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's unconscious... contains all the patterns of life and behaviour inherited from his ancestors, so that every human child, prior to consciousness, is possessed of a potential system of adapted psychic functioning.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the idea that humans inherit unconscious patterns of behavior from their ancestors, influencing their development even before they become self-aware.
Carl Jung emphasizes the significance of the collective unconscious—a repository of memories and experiences that shape human behavior. According to Jung, every child is born with innate tendencies and potential psychological frameworks that are influenced by their forebears, suggesting that our actions and reactions are deeply rooted in a shared human experience that transcends individual consciousness.
Themes
UnconsciousPatternsAncestryBehaviorPsychology
In practice
Example use cases
In a psychology class discussing human behavior and development, this quote can illustrate the impact of ancestral influences.
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
Man is nothing; he hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven, till God worketh in him" and "you dishonour God by denying election. You plainly make salvation depend, not on God's 'free grace' but on Man's 'free will.'
George WhitefieldRead
Why God has instituted Prayer:— To communicate to his creatures the dignity of causation.
Blaise PascalRead
Most people catch their presuppositions from their family and surrounding society the way a child catches measles. But people with more understanding realize that their presuppositions should be chosen after a careful consideration of what world-view is true.
Francis SchaefferRead
Today Christmas has become a commercial celebration, whose bright lights hide the mystery of God’s humility, which in turn calls us to humility and simplicity. Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light.
Pope Benedict XviRead
We are confronted by the appearance of social institutions unintentionally created, vital for the welfare of society, which are not the result of reasoned planning
Carl MengerRead
We are beginning to see that money, after all, is not the main thing. The real values cannot be bought and sold.
John BurroughsRead