The founder of analytical psychology and the concept of the "collective unconscious," psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was born on this day in Kesswil, Switzerland, the son of a parish minister.

"I do not believe... I know," he once said.

Jung met Sigmund Freud in 1907 and the two collaborated. Both celebrated the importance of the unconscious on human behavior. However, in 1911, Jung published The Psychology of the Unconscious which challenged Freud's emphasis on sexual instincts in behavior.

"When I parted from Freud, I knew that I was plunging into the unknown," Jung said. "Beyond Freud, after all, I knew nothing; but I had taken the step into darkness."

With this personal midlife crisis, Jung claimed to commit "egocide," the state in which the false self dies and the true self is born. He found meaning through self-realization. Jung termed this overcoming of neurosis and fulfillment of potential "individuation," or the process of becoming whole.

"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play of instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves," believed Jung who introduced the concepts of "introvert" and "extrovert" personalities.

"The pendulum of the mind," he said, "oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong."

Believing that spirituality was the core of mental health, Jung lived among the primitive tribes of Africa, India, and the U.S. southwest to study mythology and the development of archetypal (based on Plato's ancient imprints or types) patterns. He believed in the symbolic importance of dreams.

About madness, he said, "Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you."

More Carl JUNG Quotations

Stay true to the miracle of your soul!