"The unconscious wants to flow into consciousness in order to reach the light, but at the same time it continually thwarts itself, because it would rather remain unconscious. That is to say, God wants to become man, but not quite."
Quote collection
Carl Jung quotes (page 14 of 42)
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"I saw that everything, all paths I had been following, all steps I had taken, were leading back to a single point - namely, to the mid-point. It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the center. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the center, to individuation. I knew that in finding the mandala as an expression of the self I had attained what was for me the ultimate."
"Without consciousness there would, practically speaking, be no world, for the world exists as such only in so far as it is consciously reflected and considered by a psyche. Consciousness is a precondition of being."
"The difference between the "natural" individuation process, which runs its course unconsciously, and the one that is consciously realized is tremendous. In the first case, consciousness nowhere intervenes; the end remains as dark as the beginning. In the second case, so much darkness comes to light that the personality is permeated with light and consciousness necessarily gains in scope and insight. The encounter between conscious and unconscious has to ensure that the light that shines in the darkness is not only comprehended by the darkness, but comprehends it."
"Everything psychic is pregnant with the future."
"The prerequisite for a good marriage ... is the license to be unfaithful."
"Naturally, every age thinks that all ages before it were prejudiced, and today we think this more than ever and are just as wrong as all previous ages that thought so. How often have we not seen the truth condemned! It is sad but unfortunately true that man learns nothing from history."
"The educated man tries to repress the inferior one in himself, without realizing that by this he forces the latter to become revolutionary."
"The dream arises from a part of the mind unknown to us, but none the less important, and is concerned with the desires for the approaching day."
"Only the wounded physician heals."
"The collective unconscious contains the whole spiritual heritage of mankind's evolution born anew in the brain structure of every individual."
"I know that in many things I am not like others, but I do not know what I really am like. Man cannot compare himself with any other creature; he is not a monkey, not a cow, not a tree. I am a man. But what is it to be that? Like every other being, I am a splinter of the infinite deity, but I cannot contrast myself with any animal, any plant or any stone. Only a mythical being has a range greater than man's. How then can man form any definite opinions about himself?."
"Every civilized human being, whatever his conscious development, is still an archaic man at the deeper levels of his psyche."
"The whole nature of man presupposes woman, both physically and spiritually. His system is tuned into woman from the start, just as it is prepared for a quite definite world where there is water, light, air, salt, carbohydrates etc."
"Life calls not for perfection, but for completeness."
"One finds one's destiny on the path one takes to avoid it."
"You must live life in such a spirit that you make in every moment the best of possibilities."
"Only a life lived in a certain spirit is worth living. It is a remarkable fact that a life lived entirely from the ego is dull not only for the person himself but for all concerned."
"A complex is a cluster of energy in the unconscious, charged by historic events, reinforced through repitition, embodying a fragment of our personality, and generating a programmed response and an implicit set of expectations."
"As a plant produces its flower, so the psyche creates its symbols."