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.
When goals go, meaning goes. When meaning goes, purpose goes. When purpose goes, life goes dead on our hands.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of having goals and meaning in life; without them, life can feel lifeless and empty.
In this quote, Carl Jung articulates a deep connection between goals, meaning, and purpose in life. He suggests that our aspirations and the significance we find in our actions are integral to a fulfilling existence. When we lose sight of our goals, we lose meaning, and an absence of meaning can lead to a void of purpose, ultimately resulting in a disconnection from the vitality of life itself. This reflects the psychological perspective that a purposeful life is key to spiritual and mental well-being.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to emphasize the importance of having clear goals.
More from Carl Jung
All quotes βThe majority of my patients consisted not of believers but of those who had lost their faith.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Similar quotes
Sometimes you get the cynical person saying, 'Do we really need another book set in Nazi Germany?' But I think you just have to ask, 'Is this a story worth telling?'
Until the day arrives when all women decide that our rights are not negotiable, our future choices will not be secure.
People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within.
There's something tragic about you. Your feeling for the absolute. You were made to believe in God and spend your life in a convent.' There are too many with that vocation. God would have had to love only me.
The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry.
He that has learned to feel his sins, and to trust Christ as a Saviour, has learned the two hardest and greatest lessons in Christianity.