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You Can Buy Carl Jung's Letter To The 'New Republic' About UFOs
Alexis Coe | May 22nd, 2013
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung was never one to shy away from controversy. When Zentralblatt für Psychotherapie endorsed Mein Kampf without his approval, Jung attempted to eradicate pro-Nazi influence from his publication.1 He parted ways with Sigmund Freud, who once called Jung “his adopted eldest son, his crown prince and successor,” over differing theories on the unconscious. And, as the sex scenes so dispassionately depicted in A Dangerous Method suggested, he was comfortable with disregarding sexual and professional taboos, including bondage, spanking, and a liaison with a patient-turned-student.2
For his final act, Jung cast an analytical eye on UFOs.
Swann Auction Galleries has unearthed a 1957 missive Jung sent to New Republic editor Gilbert A. Harrison on the paranormal phenomena, in which he anticipates a publication that would prove to be his last. “Being rather old, I have to economise my energies,” Jung concludes, politely declining what he vaguely refers to as Harrison’s “proposal.” The editor presumably solicited an article on UFOs; Jung had already committed to writing a forthcoming book on the subject. Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies would be published two years after the letter was sent, which was also two years before he died. 3
Jung’s approach to UFOs was binary. Although “the psychological aspect is so impressive, that one almost must regret that UFOs seem to be real after all,” his extensive research led him to conclude there was “no certainty about their very nature.” He reserved judgment as to whether or not the preponderance of UFO sightings meant that spacecrafts had actually visited Earth, manned or operated by extraterrestrial beings from other planets. Jung found “overwhelming material pointing to their legendary or mythological aspect,” suggesting the very concept of UFOs left an indelible mark on the human psyche. In Flying Saucers, Jung wrote:
You Can Buy Carl Jung's Letter To The 'New Republic' About UFOs
Alexis Coe | May 22nd, 2013
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung was never one to shy away from controversy. When Zentralblatt für Psychotherapie endorsed Mein Kampf without his approval, Jung attempted to eradicate pro-Nazi influence from his publication.1 He parted ways with Sigmund Freud, who once called Jung “his adopted eldest son, his crown prince and successor,” over differing theories on the unconscious. And, as the sex scenes so dispassionately depicted in A Dangerous Method suggested, he was comfortable with disregarding sexual and professional taboos, including bondage, spanking, and a liaison with a patient-turned-student.2
For his final act, Jung cast an analytical eye on UFOs.
Swann Auction Galleries has unearthed a 1957 missive Jung sent to New Republic editor Gilbert A. Harrison on the paranormal phenomena, in which he anticipates a publication that would prove to be his last. “Being rather old, I have to economise my energies,” Jung concludes, politely declining what he vaguely refers to as Harrison’s “proposal.” The editor presumably solicited an article on UFOs; Jung had already committed to writing a forthcoming book on the subject. Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies would be published two years after the letter was sent, which was also two years before he died. 3
Jung’s approach to UFOs was binary. Although “the psychological aspect is so impressive, that one almost must regret that UFOs seem to be real after all,” his extensive research led him to conclude there was “no certainty about their very nature.” He reserved judgment as to whether or not the preponderance of UFO sightings meant that spacecrafts had actually visited Earth, manned or operated by extraterrestrial beings from other planets. Jung found “overwhelming material pointing to their legendary or mythological aspect,” suggesting the very concept of UFOs left an indelible mark on the human psyche. In Flying Saucers, Jung wrote:
In the threatening situation of the world today, when people are beginning to see that everything is at stake, the projection-creating fantasy soars beyond the realm of earthly organizations and powers into the heavens, into interstellar space, where the rulers of human fate, the gods, once had their abode in the planets…. Even people who would never have thought that a religious problem could be a serious matter that concerned them personally are beginning to ask themselves fundamental questions. Under these circumstances it would not be at all surprising if those sections of the community who ask themselves nothing were visited by visions,' by a widespread myth seriously believed in by some and rejected as absurd by others.
Swann is auctioning the letter this week, which it estimates to be worth $2,000-3,000.00, as part of its three-day "Autographs" auction in New York City.
