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The only thing we have to fear on this planet is man.
Carl Jung
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Interpretation

What this quote means

We should be wary of human actions and their consequences above all else.

Carl Jung's quote suggests that the greatest threat to our existence and wellbeing comes not from natural disasters or external forces, but rather from the actions and behaviors of humanity itself. This highlights the potential for human beings to cause harm to one another and the world around them, emphasizing the need for self-awareness and ethical responsibility in our interactions.

Themes

FearHumanityPhilosophyConsequencesSelf-Awareness

In practice

Example use cases

During a lecture on ethics, one might say, 'As Carl Jung noted, the only thing we have to fear on this planet is man, highlighting the importance of our moral decisions.'

More from Carl Jung

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.
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The majority of my patients consisted not of believers but of those who had lost their faith.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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