--- product_id: 1652624 title: "The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife (STUDIES IN JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY BY JUNGIAN ANALYSTS)" price: "$67.51" currency: USD in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.us/products/1652624-the-middle-passage-from-misery-to-meaning-in-midlife-studies store_origin: US region: United States of America --- # The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife (STUDIES IN JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY BY JUNGIAN ANALYSTS) **Price:** $67.51 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife (STUDIES IN JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY BY JUNGIAN ANALYSTS) - **How much does it cost?** $67.51 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.us](https://www.desertcart.us/products/1652624-the-middle-passage-from-misery-to-meaning-in-midlife-studies) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Why do so many go through so much disruption in their middle years? Why then? Why do we consider it a crisis? The Middle Passage presents us with an opportunity to reexamine our lives and to ask: "Who am I apart from my history and the roles I have played?" It is an occasion for redefining and reorienting the personality, a necessary rite of passage between the extended adolescence of the first adulthood and our inevitable appointment with old age and mortality. The Middle Passage addresses the following issues: How did we acquire our original sense of self? What are the changes that herald the Middle Passage? How does one revision the sense of self? What is the relationship between Jung's concept of individuation and our commitment to others? What attitudes and behavior support individuation and help us to move from misery to meaning? This book shows how we may travel the Middle Passage consciously, thereby rendering our lives more meaningful and the second half of life immeasurably richer. Review: Recommended Challenge for Greater consciousness & Individuation at Midlife - The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts; 59 by James Hollis, PhD was published in 1993 and is his first contribution to the series. The "Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts" is a wonderful series published by Inner City Books with Daryl Sharp as founder and chief editor (himself an accomplished Jungian Analyst and writer). Marie-Louise von Franz is their Honorary Patron with 9 of her classic titles in the offerings. The publisher's charter was "...founded in 1980 to promote the understanding and practical application of the work of C.G. Jung. " Since then they've published over 110 titles in this series with other prolific Jungian authors such as Barbara Hannah, Edward Edinger, and Marion Woodman to name a few. Hollis is a Zurich-trained Jungian analyst practicing out of Texas where he is also the Executive Director of the Jung Educational Center of Houston. He's contributed 8 titles to the Studies in Jungian Psychology series himself. His most recent book (from a different publisher) titled: "Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life - How to Finally, Really Grow Up" is receiving critical acclaim as well. Incidentally, the author and I recently shared some correspondence and I found him to be warm, helpful, responsive and thoughtful. The audio version of The Middle Passage is unabridged on 4 CD's with the author narrating in a calm, clear, and agreeable tone of voice with an elegant economy and effectiveness of words. I own a treasured, well-worn print copy of the 128-page book that is liberally underlined, dog-eared, and grossly highlighted. Whether reading the book or listening to the author narrate, I am nearly overwhelmed at the compactness of meaning in his tightly composed sentences. This sense of being overwhelmed is most assuredly not a bad thing - it's a welcome invitation for re-listening to the audio book during my daily commute (a 95 mile round trip to work and home in southern California traffic gives nearly two hours of listening time!). Plus I get opportunities to reread the printed book as time permits as I have a new addition to the family - this equates to sleepless nights with our newborn baby boy... Anyhow, it's a real pleasure opening this book and unpacking the riches within - and treasures they are! I reach into the bag and there are the gems, the gold in the content - but it's packed so tightly as to need diligent & mindful mining. I unpack the words, the sentences, and paragraphs and air them out, taking the concepts down different avenues of thought to glean new insights into the character of my self. I can't tell you the number times I've had "AHA!" moments - or the sublime experience where some subtle material gestated over time, gelling into meaningful mini-epiphanies. I can't tell you because it won't stop! A most gratifying experience! I have only one minor criticism of this great contribution to Jungian analysis/literature. I can imagine some people possibly being turned off by the author's complex wording which might appear a bit pedantic on the surface. Some of the arguably abstract/esoteric language is not common to a layman's lexis yet they pose a rewarding challenge for the diligent reader. Here's a sample of random rarified words & phrases for example: existential angst, imagos, ineluctable dialectic, the modern Zeitgeist, politic real, portmanteau and (ready?) Jung's awesome word Auseinandersetzung. I've had to grant myself a little time adjusting to his rich vocabulary. Nevertheless it is a cogent, logical and lucid narrative where Hollis carefully defines his terms in the context of recognized Jungian terminology. Hollis uses an abundance of prominent literary and historical figures including Christ, Dante, Stephen Dunn, T.S. Eliot, Nikos Kazantzakis, Nietzsche, Rainer Maria Rilke, Dylan Thomas, St. Thomas, Thoreau, Yeats, and C.G. Jung is well deployed throughout the text. A two-part bibliography gives a listing of select publications segregated by major categories such as: On Midlife, On Women, On Men, On Relationship, Typology, and Inner Work. The other half is a General Bibliography providing a comprehensive list of his sources cited. It also has a pretty good index. Generous footnotes throughout the pages helpfully clarify certain points and direct the reader to relevant sources. Characteristic of Hollis' Socratic bent, "Who am I apart from the roles I have played?" (from the preface) is the first of many questions posed in Middle Passage. The following passages from the preface effectively capture critical sentiment worth reflection: "Many of us pass through life as if it were a novel. We pass from page to page passively, assuming the author will tell us on the last page what it was all about...on the last page we die, with or without illumination." Hollis tells us "The invitation of the Middle passage is to become conscious, accept responsibility for the rest of the pages and risk the largeness of life to which we are summoned." In the first chapter, "The Provisional Personality", he uses the language of Jungian principles to reveal the genesis and evolution of childhood wounding resulting from internalized interpretations of adult conflict (particularly with respect to parental and cultural influences) and the subsequent development of unconscious complexes. He tells us "...the person one has been is to be replaced by the person to be...One is summoned, psychologically, to die unto the old self so that the new might be born." He concludes the chapter with "...the Middle Passage represents a summons from within to move from the provisional life to true adulthood, from the false self to authenticity." Making a comprehensive review of the rest of the book would prove too lengthy; however I've listed the remaining chapters below and will conclude with a review of one last chapter after the list: Chapter 2 - The Advent of the Middle Passage Tectonic Pressures and Seismic Intimations A New Kind of Thinking Changes in Identity Withdrawal of Projections Changes in the Body and Sense of Time The Diminution of Hope The Experience of Neurosis Chapter 3: The Turn Within The Persona-Shadow Dialogue Relationship Problems Midlife Affairs From Child to Parent to Child The World of Work: Job Versus Vocation Emergence of the Inferior Function Shadow Invasions Chapter 4: Case Studies in Literature (see below) Chapter 5: Individuation: Jung's Myth for Our Time Chapter 6: On the High Seas and Alone From Loneliness to Solitude Connecting with the Lost Child The Passionate Life The Swamplands of the Soul The Great Dialectic Momento Mori This Luminous Pause One chapter in particular has grown on me: in Case Studies in Literature Hollis explores and illuminates new perspectives into the shadow with fascinating analysis of some classic, well recognized literary works. In Goethe's Faust, "Mephistopheles describes the shadow as that part of the whole, neglected and suppressed, which is necessary for the dialectic that ultimately brings wholeness." And for our protagonist, "The central encounter which Faust suffers is the overdue meeting with his anima..." Next, we're treated to obvious projections Flaubert's Madame Bovary. The resulting sense of urgency from Faust and Emma's unlived lives causes them to make bad tragically bad choices. "They project their inner contrasexual onto an outer person, not realizing that what they seek is ultimately within." Dostoevsky's Underground Man "...takes us into the belly of the beast." and "...represents a profoundly searing encounter with the shadow." making conscious "...what all of us do in the first adulthood, namely, react to life's wounds. We build a set of wound-based behaviors and live out our handicapped version with rationalizations and self-justification." Works from three American poets, Hugo Richard, Theodore Roethke, and Diane Wakoski are shared representing "...self-conscious efforts to rework one's personal myth." and identify our biographies as "...traps, deceptive enticements that freeze us in the seemingly facticity of the past, wound-identified and creatures of fate." I end this quote-labored review with an invitation Hollis gives at the end of the same chapter, "In the secret club of the Middle Passage, there is an invitation for greater consciousness and an enlarged capacity for choice. With greater consciousness comes a greater opportunity for forgiveness of others and of ourselves, and, with forgiveness, release from the past." Finally, a grand imperative: "We must address the making of our myths more consciously or we shall never be more than the sum of what has happened to us." I highly recommended this book for the challenge it offers the welcoming soul. IndiAndy Review: A Beacon of Light in the Dark Wood of Midlife - The eruptions that occur for most of us in midlife are troubling and bewildering: loss of an established identity, depression, boredom, anxiety, perhaps even addiction, and the overwhelming feeling that something is dying and something else needs to be reborn. For some these seismic shifts break out in the stereotypical displays of the midlife crisis (jettisoning relationships and careers, for example) while others stew in quiet desperation and perhaps seek therapy or simply hope the disturbing rumblings will pass. In the author's words, "Anyone in midlife has witnessed the collapsing of projections, of hopes and expectations, and has experienced the limitations of talent, intelligence, and, often, of courage itself." James Hollis, a Jungian therapist with decades of experience as an analyst and teacher, has written this remarkable book which is the best I have seen at elucidating what the midlife passage means and the creative response it demands. Approaching the topic from the rich, poetic, and mystical perspective of depth psychology, Hollis maintains that our second lives call for nothing less than a renegotiation with the universe. In the first part of life, the ego is in charge and has projected unrealistic demands upon people, jobs, institutions and other aspects of the outer world. In the second half of life, Hollis maintains that these projections must be withdrawn and that we must undergo a new, inner journey based on what the soul demands. While this may at first sound theoretical and impractical, in fact Hollis describes aspects of what such an odyssey would entail as it relates to relationships, vocation, and other aspects of living. Hollis says that we already have everything we need to make this journey, however fraught with fear it can be. It's already inside us. I think you will come away convinced. At only 117 pages, concentrated and learned--but not pedantic--almost every paragraph has a sentence that can be pondered, underlined, and returned to. I expect to do this many times. As frightening as the midlife passage can be, Hollis gives us hope. He writes, "We are in the sea-surge of the soul, along with many others to be sure, but needing to swim under our own power. The truth is simply that what we must know will come from within. If we can align our lives with that truth, no matter how difficult the abrasions of the world, we will feel healing, hope, and new life." If you have entered the dark wood of midlife--as Dante referred to it--you will find this book to be an immensely rewarding companion that offers not a way out, but a description of a path through that will be uniquely your own. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #22,878 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #12 in Midlife Self-Help #28 in Popular Psychology Psychoanalysis #441 in Personal Transformation Self-Help | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 417 Reviews | ## Images ![The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife (STUDIES IN JUNGIAN PSYCHOLOGY BY JUNGIAN ANALYSTS) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71V7nNq3T5L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Recommended Challenge for Greater consciousness & Individuation at Midlife *by H***L on August 14, 2005* The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts; 59 by James Hollis, PhD was published in 1993 and is his first contribution to the series. The "Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts" is a wonderful series published by Inner City Books with Daryl Sharp as founder and chief editor (himself an accomplished Jungian Analyst and writer). Marie-Louise von Franz is their Honorary Patron with 9 of her classic titles in the offerings. The publisher's charter was "...founded in 1980 to promote the understanding and practical application of the work of C.G. Jung. " Since then they've published over 110 titles in this series with other prolific Jungian authors such as Barbara Hannah, Edward Edinger, and Marion Woodman to name a few. Hollis is a Zurich-trained Jungian analyst practicing out of Texas where he is also the Executive Director of the Jung Educational Center of Houston. He's contributed 8 titles to the Studies in Jungian Psychology series himself. His most recent book (from a different publisher) titled: "Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life - How to Finally, Really Grow Up" is receiving critical acclaim as well. Incidentally, the author and I recently shared some correspondence and I found him to be warm, helpful, responsive and thoughtful. The audio version of The Middle Passage is unabridged on 4 CD's with the author narrating in a calm, clear, and agreeable tone of voice with an elegant economy and effectiveness of words. I own a treasured, well-worn print copy of the 128-page book that is liberally underlined, dog-eared, and grossly highlighted. Whether reading the book or listening to the author narrate, I am nearly overwhelmed at the compactness of meaning in his tightly composed sentences. This sense of being overwhelmed is most assuredly not a bad thing - it's a welcome invitation for re-listening to the audio book during my daily commute (a 95 mile round trip to work and home in southern California traffic gives nearly two hours of listening time!). Plus I get opportunities to reread the printed book as time permits as I have a new addition to the family - this equates to sleepless nights with our newborn baby boy... Anyhow, it's a real pleasure opening this book and unpacking the riches within - and treasures they are! I reach into the bag and there are the gems, the gold in the content - but it's packed so tightly as to need diligent & mindful mining. I unpack the words, the sentences, and paragraphs and air them out, taking the concepts down different avenues of thought to glean new insights into the character of my self. I can't tell you the number times I've had "AHA!" moments - or the sublime experience where some subtle material gestated over time, gelling into meaningful mini-epiphanies. I can't tell you because it won't stop! A most gratifying experience! I have only one minor criticism of this great contribution to Jungian analysis/literature. I can imagine some people possibly being turned off by the author's complex wording which might appear a bit pedantic on the surface. Some of the arguably abstract/esoteric language is not common to a layman's lexis yet they pose a rewarding challenge for the diligent reader. Here's a sample of random rarified words & phrases for example: existential angst, imagos, ineluctable dialectic, the modern Zeitgeist, politic real, portmanteau and (ready?) Jung's awesome word Auseinandersetzung. I've had to grant myself a little time adjusting to his rich vocabulary. Nevertheless it is a cogent, logical and lucid narrative where Hollis carefully defines his terms in the context of recognized Jungian terminology. Hollis uses an abundance of prominent literary and historical figures including Christ, Dante, Stephen Dunn, T.S. Eliot, Nikos Kazantzakis, Nietzsche, Rainer Maria Rilke, Dylan Thomas, St. Thomas, Thoreau, Yeats, and C.G. Jung is well deployed throughout the text. A two-part bibliography gives a listing of select publications segregated by major categories such as: On Midlife, On Women, On Men, On Relationship, Typology, and Inner Work. The other half is a General Bibliography providing a comprehensive list of his sources cited. It also has a pretty good index. Generous footnotes throughout the pages helpfully clarify certain points and direct the reader to relevant sources. Characteristic of Hollis' Socratic bent, "Who am I apart from the roles I have played?" (from the preface) is the first of many questions posed in Middle Passage. The following passages from the preface effectively capture critical sentiment worth reflection: "Many of us pass through life as if it were a novel. We pass from page to page passively, assuming the author will tell us on the last page what it was all about...on the last page we die, with or without illumination." Hollis tells us "The invitation of the Middle passage is to become conscious, accept responsibility for the rest of the pages and risk the largeness of life to which we are summoned." In the first chapter, "The Provisional Personality", he uses the language of Jungian principles to reveal the genesis and evolution of childhood wounding resulting from internalized interpretations of adult conflict (particularly with respect to parental and cultural influences) and the subsequent development of unconscious complexes. He tells us "...the person one has been is to be replaced by the person to be...One is summoned, psychologically, to die unto the old self so that the new might be born." He concludes the chapter with "...the Middle Passage represents a summons from within to move from the provisional life to true adulthood, from the false self to authenticity." Making a comprehensive review of the rest of the book would prove too lengthy; however I've listed the remaining chapters below and will conclude with a review of one last chapter after the list: Chapter 2 - The Advent of the Middle Passage Tectonic Pressures and Seismic Intimations A New Kind of Thinking Changes in Identity Withdrawal of Projections Changes in the Body and Sense of Time The Diminution of Hope The Experience of Neurosis Chapter 3: The Turn Within The Persona-Shadow Dialogue Relationship Problems Midlife Affairs From Child to Parent to Child The World of Work: Job Versus Vocation Emergence of the Inferior Function Shadow Invasions Chapter 4: Case Studies in Literature (see below) Chapter 5: Individuation: Jung's Myth for Our Time Chapter 6: On the High Seas and Alone From Loneliness to Solitude Connecting with the Lost Child The Passionate Life The Swamplands of the Soul The Great Dialectic Momento Mori This Luminous Pause One chapter in particular has grown on me: in Case Studies in Literature Hollis explores and illuminates new perspectives into the shadow with fascinating analysis of some classic, well recognized literary works. In Goethe's Faust, "Mephistopheles describes the shadow as that part of the whole, neglected and suppressed, which is necessary for the dialectic that ultimately brings wholeness." And for our protagonist, "The central encounter which Faust suffers is the overdue meeting with his anima..." Next, we're treated to obvious projections Flaubert's Madame Bovary. The resulting sense of urgency from Faust and Emma's unlived lives causes them to make bad tragically bad choices. "They project their inner contrasexual onto an outer person, not realizing that what they seek is ultimately within." Dostoevsky's Underground Man "...takes us into the belly of the beast." and "...represents a profoundly searing encounter with the shadow." making conscious "...what all of us do in the first adulthood, namely, react to life's wounds. We build a set of wound-based behaviors and live out our handicapped version with rationalizations and self-justification." Works from three American poets, Hugo Richard, Theodore Roethke, and Diane Wakoski are shared representing "...self-conscious efforts to rework one's personal myth." and identify our biographies as "...traps, deceptive enticements that freeze us in the seemingly facticity of the past, wound-identified and creatures of fate." I end this quote-labored review with an invitation Hollis gives at the end of the same chapter, "In the secret club of the Middle Passage, there is an invitation for greater consciousness and an enlarged capacity for choice. With greater consciousness comes a greater opportunity for forgiveness of others and of ourselves, and, with forgiveness, release from the past." Finally, a grand imperative: "We must address the making of our myths more consciously or we shall never be more than the sum of what has happened to us." I highly recommended this book for the challenge it offers the welcoming soul. IndiAndy ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Beacon of Light in the Dark Wood of Midlife *by K***Y on March 10, 2010* The eruptions that occur for most of us in midlife are troubling and bewildering: loss of an established identity, depression, boredom, anxiety, perhaps even addiction, and the overwhelming feeling that something is dying and something else needs to be reborn. For some these seismic shifts break out in the stereotypical displays of the midlife crisis (jettisoning relationships and careers, for example) while others stew in quiet desperation and perhaps seek therapy or simply hope the disturbing rumblings will pass. In the author's words, "Anyone in midlife has witnessed the collapsing of projections, of hopes and expectations, and has experienced the limitations of talent, intelligence, and, often, of courage itself." James Hollis, a Jungian therapist with decades of experience as an analyst and teacher, has written this remarkable book which is the best I have seen at elucidating what the midlife passage means and the creative response it demands. Approaching the topic from the rich, poetic, and mystical perspective of depth psychology, Hollis maintains that our second lives call for nothing less than a renegotiation with the universe. In the first part of life, the ego is in charge and has projected unrealistic demands upon people, jobs, institutions and other aspects of the outer world. In the second half of life, Hollis maintains that these projections must be withdrawn and that we must undergo a new, inner journey based on what the soul demands. While this may at first sound theoretical and impractical, in fact Hollis describes aspects of what such an odyssey would entail as it relates to relationships, vocation, and other aspects of living. Hollis says that we already have everything we need to make this journey, however fraught with fear it can be. It's already inside us. I think you will come away convinced. At only 117 pages, concentrated and learned--but not pedantic--almost every paragraph has a sentence that can be pondered, underlined, and returned to. I expect to do this many times. As frightening as the midlife passage can be, Hollis gives us hope. He writes, "We are in the sea-surge of the soul, along with many others to be sure, but needing to swim under our own power. The truth is simply that what we must know will come from within. If we can align our lives with that truth, no matter how difficult the abrasions of the world, we will feel healing, hope, and new life." If you have entered the dark wood of midlife--as Dante referred to it--you will find this book to be an immensely rewarding companion that offers not a way out, but a description of a path through that will be uniquely your own. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Heavy Read *by R***1 on August 6, 2025* Honestly a super intense and heavy read. Worth it but damn. ## Frequently Bought Together - The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Mid-Life (Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts) - Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally, Really Grow Up - The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other - Jungian Perspective on Relationship (Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysis, 79) --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.us/products/1652624-the-middle-passage-from-misery-to-meaning-in-midlife-studies](https://www.desertcart.us/products/1652624-the-middle-passage-from-misery-to-meaning-in-midlife-studies) --- *Product available on Desertcart United States of America* *Store origin: US* *Last updated: 2026-05-16*