“What I am looking for is not out there, it is in me.”
This quote is by Helen Keller, a woman who when she was 19 months old had an illness that resulted in her becoming both blind and deaf. With the assistance and companionship of her teacher, Anne Sullivan, Helen learned to read, write, and speak, and eventually she became a famous author, speaker, and philanthropist who positively affected the lives of many people.
When I read Keller’s quote, I thought about how her words apply to the Jungian psychology concept of individuation. Individuation is the inner process where we grow in consciousness and become more whole. It is directed by what Jung termed the Self, which is the larger reality that includes both the ego and the unconscious. The guidance from the Self corresponds to that of our inner voice, which is a religious/spiritual term referring to the same reality. It provides energy, creativity, strength, and direction to the ego. The Self communicates to us in various ways, including through our intuition, synchronicities, unexpected happenings, and our dreams. That’s why it’s important for us to pay attention when we experience these phenomena and then to try to discern their possible meanings and messages to us.
Having awareness only at an ego level is extremely limiting. Looking “out there,” to use Keller’s words, too often leads to us being influenced by “societal should” messages and behaviors rather than to doing those actions that our inner direction is trying to help us to do. What is “out there” means going along with the crowd rather than becoming the unique persons we were created to be. Instead, when the ego has a relationship with the Self, we are able to grow in the qualities of courage, creativity, perseverance, ability to genuinely love, and many other virtues. Having a relationship with the Self is the opposite of limiting. It is life-giving and life-changing.
Therefore, as Helen Keller says, looking within ourselves is what we need to do.