Living an Examined Life Quotes

“The one thing parents can do for their children is live their lives as fully as they can, for this will open the children’s imagination, grant permission to them to have their own journey, and open the doors of possibility for them. Wherever we are stuck, they will have a tendency to be stuck also or will spend their life trying to overcompensate. Living our own journey as fully as possible is not only a gift to our soul, it also frees up the generation behind us to live theirs as well. The very freedom to live our lives that we wished from our parents, we thereby grant to our children to live theirs.”
― James Hollis, Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey

“Our ego consciousness — namely, who we think we are, or what we believe real — is at best a thin wafer floating on an iridescent sea. In any moment, we view the world through a distorting lens and make choices based on what the lens allows us to see, not what lies outside its frame.”
― James Hollis, Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey

“I truly believe that the history of the world would change if we could just imagine parents healthy enough, wise enough, mature enough, evolved enough to say to their growing children something like the following: “Who you are is terrific. You are here to become yourself as fully as you can. Always weigh the costs and consequences of your choices as they affect others, but you are here to live your journey, not someone else’s and certainly not mine. I am living my journey so you won’t have to worry about me. You have within you a powerful source — call it your instinct, your intuition, your gut wisdom — which will always tell you what is right for you. Serve that, respect that. Be generous to yourself and others, but always live what is right for you. Life is really rather simple: if you do what is right for you, it is right for you and others. If you do what is wrong for you, it will be wrong for you and others. Know that we may not always agree on things, and that is fine, because we are different people, not clones. Always know that I will respect you and value you no matter your choices, and you will always find here people who love you and care for you.”
― James Hollis, Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey

“The first half of life, at least for most of us, is essentially a giant, unavoidable mistake.”
― James Hollis, Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey

“and as Jung pointed out, we seldom solve problems, but we can outgrow them.”
― James Hollis, Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey

“Who you are is terrific. You are here to become yourself as fully as you can. Always weigh the costs and consequences of your choices as they affect others, but you are here to live your journey, not someone else’s and certainly not mine. I am living my journey so you won’t have to worry about me. You have within you a powerful source — call it your instinct, your intuition, your gut wisdom — which will always tell you what is right for you. Serve that, respect that. Be generous to yourself and others, but always live what is right for you. Life is really rather simple: if you do what is right for you, it is right for you and others. If you do what is wrong for you, it will be wrong for you and others. Know that we may not always agree on things, and that is fine, because we are different people, not clones. Always know that I will respect you and value you no matter your choices, and you will always find here people who love you and care for you.”
― James Hollis, Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey

“Who I am, who you are, is the gift.”
― James Hollis, Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey

“this tungsten spark we call our soul,”
― James Hollis, Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey

“Attachment and loss, attachment and loss — this is the human story. We lose parts of ourselves as we adapt to the demands of the world.”
― James Hollis, Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey

“Our life begins twice: the day we are born and the day we accept the radical existential fact that our life, for all its delimiting factors, is essentially ours to choose.”
― James Hollis, Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey

“How do we know what is right for us? Well, the body knows, our deepest feeling knows, and the psyche knows, and each expresses its opinion, even as we learned early in life to evade these continuous messages from our own depths. So, the recovery effort must typically begin with the experience of inner discord, outer conflict, and sometimes heartache and loss.”
― James Hollis, Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey