What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

James Hollis Ph.D. (Author), Jim Bond (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 26, 2008

Why are we here? What is the meaning of existence? What truly matters the most in life? We have all felt the looming presence of these questions, but it’s never easy to examine our life’s path and its meaning. To begin finding answers, we must start by exploring our own internal ideals, values, and beliefs. Taking a fresh look at the concept of happiness, James Hollis encourages you to learn to tolerate ambiguity, embrace growth over security, engage spiritual crisis, and acknowledge the shadow of mortality. Providing inspiring wisdom and personal reflections to address our deepest worries, What Matters Most will help you get to the heart of the matter, to discover what it means to truly live life to its fullest, most meaningful state — as fully engaged citizens of the world — and to risk being who you really are.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The author of more than a dozen books, James Hollis, Ph.D., teaches at the Jung Center of Houston and is a distinguished faculty member of the Saybrook Graduate School in San Francisco. A graduate of the Jung Institute of Zurich, Switzerland, he lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife, Jill, and maintains a private analytic practice. Visit the author’s website www.JamesHollis.net.

From AudioFile

Healing, satisfaction, and meaning only come when we identify what feeds our soul . . . says therapist and writer Hollis in this thoughtful program. The elegance and poetry in this writing will frustrate listeners looking for something more direct or colloquial. Literature lovers, on the other hand, will devour the writer's philosophical tone and the many quotes from authors like Pascal and Dylan Thomas. Narrator Jim Bond's academic tone helps to keep the production anchored to the author's largely intellectual approach. Yet Bond is so comfortable with this kind of material that he makes it come alive with humanity and clarity. This well-performed essay is sure to influence those who warm up to its important message. T.W. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridged Lib Ed; Library edition (December 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423378393
• ISBN-13: 978-1423378396
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

More About the Author

James Hollis has a private analytic practice and is the executive director of the Jung Educational Center.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wise, Compassionate Man Shares His Insights, January 3, 2009

By 

Karl LaFong - See all my reviews

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This review is from: What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life (Hardcover)

If you're looking for simple solutions to your problems, "10 Simple Ways To Experience Enlightenment While Losing Weight and Improving Your Golf Score" and fast-food self-improvement, this is not the book for you.

James Hollis is a very wise man. His prose is both simple and profound. He calls on the reader to perform a most difficult, necessary task -- to (p. 39) "review every commitment, every old friendship, every practice, and every summons, and say in a new way, 'I will not serve that which does not serve me.'" In other words, re-consider your entire life so that, instead of serving the ego's needs, you are serving the needs of your soul.

I bought this book the first day it went on sale. The act of reading it was like spending time with a brilliant, compassionate friend who loves you more than you love yourself, and who is willing to call you on your worst, most self-destructive qualities in a way that opens the door to healing the wounds that might create new qualities and a better life.

Are you ready for a richer, more interesting life? Are you ready to do what's necessary to discover you soul's mission? Mr. Hollis will guide you.

I am grateful to this man for sharing his wisdom.

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No easy answers, but much wisdom, January 14, 2009

By 

William Timothy Lukeman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life (Hardcover)

In his latest volume, James Hollis delves into that toughest of all questions: What's it all about? He makes it clear that the answer will be something different for every individual ... and that becoming a true individual, discovering what our often-neglected potential is & exploring it, will provide as much of an answer as we'll ever get.

For there is no final, complete, all-encompassing answer, much as we might want one. Accepting uncertainty & ambiguity is the only way to grow beyond our social & cultural programming, "maintaining the tension of opposites," as many have put it. This means never being 100% sure, yet cultivating self-confidence; taking risks & striving for something that may ultimately elude our grasp; being resolute, yet never forgetting humility in the face of mystery. Above all, it means facing the most unsettling, troubling aspects of our own being, things we'd rather not know.

But let's be clear: Hollis is NOT advocating mere narcissism, ignoring personal responsibility & obligations for the sake of sweetly addictive navel-gazing. That's the farthest thing from what he's proposing. He doesn't promise happiness or security ... but he does say that life will be far more interesting, charged with greater meaning, so that even suffering will have some purpose & place.

Because in the end, we all face countless losses, right down to our own mortality. Not one of us is immune. Whether there's an afterlife or not, all we know for sure is this fleeting life, with all of its wonders, pitfalls, sorrows & joys. How will we make the most of it, this brief, ephemeral moment in the ocean of infinity? That is indeed the question!

So don't open these pages looking for neat, simple answers. Shallow pop psychology, soothing religious anodynes, fuzzy self-help -- none of that will be found here. In fact, you'll find far more questions than answers. But they're vital questions, and the struggle to answer them will deepen & enrich your life in ways you hadn't imagined.

Let me add a little personal testimony. After a year of loss myself, Hollis' words strike home all the more for me. They're not condescending, not uttered from some ivory tower on high, not always comforting -- but they've helped me a great deal, by treating me as an adult. Why settle for becoming anything less?

Most highly recommended!

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply Satisfying, January 6, 2009

By 

Mary Jane Hurley Brant "Mary Jane Hurley Brant" (Bryn Mawr, PA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life (Hardcover)

In What Matters Most, Dr. James Hollis legitimizes inner conflicts that we as individuals must struggle with if we are to call ourselves conscious. In this spiritually and verbally rich book the reader is invited to discover and live his or her own truth so as to appreciate the abundant rewards that a "More Considered Life" offers.

This book was so satisfying to me that it was not only food for thought; it was a banquet for my soul.

Mary Jane Hurley Brant
When Every Day Matters: A Mother's Memoir on Love, Loss and Life (Simple Abundance Press, Oct. 2008)