Customer Reviews

Creating a Life: Finding Your Individual Path

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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".

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. Hollis 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!

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.).

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.

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".

I was first introduced to James Hollis at ISAP in Switzerland where he was a keynote speaker at the Jungian Odyssey in 2007. I appreciated his accessible approach to Jungian Psychology in that he brings it very much down to earth where we live in our everyday lives.

I just finished "Creating a Life" and found it very similar to how it was to listen to his lectures live. I do agree with other reviewers here that it is not a quick read and sometimes necessary to re-read certain passages. It may only be about 160 pages but it is very dense and rich.

The principle themes that can be found here are that In our youth, we make a "provisional" personality for the ego to defend itself against the scary realities of life. We build a strong defense system to protect our childhood wounds. In later life, we have mistakenly identified with our provisional personality which is specialized, having adapted only to deal with familial and cultural social situations and hardly any sense of wholeness of self and authenticity which has been driven down into the unconscious. Meanwhile, the defenses for our wounds (not the wounds) are the principle cause of conflict in our relationship with ourselves and others.

The second half of life hopefully brings the realization that the old ways don't work anymore, but most of us continue to bang our heads against the rock of the old ways hoping for a new result. What is unconscious in our lives will either be projected onto others (either in terms of criticisms against the other or in admiration) or will manifest in our life as "fate". The second half of life challenges us to reflection rather then reflexivity. It challenges us to know ourselves as deeply as we can and take responsibility for our own individuation. Hollis' book sets out to make a sort of map in regards to this without ever giving advice. In true Jungian fashion, Hollis poses many excellent questions without presupposing the answers as, ultimately, we must live out the questions (not the answers) for ourselves.

Hollis always seems to tell me what I already know on some deeper level. And he does it through the beauty of metaphor, literary allusions and cogent observations. Re-reading Kierkegaard, Descartes and Thoreau was enjoyable but the sprinkling of quotes by Lawrence, Yeats, Shakespeare and so many others helps transform Hollis's works into more than a dry tome of psycho-babble too familiar in today's market. Although not a quick read, well worth the time to discover who we are, how we came to be and how we navigate the paradoxes of this terrible, wonderful life.

My joys consist of reading fiction, listening to music and creating art. None of these fill our need for survival-- they are not necessities. But there is something beyond reason and logic that seems to require my attention. James Hollis's unapologetic use of words like soul, God and spirit is compatible with my intellectual sensitivities. He points the reader to another possibility, another dimension of humanity that we may never be able to label, but makes sense of our fascination for the mystery of life and the unknowable.

I enjoyed this book very much. The content is informative and includes several interesting quotes and poems to help illustrate the messages. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is reevaluating themselves.