Grounded in the natural philosophy of the Middle Ages, alchemy formed a bridge: on the one hand into the past, to Gnosticism, and on the other into the future, to the modern psychology of the unconscious.
When goals go, meaning goes. When meaning goes, purpose goes. When purpose goes, life goes dead on our hands.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of having goals and meaning in life; without them, life can feel lifeless and empty.
In this quote, Carl Jung articulates a deep connection between goals, meaning, and purpose in life. He suggests that our aspirations and the significance we find in our actions are integral to a fulfilling existence. When we lose sight of our goals, we lose meaning, and an absence of meaning can lead to a void of purpose, ultimately resulting in a disconnection from the vitality of life itself. This reflects the psychological perspective that a purposeful life is key to spiritual and mental well-being.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to emphasize the importance of having clear goals.
More from Carl Jung
All quotes βThe majority of my patients consisted not of believers but of those who had lost their faith.
Complexes are psychic contents which are outside the control of the conscious mind. They have been split off from consciousness and lead a separate existence in the unconscious, being at all times ready to hinder or to reinforce the conscious intentions.
We are in a far better position to observe instincts in animals or in primitives than in ourselves. This is due to the fact that we have grown accustomed to scrutinizing our own actions and to seeking rational explanations for them.
From the viewpoint of analytic psychology, the theatre, aside from any aesthetic value, may be considered as an institution for the treatment of the mass complex.
I have treated many hundreds of patients. Among those in the second half of life - that is to say, over 35 - there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life.
Similar quotes
When you choose whether to make or keep a covenant with God, you choose whether you will leave an inheritance of hope to those who might follow your example.
Words don't change their shape, they change their meaning, their function...They don't have a meaning of their own any more, they refer to other words that you don't know, that you've never read or heard...you've never seen their shape, but you feel...you suspect...they correspond to...an empty space inside you...or in the universe.
Every individual of the community at large has an equal right to the protection of government.
If I could only remember that the days were not bricks to be laid row on row, to be built into a solid house, where one might dwell in safety and peace, but only food for the fires of the heart.
That very church which the world likes best is sure to be that which God abhors.
To ignore Scripture is to ignore Christ.