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.
Learn your techniques well and be prepared to let them go when you touch the human soul.
Interpretation
What this quote means
One should master techniques but be willing to transcend them when engaging with deeper human experiences.
This quote by Carl Jung emphasizes the importance of mastering one's skills and techniques while also recognizing that true connection with others often requires going beyond those techniques. It speaks to the balance between knowledge and empathy, reminding us that when we engage with the complexities of human emotion and experience, rigid adherence to learned methods may hinder genuine interaction and understanding.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about the importance of human connection, this quote could emphasize the need for emotional intelligence in leadership.
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
Jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. [Therefore do not compare your lot with another's lest you see their advantages and lose the joy of what you already have.]
Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.
Timeless, so age don't count in the booth _x000D_ When your flow stay submerged in the fountain of youth
There is no affliction, trial, or labor difficult to endure, when we consider the torments and sufferings which Our Lord Jesus Christ endured for us.
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.
Iβm not going to censor myself to comfort your ignorance