Based on the results of studying thousands of dreams of his patients, Carl Gustav Jung identified a common dynamic in them: the personality seems to be controlled by an unknown force that leads its path of development and spiritual growth. Jung called this “controlling center” the Self. Its meaning is very multifaceted, but it can be described as an innate but unmanifested potential, the degree of realization of which depends on many factors. Movement along the path of individuation is determined by whether a particular person is receptive to the voice of the Self. One of Jung's students and followers, Louise Von Franz, wrote that the human ego itself is intended to help the psyche in acquiring true integrity. The goal of the individuation process according to Jung is the realization of his uniqueness in a person. The creative element of the Self is especially manifested when the Ego moves to a deeper level of existence, when it is not about everyday intentions and desires, but rather about spiritual needs. In his opinion, at this stage of life, the Ego should “give way” to subconscious mental needs in order to maximize the potential inherent in the personality. It should be noted that everyone has their own individuation, which is associated with the uniqueness of each person’s life task. Discussion about the nature of individuation Post-Jungians noted and refined significant contradictions and gaps in Jung's theory, and also conducted various polemics on the topic of individuation on various issues. Instinct or directed process? Individuation in some works is defined by Jung as an innate instinct of psychological development and as a goal-directed process. Samuels draws attention to Jung's words that “first one must achieve the necessary level of adaptation to collective norms,” which suggests a certain “elitism” of the individuation process as supposedly accessible only to a few. He categorically disagrees with this, because, metaphorically speaking, even if you do not take care of the plant, its development cannot be stopped. Individuation occurs only in the second half of life or not? Representatives of the developmental school, including Fordham and Neumann, famous Jungian theorists and practitioners, believed that the process of individuation covers the entire human life. As a starting point, they took the separation of the baby from the mother, which ends before the age of two years. Fordham believes that at this age the infant already has all the important elements for individuation: mastery of the body, a sense of the boundaries of the skin, the ability to control the anal and urethral sphincter, a rudimentary conscience, the ability to use symbols in games and when interacting with transitional objects, as well as in games .Individuation is a multitude of individuations? The founder of the archetypal school of analytical psychology, James Hillman, spoke of multiple individuations that “emanate from internal multiple personalities.” Such individuation is a special mechanism of action inherent not only in the Self, but also in other archetypes that seek to manifest themselves in a person. Does individuation include or exclude the sphere of close personal relationships? Although Jung associated the process of individuation with introversion and deepening into oneself, many post-Jungians, including including one of the most prominent authors, Guggenbuhl-Kraig, believed that marriage and other close partnerships, which are woven into the process of personal development and saturate it with transformational energy, can serve to individuate the individual.