Carl Jung and Bollingen
I observe myself in the stillness of Bollingen, with the experience of almost eight decades now, and I have to admit that I have found no plain answer to myself.
I am in doubt about myself as much as ever, the more so the more I try to say something definite.
It is even as though through familiarity with oneself one became still more alienated! ~Carl Jung, Jung Briefe, Page 386.
In 1955 his tall figure was slightly bent and even gave an impression of fragility.
Yet most people overlooked this, because it paled beside the massive strength, the powerfulness that radiated from him; no one who ever met him could escape its aura.
It was not the powerfulness of an authoritarian Jung was too good-natured for that, too kindly, too outgoing even in old age and his humor too infectious.
Nor was it the powerfulness one associates with erudition or with a highly differentiated and richly endowed intellect. . . .
What was so palpably impressive about him sprang from the superiority of a man who had engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the creative daemon and mastered him, but on whom the struggle had left its mark.
This kind of powerfulness is profoundly human, does not arouse fear, is not crushing, does not embarrass or make you feel small, but changes you; it compels veneration and awe. ~Aniela Jaffe, Last Years, Page 100.
Bollingen Anthology
In Bollingen, silence surrounds me almost audibly, and I live “in modest harmony with nature.” Thoughts rise to the surface which reach back into the centuries, and accordingly anticipate a remote future. Here the torment of creation is lessened; creativity and play are close together. Carl Jung, Memories Dreams and Reflections, Page 226.
I have appeared in the world, if that is good for me.
My name enjoys an existence quasi-independent of my- self. My real self is actually chopping wood in Bollingen and cooking the meals, trying to forget the trial of an eightieth birthday. Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Page 270
After my wife’s death. . . I felt an inner obligation to become what I myself am. To put it in the language of the Bollingen house, I suddenly realized that the small central section which crouched so low, so hidden was myself! Carl Jung, MDR, Page 225.
I observe myself in the stillness of Bollingen, with the experience of almost eight decades now, and I have to admit that I have found no plain answer to myself. Carl Jung, Jung Briefe, Page 386.
It (Bollingen Foundation) is a shining beacon in the darkness of the atomic age. Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Pages 150-151.
He felt the need to represent his innermost thoughts in stone and to build a completely primitive dwelling: “Bollingen was a great matter for me, because words and paper were not real enough. I had to put down a confession in stone.” Sonu Shamdasani, Introduction 1925 Seminar, Page xiii
Carl Jung: Death of his Mother and Bollingen Tower
Carl Jung Depth Psychology Facebook Group
After my wife’s death In 1955, I felt an inner obligation to become what I myself am.
So low, so hidden, was myself!
I could no longer hide myself behind the ”maternal” and the ”spiritual” towers. So, In that same year, I added an upper story to this section, which represents myself, or my ego-personality.
I had started the first tower in 1923, two months after the death of my mother. These two dates are meaningful because the tower, as we shall see, Is connected with the dead.
At Bollingen I am in the midst of my true life, I am most deeply myself. Here lam, as it were, the ”age-old son of the mother.”
To put it in the language of the Bollingen house, I suddenly realized that the small central section which crouched so.
That is how alchemy puts it, very wisely, for the ”old man,” the ”ancient,” whom I had already experienced as a child, Is personality No. 2, who has always been and always will be. He exists outside time and is the son of the maternal unconscious.
In my fantasies he took the form of Philemon, and he comes to life again at Bollingen. C.G. Jung, 1961 M.D.R.
