Centroversion

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Contextual Quote

“The development of personality proceeds in three different dimensions. The first is outward adaptation, to the world and things, otherwise known as extraversion; the second is inward adaptation, to the objective psyche and archetypes, otherwise known as introversion. The third is centroversion, the self-formative or individuating tendency which proceeds within the psyche itself, independent of the other two attitudes and their development.”

- Eric von Neumann [1]


Discussion

Michel Bauwens:

When I discovered the concept of centroversion, around the time I had a very serious 'midlife' crisis around the year 1996-97, it spoke directly to my experience and the process I went through to overcome this crisis. This is how I interpreted it:

- in the first part of your life, human beings strive to adapt themselves to the world as they experience it (extraversion), and to the quirks of their own psyche (introversion). But there comes a time when they feel tired of this adaptation, and begin to desire to make their own mark on the world, beyond the external pressures to conform: this is the process on centroversion, as developed by Erich von Neumann, a Jungian psychologist.