Life's energy needs its own channel. Dam it and it destroys.
Carl Jung, Two Essays (1928), I, ch. IV 'The Two Psychological Types'
Life's energy needs its own channel. Dam it and it destroys.
Carl Jung, Two Essays (1928), I, ch. IV 'The Two Psychological Types'
What it means
Jung tells of a businessman who retired to enjoy himself and collapsed, because his energy had nowhere to go. Life force needs work that suits it. Block it and it turns against you.
The source
"Life's energy needs its own channel. Dam it and it destroys." Carl Jung said it in Two Essays (1928), I, ch. IV 'The Two Psychological Types'. Translated by H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928.
"the energy of life demands a channel congenial to itself; otherwise it is simply dammed up and becomes destructive."H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928, Two Essays (1928), I, ch. IV 'The Two Psychological Types'. Text read at archive.org.
Who said it
Carl Jung (1875–1961). Swiss psychiatrist who broke with Freud and founded analytical psychology. He mapped the persona, the shadow, the collective unconscious and the lifelong work of becoming yourself, which he called individuation. Our lines come only from his writings published before 1931, in our own translations from the German or in English translations of the time.
Questions
- What does "Life's energy needs its own channel. Dam it and it destroys." mean?
- Jung tells of a businessman who retired to enjoy himself and collapsed, because his energy had nowhere to go. Life force needs work that suits it. Block it and it turns against you.
- Who said "Life's energy needs its own channel. Dam it and it destroys."?
- Carl Jung (1875–1961). Source: Two Essays (1928), I, ch. IV 'The Two Psychological Types'.
- What is the original wording?
- the energy of life demands a channel congenial to itself; otherwise it is simply dammed up and becomes destructive (H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928). Translated by H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928.
- Is "Life's energy needs its own channel. Dam it and it destroys." on a shirt?
- Yes. We print it to order on our tees in 7 illustrated looks, from $44, with free US shipping.
Cite this line
"Life's energy needs its own channel. Dam it and it destroys." (Carl Jung, Two Essays (1928), I, ch. IV 'The Two Psychological Types', trans. H. G. and C. F. Baynes, 1928). https://spartansurfers.com/quotes/lifes-energy-needs-its-own-channel-dam-it
Filed under Quotes about discipline and grit.
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More from Carl Jung
- Your worst enemy lives inside your own chest.Two Essays (1928), I, ch. III 'The Other Point of View: The Will to Power'
- Only what is truly yourself has the power to heal.Two Essays (1928), II, Part I, ch. IV 'The Attempt to Free the Individuality from the Collective Psyche'
- Trade yourself for a mask and you will pay for it.Two Essays (1928), II, Part II, ch. II 'Anima and Animus'
- You and your job are two different things.Two Essays (1928), II, Part II, ch. II 'Anima and Animus'
- The persona is only a mask. At bottom, it is not real.Two Essays (1928), II, Part I, ch. III 'The Persona as a Part of the Collective Psyche'
- Some people come to believe they are their public face.Two Essays (1928), II, Part II, ch. II 'Anima and Animus'