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Language, in its origin and essence, is simply a system of signs or symbols that denote real occurrences or their echo in the human soul.
Carl Jung
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Language is fundamentally a collection of symbols that represent real events or reflections within us.

Carl Jung's quote emphasizes the idea that language is not merely a tool for communication but rather a profound system of symbols that captures and conveys the essence of our experiences and emotions. It highlights the connection between words and the realities they represent, as well as their ability to resonate with our inner feelings and consciousness.

Themes

LanguageSymbolsCommunicationRealityHuman Experience

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech on the importance of communication, one might quote Jung to emphasize the depth of language.

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Quote by Carl Jung | QuoteProject