Assorted Quotes on Jung and Religion

“To Freud’s great embarrassment, Jung expected psychoanalysis to become a replacement for religion.” – Shoji Muramoto[i]

“…if any patient came to Jung complaining of the ‘senselessness’ and ’emptiness’ of his or her life, Jung would immediately interpret this to be a religious crisis and would also envisage a religious solution.” – Jeffrey Masson[ii]

“Jung’s father and six of his uncles were pastors, and although Jung was dismissive of them as a young man, I think that’s what he really wanted to become. He wanted to be a spiritual leader. All the things that Freud could see him heading towards, he did head towards. Jung became a mystical, religious leader.” – David Cronenberg[iii]

“…there has not been one [of my patients over 35] whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life.” – C.G. Jung[iv]

“The class of correspondence Jung preferred was made up of Protestant and Catholic clergymen. With them he could discuss, ad infinitum, the matters of religion and theology that had held him spellbound since adolescence.” – Paul J. Stern[v]

“[To Jung] we are endowed with a yearning to be part of something big and sacred.” – James Graham Johnston[vi]

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[i] Muramato: Awakening and Insight p. 122

[ii] Masson: Against Therapy p. 157

[iii] Unsourced.

[iv] Jung: Modern Man in Search of a Soul p. 299

[v] Stern: C.G. Jung – The Haunted Prophet p. 240

[vi] Unsourced.