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Hauntings: Dispelling the Ghosts Who Run Our Lives

by James Hollis

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What does life ask of us, and how are we to answer that summons?Are we here just to propagate the species anew?Do any of us really believe that we are here to make money and then die?Does life matter, in the end, and if so, how, and in what fashion?What guiding intelligence weaves the threads of our individual biographies?What hauntings of the invisible world invigorate, animate, and direct the multiple narratives of daily life?In Hauntings, James Hollis considers how we are all governed by the presence of invisible forms--spirits, ghosts, ancestral and parental influences, inner voices, dreams, impulses, untold stories, complexes, synchronicities, and mysteries--that move through us and through history. He offers a way to understand them psychologically, examining the persistence of the past in influencing our present, conscious lives and noting that engagement with mystery is what life asks of each of us. From such engagements, a deeper, more thoughtful, more considered life may come."James Hollis is the most lucid thinker I know about the complexities and complexes that interfere with living a full life.... He is one of our great teachers and healers." --Stephen Dunn, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet… (more)
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"Hauntings: Dispelling the Ghosts Who Run Our Lives" explores the unconscious "ghosts" (patterns/neuroses) that strongly influence our lives and our choices.

How do I review a book like this? Do I begin with the beautiful use of language? Or do I start with the literary and classical references, which seamlessly form part of the text? In so many other books these often appear gratuitous or pretentious, but in James Hollis's writing they just flow across the page in clear and bright images to support his complex ideas about the soul, its wounds and how to heal those fractures.

There is the inspirational content springing from a profound intellect and the hard-earned wisdom of a life well-lived. But this text is so much more that just abstract intellectual theories: there is heart and soul in these words as well.

Hollis occasionally refers to his therapy patients, but these case examples are kept short and relevant. Without in any way pontificating or proselytizing, the power of HAUNTINGS comes from both the hard-hitting metaphysical questions and a generous sharing of the author's knowledge on how to live a deeper, more thoughtful, more conscious life.

This is a book that needs to be read again and again, so that one can savour the depth and breadth of the insights and guidance offered. I read it slowly, savouring the journey and often going back to re-read passages I'd highlighted. A must-read for anyone wanting to live a meaningful, contented life freed from the dual prison of our personal pasts and our ancestral wounds. ( )
  JudyCroome | Oct 24, 2020 |
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What does life ask of us, and how are we to answer that summons?Are we here just to propagate the species anew?Do any of us really believe that we are here to make money and then die?Does life matter, in the end, and if so, how, and in what fashion?What guiding intelligence weaves the threads of our individual biographies?What hauntings of the invisible world invigorate, animate, and direct the multiple narratives of daily life?In Hauntings, James Hollis considers how we are all governed by the presence of invisible forms--spirits, ghosts, ancestral and parental influences, inner voices, dreams, impulses, untold stories, complexes, synchronicities, and mysteries--that move through us and through history. He offers a way to understand them psychologically, examining the persistence of the past in influencing our present, conscious lives and noting that engagement with mystery is what life asks of each of us. From such engagements, a deeper, more thoughtful, more considered life may come."James Hollis is the most lucid thinker I know about the complexities and complexes that interfere with living a full life.... He is one of our great teachers and healers." --Stephen Dunn, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet

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