Marie-Louise von Franz
Marie-Louise von Franz was a renowned Swiss Jungian psychologist and scholar, born in 1915, known for her extensive work on fairy tales, alchemy, and dreams. A close collaborator of Carl Jung, she contributed significantly to analytical psychology, exploring the symbolic language of the unconscious. Her insightful interpretations have made her a pivotal figure in Jungian studies, influencing both psychological practice and the understanding of mythological and archetypal narratives.
Book summaries for books written by Marie-Louise von Franz
Quotes
The unconscious mind always tries to produce an impossible situation in order to force the individual to bring out his very best.
The greatest and most important problems of life are all in a certain sense insoluble.
The shoe that fits one person is pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.
Dreams are the guiding words of the soul. Why should I henceforth not love my dreams and not make their riddling images into objects of my daily consideration?
The mother's attitude, the mother's refusal to admit the reality of the child's autonomous existence, and the child's perception of this refusal, constitute the basis for the child's first and most important experience of reality.
The unconscious is the larger circle which includes within itself the smaller circle of the conscious; everything conscious has its roots in the unconscious, whereas the unconscious may be entirely unconscious of its roots.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real.
The process of individual growth becomes possible only when we recognize the unconscious as a creative and purposive agency.
The only meaningful life is a life that strives for the individual realization — absolute and unconditional — of its own particular law.
The dream is a little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul, opening into that cosmic night which was psyche long before there was any ego-consciousness, and which will remain psyche no matter how far our ego-consciousness extends.
The more the conscious mind ignores the shadow, the darker and denser it becomes.
The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate.