Carl Jung would tell us that our role in life is not to be the Buddha, and it is not to be the Christ, but that it is to be simply who we are. Jung’s complete focus was what he called “Individuation,” being who we are to be. He talked about “”The Primary Mask,” which is the identity, the role we are told to play by parents and culture, who we ought to be, who we are ‘spozed to be according to the authorities, which are whomever we recognize as having authority over us and who we live to please. And The Antithetical Mask, who we are when no one is looking, the authentic self whom we are born to be.
Here are some Jungian quotes along these lines:
“It is the individual’s task to differentiate themselves from all the others and stand on their own feet.”
“The development of personality means fidelity to the law of one’s own being” — Carl Jung (“Fidelity to the law of one’s own being” is being true to our Original Nature and living that truth out within the context and circumstances of our life. – jd) (Buddha nature is our original nature, but we each are one with ourselves, just as Buddha was one with himself—but not one with all selves in an indistinguishable mass of humanity, or being. “We are one but not the same one,” —author unknown
“Particular care and attention must be given to that delicate plant ‘individuality’ if it is to grow and develop.”
“At bottom, there is only one striving, namely the striving after your own being.” — Carl Gustav Jung (All living things seek to become who/what they are—to bring ourselves into existence within the time and place of our living. – jd
Jung’s view of the Psyche is that side (or the foundation) of ourselves whose place is to call us to wake up and be who we are throughout our lives, coming to us in the way of dreams, visions, symptoms, events and circumstances, trends and experiences, coincidences, chance occurrences, the drift and flow of life throughout our life, and things that happen causing us to wonder if someone is trying to tell us something (Someone probably is: Our Psyche, Jung would say).
We have the rest of our life to workout who we are going to be in the time left to us, and what we are going to do, how we are going to live in the service of what we take to be our authentic self, whom our Psyche would be proud of us for being. I cannot think of a better way to spend our remaining days upon the earth. Good luck to us all in that undertaking!
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 