Carl Jung on “Parental Power” and the “Idea of Suicide.”
C.G. Jung Letters, Vol. 1: 1906-1950
Anonymous
Dear Sir, 10 July 1946
By parental power is usually understood the influence exerted by any person in authority.
If this influence occurs in childhood and in an unjustified way, as happened in your case, it is apt to take root in the unconscious.
Even if the influence is discontinued outwardly, it still goes on working in the unconscious and then one treats oneself as badly as one was treated earlier.
If your work now gives you some joy and satisfaction you must cultivate it, just as you should cultivate everything that gives you some joy in being alive.
The idea of suicide, understandable as it is, does not seem commendable to me.
We live in order to attain the greatest possible amount of spiritual development and self-awareness.
As long as life is possible, even if only in a minimal degree, you should hang on to it, in order to scoop it up for the purpose of conscious development.
To interrupt life before its time is to bring to a standstill an experiment which we have not set up.
We have found ourselves in the midst of it and must carry it through to the end.
That it is extraordinarily difficult for you, with your blood pressure at 8o, is quite understandable, but I believe you will not regret it if you cling on even to such a life to the very last.
If, aside from your work, you read a good book, as one reads the Bible, it can become a bridge for you leading inwards, along which good things may flow to you such as you perhaps cannot now imagine.
You have no need to worry about the question of a fee.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
C.G. Jung ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. 1, Page 434
