Letters of C. G. Jung: Volume I, 1906-1950 (Vol 1)

To Fritz Blanke

Dear Colleague, 10 November 1948

Very many thanks for kindly sending me your book on Brother Klaus.

The fact that Brother Klaus, on his own admission and according to the reports of reliable witnesses, lived without material sustenance for twenty years is something that cannot be brushed aside however uncomfortable it may be.

In the case of Therese of Konnersreuth there are also reports, whose reliability of course I can neither confirm nor contest, that for a long period of time she lived simply and solely on holy wafers.

Such things naturally cannot be understood with our present knowledge of physiology.

One would be well advised, however, not to dismiss them as utterly impossible on that account.

There are very many things that earlier were held to be impossible which we know and can prove to be possible today.

Naturally I have no explanation to offer concerning such phenomena, but I am inclined to think it should be sought in the realm of parapsychology.

I myself have observed materialization processes and verified that at the area of the body surface from which ectoplasmic materializations emanated, the degree of ionization of the atmosphere touching the skin was sixty times the normal.

That is to say, ionized molecules were passing in or out at that point, which evidently lead to the production of that whitish (luminous?) mist from which materialized portions of the body take shape.

If such things can occur, then it is also conceivable that persons in the vicinity of the medium might act as a source of ions-in other words, nourishment might be effected by the passage of living molecules of albumen from one body to another.

This seems to me to offer a possible approach to an explanation.

Unfortunately these things have been far too little investigated at present. This is a task for the future.

Your little book is very interesting, and I was glad that you didn’t dismiss out of hand the statements of the saint, which are probably reliable, but have taken them seriously.

Again with best thanks,

Yours sincerely,

C.G. Jung [Letters Volume 1, Page 511]