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Gershom Scholem Letter to Aniela Jaffe

October 25, 2023

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Carl Jung: The fish was the symbol of the unconscious life, like the Christ.

Bollingen, 25th July 1949 It was here, on this day, that I first met Victor White. He was bathing in the lake when I arrived and I also had a bathe, so we met in the water. After tea we sat at a table in the front garden with C.G. and Mrs. Jung, a grand-daughter of theirs, and Father Victor White. C.G. and I had a talk for over two hours sitting by the edge of the lake. White had seen a snake in the water and as we talked we saw the snake twice; it swam along rather beautifully, about a yard long. I spoke to C.G. of a dream a patient had told me: he had a basin filled with golden-coloured water and in it were some golden fish; he had to drink some of the water. A fish fell out and he replaced it. C.G. said it meant that some of the unconscious was within reach and that he could take from it. The fish was the symbol of the unconscious life, like the Christ. 27th July 1949 I arrived at Bollingen at three o’clock and had a bathe. The Jung’s were there with Fathe...

Carl Jung: Thus the encounter of Christ with the devil is a classic example of the transcendent function.

To A. Zarine Dear M. Zarine, 3 May 1939 Excuse the long delay in my response; I do not always have time to answer long letters such as yours. And your questions are rather complicated. In reading your letter I did not get the impression at all that your reasoning was morbid or unsound. The reasoning itself seems to me normal, but the way that you apply it is not very fortunate, since I question whether you have fully understood what the "transcendent function" means. In the normal man the transcendent function operates entirely in the unconscious, which tends to continually reestablish the equilibrium. The arguments that you bring up in your letter concern the transcendent function, to be sure, but I do not think you have grasped the true nature of the process. Of course, that is quite natural, since you cannot have had the experience of a psychologist and Consequently cannot picture how these things rea...

Carl Jung: Fanaticism is ever the brother of doubt,

Has it ever—except in the most benighted periods of history—been observed that a scientific truth needed to be elevated to the rank of a dogma? Truth can stand on its own feet, only shaky opinions require the support of dogmatization. Fanaticism is ever the brother of doubt, ~Carl Jung, CW 10, Para 335 Doubt and insecurity are indispensable components of a complete life. ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Pages 163-174 Doubt is the crown of life because truth and error come together. Doubt is living, truth is sometimes death and stagnation. ~Carl Jung, Dream Analysis, Page 89. When you are in doubt you have the greatest opportunity to unite the dark and light sides of life. ~Carl Jung, Dream Analysis, Page 89. He who cannot bear doubt does not bear himself. Such a one is doubtful; he does not grow and hence he does not live. Doubt is the sign of the strongest and the weakest. The strong have doubt, but doubt has the weak. ~Carl Jung, The Red Book, Page 301. I do not doubt: I als...

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Gershom Scholem Letter to Aniela Jaffe

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