"Our heart glows, and secret unrest gnaws at the root of our being. Dealing with the unconscious has become a question of life for us"
About this Quote
The intent is partly diagnostic and partly polemical. Jung is arguing against the modern fantasy that consciousness is the whole story, that reason can manage the self like a well-run office. His subtext: if you ignore what you don’t know about yourself, it won’t stay ignored. It will leak out as anxiety, compulsion, projection, and the sudden feeling that your life is being steered by someone else. “Dealing with the unconscious” isn’t framed as self-improvement; it’s triage.
Context matters. Jung is writing in a Europe rattled by industrialization, secularization, and mass politics, a world where old religious containers for fear and meaning are cracking. Psychoanalysis is on the rise, and Jung is splitting from Freud, insisting the unconscious isn’t just repressed sexuality but a deeper, symbolic, sometimes collective reservoir. When he calls it “a question of life,” he’s hinting at more than private neurosis: unattended inner forces can scale up into cultural delirium. The personal shadow, denied, becomes public.
Quote Details
| Topic | Deep |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Jung, Carl. (n.d.). Our heart glows, and secret unrest gnaws at the root of our being. Dealing with the unconscious has become a question of life for us. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/our-heart-glows-and-secret-unrest-gnaws-at-the-15425/
Chicago Style
Jung, Carl. "Our heart glows, and secret unrest gnaws at the root of our being. Dealing with the unconscious has become a question of life for us." FixQuotes. Accessed February 1, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/our-heart-glows-and-secret-unrest-gnaws-at-the-15425/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Our heart glows, and secret unrest gnaws at the root of our being. Dealing with the unconscious has become a question of life for us." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/our-heart-glows-and-secret-unrest-gnaws-at-the-15425/. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.









