 May
2003
On
This Journey We Call Our Life
Softcover, $16
Inner City Books
Three years ago, I happened
across one of James Hollis’s books, Swamplands of the Soul,
and have been an avid follower of his work ever since. On This
Journey We Call Our Life: Living the Questions is the seventh
in a series of books he is writing that deal from various perspectives
with the middle passage and its key task, the search for authentic
selfhood. This most recent title raises important questions that
Hollis believes we ought to ask ourselves if we would live authentically.
He organizes his material around ten specific questions designed
to help us probe just how consciously we are living, choosing,
and growing.
Hollis, a Zurich-trained
Jungian analyst, as well as a former professor of English and
a one-time student of theology and philosophy, acknowledges that
our difficulties, painful histories, losses, and other experiences
of the “swamplands” are moving us (if we allow them
to) more fully into being who we truly are. “The whole second
half of life,” Hollis says, “calls us to a spiritual,
by which I mean psychological, agenda.”
What is the soul asking
of us? This is the ultimate question he explores—and helps
us to explore in our own life. Hollis does not think of himself
as wise, but he is, I believe—because his view of the journey
of life is a large one and a serious one. Doing our work “requires
that we grow up,” he says, in a statement at once simplistic
yet far-reaching in its implications. I feel that in Hollis I
have found a guide, perhaps not one who knows all the answers,
but one who has thought long and hard about which questions need
to be lived.
—Kathy Juline
www.heroicstories.com
How many times have we
heard, “Why must the news always be bad news?”
Randy Cassingham, founder
and publisher of www.heroicstories.com, thought it was time to
address that question. He decided to create a website to report
the uplifting, admirable, and positive events in our lives rather
than, as he describes it, the “bad, horrific, and tragic.”
The result is a collection of stories written by ordinary people
who have risen above adversity, changed their lives through some
sudden insight, or inspired others to change. Visitors to the
site are encouraged to submit their own “heroic” stories
(though they are told not to use the word “hero” in
them!), which, if accepted, will be shared with readers worldwide.
The suggested length is 500 words, and the story must relate “a
simple incident...that had a life-changing impact” on the
writer. Links provide samples of stories to furnish viewers with
an idea of what is required.
One story tells of a stranger
who went out of his way to help the author, and refused payment.
Another related a chance meeting with a television personality
whose influence caused the writer to break a long-standing smoking
habit. Visitors may also subscribe to a free newsletter. A collection
of heroic stories is also available through the site for those
who wish to order a bound volume. Try this site. You will find
it quite fascinating.
—Cliff Johnson
*Recommended Science of Mind Titles:
All available through DeVorss, 1-800-382-6121
1. The
Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes
2. Creative
Mind by Ernest Holmes
3. How
to Use the Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes
4. Richer
Living by Ernest Holmes and Raymond Charles Barker
5. The
Art of Being Yourself by Frank Richelieu
6. La
Ciencia de la Mente by Ernest Holmes (Spanish Translation)
7.
I Am Enough by Margaret Stortz
8. Alcoholism
by Ernest Holmes
9. Understanding
(and Standing Under) the Bhagavad Gita by Donald Curtis
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