Carl Jung Shadow Quotes: The Unconscious Other
What are some Carl Jung Shadow Quotes?
Carl Jung is best known for his innovative identification of the shadow, which is the part of personality that we suppress or repress that still controls many unconscious behaviors. These Carl Jung shadow quotes serve to depict his general theory developments on the unconscious shadow.
Carl Jung Quotes on the Shadow
“But the shadow is merely somewhat inferior, primitive, unadapted, and awkward; not wholly bad. It even contains childish or primitive qualities which would in a way vitalize and embellish human existence, but –convention forbids!” – Carl Jung, 1969
“The individuation process is invariably started off by the patient’s becoming conscious of the shadow, a personality component usually with a negative sign. This “inferior” personality is made up of everything that will not fit in with, and adapt to, the laws and regulations of conscious life. It is compounded of “disobedience” and is therefore rejected not on moral grounds only, but also for reasons of expediency. Closer investigation shows there is at least one function in it which ought to collaborate, not for the benefit of the conscious, purposive intentions, but in the interests of unconscious tendencies pursuing a different goal. It is this fourth, “inferior” function which acts autonomously towards consciousness and cannot be harnessed to the latter’s intentions. It lurks behind every neurotic dissociation and can only be annexed to consciousness if the corresponding unconscious contents are made conscious at the same time…” – Carl G. Jung, 1969
“The “other” in us always seems alien and unacceptable; but if we let ourselves be aggrieved the feeling sinks in, and we are richer for this little bit of self-knowledge.” – Carl Gustav Jung, 1970
“The personal unconscious is the shadow and the inferior function.” – Carl Jung, 1970
“The more the feelings are repressed, the more deleterious is their secret influence on thinking that is otherwise beyond reproach… The self-assertion of the personality is transferred to the formula. Truth is no longer allowed to speak for itself; it is identified with the subject and treated like a sensitive darling whom an evil-minded critic has wronged.” – Carl G. Jung, 1976
Carl Jung’s Quotes on the Inferior Function
What is the “inferior function”?
The inferior function refers to a personality type’s fourth function in its cognitive function stack. The MBTI 16 personalities are the four-letter type code that classifies cognitive functions correlated to a specific personality type.
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Fourth “Inferior” Function Quotes
“The fourth function is contaminated by the unconscious and, on being made conscious, drags the whole of the unconscious with it. We must then come to terms with the unconscious and try to bring about a synthesis of opposites.” – Carl Jung, 1953
“The inferior function is practically identical with the dark side of human personality. The darkness which clings to every personality is the door into the unconscious and the gateway to dreams, from which those two twilight figures, the shadow and the anima, step into our nightly visions or, remaining invisible, take possession of ego-consciousness. A man who is possessed by his own shadow is always standing in his own light and falling into his own traps.” – Carl G. Jung, 1959
“Sensitiveness is a sure sign of the presence of inferiority. This provides the psychological basis for discord and misunderstanding, not only as between two people, but also in ourselves. The essence of the inferior function is autonomy: it is independent, it attacks, it fascinates and so spins us about that we are no longer masters of ourselves and can no longer rightly distinguish between ourselves and others.” – Carl Gustav Jung, 1966
“As a rule, the inferior function does not possess the qualities of a conscious differentiated function. The conscious differentiated function can as a rule be handled by intention and by the will. If you are a real thinker, you can direct your thinking by your will, you can control your thoughts… But the feeling type can never do that because he cannot get rid of his thought. The thought possesses him, or rather he is possessed by his thought. Thought has a fascination for him, therefore he is afraid of it. The intellectual type is afraid of being caught by feeling because his feeling has an archaic quality, and there he is like an archaic man –he is the helpless victim of his emotions. – Carl Jung, 1976
“As a rule, the unconscious compensation does not run counter to consciousness, but is rather a balancing or supplementing of the conscious orientation.” – Carl G. Jung, 1976
