Carl Jung to Hermann Hesse: Naturally we shouldn’t quarrel about words.
Image: Miguel Serrano and Hermann Hesse
To Hermann Hesse
Dear Herr Hesse, 1 October 1934
Best thanks for your detailed answer!
Naturally we shouldn’t quarrel about words.
Nevertheless I would note in all humility that the expression “sublimation” is not appropriate in the case of the artist because with him it is not a question of transfom1ing a primary instinct but rather of a primary instinct (the artistic instinct) gripping the whole personality to such an extent that all other instincts are in abeyance, thus giving rise to the work of divine perfection.
Excuse this terminological hair-splitting, but we have to deal with a wicked world in which innumerable flies get caught in the cobwebs of concepts.
With best regards,
Yours sincerely,
C.G. Jung ~C.G. Jung, Letters Volume 1, Pages 173-174. [Buy this book here
