The Broken Mirror Quotes

“Every day is a summons to larger life. Every day a combat between the forces of regression—to fall back into the sleep of naiveté, dependency, unconsciousness—and progression to carry on the mystery of our human incarnation further into the unknown but fallow fields of the possible human.”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“are creatures who need to understand, at any cost.”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“CHAPTER THREE Necessary Fictions: Therapy as the Critique of “Stories”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“Creatures of infinite adaptation as we are, our historic accommodations with the world constitute a prejudicing of each new moment, and a potential sabotage of the developmental challenges of later life. It is humbling to realize that what worked for us historically, now limits us to the disempowered, constricted messages of history. Given that relinquishing our protections causes unacceptable anxiety, we are predisposed to repetition, rationalizations, and stuckness. Only when we recognize this reflexive claim upon us from our past, can we access the resolve to break through into the growth the soul is asking of us.”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“CHAPTER TWO The Zen Paradox: What You Have Become is Now Your Chief Problem”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“Usually, when depth psychologists use the word soul, they mean it in a non-dogmatic way, as a translation of the Greek word psyche. Etymologically, it comes from two metaphors. One is “to breathe,” suggestive of the invisible force that enters the newborn and departs at its demise. The second is linked to the “butterfly,” suggesting the mysterious transformations of life, moving through phases, and emerging as both beautiful and ever elusive.”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“Sometimes we humans have only our adaptations, without understanding why, in service to what, and how it may fit into a larger story, or even if there is a larger story.”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“It is not much of an allegoric stretch to see the two waiting on the lower level for clarity, reaching instead exhaustion of their resources, and being abandoned on a killing field as something of a reminder of the divine disconnect so many contemporaries experience from a nurturing, protective link to a larger order, a clarifying story, a transcendent Other.”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. They will practice Indian yoga and all its exercises, observe a strict regimen of diet, learn the literature of the whole world—all because they cannot get on with themselves and have not the slightest faith that anything useful could ever come out of their own souls.”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“For example, the first three essays came from agreeing to reflect on the theme of “The Many Faces of Truth” presented by the Jung on the Hudson program in the summer of 2021.”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“Always behind what we imagine our best deeds stands the devil, patting us paternally on the shoulder and whispering, ‘Well done!’” C. G. Jung, CW 10, “A Psychological View of Conscience,”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“buy time, plan to deal with it later. Sometimes suppression is necessary so that we can deal with more pressing issues.”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“Overwhelmment and Abandonment. Throughout our lives, they will remain threats and often become tyrants because they dictate our choices, create our patterns, infect our relationships. With notable exceptions, many of the strategies we devise to adapt and protect ourselves as children are still present in later decades, and by now have fixed roles in our on-going coping strategies.”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“In the engagement with the inherent and inevitable traumata of overwhelmment, we have three basic options: avoidance, compliance, and seizing power if possible.”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves

“One life message each of us has in common is this: “The world is big, and you are not. The world is powerful, and you are not. Now figure out a way to manage things in the face of that existential discrepancy for the next few decades.”
― James Hollis, The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves