Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally, Really Grow Up

255 Pages·2006·1.18 MB·English

by  James Hollis

Praise for Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life
“. . . nourishing. . . . Like a master chef, James Hollis knows that good food for
the soul cannot be ordered to go.”
—The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
“[O]ffers insight into the process of finding true meaning later in life. . . .
challenging . . . earnest.”
—The Houston Chronicle
“How to find your way out of the woods (figuratively) . . . What’s at stake is
what Hollis calls the biggest project of midlife: reclaiming one’s personal
authority. This means leaving behind what’s comfortable but confining.”
—More magazine
“Everyone seems to be obsessing about the monetary cost of the graying of the
American population, but there’s very little talk about the soul. James Hollis, one
of the foremost Jungian analytical psychologists in the world, has plenty to say
about the soul. . . . [E]rudite and cultured but also accessible.”
—Portland Tribune
“[A] deep Jungian exploration of individuation . . . humane and
compassionate . . . [Hollis’s] focus on the underlying meaning of life will
resonate for many.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[C]ontains the writing of a gentle and insightful soul who does not bog down in
analytical dryness, but speaks to and teaches from the heart . . . genuine vision
and genuine humanity is a rare and valuable gift, and readers will find both in
this work.”
—Clarissa Pinkola Estés, author of Women Who Run with the Wolves
“[An] important book, which, as it strips away illusions, posits the soul-work
that’s necessary for the difficult task of making our lives meaningful.”
—Stephen Dunn, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
“James Hollis’s new book is a work of soul-making. It brings solace and wisdom
to those of us who find ourselves in a dark wood in the second half of life.”
—Edward Hirsch, author of How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with
Poetry
“Midlife is a time when people can lose their way and flounder. Jungian analyst
James Hollis knows this terrain, describes it well and asks the important
questions that can lead to clarity, maturity, and meaning.”
—Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., author of Goddesses in Everywoman and Gods
in Everyman
KAYE MARVINS
James Hollis, Ph.D., is a Jungian analyst in private practice and executive
director of the C. G. Jung Educational Center of Houston, Texas. He received an
A.B. from Manchester College and a Ph.D. from Drew University. He taught
humanities for twenty-six years in various colleges and universities before
becoming a Jungian analyst at the Jung Institute in Zurich, Switzerland, where
he received a diploma in analytical psychology. He lectures frequently
throughout the country and worldwide, lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife,
and has four grown children.
Finding
Meaning
in the
Second Half
of Life
JAMES HOLLIS, P .D.
H
GOTHAM BOOKS
GOTHAM BOOKS
Published by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a
division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.); Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England;
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd); Penguin
Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson
Australia Group Pty Ltd); Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New
Delhi - 110 017, India; Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland, New
Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd); Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee
Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Published by Gotham Books, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Previously published as a Gotham Books hardcover edition.

First trade paperback printing, May 2006

Copyright © 2005 by James Hollis, Ph.D.
All rights reserved

GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT IS MADE FOR PERMISSION TO REPRINT THE FOLLOWING:
Quote from Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse. English language translation © 1929,1963 by Henry Holt & Co.
Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt & Co., LLC.

An excerpt from The Essential Rumi by Jeladaden Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks. English translation
© by Coleman Barks. Reprinted by permission of Coleman Barks.

Excerpt, from “After Making Love,” from Loosestrife by Stephen Dunn. Copyright © 1996 by Stephen
Dunn. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Gotham Books and the skyscraper logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition of this title as follows:
Hollis, James, 1940-
Finding meaning in the second half of life / James Hollis.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-592-40120-1 (hardcover) ISBN 1-592-40207-0 (paperback)
1. Adulthood. 2. Maturation (Psychology) 3. Middle aged persons—Psychology.
I. Title.
HQ1061.H56 2005
155.6’6—dc22 2004060880

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the
copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the
permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic
editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of
the author’s rights is appreciated.
For Jill,

And for our children,
Taryn and Tim, Jonah and Seah,

And the people of
The Jung Center of Houston
Contents

Introduction
The Dark Wood
Chapter One
Expensive Ghosts: How Did We Get to This Point?
Chapter Two
Becoming Who We Think We Are
Chapter Three
The Collision of Selves
Chapter Four
Barriers to Transformation
Chapter Five
The Dynamics of Intimate Relationship
Chapter Six
The Family During the Second Half of Life
Chapter Seven
Career Versus Vocation
Chapter Eight
The New Myth Emerging from the Psychopathology of Everyday Life
Chapter Nine
Recovering Mature Spirituality in a Material Age
Chapter Ten
Swampland Visitations
Chapter Eleven
The Healing of the Soul

Bibliography