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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 2003)
BY LOIS WADSWORTH Start Asking Questions Keep asking what matters. ON THIS JOURNEY WE CALL OUR LIFE: LIVING THE QUESTIONS by James Hollis. Inner Circle Books, 2003. Paperback, $16. I call it serendipitous when the right book for me to read at a particular moment comes my way. So it is with Jungian writer and analyst James Hollis’ latest book, On this Journey We Call Our Life. Since last spring, I’ve been learning to write memoir, personal narrative. As it turns out, the process is actually one of self-discovery. As I dis- cover how to write about my life many years ago, its deeper meaning reveals itself. So when I picked up On This Journey, I was only momentarily surprised that Hollis writes about a similar process. Hollis is a lucid thinker and writer, who tackles the contemporary issues that arise in the second half of life with clarity and insight. He challenges the reader to live the life psy- che wishes you to live, even though it may not necessarily be the happy, secure, enter- tained and adjusted life we think we want. He notes “the paradox that feeling good may be a very poor measure of the worth of one’s life.” He asks relevant, soul-searching questions appropriate to a time after the basics of living a stable, independent life have been met. In other words, when you have become a re- sponsible adult. The first chapter’s title and question is: “By What Truths Am I Living My Life?” To access the ideas in this chapter, Hollis sug- gests that when we can “relinquish our fan- tasy of control through understanding, and accept that we are a mystery, that some large life courses within us with its own goal, then we live closer to the heart of things.” In this chapter, Hollis investigates the complexes, what Jung called “splinter psy- ches,” that manifest their authority over us when we are “stuck” — stuck in a job, a rela- tionship or a situation. With its historical roots deep in the unconscious, the complex resists change and growth and thwarts our best intentions. But Hollis offers practical ways to make the complex conscious and di- minish its power over our lives. This is one of the goals of analysis. Each chapter asks multiple questions of Traditional Greek & Indian Food 992 Willamette • Eugene, OR 97401 • 343-9661 “…our life is not a place but a journey, not an answer but a question.” RED BARN N AT U R A L G R O C E RY E S T. 1 9 8 2 Whole foods, for whole people . . . Fresh from the farm to you! organically grown produce • organic beer & wine organic bulk foods • vitamins & supplements • organic herbs & spices special orders / case discounts • natural body care products LOCALLY OWNED & OPERATED the reader and suggests ways to explore them, but Hollis doesn’t answer the ques- tions. Like nearly everything worth knowing about, the process is the point. Begin examin- ing your life deeply. Start by asking questions and searching for answers in your dreams, the patterns in your personal history. Don’t expect immediate results. Just commit to the journey and go. Keep asking what matters. As Hollis notes, “We always remain a mystery to ourselves, so we have a life-long agenda for growth and development. Whoever is bored has not yet awakened to the large drama that courses within.” The Eugene Friends of Jung presents a lec- ture by James Hollis, “The Eden Project,” based on his book of the same title, at 7 pm on Thursday, Dec. 4 at the William Knight Law Center, UO. Hollis is a dynamic, interesting speaker and a down-to-earth human being. ew Book Notes Nov. 26 - Jan. 1, 2005: Congratulations to Oregon Book Award winners Cai Emmons (His Mother’s Son), fiction; Rita Ott Ramstad (The Play of Dark and Light), poetry; Tracy Daugherty (It Takes a Worried Man), short fiction; Barbara S. Mahoney (Dispatchers and Dictators), general nonfiction; Chris Chester (Providence of a Sparrow), creative nonfiction; Eric Kimmel (Three Samurai Cats), children’s litera- ture and Heather Vogel Frederick (The Voyage of Patience Goodpeed), young adult fiction. …National Book Award winners: Shirley Hazzard (The Great Fire), fiction; Carlos Eire (Waiting for Snow in Havana), nonfiction; C.K. Williams (The Singing), po- etry; Polly Harvath (The Canning Season), young people’s literature. …Oregon Book Award nominee Alan Siporin (Fire’s Edge) speaks at 1 pm on 11/29 at Barnes and Noble. …Novelist, memoirist Tobias Wolff (Old School) speaks at 7:30 pm on 12/02 at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland. Tickets, 505.227.2538. …Poet Clemens Starck (Traveling Incognito chapbook) reads at noon 12/04 at the OSU bookstore, Corvallis, and at 7 pm in Borders Books, Salem. …Richard D. Blackstone (Nuts and Bolts of Spirituality) speaks at 7 pm on 12/03 at Hilyard Community Center. $5. …Floyd Skloot reads from his memoir In the Shadow of Memory at 7 pm on 12/04 at the UO Bookstore. …Jungian analyst and writer James Hollis speaks at 7 pm on 12/04 at the Knight Law Center. $5 Eugene Friends of Jung, $8 non-members. …Authors and Artists Fair runs from 7 - 10 pm on 12/06 at Eugene Downtown Library. Known participants at press time include writers Kate Wilhelm, Carola Dunn, Jan Eliot, Jim Cloutier, Maryanna Vollstedt, Joyce Mixer and ceramicist Betsy Wolfson. Wine, dessert and big raffle! 4 TH & BLAIR • 342-7503 • M-Sa. 8 AM -10 PM • Su. 10 AM -9 PM 2003 Oregon Book Award Winner Floyd Skloot “In the Shadow of Memory” Combining the author's skills as a poet and novelist, this book finds humor, meaning, and hope in the story of a fragmented life made whole by love and the courage to thrive. Reading and Book Signing 7 p.m. Thursday, December 4 •• FREE Knight Library Browsing Room UNIVERSITY OF OREGON BOOKSTORE UO Bookstore.com NOVEMBER 26, 2003 23
