James Hollis, Ph.D. is a Jungian psychoanalyst, author, and lecturer in private practice in Washington, D.C.
He earned a Ph.D. in literature from Drew University and taught humanities and the philosophic traditions of cultures for over 25 years before training as a Jungian analyst at the C.G. Jung Institute Zürich where he earned a Diploma in Analytical Psychology (the degree of a Jungian analyst) in 1982.
Dr. Hollis is the co-founder and first director of training of the Philadelphia Jung Institute, worked as a senior training analyst for the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, and from 1998-2008 served as executive director of the C.G. Jung Educational Center in Houston, Texas.
In 2014, he relocated to Washington, D.C. where he spent the next five years as executive director of the Jung Society of Washington, and now serves on its board of directors. He is also vice president emeritus of the Philemon Foundation and a former professor of Jungian Studies at Saybrook University in San Francisco.
Dr. Hollis continues to lecture online and to write. He is the author of 20 books, available in translations around the world. His titles are, in order: Harold Pinter, The Middle Passage, Under Saturn’s Shadow, Tracking the Gods, Swamplands of the Soul, The Eden Project, The Archetypal Imagination, Creating a Life, On This Journey We Call Our Life, Mythologems, Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life, Why Good People Do Bad Things, What Matters Most, Hauntings, Living an Examined Life, Living Between Worlds, Prisms, The Broken Mirror, A Life of Meaning, and his latest, Living with Borrowed Dust: Reflections on Life, Love, & Other Grievances, scheduled to be published tomorrow (Mar. 4, 2025) by Sounds True. (all books linked below)
Dr. Hollis has joined us on seven previous episodes of Speaking of Jung, including our celebratory 100th episode in 2022. Please visit our special James Hollis page for a comprehensive look at his work including links to our previous episodes, all of his books, audiobooks, films, and print interviews, his lecture schedule, and a series of online video courses (through the Jung Society of Washington and Soul at Play) that you can start at any time, work at your own pace, and enjoy lifetime access to the material.
This video interview was recorded on Monday, March 3, 2025. It’s 57:36 long and 48.4 MB. You can listen to it right here in your browser (click the play button in the bar below) or watch the video edition on YouTube.
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SHOW NOTES
Harold Pinter: The Poetics of Silence Southern Illinois University Press, 1970
CNN with Pamela Brown Andrew Huberman and James Hollis on modern masculinity and mental health, CNN, Feb. 28, 2025 (full segment)
CNN news anchor Pamela Brown on Instagram | Twitter/X
The Huberman Lab Podcast Video interview with James Hollis, May 13, 2024
Mike Blabac Photographer (his shop: https://blabacshop.com)
Under Saturn’s Shadow: The Wounding and Healing of Men by James Hollis, Ph.D.
Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey by James Hollis, Ph.D.
Living with Borrowed Dust: Reflections on Life, Love, & Other Grievances by James Hollis, Ph.D.
Enrique Martinez Celaya Artist
Speaking of Jung, Episode 134 with Jungian analyst Sherene Vismaya
C.G. Jung: Word & Image Edited by Aniela Jaffé
William J. Clinton by Chuck Close, National Portrait Gallery
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife by James Hollis, Ph.D.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other by James Hollis, Ph.D.
Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty: Poems by Tony Hoagland
At the Galleria Shopping Mall by Tony Hoagland (full text)
Tracking the Gods: The Place of Myth in Modern Life 1995 book by James Hollis, Ph.D.
Tracking the Gods: The Movement of Archetypal Powers in Our Time Online video course by James Hollis, Ph.D.
“We are still as much possessed today by autonomous psychic contents as if they were Olympians. Today they are called phobias, obsessions, and so forth; in a word, neurotic symptoms. The gods have become diseases; Zeus no longer rules Olympus but rather the solar plexus, and produces curious specimens for the doctor’s consulting room, or disorders the brains of politicians and journalists who unwittingly let loose psychic epidemics on the world.” ~C.G. Jung, “Commentary on The Secret of the Golden Flower,” Alchemical Studies, CW 13, par. 54
Alchemical Studies Volume 13 of the Collected Works of C.G. Jung
The Secret of the Golden Flower Translated by Richard Wilhelm; Commentary by C.G. Jung
Passing Through: The Later Poems, New & Selected by Stanley Kunitz
EPISODES
Previous episodes of Speaking of Jung with James Hollis:
Episode 25 Why Good People Do Bad Things: Understanding Our Darker Selves
Episode 27 The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other
Episode 32 Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey
Episode 65 Living Between Worlds: Finding Personal Resilience in Changing Times
Episode 79 Prisms: Reflections on This Journey We Call Life
Episode 100 The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves
Episode 129 A Life of Meaning: Relocating Your Center of Spiritual Gravity
BOOKS
By James Hollis:
A Life of Meaning: Relocating Your Center of Spiritual Gravity Sounds True, 2023
Creating a Life: Finding Your Individual Path Inner City Books, 2001
Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally, Really Grow Up Gotham Books, 2005
Harold Pinter: The Poetics of Silence Southern Illinois University Press, 1970
Hauntings: Dispelling the Ghosts Who Run Our Lives Chiron Publications, 2013
Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey Sounds True, 2018
Living Between Worlds: Finding Personal Resilience in Changing Times Sounds True, 2020
Living with Borrowed Dust: Reflections on Life, Love, & Other Grievances Sounds True, 2025
Mythologems: Incarnations of the Invisible World Inner City Books, 2004
On This Journey We Call Our Life: Living the Questions Inner City Books, 2003
Prisms: Reflections on This Journey We Call Life Chiron Publications, 2021
Swamplands of the Soul: New Life in Dismal Places Inner City Books, 1996
The Archetypal Imagination (free PDF) Texas A&M University Press, 2000
The Broken Mirror: Refracted Visions of Ourselves Chiron Publications, 2022
The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other Inner City Books, 1998
The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife Inner City Books, 1993
Tracking the Gods: The Place of Myth in Modern Life Inner City Books, 1995
Under Saturn’s Shadow: The Wounding and Healing of Men Inner City Books, 1994
What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life Gotham Books, 2009
Why Good People Do Bad Things: Understanding Our Darker Selves Gotham Books, 2007
AUDIOBOOKS
The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other Inner City Books, 2023
Under Saturn’s Shadow: The Wounding and Healing of Men Inner City Books, 2023
Read by James Hollis:
A Life of Meaning: Exploring Our Deepest Questions & Motivations Sounds True, 2020
Through the Dark Wood: Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life Sounds True, 2014
VIDEO COURSES
Jung Society of Washington:
The Interpretation of Dreams: Dreams as a Path to Personal Authority ~ $97
Creating a Life: Living in the Intersection of Fate, Character & Choice ~ $197
Living an Examined Life: 21 Strategies for a Richer Journey ~ $197
Tracking the Gods: The Movement of Archetypal Powers in Our Time ~ $197
Soul at Play:
Romance, Love, & the Psyche’s Peculiar Engines ~ $97
Re-Collections of Childhood Past ~ $75
INTERVIEWS
Dr. James Hollis: How to Find Your True Purpose & Create Your Best Life Huberman Lab, May 13, 2024
A Guide to the Midlife Crisis Interview with Stefano Carpani for Doppiozero, Jan. 12, 2025
FILM
Soulheal the Film 23 minute documentary directed by José Enrique Pardo and starring James Hollis and Nancy Swift Furlotti (Ep. 94); now available On Demand