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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We often understand animal and primitive instincts better than our own because we are conditioned to rationalize our actions.
Carl Jung's quote highlights the paradox of self-awareness; while we strive to comprehend our motivations through rational analysis, this habit can obscure our instinctual nature. In contrast, we can more easily observe and understand the instinctual behaviors of animals and primitive people since they operate largely on instinct without the overthinking that complicates human behavior.
Themes
InstinctsSelf-AwarenessBehaviorRationalityObservation
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a psychology lecture to illustrate human behavior.
More from Carl Jung
All quotes →The 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
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
Part of the human Self or Soul is not subject to laws of space and time.
Carl JungRead
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