The lost crib

In her book, Nadia Neri likens Jung’s relationship with the women in his life less to a totemic clan-like or polygamous situation than to a nativity scene : as if he were a divine child whose needs were ministered to by a group of devoted nursemaids. It is believed that the way out of such a psychic constellation would normally appear when the real father was unified with the two paternal figures in the nativity scene : the almighty heavenly Father and the earthly one, poor and protective. It would seem that this situation remained active in Jung, and could be observed in more than one instance. It tinges his relationship to women as well as his relationship with his father, and, later, his difficulties with Freud and other important male figures in his life.