Welcome
to
Chava's Kitty Litter-ary Box
                        
 
GUILT
 
a Jungian perspective via James Hollis
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD
a poem by Nixon Waterman
       Swamplands of the Soul, by James Hollis, is a superb book, providing material for the thoughtful being who is perghaps feeling a little "old" for one's age.  

     This compact book covers a myriad of areas pertinent to those in a spiritual mid-life crisis. I found Hollis' chapter on guilt quite engaging. 

     Hollis makes a distinction between real, "inauthentic," and existential guilt. He defines real guilt as "the acceptance of responsibility for the consequences of one's choice." He describes most "inauthentic" guilt as being "a defense against a greater angst ... [or] ...  the experience of anxiety." He states that "existential guilt is the most difficult to bear," being both "unavoidable" and "ambiguous" -- it is "to know oneself responsible, not only for the things done, but for the many undone." 
 It seems to me I'd like to go
Where bells don't ring, nor whistles blow,
Nor clocks don't strike, nor gongs sound,
And I'd have stillness all around.
 
Not real stillness, but just the trees,
Low whispering, or the hum of bees,
Or brooks faint babbling over stones,
In strangely, softly tangled tones.
 
Or maybe a cricket or katydid,
Or the songs of birds in the hedges hid,
Or just some such sweet sound as these,
To fill a tired heart with ease.
 
If 'twern't for sight and sound and smell,
I'd like the city pretty well,
But when it comes to getting rest,
I like the country lots the best.
 
Sometimes it seems to me I must
Just quit the city's din and dust,
And get out where the sky is blue,
And say, now, how does it seem to you? 
 
Chava's Cat Post

HOME
munchmeister@geocities.com
Page design and maintenance by Alles Consulting Services.
Graphics contributors are on the Purr-worthy Links page.