‘When you are a creative human being, you are exposed’: The nature of creative people, as discussed by C. G. Jung in his recollection of Albert Einstein

Carl Gustav Jung and Albert Einstein: An ambivalent relationship

“…Jung's own view about why they did not keep in touch after Einstein moved away from Zürich was that their respective personalities did not allow them to form a lasting relationship. Jung saw both himself and Einstein as highly creative people who are driven by their inner Daemon , which does not allow them the freedom to interact sociably with others (Lukács, ). In his manuscript for Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1956–1960), Jung characterizes Einstein as a person who lives only for his creation; someone who finds it hard to express himself in everyday life.…”

“…When in similar situations, he would swim away as if on Noah's Ark into his mathematical musings, and that's just how it was with me” (Jung, –1960, p. 534). This notion of an inner Daemon , which is present in Jung's theory of creativity based on the dissociative model of the psyche, and the identification of both himself and Einstein as creative people, served to explain why they could not form a lasting relationship (Lukács, ). This explanation, however interesting and theoretically rich, does not account for the long‐standing friendships Einstein cultivated throughout his life.…”