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
You can take away a man's gods, but only to give him others in return.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that while one can strip someone of their beliefs, they will inevitably adopt new ones.
Carl Jung's quote explores the inevitability of belief systems in human life. It highlights the idea that even when external structures of faith or ideology are removed, individuals will seek out new ones to fill the void, underscoring the human need for meaning and understanding in life.
Themes
BeliefFaithMeaningPhilosophyExistence
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be cited in a discussion about the importance of personal beliefs during a philosophy class.
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
Similar quotes
I've never really lived a conventional life, so I think it's quite foolish for me or anyone else to start thinking that I am going to start making conventional choices.
Madonna CicconeRead
Children and lunatics cut the Gordian knot which the poet spends his life patiently trying to untie.
Jean CocteauRead
Time present and time past / are both perhaps present in time future.
T. S. EliotRead
If you lack the iron and the fizz to take control of your own life, then the gods will repay your weakness by having a grin or two at your expense. Should you fail to pilot your own ship, don't be surprised at what inappropriate port you find yourself docked.
Tom RobbinsRead
In my case, I think my exile saved my life, for it inexorably confirmed something which Americans appear to have great difficulty accepting. Which is, simply, this: a man is not a man until he is able and willing to accept his own vision of the world, no matter how radically this vision departs from others.
James A. BaldwinRead
No such thing as a man willing to be honest - that would be like a blind man willing to see.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead