Creating a Life: Finding Your Individual Path

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.

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.).