Carl Jung’s Letter to Katherine Briggs
C.G. Jung Letters, Vol. 1: 1906-1950
To Katharine C. Briggs
Dear Mrs. Briggs, 4 July 1931
Thank you for your news of the X. family.
It is indeed an unfortunate end to your attempts; yet an almost unavoidable one in such a case. You overdid it.
Your attitude was altogether too Christian.
You wanted to help, which is an encroachment upon the will of others.
Your attitude ought to be that of one who offers an opportunity that can be taken or rejected.
Otherwise you are most likely to get into trouble. It is so because man is not fundamentally good, almost half of him is a devil.
Sincerely yours,
C.G. Jung ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. 1, Pages 82-83
Footnote: (1875-1968), Washington, D.C.; student of Jung’s typology and co-author of The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Educational Testing Service, Princeton, N.J., 1962).