Eugene Rolfe “Encounter with Jung”- Quotations
Jung to a significant extent reciprocated the relationship, eventually telling Rolfe that he was one of the very few individuals who understood the whole of Jung’s work, and sharing with Rolfe – one of the few individuals to whom Jung opened himself up so completely at the end of his life-the sense of bitter disappointment and despair that marked his final months. ~Editors, Encounter with Jung, Page xiv
Rolfe’s musing on the psychological validity of biography presented through dreams and their amplification foreshadows the American analyst Sheila Moon’s autobiographical Dreams of a Woman (1984); ~Editors, Encounter with Jung, Page xiv
I’d never read a reasoned exposition of what Jung actually meant by his theory of archetypes, but that didn’t prevent me at all from being intensely suspicious of the idea. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 55
To illustrate flexibility in taking off and putting on a persona, Dr. Laudenheimer told me a story about Jung arriving at a great international congress of psychiatry, clad in a simple Swiss peasant’s cloak. Then, when he stepped up onto the platform, he took off the cloak-and behold! he stood arrayed in full academic canonicals. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 55
I was just about touching my nadir, a book belonging to an English woman friend of my wife’s just happened to come into my hands. The book was called The Integration of the Personality; and its author was Carl G. Jung. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 64
I can safely say that nothing I’ve ever read either before or since can compare with the total, knock-out impact Jung’s book made on me at that moment. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 64
In itself, The Integration of the Personality is one of the most brilliant productions in Jung’s long and fertile career. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 64
When I read Jung’s book, it was as if Jung himself stepped up to the blackboard on which I had inscribed my diagram, took a look at it, said “Excellent! – except that your circle has no centre,” and then chalked in a small golden “x,” exactly at the mathematical middle of the diagram. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 64
The image of Jung correcting my diagram bears the same kind of relation to the actual event as I imagine is borne by the physicist’s model of waves and particles to the real mini-happenings he is trying to describe. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 64
It was as if the two great vital obsessions of my life – psychology and Christianity-had unexpectedly united their forces, like two rivers rushing joyfully into each other’s arms. And the point of confluence was C.G. Jung. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 65
But it was Jung who put into my hands the unifying principle which enabled me to sort things out and make some kind of order out of myself and my experience. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 72
Yet after reading Jung’s book, I did feel, with terrific force, that God corresponded to what he said about the centre of the total personality. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 73
Under psychology, I made some use of the tool which Jung had put into my hands. I pointed out that primitive man has no concept for the unconscious. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 77
By this time, I’d read some of Jung’s other books. There was a nice little nest of them, I discovered, in the Chester Road Branch of the St. Pancras Public Library. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 80
One passage, I remember, which came home to me personally, was where Jung categorically stated that no-one who had a tendency towards mental trouble should be allowed to absent himself from his regular work for a single day on that account. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 80-81
In his early period, Jung had got through an enormous volume of painstaking, detailed, meticulous work in connection with his association experiments. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 82-83
But then I had a sudden flash of inspiration; I bundled it up and sent it off to Jung himself, in Zurich. He, if anyone, would be able to appreciate what I’d written. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 86
I wrote Jung a letter in my not altogether flawless German. I explained how the book had arisen out of my life, and I told him one or two dreams. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 86
Professor Jung asked me to let you know that your manuscript has safely reached him and that he has been very much interested by what you write to him. Although his time does not permit him to read manuscript he will try to make an exception in your case and hopes to be able to write to you personally without undue delay. ~M-J Schmidt (Jung’s Secretary), Encounter with Jung, Page 87
I should advise you to consult at once Dr. Gerhard Adler (29, Welbeck Street, London, W.1.), especially with reference to the problem of shadow and anima. ~Carl Jung, Encounter with Jung, Page 88
It’s a tribute to the strength of my attachment for Dr. Jung that I was able to take this letter without experiencing grievous disappointment. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 89
And, of course, the letter wasn’t negative in its impact. Jung had told me what was right about the book before explaining where it had left the track. And he had given me a perfectly definite, practical suggestion for action – something I could do about it. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 89-90
I was able to accept the justice of Jung’s criticism of my book without any difficulty. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 90
In Part Two, I am legislating for other people, like a schoolmaster preaching a kind of morality he has not lived out himself-which is what Jung himself suggests. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 90
The advice Jung had given me was definite and specific; in the circumstances, it would have been surprising if I had lost much time in acting upon it. So I consulted Dr. Gerhard Adler. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 95
I was by no means disappointed by Dr. Adler. If anything, he was more Jungian than Jung himself. He told me I’d been lucky to “draw” Jung. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 95
Dr. Adler thought it would be a good thing for me to have an analysis with a woman; and he recommended his own wife, Mrs. Rella Adler. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 95
In the second place, she introduced me to the Analytical Psychology Club of London, and in this way played the part of godmother to me in the Jungian movement. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 96
I think Jung is probably right when he says that the unconscious stands in a complementary or compensatory relationship to consciousness-the two together making up the light and dark segments of the one, single egg of wholeness. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 96
Prominent among the prominences was Jung himself. It’s scarcely a reflection on my other correspondents when I say that Jung’s letter was in a class by itself. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 102
I think that perhaps what delighted me most about this letter was the proof it gave me that Jung was still in superlative form. After all, he was now practically 79. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 102
Dr. Rivkah Scharf, Miss Marie-Louise von Franz, and Miss Barbara Hannah were the ones I myself heard. Such a visit from G.H.Q., as it were, was an event to be looked forward to. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 106
The example which springs most readily to my mind is provided by a paper called “The Problem of the ‘puer aeternus’ in Modern Man (with special reference to The Little Prince by Antoine de St.-Exupery).” It was read by Miss Marie-Louise von Franz on July 19, 1951. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 106
The blunt truth had to be faced: paternity was in short supply. Of course, there was always Jung himself-my spiritual father, if ever I had one. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 113
I kept strictly to my own experience of Christianity, and reinterpreted this by applying Jung’s principles to it. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 121
“Religion is man’s systematic attempt to cultivate a positive relationship with life.” ~Carl Jung, Encounter with Jung, Page 122
The truth is that the application of Jung’s psychology to the Christian religion as I knew it provided me with an almost perfect vehicle for the expression of myself. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 123
I was quite certain in my own mind that Jung’s fundamental work- and particularly his discovery of the Self and its expression in the mandala was of a revolutionary importance to the human race which put Jung fully on a level with Freud and Einstein,… ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 123
The reason for this sorry state of affairs was – or so it seemed to me-that Jung was dismissed off-hand as mystical, without being read, let along understood. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 124
I’d read Jung’s essay on “Transformation Symbolism in the Mass,” and this made it clear that the business which was transacted in the liturgy was essentially the sacrifice of the ego to the self. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 126
Luckily I had a father-figure at the time in the person of Mr. Wyatt Rawson, the leader of a P. W. Martin Jung group in London I belonged to for a few months. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 127
At this juncture, a new thought struck me. I’d hardly dared to expect (though I secretly hoped) that Jung would live to read my book. He was now very old (practically 84)-and yet, astonishingly, he was still alive. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 130
We are left with the image of the white castrato Saviour, and Jung’s essay on Aion (CW. Vol. IX, Pt. II) is an extended attempt to show that the traditional figure of Christ is an inadequate, because one-sided, image of the Self. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 133
But Jung’s dramatic reemergence had a rather chastening effect on my own pipe-dream that my book might turn out to be the chosen vessel for bringing his ideas before the educated public. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 134
Jung was always at his best in a personal encounter. The wealth of his classical and other erudite learning, which makes his writings heavy going in places, didn’t obtrude e at all in the broadcast. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 134
But eventually, I did have to get round to the notion that, far from my book being a source of publicity for Jung, Jung was more likely to be a source of publicity for my book! ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 134
On October 11th, the Sunday Times published a photograph of Jung with a note announcing the forthcoming attraction. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 134
It was an entirely informal snap, but I could have loved that man. There was a link of resemblance to my own father, who had actually been six years senior to Jung. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 135
There was such a stylishness about the old man, he was so “spry” (to use the Sunday Times word). ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 135
Like many other people, I was captivated by Jung’s deep, powerful voice, and the charm of his democratic Swiss accent. It was subtly different from the German, and it had a touch of peasant simplicity about it. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 135
When Jung described how, before he became fully conscious of himself at the age of eleven, he had been living “in a mist,” I was attracted and disturbed at the same time. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 135
Jung’s exploit as a boy, when singlehanded he routed no fewer than seven village lads who had set upon him all at once, was a very different kettle of fish. It was a perfectly marvelous story for everybody and it should, I thought, prove an effective counter to the myth of Jung as the airy-fairy dreamer, with his feet miles away from the earth. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 135-136
I was pleased by Jung’s modesty when Freeman challenged him to say whether he considered his psychology more scientific than Freud’s. “I think my method has its merits,” he replied. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 136
One of these, without delay, I packed up and sent off to Jung in Zurich. I wrote a Latin dedication inside the cover, expressing my gratitude and filial affection. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 136-137
It says much for Jung that both book and cover letter weren’t consigned to the waster-paper basket forthwith. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 140
In January, I noticed a long letter to The Listener from the pen of C.G.J. himself, explaining what he meant by “God.” He’d .__ __.. …, had so many enquiries about this question from viewers who’d been provoked by his cryptic utterance on television: “I don’t have to believe: I know.” ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 153
Eventually, in early April, I wrote to Zurich. I sent Jung the Hibbert Journal review, and told him that Macmillans of New York might bring out an American edition. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 153
The talk itself was pure vintage Jung, and I savoured it like a connoisseur on a teetotal diet. I also appreciated the attractive aroma of the personality by whom it was delivered- the delightful, spontaneous, almost peasant wholesomeness of Miss Barbara Hannah herself. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 154
I told Jung about Barbara Hannah, mentioned that Macmillan of New York had now bought a thousand copies of the Agnostic, and underlined how invaluable his opinion would be to me, etc. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 154
The great scientist whose work had brought new meaning into my life had in some way been helped by what I had written. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 159
I had already had some experience of Jung’s directness. But this time, his frankness about himself was simply staggering. I could well imagine that he might not have felt free to write in these terms to a professional colleague. Instead, he had chosen to confide in me. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 159
It seemed that Jung actually felt, as I did, that his work had somehow never got through to the public. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 159
But this letter from Jung pulled me right out of my defenses. It really roused my honest ire. When he spoke about his “inability to fight my battles any more” and of the “floods of ignorance and stupidity I had to fight through,” what struck me was an indignant feeling of outrage that a man as old as Jung and as great in achievement should be required to do any such thing. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 160
For years I’d been riled at the repeated cheap sneers at Jung in the fashionable intellectual press. I’d even written a massive epistle to a Sunday newspaper complaining about it. It almost seemed as if the crude jab at Jung had become a kind of ritual act in the anthropology of the cultural establishment. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 160
Jung himself had been living with the fact of his rejection for the greater part of his working life- ever since his break with Freud, forty-seven years previously. Almost all his pupils had left him at that time, and he had lost his position as a world leader of the psycho-analytical movement. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 160-161
Except for his wife and a handful of followers, he was totally unsupported. For the educated world of the West, Freud’s psychoanalysis reigned supreme and was for several decades identified with psychology. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 161
Jung had long since retired from analytical practice. But he continued to preside as a father-figure- commanding, ironic and slightly detached- over the expansion and consolidation of analytical psychology. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 162
Many of his new correspondents, I would imagine, showed not the faintest twinkle of a notion about “what he was after”; and this must have brought home to Jung the sorrowful reality that, outside a small circle of cultivated professionals, his lifetime’s achievement in analysis and formulation was still largely unknown, or disregarded. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 162
Jung’s letter did more than raise my moral hackles in revolt and indignation on his side. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 162
Jung’s amazing frankness had put the relationship onto a different, quite firmly personal, footing. It was as if a great wave of love and sympathy was carrying me bodily towards him; and I expressed all this, as well as I could, in my answer to his letter. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 162
I began by telling Professor Jung that his letter had brought me great happiness and great sadness at one and the same time. ~Eugene Rolfe, Encounter with Jung, Page 162
