Creating a Life: Finding Your Individual Path

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Summary: Hard questions & no easy answers
Review: As with his previous books, Hollis offers more than just his considerable knowledge: he draws upon his life experience as a human being, with all of its joys and sorrows, as well as the artistic riches of our finest poets & novelists. This is no simple self-help book, with vague, homogenized talking points & feel-good aphorisms. Holiis makes it clear that some of our most pressing & urgent questions may never be fully answered; but he also makes it clear that even an incomplete journey to wholeness is vital & worth the effort. Yes, his book demands slow, careful reflective reading ... but he's here to offer us some insights about the path ahead, not to hold our hands every step of the way. For of course the path is going to be different for each one of us. If we indeed want to create a life worth living, we have to meet our guides halfway -- something we sometimes forget in a shallow, fast-paced culture which seldom challenges us & spoon-feeds us comforting junk food instead of genuine nourishment.

Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: New by James Hollis!
Review: Creating a Life is a powerful commentary on the importance of the examined life, illustrating how we may come to an understanding of our life choices and relationships by exploring our core complexes and personal history.
With insight and compassion grounded in the humanist side of analytical psychology, Hollis elucidates the circuitous way of individuation. The text is deeply enrighed by the inclusion of poetry and excerpts from the works of modern writers (John Fowles, Rilke, D.H. Lawrence, Pascal, Kierkegaard, etc.).

Rating:
Summary: good follow-up to "Middle Passage"
Review: Hollis does a good job of expanding the principles from his book "Middle Passage" in this book. The "how-to" examples make this book worth the price. On a voyage to rediscovery, this somewhat somber book should be in your bag. Like other reviewers, I feel the major negative is Hollis' vocabulary, where he spends way too much time trying to impress the reader with words they will need to look up instead of keeping to the focus of the book. For those looking for introspective ways to inner growth, this one rates as a "keeper".

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Summary: Jungian concepts as they pertain to mid-life
Review: In this book, Hollis focuses on Jung's concept of Individuation as it relates to the rigorous mid-life transformation of those conscious enough at that juncture in life to actually be interested in plotting a course to spiritual and psychological wholeness.

It should be noted up front that this is not a light, easy-to-read self help book. Although this book is only 160 pages, it is written in a somewhat clinical "voice" and at a fairly high reading level, and consequently reads a lot slower than one would think. I found myself reading only a few pages at a time and frequently re-reading passages to understand his full meaning. If you don't have some prior understanding of Jungian psychology I don't think you will enjoy the book or fully understand what he's saying.

It's also not a "how-to" book per se. The various short chapters discuss concepts and issues related to ones journey to psychological wholeness, such as the need to recognize and work through issues and programming either inherited or projected onto us by our parents. Broad suggestions are given for working with the issues but he doesn't attempt to hold the readers hand through the process and doesn't provide step-by-step instructions.

It's interesting reading, but don't expect the "Idiot's Guide to Individuation".




Rating:
Summary: A Pragmatic Guide to Individualtion
Review: James Hollis' Creating a Life is a pragmatic guide to individuation - the creation of a meaningful life worthy of its soul. Hollis' no-nonsense straight up voice separates it from new age self-help titles while still remaining accessible to lay individuals who are awake enough to be drawn to it. This book is not a step-by-step guidebook; rather I romantically view it as the reflections of a man on the path who has stopped off at the adventurer's tavern to tell of his journey so far. Throughout the book Hollis reinforces the promise of both what is attainable and what is at risk if one embarks on the quest. He also sprinkles a series of questions throughout the book that may illuminate a thread of understanding in one's life, one that might lead to the center of one's Self.