Carl Jung (1875-1961) - photo 1

Carl Jung (1875-1961)

Lot 293
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 100
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1109093
Lot 293 | Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Estimate value
£ 3 000 – 5 000
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Autograph letter signed (‘C.G. Jung’) to Dr [John Raymond] Smythies, Locarno, 8 April 1952
In English. One page, 295 x 209mm. Provenance: Sotheby's, 21 November 1989, lot 282.

Synchronicity and grappling with the problems raised by extra-sensory perception. ‘Please forgive me if I pester you with my letters. I do it merely because I am profoundly interested in the new problems raised by ESP. I have no trouble whatever to accept your views about the coexistence [sic] of a physical and a perceptual or psychical space. But what I don’t see is how you proceed from these to explain ESP? Do you assume a sort of omniscience of the psyche? Or do you assume that which is distant in a 3-dimensional system is near in a n-dimensional one? But what about precognition? Some light about these questions would be welcome’. Jung thanks his correspondent for his note about Charles Williams, ‘perfectly unknown to me!’.

Jung turned to parapsychology to build a case for a connection between synchronicity and the paranormal. In the book Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle, he wrote: ‘It is impossible, with our present resources, to explain ESP, or the fact of meaningful coincidence, as a phenomenon of energy. This makes an end of the causal explanation as well, for "effect" cannot be understood as anything except a phenomenon of energy. Therefore it cannot be a question of cause and effect, but of a falling together in time, a kind of simultaneity. Because of this quality of simultaneity, I have picked on the term "synchronicity" to designate a hypothetical factor equal in rank to causality as a principle of explanation’. John Raymond Smythies (1922-2019) was a British neuropsychiatrist, neuroscientist and neurophilosopher who developed the first specific biochemical theory of schizophrenia; his research was inspired by the remarkable effects of mescaline on the human brain and the interdisciplinary work of Albert Schweitzer. Jung directs his letter to Smythies at the Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon: founded in 1869, it became one of the most advanced brain surgery centres in the world in the 20th century, and was involved in the development of the CT scanner in the 1970s.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
09.12.2023 12:00 – 17:00
10.12.2023 12:00 – 17:00
11.12.2023 09:00 – 20:00
12.12.2023 09:00 – 17:00
13.12.2023 09:00 – 17:00
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

More from Creator

Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
£1 500
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
£1 200
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
£2 000
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
£1 500
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
£3 000
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
£100
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
£100
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
£100

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.