Quotes About The Unconscious To Describe It

The unconscious is a concept that we often bring up, but of which we do not always know the true meaning or the deep implications. For this reason, we present some quotes on the unconscious to shed some light on the subject.

In colloquial terms, we call everything we do unconscious without realizing it or irresponsibly. However, in psychoanalysis, this concept goes much further.

In this context, it is defined as a psychic structure which hosts the  repressed  contents of consciousness  and which determines certain behaviors. The unconscious is that alien “underworld” and alien to us that manifests itself through dreams, slips or acts that fail.

This  concept has therefore moved away from Descartes’ rationalism.  Although the definitions continue to be controversial, it certainly cannot be denied their importance in psychic life. Below we want to offer you some quotes on the unconscious.

Quotes about the unconscious

1. One of the most emblematic quotes on the unconscious

We must necessarily speak of Sigmund Freud. The father of psychoanalysis accepted the unconscious as an object of study. Various phrases refer to his work and one of the most emblematic is: ” The interpretation of the dream is the royal road that leads to the knowledge of the unconscious in the psychic life”.

Until Freud’s theory  , many of the phenomena of the unconscious were not considered worthy of study.  Among these, dreams. Freud, on the contrary, gave them the utmost importance. He discovered that these were coded messages that gave direct access to the unconscious when they were interpreted.

2. The unconscious and destiny

Although Freud and Jung distanced themselves from classical psychoanalysis, Jung retained several central concepts of this current in his theory. This is observed, for example, in the following statement: “ No one lights up by imagining figures of light, but by making darkness conscious. What is not done consciously manifests itself in our lives as destiny ”.

Freud said that “the unconscious is destiny”. Basically, that unconscious activity determines most of our actions. We organize our life in such a way that it obeys what the unconscious dictates.

3. The repetition

One of the aspects in which the unconscious manifests itself is the repetition of experiences,  what we usually call “tripping over the same stone several times”. When this happens, there is the presence of an unconscious determination.

“ Everything that happens in our life is linked to the unconscious, because it is, above all, the matrix of our repetitions, whether they are healthy or not ”. This sentence is by Gabriel Rolón and describes the nature of this process.

4. Love in the unconscious

Erich Fromm one of the mechanisms that operate in the fear of loving: ” If you have the conscious fear of not being loved, the real fear, although unconscious, is that of loving “.

In this sentence , and merge the paradoxical dynamic between conscious and unconscious. While the person believes that his fear is due to the possibility of not obtaining the love of others, in reality what he fears is to love, to incubate a feeling that reveals his fragility.

5. The language of the unconscious

“Almost our entire mind is unconscious. We must learn to communicate with this mysterious part of our mind using its language, and the symbols help us to do so ”.

This statement belongs to Elsa Punset and refers to the coded language of the unconscious, which manifests itself through symbols. It also emphasizes the importance of establishing a connection with this reality of our being which has much to reveal to us.

6. Cultural lies

John Grinder says that “We live in a culture that believes that most of our actions are conscious. However, most of what we do, and what we do best , we do it unconsciously ”.

There are many messages that imply it is our duty to keep circumstances under control and rationalize everything. However,  we are unable to explain the reasons for most of our acts,  simply because they are determined by the unconscious.

7. A little sense of humor

Facundo Cabral gave one of the quotes on the unconscious that best describe this dimension and its effects in a very particular way. “ Don’t say I ca n’t do it even as a joke, because the unconscious has no humor! He’ll take it seriously and tell you every time you try ! “.

Despite the hilarious tone, it refers to unconscious orders, those that lead us to act in a way that allows us to obtain a result that agrees with them.

We all move between reason, the fruit of the conscious, and the absurd, the fruit of the unconscious. Having access to this area of ​​our being is undoubtedly a fascinating adventure that helps us better understand who we really are.