In recent study I came across the word "salvation" used several times in the book Marriage Dead or Alive by Adolph Guggenbuhl-Craig. As the writer discussed the institution of marriage in the modern world, I was thoroughly confused by his use of the word. As to many people, salvation to me is a word that holds religious connotations, though we sometimes use it lightly to mean something that gets us out of a difficult situation. In rereading, however, I found that Guggenbuhl-Craig was using the term "salvation" as another way of talking about individuation.
Analyst Guggenbuhl-Craig talks about marriage as salvation. At other times he refers to the individuation marriage. To one with a Christian mindset, the question may immediately spring up: how can marriage be salvation? Also, what has marriage to do with individuation?
Individuation is the process of working toward wholeness and toward consciousness of who one truly is. We know that in a Jungian approach self-discovery involves learning to recognize the symbols of our psychological development. And within each of us lie a full range of opposites. The person typically living unconsciously in the framework of the collective society may never explore the depths within him or herself. Guggenbuhl-Craig's point in his small book is that in a relationship, through exchange and give and take, one can come be more aware of aspects of oneself.
A man may come to discover his anima through his projections on to a female partner, as likewise the female may come to recognize her animus. But it is not without some pain and suffering that the awareness comes. In a religious sense, salvation comes out of sacrifice and death. The sacrifice can come in a relationship in the process of projections being rejected and withdrawn, and finally through coming to accept what is one's projection onto another and what is part of oneself. It is hard work to live out such a relationship, and such work does not always mesh with common ideas of "the happy marriage" or satisfying relationship. If we tend to live on a surface level, wanting everything to be easy and happily-ever-after, we may soon become disenchanted and abandon the relationship as not working.
We experience individuation through symbols. Marriage is not only an institution within society and a living arrangement. It is also the ultimate symbol of the union of opposites within the individual. It gives rise to the symbol of the mysterium coniunctionis of medieval alchemy, another subject Jung studied as a symbol system for the individuation process. In the individuation process the mysterium coniunctionis does not come, however, until the opposites have been recognized and worked through. In the process some transformation comes about, just as in alchemy one metal or stone was to be transformed into another. Then the marriage can symbolize the whole person living in unity with him or herself. It is the ideal toward which a person on the path of individuation moves - an ideal never fully attainable. It is salvation in a sense. As some religious writers have spoken of continuing to work out one's salvation, so too might the person on the individuation path be working out his or her salvation. And marriage might be part of the process and at the same time, representative of the partially unattainable goal.
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