--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Looking back on his life he reflected…" description: "\"“Looking back on his life he reflected, ‘In my case it must have been a passionate urge to understanding that brought about my birth. For that is the s..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c46/anthony-stevens-25086_learning_looking-back-on-his-life-he-reflected-in_2358650.jpg" --- # Looking back on his life he reflected, ‘In my case it must… ![“Looking back on his life he reflected, ‘In my case it must have been a passionate urge to understanding that brought about my birth. For that is the strongest element in my nature’ (MDR 297).” quote by Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c46/anthony-stevens-25086_learning_looking-back-on-his-life-he-reflected-in_2358650.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c46/anthony-stevens-25086_learning_looking-back-on-his-life-he-reflected-in_2358650.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c46/anthony-stevens-25086_learning_looking-back-on-his-life-he-reflected-in_2358650.jpg) > ““Looking back on his life he reflected, ‘In my case it must have been a passionate urge to understanding that brought about my birth. For that is the strongest element in my nature’ (MDR 297).”” [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A deep inner drive for understanding shapes one’s existence. **In simple terms:** Understanding fuels existence. Key Takeaway Cultivate curiosity and seek meaning. Themes knowledge purpose psychology Mood thoughtful inquisitive Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career choices - personal development - creative projects Key Concepts intrinsic motivation self‑actualization cognitive drive Questions to Reflect On - What drives your deepest curiosity? - How does understanding shape your identity? A Different Perspective May be hard to identify the exact source of drive. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Birth Strongest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/birth-strongest-5767215/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life Reflected](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-reflected-2946230/) [Passionate Urge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passionate-urge-5767213/) [Understanding Brought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/understanding-brought-3389393/) [Urge Understanding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/urge-understanding-5767214/) ## Related quotes > [Sound economy is a sound understanding brought into action; it is calculation realized; it is the doctrine of proportion reduced to practice; it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-more/sound-economy-is-a-sound-understanding-brought-into-action-it-is/) [Hannah More](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-more/) > [In the Buddhist approach, life and death are seen as one whole, where death is the beginning of another chapter of life. Death is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sogyal-rinpoche/in-the-buddhist-approach-life-and-death-are-seen-as-one-whole-where/) [Sogyal Rinpoche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sogyal-rinpoche/) > [Death is like a mirror in which the true meaning of life is reflected.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sogyal-rinpoche/death-is-like-a-mirror-in-which-the-true-meaning-of-life-is-reflected/) [Sogyal Rinpoche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sogyal-rinpoche/) > [May the Lord protect me as the world gets hectic. My voice projected, my life reflected.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicki-minaj/may-the-lord-protect-me-as-the-world-gets-hectic-my-voice-projected/) [Nicki Minaj](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicki-minaj/) > [It's like saying French shouldn't be taught because you don't understand it because it's new. Shakespeare is just like learning a new, exciting language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-barnett/it-s-like-saying-french-shouldn-t-be-taught-because-you-don-t/) [Samuel Barnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-barnett/) > [once in awhile you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look it right](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-garcia/once-in-awhile-you-get-shown-the-light-in-the-strangest-of-places-if/) [Jerry Garcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-garcia/) > [The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-size-of-a-man-s-understanding-might-always-be-justly-measured-by/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [“let us not teach / what we have learned badly / and not profited by”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-d-hilda-doolittle/let-us-not-teach-what-we-have-learned-badly-and-not-profited-by/) [H.D. (Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-d-hilda-doolittle/) > [Everything I do is more memorable and I understand music more than ever now. It's not a burden to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seungri/everything-i-do-is-more-memorable-and-i-understand-music-more-than/) [Seungri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seungri/) > [Learning from the best, you will eventually become the best if you have the talent already, if you have that potential.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randy-orton/learning-from-the-best-you-will-eventually-become-the-best-if-you/) [Randy Orton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randy-orton/) > [Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/where-i-grew-up-learning-was-a-collective-activity-but-when-i-got-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [Sometimes we wish for the feel but we never understand that we have to give a lot to get the feel !](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-reynolds/sometimes-we-wish-for-the-feel-but-we-never-understand-that-we-have/) [Robert Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-reynolds/) > [“Men mistook measurement for understanding. And they always had to put themselves at the center of everything. That was their greatest conceit. The earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-harris/men-mistook-measurement-for-understanding-and-they-always-had-to-put/) [Robert Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-harris/) > [Just understand that the good that you want is already here. All you have to do is get in harmony with it. And you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-proctor/just-understand-that-the-good-that-you-want-is-already-here-all-you/) [Bob Proctor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-proctor/) > [The one thing that I keep learning over and over again is that I don't know nothing. I mean, that's my life lesson.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwayne-johnson/the-one-thing-that-i-keep-learning-over-and-over-again-is-that-i-don/) [Dwayne Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwayne-johnson/) ## More by Anthony Stevens > [“To defend ourselves from this threat, and to sustain our peace of mind, we make use of a variety of ego-defence mechanisms, particularly repression,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/to-defend-ourselves-from-this-threat-and-to-sustain-our-peace-of-mind/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“through the miracle of consciousness, the human psyche provides the mirror in which Nature sees herself reflected.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/through-the-miracle-of-consciousness-the-human-psyche-provides-the/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“Where the parents are not 'good enough' the rest of the programme for life may be distorted and later stages in the archetypal sequence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/where-the-parents-are-not-good-enough-the-rest-of-the-programme-for/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“Had Jung been a Nazi sympathizer, would this provide grounds for rejecting analytical psychology in toto? Some insist that it would, apparently in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/had-jung-been-a-nazi-sympathizer-would-this-provide-grounds-for/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“These researches renewed his commitment to analysis, which he now conceived more as a means to produce personal growth than as a technique for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/these-researches-renewed-his-commitment-to-analysis-which-he-now/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“Though never losing his taste for seclusion, he developed a talent for getting on with people in all walks of life, and those who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/though-never-losing-his-taste-for-seclusion-he-developed-a-talent-for/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“In alchemy, Jung realized, he had found a precursor of his own Psychology. ‘The experiences of the alchemists were, in a sense, my experiences,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/in-alchemy-jung-realized-he-had-found-a-precursor-of-his-own/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“Through the persona we codify ourselves in a form which we hope will prove acceptable to others.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/through-the-persona-we-codify-ourselves-in-a-form-which-we-hope-will/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“The coexistence of these two sharply contrasting personalities within the same individual is as apparent in literature as in life: Dorian Gray, the handsome,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/the-coexistence-of-these-two-sharply-contrasting-personalities-within/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“How can we enable the unconscious to realize itself? By granting it freedom of expression and then examining what it has expressed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/how-can-we-enable-the-unconscious-to-realize-itself-by-granting-it/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“By projecting his psyche into the stone he gave the stone life, identity, consciousness, doing what the alchemists did as they gazed into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/by-projecting-his-psyche-into-the-stone-he-gave-the-stone-life/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“Sexual differentiation begins approximately six weeks after conception, when in male children the gonads are formed and begin to manufacture male hormone, which has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/sexual-differentiation-begins-approximately-six-weeks-after/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“He understood these dreams as showing that the unconscious is the generator of the empirical personality and that the Self assumes human shape in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/he-understood-these-dreams-as-showing-that-the-unconscious-is-the/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“The specious idea that gender differences are due entirely to culture, and have nothing to do with biological or archetypal predispositions, still enjoys wide…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/the-specious-idea-that-gender-differences-are-due-entirely-to-culture/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) > [“Although we experience the ego as the continuing centre of our existence it is, in fact, merely the Self’s executive. ‘For indeed our consciousness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-stevens/although-we-experience-the-ego-as-the-continuing-centre-of-our/) [Anthony Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) [Explore all 23 Anthony Stevens quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-stevens/) ## More Learning quotes > [The one thing that I keep learning over and over again is that I don't know nothing. I mean, that's my life lesson.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dwayne-johnson/the-one-thing-that-i-keep-learning-over-and-over-again-is-that-i-don/) [Dwayne Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dwayne-johnson/) > [Just understand that the good that you want is already here. All you have to do is get in harmony with it. And you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-proctor/just-understand-that-the-good-that-you-want-is-already-here-all-you/) [Bob Proctor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-proctor/) > [“Men mistook measurement for understanding. And they always had to put themselves at the center of everything. That was their greatest conceit. The earth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-harris/men-mistook-measurement-for-understanding-and-they-always-had-to-put/) [Robert Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-harris/) > [Sometimes we wish for the feel but we never understand that we have to give a lot to get the feel !](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-reynolds/sometimes-we-wish-for-the-feel-but-we-never-understand-that-we-have/) [Robert Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-reynolds/) > [Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/where-i-grew-up-learning-was-a-collective-activity-but-when-i-got-to/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) > [Learning from the best, you will eventually become the best if you have the talent already, if you have that potential.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randy-orton/learning-from-the-best-you-will-eventually-become-the-best-if-you/) [Randy Orton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randy-orton/) > [Everything I do is more memorable and I understand music more than ever now. It's not a burden to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seungri/everything-i-do-is-more-memorable-and-i-understand-music-more-than/) [Seungri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seungri/) > [“let us not teach / what we have learned badly / and not profited by”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-d-hilda-doolittle/let-us-not-teach-what-we-have-learned-badly-and-not-profited-by/) [H.D. (Hilda Doolittle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-d-hilda-doolittle/) > [The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-size-of-a-man-s-understanding-might-always-be-justly-measured-by/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [once in awhile you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look it right](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-garcia/once-in-awhile-you-get-shown-the-light-in-the-strangest-of-places-if/) [Jerry Garcia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-garcia/) > [It's like saying French shouldn't be taught because you don't understand it because it's new. Shakespeare is just like learning a new, exciting language.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-barnett/it-s-like-saying-french-shouldn-t-be-taught-because-you-don-t/) [Samuel Barnett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-barnett/) > [I learned a lot about myself at Oakmont.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shane-lowry/i-learned-a-lot-about-myself-at-oakmont/) [Shane Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shane-lowry/) > [Would she understand that time had stopped while she was gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-july/would-she-understand-that-time-had-stopped-while-she-was-gone/) [Miranda July](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miranda-july/) > [It's difficult for people to come to the understanding that only a small minority of the people ever really get the word about life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/earl-nightingale/it-s-difficult-for-people-to-come-to-the-understanding-that-only-a/) [Earl Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/earl-nightingale/) > [“Damen's understanding of Laurent rearranged itself, in order that he might despise him more accurately.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-u-pacat/damen-s-understanding-of-laurent-rearranged-itself-in-order-that-he/) [S.U. Pacat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-u-pacat/) [Browse all 22,300 Learning quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Looking back on his life he reflected, ‘In my case it must have been a passionate urge to understanding that brought about my birth. 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