deprived parts of our unconscious minds can take us to some dark places if one is not strong enough to confront them. An ordered soul from the Platonic conception, ruled by the Reason with Spirit aiding it can ennoble a person to face down the Shadow and confront it with strong purpose and fortitude, preventing the person from being consumed by the Shadow and potentially producing negative effects or hindering the individuation process.
Having conquered the personal consciousness, brought the personal unconsciousness forward in the form of the Shadow and integrated it, now it is the collective unconscious that one must bring into view and integrate. At the most fundamental level bringing into focus, our Anima/Animus is a the heart of uniting the collective unconscious with the conscious part of the psyche. Every male has a feminine part of their unconscious, the Anima. Every female has a male part called the Animus. This is considerably harder and more complex than the previous step of integrating the Shadow. This is important as every person has an inner-feminine and inner-masculine which is unconsciously projected out into the world. To become individuated one must confront this and integrate it to see the male and female how it truly is and not how our inner projections make us see it as. The union of our Anima/Animus with our consciousness creates a harmonic and balanced psyche which leads us to the final episode of Self-realisation.
An ordered soul in the Platonic sense is incredibly foundational to this complex step. When confronting the Anima/Animus one is in some sense dealing with the inner emotional and rational sides of their psyche. These opposites can only be integrated if the soul is aligned correctly, the harmony that comes from Reason, Spirit and Appetite enables a balance to be struck between rationality and emotionality which creates a base foundation to integrate the Anima/Animus within ourselves.
The end result of this process is the realisation of the Self, a fully integrated psyche where all opposites within have been confronted and integrated to become fully individuated, that is an individual in the truest sense. This is akin to a fully harmonised and just soul in the metaphysical sense of Plato but for the internal psyche.
It is now appropriate to connect the external metaphysical concept of the soul with the internal psychological component of the soul bridging the gap between ancient and modern minds. The interplay between the two fundamentally prepares the individual for the individuation process. By ordering our soul and creating justice within ourselves we lay a solid foundation from which the individuation process can proceed. A harmonised soul creates inner peace, and then the internalised physiological integration can occur in the psyche under the most ideal conditionswithin us. Ancient minds integrated with modern minds create a solid roadmap for self-realisation.
Finis.
