JUNG, CARL. (1875-1961). Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist who defined personality classifications such as introversion and extroversion and developed the theories of the collective unconscious and archetypes. ALS. (“C. G. Jung”). 2pp. 4to. Bollingen, March 17, 1951. To RIVKAH SCHARF KLUGER (1907-1987). In German with translation.

“Thank you for your detailed letter. I found it very interesting. I can easily imagine that Kirsch exudes an atmosphere that is not exactly invigorating. It is strange that he is doing so much good for psychology despite his obsession. I conclude from this that his obsession, despite the accompanying unconsciousness and its bad consequences, is nevertheless real, i.e., unavoidable, and does not mean evasion. It seems rather that he resents his necessity, which he does not recognize as such... and indirectly also reproaches his wife, as if she were his anima, the severa domina, who imposed his impulsiveness on him as fate. The anima does the same and forgives him reluctantly and with not too good a conscience after, instead of him groveling in the dust, eating dust and taking over the curse of the incarnation as culpa sua, culpa maxima sua on his own account. Then he could treat his wife even more decently. His not too good a conscience should be a bad one, as if he himself had chosen his life and his destiny in the most stupid way. This is what it comes down to: One must accept one’s fate as though one had chosen it oneself. Being human means being guilty. The creator of the world set this up in a strange way. Small wonder that we do not like it at all. Saying yes is not possible until we become conscious of our relatedness to God, i.e., of our homogeneous self. Like an Agnus Dei, although the self has truly and really brought our destiny together and put the bumbling ‘I’ well into the soup – it does not indicate who it is. Today I read the last correction of the Entwandlungen [Transformations]. There are 769 pages! I have already finished Wirblowski’s Thesis. It is essentially literary, and my preface can hardly be otherwise. I hope you can read my writing. I envy you the great piece of the world you are seeing now and sincerely wish you all the success you need. Stay healthy despite your exertions. Best regards to all. C.G. Jung P.S. I am going back to Küsnacht today for about 14 days.”

Though initially close to Freud, Jung broke away from the famous founder of psychoanalysis and pursued his own brand of analytic psychology, which incorporated elements of mysticism, eastern philosophy, sociology, and comparative religion. His first important work on his philosophy, which drove a wedge between Jung and Freud, was Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido, first published in 1912. Our letter mentions corrections to Entwandlungen, the 1952 revised version of Psychology of the Unconscious, which he published in English under the title Symbols of Transformation.

Jung continued to develop his ideas, including those about the unconscious, distinguishing between the individual and the group, or “collective unconscious,” in which archetypes recur in mythology, art and symbols, while practicing in the Zürich suburb of Küsnacht, where, in 1948, he established the C.G. Jung Institute.

Jung met Dr. James Isaac Kirsch (1901-1989) in Berlin in 1926 and after studying with him, Kirsch became a first-generation Jungian analyst, maintaining a close relationship and correspondence with him until Jung’s death in 1961. After fleeing Hitler, Kirsch eventually settled in Los Angeles where, in 1947, he founded the still influential the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles with his wife Hildegard “Hilde” Silber Kirsch (1902-1978), herself an analyst who had studied with Jung. Among the many topics about which Jung and Kirsch corresponded was Kirsch’s “anima” and his tendency to become sexually involved with his female patients. In fact, Hilde was a former patient who consulted the then-married Kirsch after the suicide of her husband, (“The C.G. Jung-James Kirsch Letters,” Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, Thomas B. Kirsch). Hilde eventually brought Sandplay therapy to the United States. “Much more introverted than her husband, she devoted herself to her analytic practice and neither lectured nor wrote much. Owing to her strong intuitive and feeling functions, she became an extremely popular analyst. Many academically oriented persons preferred to work with her, and she was sought after by candidates in training… Although outwardly quiet and reserved, she exerted a powerful influence behind the scenes of the Jungian community. She was the glue that held the early Los Angeles group together, and without her it might have developed more slowly,” (The Jungians: A Comparative and Historical Perspective, Thomas B. Kirsch).

Of James Kirsch’s legacy, his son has stated “Unfortunately, because of his boundary violations with various woman patients and his arrogant attitude toward those who did not know Jung’s psychology well enough to satisfy his high standards, James Kirsch has left a mixed legacy in Los Angeles,” although whether this is the “obsession” Jung writes of in our letter is unclear, (op. cit., Kirsch).

Our letter’s recipient studied religion at the University of Zurich during which time Jung analyzed her and she became his student and collaborator, teaching at the C.G. Jung Institute and lecturing widely on psychology, mythology and religion. From the mid-1950s through 1969, she taught at the Jung Institute in Los Angeles, after which she relocated to Haifa, Israel. She is the author of Satan in the Old Testament and Psyche and Bible.

In the year of our letter, Jung published Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self, which explores the concept of self, anima and animus, and the rise of Christianity.

Written on a single sheet of onion-skin paper from the Swiss village of Bollingen, where Jung lived for several months every year in his small castle known as Bollingen Tower. Significant show-through, otherwise fine.