Customer Reviews

What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life

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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.

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!

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)

Life and our existence is a mystery that includes many difficulties and problems. There are no easy answers or simple ways to fix ourselves, but there is a way to embrace the mystery and live our life to the fullest. James Hollis has a good understanding of this and is able to communicate it well. It's books like these that give me hope for humanity. If we are willing to look at ourselves the great potential that lies within will someday be realized.

This is a valuable and graceful work by a wonderful author and teacher. If you seek courage and hope in the face of the growing strident, aggressive, and dangerous fundamentalism in the United States and the world at large, read this book. I believe it will help you build hope and bolster the courage to live your own life amidst the uncertainty of our existence.

A light shining in the darkness.

A privilege to read.

A blessing.

A celebration of the human spirit.

James Hollis is a Sojourner and a Warrior in the Realm of Mystery

I'm revising my earlier review, because it was written soon after I discovered Hollis' work, and it wasn't very helpful about this specific book.

Eight months later, I'd say this is my favorite Hollis book. It feels like his most personal work -- he alludes to the death of his son while writing it -- and so it seems less like an analysis of Jungian ideas and more of where Jungian thought has brought him to feel and value as important. That said, I do think familiarity with his earlier work enriches the reading of this book.

If you are new to Hollis, my recommendation would be to get this book in conjunction with his excellent CD set Through the Dark Wood, which is a survey of the themes of most of his earlier books. Hollis is an excellent speaker, and the material offers enough depth for repeated listens. You could then purchase his earlier books depending on what interests you.

Two things strike me about this book, which Hollis himself may take issue with, but what the hell...

1. If you are familiar with Myers-Briggs, Hollis to me presents a distinctly NT view of the world, more evident here than in his other work. So, if you have ever felt like you are an NT living in an SJ world, you may find you resonate with this material in a powerful, energizing way. (I suspect earlier reviews accusing Hollis of a liberal agenda were written by SJs who have a hard time finding value in things like doubt and uncertainty.)

2. This book serves as an indictment (or antidote, perhaps) of the insurance industry-friendly cognitive-behavioral, pill-popping school of problem-solving. As depth psychology becomes increasingly disfavored, this book screams out, "Look at the important values we are losing" and makes you think about how that impacts individual development and our cultural evolution. Ya gotta serve somebody, and what complexes are served by cognitive and medicinal solutions?

The title of this review is from the first chapter of this book, on fear. "Do not ask this question if you are afraid to find the answer." Hollis, a former humanities scholar, will urge you to choose anxiety over depression, to search for meaning instead of happiness, to adopt a "mature spirituality" that gives voice to the long-dormant gods, and to live an interesting life. Highly recommended.

I read the 1st chapeter 3 times. There is so much "meat" in this work and I'm still reading and getting a great deal
out of this book, underlining as I go!.
Great gift too for those on the spiritual path.

Hollis shines a searchlight on this subject of discovering your own authentic path in life. For me and I would state for all people, this is the most important focus for a life's work.

James Hollis is a modern-day sage, pure and simple. His insight into complicated life matters is impressive. His ability to articulate things, giving it a voice, is fascinating.

The book covers various aspects in life and each chapter challenges you to think and get in touch with your psyche. The reading is heavy duty (typical vintage Hollis).

Personally I was very touched by the author's comments on how Freud faced death and the fact that he kept smoking cigar despite the cancer.

I highly recommend this book for all readers who thirst for what really matter in life--beyond trivialized dogma and partial-truths. Hollis shares many deep views about life, I thought many of these were purely my own (yes I am a deep thinker and a seeker), but I realize that I resonated with Hollis. It's like he read my mind and hand me my thoughts on the white pages.

In summary, I will borrow from a comment Freud originally made about cats and say "Time spent with a Hollis book is time well spent!"