A masterful author and Jungian analyst examines the qualities that bring meaning to our human journey

A Masterful Author and Jungian Analyst Examines the Qualities That Bring Meaning to Our Human Journey.

What is it that brings meaning to your life? Our culture tells us to seek wealth, power, prestige, or even enrollment in someone else's idea of a worthy cause-yet where do we turn when these paths fail to fulfill our need for purpose? "When the old stories and beliefs that once defined us have played out and grown exhausted," teaches Dr. James Hollis, "our task is to access our inner compass, the promptings of the psyche that help us find our way through the complex thickets of choice."

A Life of Meaning is Hollis's profound exploration of the nature of meaning and how we can orient toward it or away from it with the choices we make. Hollis offers an examination of myth, literature, historical figures, and the wisdom of depth psychology that provides penetrating insight into the search for purpose. Join him to explore:

• How even cherished narratives splinter and lose potency over time
• Why dreams are windows into your internalized patterns and base assumptions
• How to excavate and understand your earliest, most foundational beliefs
• The power of fear and how it shapes unconscious reactions
• Recognizing and rising to the occasion of a "summons of the soul"
• How to anchor yourself during times of uncertainty and change
• Why it's important to be aware of and closely examine your shadow
• How to reckon with old feelings of shame, betrayal, resentment, and regret

We all have to discover our own sense of meaning. No one else can do it for us. In A Life of Meaning, Hollis offers no easy answers or feel-good certainties-instead, he shares his most valuable questions and reflections to help you find the courage, persistence, and inspiration to navigate your own odyssey. "It's humbling work, this process of getting our lives back," he teaches. "Yet I submit to you that's worth the price of the ticket, for in the journey our lives become ever more luminous."

Autorentext

James Hollis, PhD, is a licensed Jungian analyst in private practice in Washington, DC. Originally from Springfield, Illinois, he graduated from Manchester University in 1962 and Drew University in 1967. He taught humanities for 26 years in various colleges and universities before retraining as a Jungian analyst at the Jung Institute of Zürich, Switzerland (1977-82). He served as executive director of the Jung Educational Center in Houston, Texas, for many years. He was executive director of the Jung Society of Washington until 2019, and now serves on its board of directors. He is a retired senior training analyst for the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, was first director of training of the Philadelphia Jung Institute, and is vice-president emeritus of the Philemon Foundation. Additionally, he was a professor of Jungian Studies for Saybrook University of San Francisco.

He has written 20 books, available in translations around the world, including Living Between Worlds, What Matters Most, and Living an Examined Life. He lives with his wife, Jill, an artist and retired therapist, near Washington, DC. Together they have three living children and eight grandchildren. For more, visit jameshollis.net.