Summons

James Hollis is one of the people I follow closely.

Some points from this recent Sounds True podcast resonated with me.

One, was this quote by Carl Jung about learning to be patient and wait, like our ancestors did –

If you wait upon the silence, it ultimately speaks; If you wait upon the darkness, it illumines

The other resonator was that our modern culture is an infantilizing one largely resulting from the absence of initiation rituals that help move us into adult responsibility taking.

Hollis says –

As Jung pointed out, to be really a modern is not just to be alive and breathing in our time, he said it’s to realize that the task of meaning [making] has shifted from the shoulders of the tribe, through village mythology, and village institutions, to the shoulders of the individual. What a burden, and what a rare privilege.

I do think that there is within us all, a kind of needy part that is wanting people to take care of us, that is wanting somebody to lift the burden of life for us, or again, explain things to us…[our ancestors had] traditional rites of passage, where youth were pried out of their dependence on the hearth, and initiated, albeit into a much simpler society, yes, but into a society in which they were given a sense of, what is the bigger picture of our tribe? What is our cosmic heritage here—who are our gods and from whence have we come, and who are the wise ancestors? Here’s how you function in our society, here are the rights, duties, privileges, expectations of adulthood. Of course, almost all of that is gone these days. We take kids out and we say, “Here are computer games, and get some computer skills, and grow up, and get a job. How you do it is on your own.” So most people are still waiting for someone to come along and explain it to them.

One of the aspects of traditional rites of passage was an isolation and an ordeal. In other words, one had to learn to face one’s fears, mobilize one’s resolve, find courage, find persistence and wherewithal. These are the attributes of adulthood. Nature equips us with these potentials, with these tools, if you will, but they’re not necessarily developed by our culture. If anything, we have an infantilizing culture, and they’re not supported by the wise elders, by and large. So people are out there adrift in big bodies, big roles in life, huge responsibilities and accountabilities, and are psychologically speaking, still children. That’s a kind of disappointing prospect.

Tami Simon: Why do you say we have an infantilizing culture?

Hollis –

Well, when you stop and think about children and adolescence, what do you think about? In terms of emotional disposition, they are impulsive, they are impatient, they don’t like ambiguity, they want clarity, resolution. They tend to fall into black-and-white thinking, they are too insecure to own their own stuff, so they’re always looking to somebody else to blame it on. They organize their lives out of evading as much responsibility as they can, and, again, they’re looking for someone to explain it to them. Most of all, it’s a culture driven by sensation, meaning you don’t have to reflect upon yourself if you’re distracted all the time, and our electronic world has made distraction more possible than any time in history.

James Hollis is a wise man I hope you listen to this interview – here it is:

Sounds True Website  Sounds True Podcast (just do a search within your podcast app then go back and pick some episodes that interest you, there are many)

Tami Simon

James Hollis

Full transcript of interview here