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 know that the wildest and most moving dramas are played not in the theatre but in the hearts of ordinary men and women.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The most profound experiences and stories happen within individuals rather than in external performances or narratives.
Carl Jung's quote emphasizes that true emotional depth and drama are found in the genuine experiences and feelings of everyday people, rather than in the scripted performances presented on stage. It suggests that the struggles, joys, and complexities of life, which reside in the hearts of individuals, often surpass the dramatization found in traditional storytelling mediums like theater, highlighting the importance of personal experiences in shaping human emotion and understanding.
Themes
DramaHeartsOrdinaryEmotionsExperiences
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about resilience, you might quote Jung to illustrate the power of personal struggles.
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
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I never made a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk when we remember the great sacrifice which he made who left His Father's throne on high to give Himself for us.
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The sacraments infuse holiness into the terrain of man's humanity: they penetrate the soul and body, the femininity and masculinity of the personal subject, with the power of holiness.
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Things in which we do not take joy are either a burden upon our minds to be got rid of at any cost; or they are useful, and therefore in temporary and partial relation to us, becoming burdensome when their utility is lost; or they are like wandering vagabonds, loitering for a moment on the outskirts of our recognition, and then passing on. A thing is only completely our own when it is a thing of joy to us.
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