C.G. Jung Letters, Vol. 1: 1906-1950

Anonymous

Dear Herr N., 27 October 1930

The wonderful Chinese statuette not only came as an extraordinary surprise but has also given me much pleasure.

As I am a great admirer of Chinese art I can appreciate your gift all the more highly.

May I take this opportunity to express the hope that the latest developments have not shaken anything essential in you.

In the last resort the value of a person is never expressed in his relation to others but consists in itself.

Therefore we should never let our self-confidence or self-esteem depend on the behaviour of another person however much we may be humanly affected by him.

Everything that happens to us, properly understood, leads us back to ourselves; it is as though there were some unconscious guidance whose aim it is to deliver us from all ties and all dependence and make us dependent on our-selves.

This is because dependence on the behaviour of others is a last vestige of childhood which we think we can’t do without.

Yours sincerely,

C.G. Jung ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. 1, Page 78