The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales Quotes

“Depressions and melancholy are often a cover for tremendous greed.
At the beginning of an analysis there is often a depressed state of resignation-life has no meaning, there is no feeling of being in life. An exaggerated state can develop into complete lameness. Quite young people give the impression of having the resignation of a bitter old man or woman. When you dig into such a black mood you find that behind it there is overwhelming greed-for being loved, for being very rich, for having the right partner, for being the top dog, etc.
Behind such a melancholic resignation you will often discover in the darkness a recurring theme which makes things very difficult, namely if you give such people one bit of hope, the lion opens its mouth and you have to withdraw, and then they put the lid on again, and so it goes on, back and forth.”
― Marie-Louise von Franz, The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales

“It is a fact that if an impulse from one or the other sphere comes up and is not lived out, then it goes back down and tends to develop anti-human qualities. What should have been a human impulse becomes a tiger-like impulse.
For instance, a man has a feeling impulse to say something positive to someone and he blocks it off through some inhibition. He might then dream that he had a spontaneous feeling impulse on the level of a child and his conscious purpose had smashed it. The human is still there, but as a hurt child. Should he do that habitually for five years, he would no longer dream of a child who had been hurt but of a zoo full of raging wild animals in a cage.
An impulse which is driven back loads up with energy and becomes inhuman. This fact, according to Dr. Jung, demonstrates the independent existence of unconscious.”
― Marie-Louise von Franz, The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales

“One has to consider what effect it would have on one to have to accept the fact that God was not the friendly guardian of kindergarten!”
― Marie-Louise von Franz, The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales

“When not used as an instrument, the intellect becomes autonomous and dynamic and one can be sure that a man with such attitude is driven by his anima, otherwise he would discuss in a quiet, detached way.”
― Marie-Louise von Franz, The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales

“A human being in a neurotic state might very well be compared to a bewitched person, for people caught in a neurosis are apt to behave in a manner uncongenial and destructive towards themselves as well as others.”
― Marie-Louise von Franz, The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales

“If you think the anima as being "nothing but" what you know about her, you have not the receptiveness of a listening attitude, and so she becomes "nothing but" a load of brutal emotions; you have never given her a chance of expressing herself, and therefore she has become inhuman and brutal.”
― Marie-Louise von Franz, The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales

“The philosophical system with which we try to interpret contents of the unconscious is open to still more, and that is the way in which an interpretation will not have a destructive effect. One should keep to what is possible and infer at the same time that there is a lot more to it so that there is room for growth.”
― Marie-Louise von Franz, The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales

“We always tend to keep within ourselves threshold reactions such as a little doubt, or a little impulse not to do something. If the impulses are not very strong we are inclined to put them aside in a one-sided way and by this we have hurt an animal or a spirit within us.”
― Marie-Louise von Franz, The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales

“If you observe a content which then disappears for a short time into the unconscious, it is not altered when it comes up again, but if you forget something for a long time, it does not return in the same form; it autonomously evolves or regresses in the other sphere, and therefore one can speak of unconscious as being a sphere, or entity in itself.”
― Marie-Louise von Franz, The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales

“A person caught in a neurotic state, in some respects may well be compared to a man bewitched. Forced to a very low level of behavior, people suffering from a neurosis is capable of acting jarring and so destructive to themselves and to others, with basic or instinctive motivations.”
― Marie-Louise von Franz, The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales

“Unfortunately, possession brings the conviction that one is right. Just as the Russians are convinced that the Western world is the destructive element, in the same way if the animus catches us, we can be sure that things are like that. The most important thing is to know this. Like most of my brothers and sisters, when I let myself be possessed by the animus, I do not realize; I am convinced that is my opinion and not my animus.”
― Marie-Louise von Franz, The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales

“The fact that someone understands is enough, even though one cannot understand oneself then the temperature drops and a certain quietness comes, and then perhaps the patient may also understand. Archetypal contents are sometimes far away and if the patient is not drawn to them in these terms you cannot get the meaning across, but the feeling that somebody else understands has a calming effect.”
― Marie-Louise von Franz, The Psychological Meaning of Redemption Motifs in Fairytales