Stepping into Largeness

Course Description

Living a meaningful life can be gauged as the degree to which we can be true to who we really are in the face of the obstacles that life presents. The truth about who we are comes from a source within us: call it the soul, the psyche or anything else. Jim Hollis shows us how to use our inner compass to get to that source.

There are many inner and outer claims for our allegiance. Some of them are conscious, a great deal unconscious. Some of them are in our interest and some are inimical to our interests. Some come from our response to contemporary stimuli. And most come from the activation of archaic patterns of response in our psychological history about which we know very little, if anything at all.

Part of the task of living a meaningful life is sorting through these claims and trying to discern which voices are ours and which belong to others. As well as which are authentic paths for us and which have been imposed.

Psyche is the constant riverbed through our lifelong changes. The psyche is the totality of our functioning; the totality of our being. It has its somatic manifestation in bodily functions and responses. It’s our affective life where emotions are stirred and move in certain directions. It’s our cognitive process and it’s our behaviors. And it’s something else beside that that we can’t quantify.

The psyche is always speaking to us. And part of the task of the second half of life is the recovery of a respect for the fact that the psyche is speaking. And having the courage to listen to what it wants of us.

We can listen to the psyche´s evaluation of how we’re living. It has opinions about how our life is going, how we’re moving in the world. The psyche holds our trauma while it keeps track of what we do with it. Our deeper self has a view of the daily choices we make.

This course is an invitation to reflect upon the many claims upon our allegiance and our value choices. It’s an opportunity to confirm those values that are integral to who we are. An opportunity to deepen into what helps us stretch out in the world, tap deep into our roots and hold to those values that can help us step into our own largeness.

This program is being offered by the Jung Center of Houston and the Jung Platform. The original recording of this lecture took place at the Jung Center. The recording has been remastered. The lectures are available now.

This course is ideal if you want to:

• Move into a bigger life.
• Understand how we come to live small, adaptive lives and look at some of your own adaptations.
• Embrace ambiguity in your life.
• Hone your ability to make choices that enrich your life.
• Be able to see what you are missing from your life and how you can better nourish yourself.

Course Overview

Class 1: Living an Adaptive Life

In the opening class, we tackle questions around living adaptive lives. This has to do with working on oneself: digging backwards from the patterns in our lives to the formative stories that they’re in service to. How have these adaptations served us and been critical to our survival? How do they get in the way? Are they keeping us from stepping into our largeness? 

Class 2: Tolerating Ambiguity

This class gets us to see how all of life is a “grand, blooming ambiguity”. In this context, we explore Complexes, the Shadow and Splits, among other Jungian concepts. How can we develop the capacity to tolerate ambiguity? What happens to us, psychologically and spiritually, when we are unable or unwilling to? What internal and cultural resistances do we face on the path?

Class 3: Nourishing Yourself

In this class, we are invited to ponder what nourishes us; what nourishes our souls. The Psyche is always asking the question “what feeds me”, whether we are aware of it or not. What is missing in our life? How does Psyche speak to us about this? Where can we look for clues about how to nourish our Selves? Hollis illustrates these ideas by turning to literature for three portraits of souls that were not being fed.

Class 4: Power of Eros 

This class is an investigation into the power of Eros. What is Eros? What are the expressions of Eros and Eros-denied/lost in our lives? How is it connected to desire, spirituality and the search for connection? We also learn how Eros is connected to other depth-psychological ideas like anima and animus, complexes, projection, repression, and sublimation.

Class 5: Living Large

The final class tackles why we live in smaller frames of reference. We start by revisiting the idea of adaptations. What are the patterns of adaptation we can discern in our lives? Hollis acknowledges what an intimidating and frightening task stepping out of the comfort of our smallness can be. And finally, he paints a simple portrait of what a life lived large can look like. We hope you end the class feeling encouraged!

Enjoy a wholesome interaction between Hollis and the audience throughout the five classes. 

By the end of this course you will

• Be more encouraged to look at the possibility of inviting largeness into your life.
• Be able to explain the importance of embracing ambiguity.
• Be better equipped to live a life that nourishes your soul.
• Be able to identify what truly matters to you.