Glossary: Symbols

“Every psychological expression is a symbol if we assume that it states or signifies something more and other than itself which eludes our present knowledge.”

- Jung, “Definitions,” CW 6, par. 817

“As a plant produces its flower, so the psyche creates its symbols.”

- Jung, Man And His Symbols



An image of something that is partially conscious, and partially unconscious. Symbols represent specific expressions of unconscious energy. When these symbols enter consciousness, the ego can then work with them to integrate a part of that particular expression of energy into the conscious personality. Contrast this with a sign: a symbol has a holographic quality, with layers upon layers of meanings and connections with other meanings, of which only a small portion are visible at any one time; a sign, on the other hand, simply represents something.

Symbols are important because they take unconscious, instinctual energy and transform and redirect that energy into a form with which the conscious self can work. Jung thought so highly of symbols and their importance in individuation that he named his one book for laymen Man and His Symbols; and the last year of his life was devoted to writing and organizing this book.

All symbols contain, assimilate, or transform (canalize) psychological energy (libido) and non-personal instinctual forces into different forms by converting an unconscious or instinctual process into a representation with which the ego can work and be fed by, thereby offering a steeper energy gradient than the natural instinctual one. They also unify opposites (because a true symbol is partly unconscious) on the level of the third thing or reconciling symbol, contain the rational and irrational, contain non-personal forces (dogmatic symbols do this particularly well), and transfer libido from being bound to the object to availability for the subject – a tremendous step forward. Symbol-making led to culture. In short, symbols make possible conscious assimilation of unconscious or instinctual forces.

- A Glossary of Jungian Terms (Terrapsyche)



Quotes by Jung

Psychic development cannot be accomplished by intention and will alone; it needs the attraction of the symbol, whose value quantum exceeds that of the cause. But the formation of a symbol cannot take place until the mind has dwelt long enough on the elementary facts, that is to say until the inner or outer necessities of the life-process have brought about a transformation of energy.

- “On Psychic Energy,” CW 8, par. 47

So you see, in a moment during a patient's treatment when there is a great disorder and chaos in a man's mind, the symbol can appear, as in the form of a mandala in a dream, or when he makes imaginary and fantastical drawings, or something of the sort.

- Evans Conversations, Page 21.

But besides that there is a thinking in primordial images, in symbols which are older than the historical man, which are inborn in him from the earliest times, and, eternally living, outlasting all generations, still make up the groundwork of the human psyche. It is only possible to live the fullest life when we are in harmony with these symbols; wisdom is a return to them.

- Collected Works 8, Pages 399-403.

I can easily say that (without blushing) because I know how resistant and how foolishly obstinate I was when they first visited me, and what a trouble it was until I could read this symbolic language, so much superior to my dull conscious mind.

- Letters Vol. 1, Page 42.

It is when we come to a summit in life that the archetypal symbols appear. These primeval pictures of human life form the collective unconscious.

- Modern Psychology, Pages 176-177.

It is the role of religious symbols to give meaning to the life of man.

- Man and His Symbols.

The symbol becomes my lord and unfailing commander. It will fortify its reign and change itself into a starry and riddling image, whose meaning turns completely inward, and whose pleasure radiates outward like blazing fire, a Buddha in the flames.

- The Red Book, Page 249.

Because I sink into my symbol to such an extent, the symbol changes me from my one into my other, and that cruel Goddess of my interior, my womanly pleasure, my own other, the tormented tormentor, that which is to be tormented. I have interpreted these images, as best I can, with poor words.

- Liber Novus, Page 250.

I had to recognize that I am only the expression and symbol of the soul.

- The Red Book, Page 234.

So is healing given to us in the unlockable and ineffable symbol, for it prevents the devil from swallowing up the seed of life.

- Letters Vol. 1, Pages 31-32.

I: "What my eyes see is exactly what I cannot grasp. You, Elijah, who are a prophet, the mouth of God, and she, a bloodthirsty horror. You are the symbol of the most extreme contradiction."

E: "We are real and not symbols."

- Carl Jung and Elijah, Liber Novus, Page 246.


(Quotes from “Carl Jung on Symbols and the Symbolic”)