Without the individual, we have no society

We are what we project, consciously or unconsciously. Whether with family, at work or in each social niche, we project our little box of signifiers and are interpreted through their respective meanings. It is the semiotic language of matching, acceptance, connection. We build signifiers to fit the meanings that society standardises in each era, the famous struggle of the Jungian “Ego” for external social approval.

Because we live in a society that seeks to standardise behaviour, the process of “Individuation” (Carl Gustav Jung) becomes one of those basic, necessary skills. Distance from one's essence, or the “Self”, is a constant, especially in Brazil. It is as though the individual did not matter in Brazil, only the “collective”. The formation of the “Ego” is very fragile here. According to Jung, an individual's “ego” develops over time and essentially through the process of socialisation. With the family structure as the first major reference, if we stop to analyse Brazilian family structures in general, we can understand one reason why we have such an infantilised “Ego” here, inflating the role of the victim who bears no responsibility for their own journey. Here the “Self” goes unnoticed, and its absence delights therapists. And perhaps that explains why we have so many psychologists in Brazil. In Terra Brasilis, no one knows themselves well, and everyone responds unconsciously to the signifiers / meanings that the Media largely scripts.

Only someone who has embarked on the journey of “Individuation” can be considered an individual, having managed to anchor themselves in their own “Self” after understanding and overcoming the unconscious complexes from the past, adjusting their “Ego” and consciously aligning their own individuality. It is no accident that the word individual means the indivisible, or one who does not divide. In Brazil, do we have a sense of the individual?

Have you ever stopped to think how interesting it is that the Media dictates collective behaviour? And how much this eliminates individual thought? Is it possible to live in a society with decentralised behaviour, where clear premises of respect, law and order are obviously established? It seems obvious, but we do not have this in Brazil.

A mantra here in Brazil is: “we have to invest in education.” But what does that mean?

A conscious individual, or a sheep responding to ideologies created by others?

If we take economic freedom, political freedom, cultural freedom, freedom of information… How free is Brazil really?

“The most freedom a human being can desire is to choose the prison in which they wish to live. Freedom is an abstraction. Tell me your tribe and I will tell you your confinement. There is freedom only if your life is produced by yourself.” - Baruch Spinoza, Netherlands, 1632 - 1677