A Mythic Life: Learning to Live our Greater Story (Paperback)

by Jean Houston (Author) "When I was just under five years old, my father, Jack Houston, a comedy writer brought me to the MGM studios in Hollywood, where he..." (more)
Key Phrases: social artistry, mythic life, fractal waves, New York, Margaret Mead, Dame Ragnell (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Psychologist, popular author and leading figure in the human potential movement, Houston absorbed a sense of wonder from her Sicilian-born mother, Mary, a former stock-and-bond analyst who claims to see angels, and from her father, Jack, a TV and radio comedy writer for Eddie Cantor, George Burns and Henny Youngman. Her peripatetic girlhood, spent in Hollywood in the 1940s and in New York, Chicago, Dallas, St. Louis and New Orleans, was disrupted at the age of 14 when her father announced that he was divorcing her mother to marry another woman. Coping with grief and loss, discovering one's "Essence self" and tapping latent creative potential are abiding themes of this unorthodox, continually surprising spiritual autobiography. Houston believes that myths and archetypes can provide keys linking our local lives to larger patterns unfolding on the planet and in the cosmos. In that context, she discusses her identification with the goddess Athena, her mystical experiences, psychedelic trips and explorations of altered states of consciousness, her myth-reenacting workshops and her encounters with Margaret Mead, Paul Tillich, Joseph Campbell, Aldous Huxley, Martin Buber and Gestalt psychologist Fritz Perls. $75,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Houston?psychologist, author, mathematician, scholar, and student of humanity?has had many amazing life experiences, as we learn in this autobiography, including fascinating encounters with other people and cultures. She describes these personal events and uses them to try to lead us toward a new human experience. She illustrates the potential that we all have within us, if only we can learn to see ourselves as part of a greater whole. Houston believes that myth corresponds with all aspects of human existence and that it is the link that can lead us to our spiritual source. The author's enthusiasm and energy are felt on every page, but her writing is not always easy to follow. This book may not be in the same league as the work of Joseph Campbell (with whom she has done research), but it will undoubtedly be popular with readers of New Age material. Purchase accordingly. [One Spirit (QPB) selection.]?Elizabeth Caulfield Felt, Washington State Univ. Lib., Pullma.
-?Elizabeth Caulfield Felt, Washington State Univ. Lib., Pullman
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (October 11, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062502824
• ISBN-13: 978-0062502827
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #148,182 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Mythic Life Is A Wild Ride, March 12, 2001

By	Mark Edward Bachmann (Westport, CT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Readers of this book will have sharply diverging reactions to it, and I myself am of two minds. At her worst, Jean Houston can come across like a precocious and hyperactive college kid: flip, full of herself, flaunting exuberance, self-promoting, greedy for catharsis, disorderly ideas sprouting everywhere like psychedelic mushrooms. On the other hand, at her best, she's brilliant, scholarly, profoundly creative, wise, kind, and funny. On the balance, happily, I found the latter set of characteristics predominant here, although the less attractive side of her nature will be readily apparent to anyone unsympathetic to her style and her philosophy. This is an autobiography of sorts, although one in a style that only Jean Houston could conceive: utterly non-linear. What she actually gives us is series of anecdotes from all stages of her life, interspersed chaotically with a fireworks display of philosophical musing, human potential pep talks, New Age proselytizing, scientific speculation, and lectures on her original brand of mystical anthropology. Interestingly, she's the daughter of neither a scholar nor a mystic, but of an itinerant Hollywood gag writer, whom she loved dearly and who ran the family like an overbearing-but-lovable gypsy king. Numerous accounts of his lautish stunts pepper his daughter's book and bring comic relief. He was a direct descendent of Sam Houston, the flamboyant Texan general and politician, laying down a genetic strain that seems not at all improbable once you begin getting a sense of what Jean Houston is about. Of her retiring Sicilian-American mother, we learn very little. Dr. Houston's central animating idea, like that of her teacher and colleague Joseph Campbell, is that certain myths are universal among all peoples and all times, including our own, and they are the main drivers of psychological and spiritual essence of human existence. Exploring ourselves in light of these myths is key to fulfilling life - hence the book's title. Jean Houston takes this idea much further than Campbell did, and makes it the centerpiece of the teaching, lecturing, and mystical psychotherapy which has become both her life's calling and her business. This is compelling material and she presents it with eloquence and passion, despite the interference which her manic style at times brings to the narrative. I recommend "A Mythic Life", although it's not for everyone, and readers should be prepared for what they're getting.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that lends a different view on living today., January 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story (Hardcover)

For some time now I have heard my aunt refer to "Saint" Jean Houston. When this, her new book, came to the bookshelves I thought that it was high time I saw what all the fuss was about. I was most pleasantly surprised with it. I must admit that I read it with a certain amount of reserve, being somewhat of a skeptic where "mythology" is concerned. Each chapter starts with a story which lends insight to the author and the amazing life that she has led. "A Mythic Life" will leave you thinking. It will have you examining your life as it is at the moment. In short this is a life changing book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for some ways of realising their full potential.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Follow the Leader into the 21st Century, November 25, 1999

By	Henry E. Altenberg "Psychiatrist" (Kittery, Maine) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Through sharing fascinating details of her entire life and family, as well as people she has known and worked with, such as Margaret Mead, Jean Houston demonstrates vividly how we can all be more fully awake to our lives and the myths we all live by, whether we consciously know them or not. Reading her stimulates the reader to want more of her writings, which are plentiful and available.She also has a website worth pursing, at Jean Houston.org. An enjoyable read.