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Budapest, January 27, 1912
VII., Erzsébet-körút 54
Dear Professor,
For a Ψ understanding of Jung's attitude one must perhaps also take into account the reaction that could have been elicited by the somewhat disparaging remarks that you made in the Vienna Society about Jung's paper on libido and which Fräulein Spielrein1 may have told Jung about.—Otherwise I have no other ideas about this subject now.
The way I feel, I will fulfill the expectation that I won't disappoint you—provided that you don't raise your expectations too high. As far as my relation to you as a person and to ΨA is concerned, I am sure of myself. Unfortunately, I am also conscious of the fact that my powers as well as my personal and social position do not make it possible for me, as a worthy successor, to continue the work which you have begun, at least not to the extent that I could be the “sterling successor.” (You also don't expect that of me!) I certainly hope that, with increasing inner freedom and under favorable external conditions, I will be able to contribute something to the advancement of our common cause.
I think that you will also remain true to your principle “Av;αγκη”2 in the matter of your successor and—if necessary—resign. A significant intellectual movement such as this is often interrupted by a temporary setback. What you have accompished up to now and what we still expect from you can, however, no longer be suppressed—even without a direct successor. In a fairly large city such as Budapest one has a greater opportunity to observe how society becomes saturated with new ideas. These ideas pave the way for themselves by means of their own specific gravity—it is sufficient for them to be expressed once in a generally comprehensible way.
In order that you may see that I have learned from you the art of concluding greater things from small signs, I will cite a passage from your last letter. You write to me about Frau Jung: “What annoys me is that in my responses in letters to you3 (!!) I