The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling

published	October 1st 1997 by Warner Books
binding	Paperback
isbn	0446673714 (isbn13: 9780446673716)
ebook
pages	352
description	James Hillman, a former director of the Jung Institute who has written more than 20 books on behavior and psychology, delves into human development in...more [close] James Hillman, a former director of the Jung Institute who has written more than 20 books on behavior and psychology, delves into human development in The Soul's Code. Hillman encourages you to "grow down" into the earth, as an acorn does when it becomes a mighty oak tree. He argues that character and calling are the result of "the particularity you feel to be you" and knocks those who blame childhood difficulties for all their problems as adults. According to Hillman, "The current American identity as a victim is the flip side of the coin whose head brightly displays the opposite identity: the heroic self-made man, carving out destiny alone and with unflagging will." Hillman's theories seem disarmingly simple, but he backs them with a careful, well-practiced intellect. [close]
date added	05-22-07 edit book

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Christopher rated it:

(review of isbn 0679445226)

02/29/08

bookshelves: non-fiction, psychology

Read in February, 2008

The Soul's Code is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Using Plato's Myth of Er as a backdrop, Hillman skillfully applies Platonic reasoning to the problem of purpose and destiny. Rather than approaching destiny as a secondary concern of the human pursuit, Hillman elevates it to a place of unequaled parallel.

Hillman's ideas are personified in what he calls the acorn theory. The basic tenet of this theory "…holds that each person bears a uniqueness that asks to be lived a...more The Soul's Code is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Using Plato's Myth of Er as a backdrop, Hillman skillfully applies Platonic reasoning to the problem of purpose and destiny. Rather than approaching destiny as a secondary concern of the human pursuit, Hillman elevates it to a place of unequaled parallel.

Hillman's ideas are personified in what he calls the acorn theory. The basic tenet of this theory "…holds that each person bears a uniqueness that asks to be lived and that is already present before it can be lived." [6:] To illustrate this theory in action, Hillman uses many examples of exceptional people whose lives and actions, early in their development, clearly demonstrate a sense of purpose and calling that extends beyond the mundane. He uses extraordinary people and events to "reveal the ordinary in an enlarged and intensified image." [31:]

In essence, Hillman hypothesizes that each individual is born into the world with a daimon or destiny, a guardian angel (concepts that Hillman uses interchangeably to denote the same thing) that seeks to order our lives to some predetermined end. Similar to Plato's Myth of Er, Hillman proposes that we each choose this path before birth and that we choose our parents and the station in life that will best suit this innate potential. Its something that is wired into the code of our soul. Life's fulfillment is found only in satisfying the mandate of this mission.

This view creates a very unique way of looking at life: our childhood, compulsions, choices, etc. Similar to Kierkegaard's theory that life can only be understood backwards, Hillman takes the reader through example after example of extraordinary people who endured extraordinary things in life, yet these things prepared them and ultimately provided for what was clearly seen as their destiny once their life was over.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is searching for meaning in life. While some of Hillman's proposals appear outlandish at first glance, he does an excellent job of creating an alternative view of life and how we experience it.

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The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling

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