Christianity as bequeathed to us by our fathers will be a necessity for a long time to come.
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Letters of C. G. Jung: Volume I, 1906-1950 (Vol 1)
To Pastor Fritz Pfafflin
Dear Pastor Pfafflin, 5 July 1935
Understandable though your question is, I find it difficult to answer by letter and in a few words.
Whatever future developments may bring, I think that despite everything it is not necessary at present for you to hang your cassock on the nail.
So long as there is a parish for you to look after, you have work enough to do.
Christianity as bequeathed to us by our fathers will be a necessity for a long time to come.
What is worrying you does not conflict with Christianity but has to do with experiences which a Christian-minded person, who takes his religion seriously, must go through provided he has the necessary vocation.
Yours sincerely,
C.G. Jung, Letters Vol. 1, Pages 191-192
Carl Jung on the decline of Christianity.
C.G. Jung Letters, Vol. 1: 1906-1950
To Walter Robert Corti
My dear Corti, Bollingen 12 Sept 1929
I have read no letters for 4 weeks as I had to cope with a thousand year old Chinese text which the China Institute sent me for a commentary.
We live in the age of the decline of Christianity, when the metaphysical premises of morality are collapsing.
(Recently I saw “Wells” at my house, who said the same thing and rubbed his nose with his finger, which meant: Then we ought to know-or smell-what we can do now.)
That is why the young are experimenting like young dogs.
They want to live experimentally, with no historical premises.
That causes reactions in the unconscious restlessness and longing for the fulfilment of times. (This is called “chiliasm”)
When the confusion is at its height a new revelation comes, i.e. at the beginning of the fourth month of world history.
This follows psychological rules.
Wyneken is also homosexual. (Trial!)
The young today can be forbidden no stupidities since they thereby increase the salutary confusion.
People like you must look at everything and think about it and communicate with the heaven that dwells deep within them and listen inwardly for a word to come.
At the same time organize your outward life properly so that your voice carries weight.
You must first ask the publisher whether Wells book has been translated already.
Then ask Wells if he’ll let you translate it.
Then, if the publisher accepts it, everything will be all right.
With best regards,
Jung
The fear is not of myself but of the myth in you. ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. 1, Pages 69-70.
Notes:
- H.G. Wells (1866-1946),British writer.
- In astrological tradition the transition of the vernal equinox into the zodiacal sign of Aquarius (taking place towards the end of the 10th Cent.) will coincide with a new advance in human development. Jung argues in Aion that whereas the aeon of Pisces was ruled by Christ and Antichrist (par. 141) and the archetypal motif of the hostile brothers. Aquarius will constellate the union of opposites (par. 142). The “4th month” puts the beginning of world history into the aeon of Taurus, i.e., 6-7000 years ago, when man first became conscioius of historical time (each “Platonic month” lasts about 2,000 years). Cf. Baur, 29 Jan 34, n1.
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