The Middle Passage Author: Visit Amazon's James Hollis Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0919123600 | Format: EPUB
The Middle Passage Description
About the Author
James Hollis, Ph.D. is a Zurich-trained Jungian analyst. He is the acclaimed author of seven other books in this series. He lives in Houston, Texas, where he is director of the C.G. Jung Educational Center.
From AudioFile
Jungian analyst James Hollis looks at that point in life when people return to questioning who they are and where theyre going. While its often called a mid-life crisis, Hollis prefers to call it a passage--after all, its not a crisis for everyone. Reading his own work, Hollis discusses the pressures that lead to this passage, points out the weight of past influences, and offers suggestions on how to navigate these treacherous waters. With a calm tone and a friendly voice, Hollis leads listeners through this perilous period and advises on ways to negotiate it. While the narration is fine, the book itself is dense, and listeners may need to take some time to reflect on some of its profound ideas. K.M. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
- Series: Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts (Book 59)
- Paperback: 128 pages
- Publisher: Inner City Books (March 1, 1993)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0919123600
- ISBN-13: 978-0919123601
- Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
- Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
James Hollis had written a short but well thought out book on the midlife crisis. The term "mid-life crisis" would not be a term Hollis would use, because he sees the conflicts and disturbances that happen at mid-life as wonderful warnings that new directions are needed to achieve a meaningful life. He compares the depression, the loss of energy, the unexplained anger, the flare up of passion, as earthquake type pressures that give evidence of the rumblings below.
He compares the magic thinking of children, to the heroic thinking of young adulthood, to the more realistic thinking of the second adulthood. It is during this second adulthood that we must recognize what behavior patterns we bring from our early family of origin and whether those patterns have become maladaptive rather than adapative. He asks us to be aware of emotional outbursts or unrealistic passions of any type that signal that an unresoved complex still directs us emotionally and may be blocking our growth. He asks us to be willing to go into the luminous darkness within to seek answers, after all, by midlife you should have seen enough of the world to know that answers rarely lie outside of ourselves.
I enjoyed the poetry of Tennyson, Rilke, and Kazantzakis that he uses throughout the book. I especially liked the linkage to Tennyson's Ulysses, a poem that honors the fact that Ulysses' greatest adventures happen after mid-life.
Hollis believes the greatest tragedy during the midlife crisis is to remain unconscious and never examine the illusions, concepts, complexes, and dark shadows within us. After all, as we reach mid-life, this is the last chance for a meaningful life. The meaningful life is a higher goal that the happy life for both Jung and Hollis.
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