Man and His Symbols

Informationen zum Autor Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker, and the founder of analytical psychology (also known as Jungian psychology). Jung’s radical approach to psychology has been influential in the field of psychology and in countercultural movements across the globe. Jung is considered the first modern psychologist to state that the human psyche is “by nature religious” and to explore it in depth. His many major works include Analytic Psychology: Its Theory and Practice; Man and His Symbols; Memories, Dreams, Reflections; The Collected Works of Carl G. Jung; and The Red Book . Klappentext Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Dell, in 1968. Leseprobe The importance of dreams Man uses the spoken or written word to express the meaning of what he wants to convey. His language is full of symbols, but he also often employs signs or images that are not strictly descriptive. Some are mere abbreviations or strings of initials, such as UN, UNICEF, or UNESCO; others are familiar trade marks, the names of patent medicines, badges, or insignia. Although these are meaningless in themselves, they have acquired a recognizable meaning through common usage or deliberate intent. Such things are not symbols. They are signs, and they do no more than denote the objects to which they are attached. What we call a symbol is a term, a name, or even a picture that may be familiar in daily life, yet that possesses specific connotations in addition to its conventional and obvious meaning. It implies something vague, unknown, or hidden from us. Many Cretan monuments, for instance, are marked with the design of the double adze. This is an object that we know, but we do not know its symbolic implications. For another example, take the case of the Indian who, after a visit to England, told his friends at home that the English worship animals, because he had found eagles, lions, and oxen in old churches. He was not aware (nor are many Christians) that these animals are symbols of the Evangelists and are derived from the vision of Ezekiel, and that this in turn has an analogy to the Egyptian sun god Horus and his four sons. There are, moreover, such objects as the wheel and the cross that are known all over the world, yet that have a symbolic significance under certain conditions. Precisely what they symbolize is still a matter for controversial speculation. Thus a word or an image is symbolic when it implies something more than its obvious and immediate meaning. It has a wider “unconscious” aspect that is never precisely defined or fully explained. Nor can one hope to define or explain it. As the mind explores the symbol, it is led to ideas that lie beyond the grasp of reason. The wheel may lead our thoughts toward the concept of a “divine” sun, but at this point reason must admit its incompetence; man is unable to define a “divine” being. When, with all our intellectual limitations, we call something “divine,” we have merely given it a name, which may be based on a creed, but never on factual evidence. Because there are innumerable things beyond the range of human understanding, we constantly use symbolic terms to represent concepts that we cannot define or fully comprehend. This is one reason why all religions employ symbolic language or images. But this conscious use of symbols is only one aspect of a psychological fact of great importance: Man also produces symbols unconsciously and spontaneously, in the form of dreams. It is not easy to grasp this point. But the point must be grasped if we are to know more about the ways in which the human mind works. Man, as we realize if we reflect for a moment, never perceives anything fully or comprehends anything completely. He can see, hear, touch, and taste; but how far he sees, how well he hears, what his touch tells him, and what he tastes depend upon t...

Product details

• Authors: C G Jung, C. G. Jung, Carl G. Jung, Carl Gustav Jung
• Publisher: Bantam Books USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 10.01.2023
• EAN: 9780593499993
• ISBN: 978-0-593-49999-3
• No. of pages: 432
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 203 mm x 22 mm
• Subject: Guides > Health