Carl Jung approached concepts such as God and the soul not as matters of faith, but as empirical realities encountered through sustained psychological observation, particularly in individuals approaching death. In his clinical work, he observed a recurring transformation in dream imagery during the final stages of life: the dominance of the ego diminished and was replaced by symbols of wholeness—most notably circles and mandalas. Jung understood these symbols as expressions of a deeper psychic center, which he termed the Self.
He concluded that the psyche undergoes a natural process of preparation for death, revealing that the ego—so often mistaken for the totality of identity—is not the core of the person. Through the process of individuation, defined as the integration of unconscious contents into consciousness, individuals may encounter the Self prior to death. For such individuals, the fear of death is substantially transformed, as identification with the ego is no longer absolute.
Importantly, Jung maintained that this process is not confined to the dying. Through disciplined self-reflection, engagement with dreams, and sustained inner inquiry, individuals at any stage of life may participate in this movement toward psychological and spiritual wholeness. Life, in this view, is not a project of self-construction, but of self-remembrance—the gradual relinquishment of false identifications in favor of a more essential identity.
Jung’s enduring counsel is therefore both philosophical and spiritual: one should not postpone the discovery of the Self until the threshold of death. By confronting the shadow and orienting life toward the Self, one may live from a dimension of being that transcends birth and death.