“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls.”
CW 12, par. 126 (p 99)
Psychology and Alchemy (1952)
Context: People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. They will practice Indian yoga and all its exercises, observe a strict regimen of diet, learn the literature of the whole world - all because they cannot get on with themselves and have not the slightest faith that anything useful could ever come out of their own souls. Thus the soul has gradually been turned into a Nazareth from which nothing good can come.
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C.G. Jung 257
Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytic… 1875–1961Related quotes
“Art is the final cunning of the human soul which would rather do anything than face the gods.”
"Art and Eros: A Dialogue about Art", Acastos: Two Platonic Dialogues (1986).
“Do not believe in an absurdity
no matter who says it.”
"The Three Fish" Ch. 18 : The Three Fish, p. 196
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
Source: Disturbing the Peace (1986), Ch. 5 : The Politics of Hope, p. 114
“A writer will do anything to avoid the act of writing.”
Source: On Writing Well (Fifth Edition, orig. pub. 1976), Chapter 4, Style, p. 21.
Source: The Stone That Never Came Down (1973), Chapter 5 (p. 44)
“If you do anything that makes people unhappy, you will face real danger real fast.”
Quoted in letter (in Nepali) sent to his brother PM Bam Bahadur Kunwar. English translations retrieved from http://www.dipeshrisal.com/dibya-upadesh-of-sorts/
Context: If you want to earn good name, you must go of greed and comparison. If you see idle men in need of help, don't make them pay court to you, rather get some work out of them. If it will please the masses, don't hesitate to kill even your own son. Forget about jealousy and anger, forget about wealth, and make moves that please largest section of population. Don't hesitate to add good men to your inner council: given them status, but don't chase after status yourself. Make your countrymen, as well as foreigners, believe that you mete out justice fairly, and that you see everyone as family. If you have to lie in the course of politics, do it by deluding masses so that they remain happy. It will then be easy to remain Prime Minister. Otherwise, there will be trouble. If you do anything that makes people unhappy, you will face real danger real fast.
“It doesn't matter how anything happens.”
Variant: It doesn't matter what you do because it's going to happen anyway.
Source: The Favorite Game