The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife (STUDIES IN JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY BY JUNGIAN ANALYSTS)

The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts; 59 by James Hollis, PhD was published in 1993 and is his first contribution to the series. The "Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts" is a wonderful series published by Inner City Books with Daryl Sharp as founder and chief editor (himself an accomplished Jungian Analyst and writer). Marie-Louise von Franz is their Honorary Patron with 9 of her classic titles in the offerings. The publisher's charter was "...founded in 1980 to promote the understanding and practical application of the work of C.G. Jung. " Since then they've published over 110 titles in this series with other prolific Jungian authors such as Barbara Hannah, Edward Edinger, and Marion Woodman to name a few. Hollis is a Zurich-trained Jungian analyst practicing out of Texas where he is also the Executive Director of the Jung Educational Center of Houston. He's contributed 8 titles to the Studies in Jungian Psychology series himself. His most recent book (from a different publisher) titled: "Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life - How to Finally, Really Grow Up" is receiving critical acclaim as well. Incidentally, the author and I recently shared some correspondence and I found him to be warm, helpful, responsive and thoughtful. The audio version of The Middle Passage is unabridged on 4 CD's with the author narrating in a calm, clear, and agreeable tone of voice with an elegant economy and effectiveness of words. I own a treasured, well-worn print copy of the 128-page book that is liberally underlined, dog-eared, and grossly highlighted. Whether reading the book or listening to the author narrate, I am nearly overwhelmed at the compactness of meaning in his tightly composed sentences. This sense of being overwhelmed is most assuredly not a bad thing - it's a welcome invitation for re-listening to the audio book during my daily commute (a 95 mile round trip to work and home in southern California traffic gives nearly two hours of listening time!). Plus I get opportunities to reread the printed book as time permits as I have a new addition to the family - this equates to sleepless nights with our newborn baby boy... Anyhow, it's a real pleasure opening this book and unpacking the riches within - and treasures they are! I reach into the bag and there are the gems, the gold in the content - but it's packed so tightly as to need diligent & mindful mining. I unpack the words, the sentences, and paragraphs and air them out, taking the concepts down different avenues of thought to glean new insights into the character of my self. I can't tell you the number times I've had "AHA!" moments - or the sublime experience where some subtle material gestated over time, gelling into meaningful mini-epiphanies. I can't tell you because it won't stop! A most gratifying experience! I have only one minor criticism of this great contribution to Jungian analysis/literature. I can imagine some people possibly being turned off by the author's complex wording which might appear a bit pedantic on the surface. Some of the arguably abstract/esoteric language is not common to a layman's lexis yet they pose a rewarding challenge for the diligent reader. Here's a sample of random rarified words & phrases for example: existential angst, imagos, ineluctable dialectic, the modern Zeitgeist, politic real, portmanteau and (ready?) Jung's awesome word Auseinandersetzung. I've had to grant myself a little time adjusting to his rich vocabulary. Nevertheless it is a cogent, logical and lucid narrative where Hollis carefully defines his terms in the context of recognized Jungian terminology. Hollis uses an abundance of prominent literary and historical figures including Christ, Dante, Stephen Dunn, T.S. Eliot, Nikos Kazantzakis, Nietzsche, Rainer Maria Rilke, Dylan Thomas, St. Thomas, Thoreau, Yeats, and C.G. Jung is well deployed throughout the text. A two-part bibliography gives a listing of select publications segregated by major categories such as: On Midlife, On Women, On Men, On Relationship, Typology, and Inner Work. The other half is a General Bibliography providing a comprehensive list of his sources cited. It also has a pretty good index. Generous footnotes throughout the pages helpfully clarify certain points and direct the reader to relevant sources. Characteristic of Hollis' Socratic bent, "Who am I apart from the roles I have played?" (from the preface) is the first of many questions posed in Middle Passage. The following passages from the preface effectively capture critical sentiment worth reflection: "Many of us pass through life as if it were a novel. We pass from page to page passively, assuming the author will tell us on the last page what it was all about...on the last page we die, with or without illumination." Hollis tells us "The invitation of the Middle passage is to become conscious, accept responsibility for the rest of the pages and risk the largeness of life to which we are summoned." In the first chapter, "The Provisional Personality", he uses the language of Jungian principles to reveal the genesis and evolution of childhood wounding resulting from internalized interpretations of adult conflict (particularly with respect to parental and cultural influences) and the subsequent development of unconscious complexes. He tells us "...the person one has been is to be replaced by the person to be...One is summoned, psychologically, to die unto the old self so that the new might be born." He concludes the chapter with "...the Middle Passage represents a summons from within to move from the provisional life to true adulthood, from the false self to authenticity." Making a comprehensive review of the rest of the book would prove too lengthy; however I've listed the remaining chapters below and will conclude with a review of one last chapter after the list: Chapter 2 - The Advent of the Middle Passage Tectonic Pressures and Seismic Intimations A New Kind of Thinking Changes in Identity Withdrawal of Projections Changes in the Body and Sense of Time The Diminution of Hope The Experience of Neurosis Chapter 3: The Turn Within The Persona-Shadow Dialogue Relationship Problems Midlife Affairs From Child to Parent to Child The World of Work: Job Versus Vocation Emergence of the Inferior Function Shadow Invasions Chapter 4: Case Studies in Literature (see below) Chapter 5: Individuation: Jung's Myth for Our Time Chapter 6: On the High Seas and Alone From Loneliness to Solitude Connecting with the Lost Child The Passionate Life The Swamplands of the Soul The Great Dialectic Momento Mori This Luminous Pause One chapter in particular has grown on me: in Case Studies in Literature Hollis explores and illuminates new perspectives into the shadow with fascinating analysis of some classic, well recognized literary works. In Goethe's Faust, "Mephistopheles describes the shadow as that part of the whole, neglected and suppressed, which is necessary for the dialectic that ultimately brings wholeness." And for our protagonist, "The central encounter which Faust suffers is the overdue meeting with his anima..." Next, we're treated to obvious projections Flaubert's Madame Bovary. The resulting sense of urgency from Faust and Emma's unlived lives causes them to make bad tragically bad choices. "They project their inner contrasexual onto an outer person, not realizing that what they seek is ultimately within." Dostoevsky's Underground Man "...takes us into the belly of the beast." and "...represents a profoundly searing encounter with the shadow." making conscious "...what all of us do in the first adulthood, namely, react to life's wounds. We build a set of wound-based behaviors and live out our handicapped version with rationalizations and self-justification." Works from three American poets, Hugo Richard, Theodore Roethke, and Diane Wakoski are shared representing "...self-conscious efforts to rework one's personal myth." and identify our biographies as "...traps, deceptive enticements that freeze us in the seemingly facticity of the past, wound-identified and creatures of fate." I end this quote-labored review with an invitation Hollis gives at the end of the same chapter, "In the secret club of the Middle Passage, there is an invitation for greater consciousness and an enlarged capacity for choice. With greater consciousness comes a greater opportunity for forgiveness of others and of ourselves, and, with forgiveness, release from the past." Finally, a grand imperative: "We must address the making of our myths more consciously or we shall never be more than the sum of what has happened to us." I highly recommended this book for the challenge it offers the welcoming soul. IndiAndy

One of the most enlightening books I've ever read! James Hollis is a Jungian psychologist and Psychoanalyst. He makes lucid, the process of individuation as the key to growth. Many of us suffering through a midlife crisis have no idea why we are feeling the way we feel or doing the things we do. For most people, the trauma of past events and loss of our true selves lies deeply embedded in the subconscious. At midlife these traumas may rise to the surface demand to be integrated into consciousness . If not we can pay a heavy price through anxiety, depression, and irrational actions. Marriages, families, and personal lives are torn apart when we don't grapple with and pursue the individuation process. At only 115 pages long the author makes every word count. I must admit that some parts were very painful and difficult to get through but it is well worth the effort!!

Honestly a super intense and heavy read. Worth it but damn.

The eruptions that occur for most of us in midlife are troubling and bewildering: loss of an established identity, depression, boredom, anxiety, perhaps even addiction, and the overwhelming feeling that something is dying and something else needs to be reborn. For some these seismic shifts break out in the stereotypical displays of the midlife crisis (jettisoning relationships and careers, for example) while others stew in quiet desperation and perhaps seek therapy or simply hope the disturbing rumblings will pass. In the author's words, "Anyone in midlife has witnessed the collapsing of projections, of hopes and expectations, and has experienced the limitations of talent, intelligence, and, often, of courage itself." James Hollis, a Jungian therapist with decades of experience as an analyst and teacher, has written this remarkable book which is the best I have seen at elucidating what the midlife passage means and the creative response it demands. Approaching the topic from the rich, poetic, and mystical perspective of depth psychology, Hollis maintains that our second lives call for nothing less than a renegotiation with the universe. In the first part of life, the ego is in charge and has projected unrealistic demands upon people, jobs, institutions and other aspects of the outer world. In the second half of life, Hollis maintains that these projections must be withdrawn and that we must undergo a new, inner journey based on what the soul demands. While this may at first sound theoretical and impractical, in fact Hollis describes aspects of what such an odyssey would entail as it relates to relationships, vocation, and other aspects of living. Hollis says that we already have everything we need to make this journey, however fraught with fear it can be. It's already inside us. I think you will come away convinced. At only 117 pages, concentrated and learned--but not pedantic--almost every paragraph has a sentence that can be pondered, underlined, and returned to. I expect to do this many times. As frightening as the midlife passage can be, Hollis gives us hope. He writes, "We are in the sea-surge of the soul, along with many others to be sure, but needing to swim under our own power. The truth is simply that what we must know will come from within. If we can align our lives with that truth, no matter how difficult the abrasions of the world, we will feel healing, hope, and new life." If you have entered the dark wood of midlife--as Dante referred to it--you will find this book to be an immensely rewarding companion that offers not a way out, but a description of a path through that will be uniquely your own.

I picked this book up shortly after finishing another Hollis book called "Why Good People Do Bad Things." I was so impressed by that book that I wanted to delve further into Hollis' Jungian take on life and I was not disappointed. "The Middle Passage" examines many of the same concepts but focuses more on that time in our life when we seem to seek meaning with greater desperation than when we were younger. It really is a special time and this book encourages the reader to not only celebrate the gifts this milestone in life provides, but to furthermore seize the opportunities to re-define ourselves on our own terms and once and for all destroy the roots of angst and frustration. This book helps make sense of the jumble of conflicted emotions, duplicity, and self-destructiveness that lingers in all of us and comes to an ugly head during this transitional phase of life. Understanding why and what is the most beneficial tool that Hollis provides, and armed with it, I can dissect myself with the precision and sense of purpose that had heretofore been little more than shouts into the void and the maddening cycle of failure. As a teacher, I can appreciate the value in being given the chance to help myself instead of being provided with water-downed solutions that build no independence and problem-solving skills. Hollis does just that and I will forever be indebted to his wealth of understanding of the human psyche and his willingness to share it with the rest of us. The seeds Hollis plants demand painful and thorough self-analysis to bear fruit. The look within might be too frightening for many or simply too difficult for those seeking soft answers and blankets of comfort instead of chilling realities. If you are ready to take the journey or are already down the path and finding yourself a bit lost, use this psychological map. It bears repeating of the cliché that you can not know where you are going if you don't know where you've been.

I thought this book was just fantastic. If you're thinking about it, just do it, at the very least there should be more copies of this floating around the world.

I am a student of Eastern philosophy and I looked at this book insofar as what it has to say from a Western, Jungian perspective. I was curious. At it's core Middle Passage explains Jungian theories of personality development and complexes that grow and change over time. The problem of the mid-life crisis, according to Hollis, is that we tend to hang on to ego-centric dynamics that worked in the past, perhaps out of necessity, but no longer work. The coping techniques run their course and rather than letting them go, growing, and accepting responsibility for our well-being and spiritual development, we cling to our former selves and projections on other. The book, however, tends to be abstract, more theoretical than practical. It explains more about HOW we get into mid-life in crisis and precious little about WHAT to do about it. But this is just the intersection with Buddhist teachings on essentially the same subject. Buddhism, in a sense, picks up where Jung leaves off. The Four Noble Truths, for instances, starts with the premise that human beings are prone to suffering for all the reasons Hollis gives in Jungian terms. It does not explain so much HOW we get into trouble with too much ego. Yet in 2,500 years of history, Buddhism and it followers have developed a rich set of tools centered around meditation for "staying awake" and living in the present as a practical anecdote for the ego -- namely, WHAT to do about it. In fact, toward the end of Middle Passage, meditation is one of the suggestions Hollis recommends for working through mid-life crisis. So I would say after reading this book take look at the writings of Pema Chodron, my favorite being Comfortable with Uncertainty. Get her seminar, How to Meditate, and see for yourself if this doesn't line up with Hollis and Middle Passage.

I had read all the reviews for this book before I purchased it but in the past that has not always been a guarantee. This was also the first Hollis book for me. Happy to say it won't be my last. I have a minimal amount of psychology studies (I minored in it) but am starting a master's program this summer. I picked it up mostly because I'm turning 50 this summer and felt the urges to put some "order" to the chaos I've been chasing the last decade or so in my life. It hasn't really been traumatic for me as much as it has been unsettling but I needed a name for it and Hollis names it well - the Middle Passage. I look back now and understand more clearly now why I seek out what I do and why I needed to reconcile what wounded me in the past. It gave me tremendous hope for the second half of my life and Hollis has a way of writing that is not intimidating. Too bad it's not a "must read" for every adult hitting 40 or 50. Marriages might have a better chance of staying stronger. People in general might not be wired so tight with superficial undertakings as they mature in life. I am grateful I found this author and intend on reading his other works.