Carl Jung’s wisest quotes and what they mean
Carl Jung was a prolific human being. He’s a psychologist, analyst, an interpreter of dreams, and generally a very cool and interesting human being.
BUT, no one is without their detractors. In Jung’s case some have called his work opaque or difficult to understand.
From my end — I can’t really disagree with someone if they say they’re having trouble understanding, I mean that is what it is. But the thing about Jung is he’s not one of these pretentious intellectuals who seemingly writes in an overly-complex way ON PURPOSE. On the contrary, I feel Jung does his best to make his ideas palatable to anyone genuinely interested in them.
The other reason some people may struggle with Jung is that much of his best writing has a pseudo-spiritual aspect to it. This might be expected when talking about dreams and consciousness and soul and other such topics. Yet still, some readers find any type of “feeling” talk to be the antithesis of science.
But that’s the thing about Jung — he’s the epitome of a mind at the intersection of science and spirituality. And this, I believe, is why his work is coming back into fashion in a big way — because our entire world is rapidly reaching a place where ALL OF US sit at the intersection of science and spiritually.
Understanding Jung
Jung is like one of those optical illusion pictures where if you strain too much you’ll never see it. Relax your mind as you’d relax your eyes and Jung will become clear…For a bit more guidance, though, here are a few of my favorite Jung quotes with analysis.
Jung quote 1
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
This is one of those quotes that can hit you right between the eyes — especially if you’re at a particular point in your life.
What Jung is talking about here has a lot to do with his thoughts about the light and dark sides that each one of us has. Jung also said that Only the paradox comes anywhere near to comprehending the fullness of life**.** And it’s exactly this — the paradox of our own individual nature that’s important. Why? Because by understanding our own paradoxical light-dark nature we can find better ways of dealing with those who bother us. Knowing your own darkness, Jung said, is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people.
In this way, every one of life’s obstacles can be turned into an opportunity. It seems there’s some force that constantly puts specific challenges in front of us at just the right time. For instance, maybe you’re ripe to learn the lesson of patient, you can bet that an annoying and frustrating person is about to walk through your door at any second…THIS is the opportunity.
Jung quote 2
There is no coming to consciousness without pain.
Jung is in no way the first person to make this observation “You must die to live,” is one of a million other ways that this lesson has been described. But the key here is that psychological pain and the mental journeys that some of us must go through are not for naught. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel and, when it’s reached it a glorious thing…Keep on keeping on.
Jung quote 3
Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people
I’m not perfect, and neither are you and neither is anyone. Understanding and accepting all sides of ourselves — the light and the dark — is something Jung advocated more than just about any modern thinker.
Accepting the “shadow” sides of our nature isn’t about surrender, it’s about acceptance. And through acceptance we become authentic, and authenticity is the key to discovering, pursuing, and reaching one’s personal legend.
“Be silent and listen,” Jung wrote, “have you recognized your madness and do you admit it? Have you noticed that all your foundations are completely mired in madness? Do you not want to recognize your madness and welcome it in a friendly manner? You wanted to accept everything. So accept madness too. Let the light of your madness shine, and it will suddenly dawn on you. Madness is not to be despised and not to be feared, but instead you should give it life…If you want to find paths, you should also not spurn madness, since it makes up such a great part of your nature…Be glad that you can recognize it, for you will thus avoid becoming its victim. Madness is a special form of the spirit and clings to all teachings and philosophies, but even more to daily life, since life itself is full of craziness and at bottom utterly illogical. Man strives toward reason only so that he can make rules for himself. Life itself has no rules. That is its mystery and its unknown law. What you call knowledge is an attempt to impose something comprehensible on life.”
