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
Just as we tend to assume that the world is as we see it, we naively suppose that people are as we imagine them to be.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We often perceive the world and others based on our limited perspectives, leading to misconceptions.
Carl Jung highlights the tendency of individuals to view the world and people through their own subjective lens, which can result in a distorted understanding of reality and others' true nature. This quote urges us to recognize that our perceptions are not always accurate and that it is important to be open to the complexity of both the world and human behavior.
Themes
PerceptionRealityUnderstandingPeopleAssumptions
In practice
Example use cases
During a discussion about empathy, one might reference this quote to explain how biases affect our perception of others.
More from Carl Jung
All quotes βThe 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
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