Creating a Life: Finding Your Individual Path

I very much liked this book for myself. I've read a lot of books on psychology including much of Carl Jung's work. However, and I won't go into detail, but Hollis' book is addressed to the elite, people who have never experienced actual social exclusion, prejudice, or systemic obstruction to a comfortable life. That is certainly his prerogative to do that, but I just thought people should know. Other than that, I thought the last 1/3 of his book was essentially boring repeats of what he had just said so eloquently, and I would really rather have a very skinny book which is awesome than a lot of filler at the end of it just for the sake of making the book thick enough. All this sounds like criticism, but its very minor criticism, hence, the 5 stars. The awesome part is that Hollis gets it. He gets what we are doing here on this planet, and he has spent his life thinking about it and developing his thoughts on it. Probably the elite are the very people who need to read this. The elite are the ones who spend way too much time and effort achieving "success", and never get around to examining their inner life, if they even care about it. I love the way Hollis talks about how we do that, and how patient we have to be once we start doing that. I love the way he explains that the process of doing that should be honored, no matter how difficult it is, because that is all we have, it is our only choice towards what he hilariously calls "enlargement"...and I call happiness.

As with his previous books, Hollis offers more than just his considerable knowledge: he draws upon his life experience as a human being, with all of its joys and sorrows, as well as the artistic riches of our finest poets & novelists. This is no simple self-help book, with vague, homogenized talking points & feel-good aphorisms. Hollis makes it clear that some of our most pressing & urgent questions may never be fully answered; but he also makes it clear that even an incomplete journey to wholeness is vital & worth the effort. Yes, his book demands slow, careful reflective reading ... but he's here to offer us some insights about the path ahead, not to hold our hands every step of the way. For of course the path is going to be different for each one of us. If we indeed want to create a life worth living, we have to meet our guides halfway -- something we sometimes forget in a shallow, fast-paced culture which seldom challenges us & spoon-feeds us comforting junk food instead of genuine nourishment.Highly recommended!

I cannot say enough positive things about all of James Hollis' work. If you're ready to be truly challenged, think really long and hard, and take a serious look at your life - read this book and all his books. It's not all easy to hear and takes some work to read it (definitely not an easy read) - but so, so necessary and freeing if you're ready to take it to heart.

This is a very fine book on human psychology, a subject that usually leaves me indifferent and bored. It spoke to me and after reading it I felt that it must have spoken to a lot of people and I felt that I was a fellow comrade among many who struggle and search for understanding and a friend and peace and after reading it those things seemed so much more within reach. Read it !!!

This book is not for the faint of heart, and while it is not very long, it is also not a fast read. The chapters are brief, each one addressing a different aspect of the value of looking inward into the spirit, evaluating the progress of gaining ground in the inner life, and enriching the life one has been given. One is challenged to fill in the chinks left by the first half of life, the transition from the life of ambition and accomplishments, however grand or small they might be, by listening to and obeying the promptings of the soul.

My 2nd favorite Hollis book after Middle Passage. If you have never discovered Hollis, you are in for a real treat as the man conveys the truth about life in an honest way that I wished some friend had done years back but of course you can't do this if you haven't created your own life. It's not a self-help book but damn useful if you are on an individuation path. I just finished reading it again. Now it has even more scribblings in it.

James Hollis is compassionate well educated and an excellent author. A definitely worth while read

This book can change your life if you read it slowly and take it all in.

This is a wonderfully subversive book written by a man who many would view as a model of achievement in our society. I'm surprised there isn't a special Guantanamo Bay style camp for writers who quietly and unobtrusively plot the downfall of the established order. Make no mistake, if everyone followed his suggestions our society would be utterly transformed and the game would be up for the souless, manipulators that run this world.He simply suggests that we step back, examine our lives and stop being a cog in the machine. Stop putting our faith in others (even self-help gurus!) and become the person we were destined to become. Sounds easy in theory but in practice it requires us to address the brainwashing that we've all received from our parents, our tribe and our culture. In a memorable passage he points out that we either live life reflexively or reflectively and if you don't learn to reflect you'll always be dancing to someone else's tune.But don't expect him to tell you how to go about all of this. This is a true self-help book that demands that you help yourself. It poses the questions but refuses to provide neat one-size fits all answers. Essentially it's a book for middle-aged people who've hit the buffers and feel their life has become devoid of meaning. His message for the young is go out and conquer the world because your personality can only be forged in the fires of living. The time to read Hollis will come when those fires no longer warm you but begin to consume you.

Have read other books by James Hollis, but found this pretty dated compared to some of his later books, which I thought much better.

Beneficial read, a bit wordy and academic but stay with it, it takes one on a journey to dicover oneself.

Unbelievably insightful and interesting read. I love jungian theories. Would highly recommend it!

Very challenging