The Alchemy of Individuality in Traditional Societie
Dr Vida Ahmadi (Dana Kamran)
The definition that most psychoanalysts have accepted about "individuality" and its emergence process is that individuality is the self that is created, or rather revealed, in a laborious, wise, and courageous process of the intellectual union of the conscious and unconscious. Like a hidden treasure that is obtained by using a plan, effort, and experience. The fact is that doing so builds a person's identity, and how a person has built a foundation for his identity makes him valuable, undervalued, or even worthless. But a clearer and simpler definition that I would like to give of this term is that individuality means actualizing and developing a large part of a person's potential abilities and talents, which is realized through recognizing them and researching their dignity and cultivating moral virtues, so that such a personality is able to fulfill his desires and goals independently and without dependence.
But this is a very important matter and addressing it in traditional and group-oriented societies has been largely ignored. A subject whose recognition and flourishing is, in fact, among the most important activities and responsibilities of the individual. This concept has been and is being studied and considered a lot in the science of psychoanalysis and its various systems because the personality structure and its organization or disorganization depend on fundamental attention to this category and certainly ignoring it has very bad consequences. But here I must say that the growth and realization of individuality in a person's life is never in these three meanings:
It does not mean being a dictator, self-willed, or autocratic
It does not mean being aloof from society and not accepting the rules and regulations of the group and the community
and it does not mean being isolated either
But it means creating a constructive and progressive interaction between the individual and the group. Of course, if this mutual respect and acceptance is not there, there will undoubtedly be conflict. Unfortunately, in traditional societies where the group and the community have a much greater value than individuality and personal independence, and it can even be said that individuality has no place in such societies at all, this individuality and its growth process are oppressed and insulted under various headings. From small institutions such as the family to larger institutions and groups, each one of them somehow confirms this insult and belittling. For example, in cases such as choosing a field of study or a career, or about marriage or lifestyle, families intend to intervene to a large extent in a person's decision-making, and if they do not comply, they withdraw their approval from them, claiming that this is tyranny and ignoring parental consent, and even giving the issue a religious connotation and raising parental disapproval and other such matters. They are unaware that, first of all, the process of individuality and its realization is a psychoanalytic and psychological category and is tied to the person's being. A person who, as a result of effort, in-depth analysis of himself and his inner and outer self, and continuous study, has reached a level of maturity and flourishing of rationality and behavior that allows him to make the right decisions and implement them correctly, has the right to be independent and have this independence recognized and not be insulted by individuals or groups who are biased or ignorant. Another important point in such cases is the age of the birth certificate, which does not interfere much in the growth or backwardness of individuality. Perhaps a young person has fulfilled the growth and flourishing of his individuality in a worthy way, while an old man of sixty or seventy years does not even know what individuality is. Therefore, what is important is not the age of the birth certificate, but the abilities and existential capabilities of the person and the quality of his life, which play a significant role in the process of developing his individuality, and how he has built a self for himself in the course of his life and how this self is structured. In addition, such a self-actualized person does not need the approval of others, and their denial does not reduce the value of his existence and work. My point is that a person's worth should not depend on the approval of others, even if these others are called parents, because even these parents have been seen in many cases to be ignorant and wrong or to have attacked independent individuality due to following their own personal interests. Rather, this value depends on the capabilities that that individuality itself shows, and these capabilities are an important criterion and criterion for giving importance to a person. Of course, this does not mean that the approval of the group is not important, what I mean is that this approval should be law-based and regular, not based on the fluff of feelings and emotions of taste and taste and far from logic and rationality, which, incidentally, is the same as self-will and tyranny and does not lead anywhere, and such people fail and are punished. So I must say that what is very important in this regard is that it is the manifestation of a person's potential forces that gives meaning to his existence. This is the true meaning of individuality, and achieving such a goal certainly makes a person victorious and fruitful in both his personal life and in the social dimension.
