What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life

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.

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.

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)

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.