Carl Jung: Your idea of writing a doctoral thesis about sin is brilliant.

To Pastor Fritz Pfaffiin

Dear Pastor PfafHin, 9 March 1937

Your idea of writing a doctoral thesis about sin is brilliant.

That is something I would definitely like to know, what sin really is, seeing that theology has been talking about it for thousands of years.

In my theological impartiality I would say that only the good Lord can decide, as stands clearly written in the Acts of the Apostles.

Everything else is man-made law, wholly time-conditioned and relative.

Men would never have talked of sin and the forgiveness of sin had this not been a fundamental psychological fact that existed long
before there were any laws.

Deviation from the will of the gods was a preoccupation of humanity even in primeval times.

In this sense "the old man" would have a very great deal to say.

But this sense is far more comprehensive and in a way more inexorable than any human law.

With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,

C.G. Jung ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. I, Pages 253-254

Carl Jung: Where is a height without depth, and how can there be light that throws no shadow? There is no good that is not opposed by evil.

Christ the ideal took upon himself the sins of the world.

But if the ideal is wholly outside then the sins of the individual are also outside, and consequently he is more of a fragment than ever, since superficial misunderstanding conveniently enables him, quite literally, to "cast his sins upon Christ" and thus to evade his deepest responsibilities—which is contrary to the spirit of Christianity. ~Carl Jung, CW 10, Para 9

It is no longer a question of a few dozen voluntary or involuntary old maids here and there, but of millions.

Our legislation and our social morality give no answer to this question.

Or can the Church provide a satisfactory answer?

Should we build gigantic nunneries to accommodate all these women?

Or should tolerated prostitution be increased?

Obviously this is impossible, since we are dealing neither with saints nor sinners but with ordinary women who cannot register their spiritual requirements with the police.

They are decent women who want to marry, and if this is not possible, well—the next best thing. ~Carl Jung, CW 10, Para 248

Where is a height without depth, and how can there be light that throws no shadow? There is no good that is not opposed by evil.

"No man can be redeemed from a sin he has not committed," says Carpocrates; a deep saying for all who wish to understand, and a golden opportunity for all those who prefer to draw false conclusions.

What is down below is not just an excuse for more pleasure, but something we fear because it demands to play its part in the life of the more conscious and more complete man. ~Carl Jung, CW 10, Para 271