“The overall theme of the book is how Jung regains his
soul and overcomes the contemporary malaise of spiritual
alienation. This is ultimately achieved through enabling the
rebirth of a new image of God in his soul and developing a
new worldview in the form of a psychological and theological
cosmology. Libre Novus presents the prototype of Jung’s
concept of the individuation process, which he held to be
the universal form of individual psychological development. “
– Carl Jung
This excerpt from the introduction of the reader’s edition of Carl Jung’s The Red Book, Libre Novus, does a good job of summarizing what The Red Book is all about. Jung’s journey to reunite with his soul and the divine aspect of reality. He lays out his individuation process as well as another helpful process he called active imaginations. Both of which we will explore in more detail.
To give a gross over simplification of Jung’s individuation process, it’s in part the idea of moving aspects of the psyche (which is the Greek word for soul) from the unconscious, into our conscious awareness. This mirrors the first stages of Ken Wilber’s process of transcend and include, which is fleshed out more into identification-differentiation-integration. The more of our psyche we bring into awareness, the less unconscious control it has over us. The M.O.T.S. diagram is designed to help identify some of the foundational aspects of the psyche or soul, that we all inherit.