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.
Carl JungRead
Man is in need if a symbolical life- badly in need. We only live banal, ordinary, rational or irrational things- but we have no symbolic life. Where do we live symbolically? Nowhere except where we participate in the ritual of life
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of living a symbolic life, rich in meaning beyond the ordinary elements of existence.
Carl Jung suggests that humans require a symbolic life to find deeper significance in their experiences. He argues that in our everyday lives, we are often caught up in mundane realities, lacking the rich symbolism that rituals can bring. This absence of a symbolic existence leaves us feeling disconnected from the deeper meanings of life, highlighting the importance of participating in rituals that connect us to something greater.
Themes
Symbolic LifeRitualMeaningExistenceCarl Jung
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on existentialism, one might quote Jung to emphasize the significance of finding meaning in everyday rituals.
More from Carl Jung
All quotes →The majority of my patients consisted not of believers but of those who had lost their faith.
Carl JungRead
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.
Carl JungRead
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.
Carl JungRead
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.
Carl JungRead
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.
Carl JungRead
Similar quotes
Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence.
Marcus AureliusRead
I will always be an advocate in terms of wars of necessity. I am just much more cautious on wars of choice.
Robert M. GatesRead
If our life lacks a constant magic it is because we choose to observe our acts and lose ourselves in consideration of their imagined form and meaning, instead of being impelled by their force.
Antonin ArtaudRead
Suffering is essential for the elimination of the ego, just as it was necessary for you to scrub and scrub in order to wash the stain from my coat.
Meher BabaRead
The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation.
Dietrich BonhoefferRead
I've always had a compassion for characters in novels - the sense that they are, whatever they might think, living in a world that has a shape they don't know and can't finally alter.
John CrowleyRead