Let’s take karma and individuation as narrations on the meaning of suffering—the
first from a tradition of moral philosophy, the second from a tradition of depth
psychology. A religion, Buddhism, is also an Eastern depth psychology. Analytical
psychology, a Western response to psychic suffering, is not a religion. Both treat
‘religion’ as a natural, human instinct expressing patterns vital to survival. Exploring
how meaning contributes to individuation is the purpose of this chapter. I’ll define
karma, individuation, and complex, and look at these concepts in analysis—
principally through dream interpretation, which, with active imagination, allowed a
mute part of my patient’s psyche to talk, to find new meaning.
Karma and individuationHow we are given meaning by external systems in the collective pre-empts how we
give meaning in our own inner systems, and this determines the strength and shape
of our ego-Self axis (Edinger 1962). My patient, Yukio, born with a bilateral cleft
palate, was abandoned by his parents to be raised by their traditional Buddhist rural
extended family. His ugliness led to exclusion and abuse. Stigmatization, in social
psychology (Gregory 1987:721–2), is a negative myth. Yukio, as a small child,
internalized a religious myth, the myth of karma. He thought it meant that ugliness
results from bad acts in a past life: ‘I am ugly, so I am bad, so I deserve all the bad
things that happen to me.’
‘Religion’ derives from Latin: ‘re-ligare’—‘to bind back to’ (Cassell 1963) back to
mother, to another individual, or to society. Transference and countertransference
are also forms of ‘binding back to’. As we become aware of movements of feeling in
these experiences, there can be moments when we feel aware of ‘something bigger
than us’; a consciousness of Self, which is a prerequisite for individuation. Unfolding
of ‘Self-as-purpose’ (will, or volition), parallels a Buddhist concept, karma, the
unfolding of cause and effect through our intentions and actions.
Karma means, in Buddhist terms, ‘Self in action’—or, in Zen, ‘Not-Self in
action’—a paradox (Watson 1999:172). Gordon calls ‘Big Self’, ‘a metapsychological
construct or concept...which refers to the wholeness of the psyche and includes the
conscious as well as unconscious areas...it lies behind phenomena such as those
symbols that convey wholeness and the eternal, as well as behind all those drives that
seek fusion and union...it is the object of individuation’ (Gordon 1993:143–60).
Buddhism has no belief in ‘God’ in a Western sense. It seeks direct experience of
numinous mind, here and now. This can happen through the simple practice of
watching the breath in meditation. Watching thoughts wander creates and
strengthens reality-testing, builds what Westerners define as ‘ego strength’. The gain
is clarity.
Buddhism is a religion which puts wisdom to the fore rather than faith.
Intelligent and honest inquiry are not only welcomed, but encouraged. Part of
this inquiry requires a good background understanding of the way cause and204 DALE MATHERS