None of my critics has ever tried to apply my method conscientiously.
Letters of C. G. Jung: Volume 2, 1951-1961
To Calvin S. Hall
Dear Prof. Hall, 8 November 1954
Thank you for your kind reply.
I am much obliged that you took my criticism in a good spirit.
The main point with me is that it is difficult having to deal with careless and superficial criticisms.
None of my critics has ever tried to apply my method conscientiously.
Anybody doing it cannot fail to discover what I call archetypal motifs.
They appear in dreams just as much as in speech or in the writings of our poets.
The only question is: are they wholly spontaneous or due to tradition?
To answer this question one has to go into detail, and it’s just that detail that is neglected by the critics.
For many years I have carefully analysed about 2000 dreams p.a., thus I have acquired a certain experience in this matter.
As I already told you, I object to the term “system.”
If I had an invented system, I certainly should have constructed better and more philosophical concepts than those I am applying.
Take for instance animus and anima.
No philosopher in his senses would invent such irrational and clumsy ideas.
When things fit together, it is not always matter of a philosophical system; sometimes it is the facts that fit together.
Mythological motifs are facts; they never change; only theories change.
There can never be a time which denies the existence of mythological motifs, it is not just a barbarous darkening of the mind.
Yet the theory about them can change a great deal at any time.
By this same mail, I am sending you a list of all my writings so that you can compare it with your list of my books.
Apologizing for my impatience,
I remain,
Yours very sincerely,
C.G. Jung ~Carl Jung, Letters Vol. II, Pages 191-192.
