James Hollis

On personal growth from the book Creating a life

"The construct which we serve, the fiction lived, is what determines the degree to which we have recovered the power of choice rather than the replication of ingrained patterns....As Jean-Paul Sarte once observed, the French were never more free, potentially, than during the Nazi occupation. Daily they had the choice to collaborate, to identify themselves as captives, or to remain free in act and spirit. They could put sand in gasoline tanks, slow down production vital to the occupier, and, most of all, feed freedom's inner fire under the nose of the captor. Paradoxically, where we may feel most frightened, or lacking in permission, the ground for greatest movement into meaning will often be found. When we serve this counterphobic strategy unconsciously, we are caught in overcompensation. When it is consciously enacted, then life gains largeness in the face of constriction. The slender thread of possibility is extruded across the Nietzschean abyss which both terrifies and invites exploration."

psychology