The Middle Passage
James Hollis
Why do so many go through so much disruption in their middle years? Why then? Why do we consider it to be 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 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.
中文译本：中年之路
为什么这么多人在中年遭遇众多挫折？
为什么我们会把这些挫折当作一种危机？
这种危机与经历又代表了怎样的意义？
中年危机——詹姆斯·霍利斯将其称为“中年之路”——为我们提供了一个审视自己的机会，霍利斯教授提出了一个看似可怕实则具有解放意义的问题：“除了我的过往以及我所扮演的角色，我究竟是谁？”当我们发现，自己一直在以虚假的自我生活，被不切实际的期望驱使着扮演—个“临时的”成年人格时，我们就打开了第二个成年期的大门，将迎来真实的人格。
在本书中，霍利斯教授基于荣格心理学的视角，以一种富有洞察力的方式呈现了中年经历的层次，并带领我们重新审视、界定、调整自己的人格，从而了解内心真正的需求，抛开童年创伤与“临时人格”的束缚，从痛苦出发，穿越“中年之路”，前往意义的彼岸，最终形成稳定、成熟、完善的人格。
中年，是一段从痛苦到意义的旅程。
许多人把生活当作一部小说，我们被动地从一页翻到另一页，以为造物主会在最后一页告诉我们生命的意义，但并非如此。
勇敢踏上中年之路，会让我们更加清醒，为人生余下篇章担负起责任。