At a time when the world wasn't divided into liberals and conservatives, I was born into a devout Catholic family, went to a Catholic church and elementary school and then to a seminary, run by a community of friars -- monks in the world -- to study for the priesthood....

Eight years ago I was walking up one of the steep San Francisco hills and began to feel unfamiliar pains in my back. When I got home to New Hampshire, my doctor ordered up a stress test and within a couple of weeks I had an angioplasty. I was already...

In one of the strongest memories from my childhood I am an altar boy in the local Catholic church, serving at a special solemn Mass. My job is to hold the large red-leather-bound Missal, or book of prayers, in my hands while resting its top edge against my forehead. The...

We buried James Hillman three days ago in a small country cemetery in northeast Connecticut, just as an unseasonal early nor'easter began dropping heavy, wet snowflakes on the area. James was 86 and had had bone cancer, and had continued working on projects until two weeks before he died. Obituaries...

Last night I had a warm conversation with my mother, about her childhood and mine. It was an unexpected talk since my mother died about seven years ago. She appeared in a long dream that had a calm and intimate atmosphere.

Was it her? Was it a memory of...

One of the great joys of life -- loving another person -- is not easy. Jungian psychologists sometimes describe it as a process of "individuation," with each party becoming a more sophisticated person through the ups and downs. The ancient tale of Amor and Psyche depict love as a rite...

When I was growing up, it was a different planet. I was part of an Irish-American Catholic family that knew exactly what to believe and how to behave. Theology had no fuzz or fog around it, and everyone knew that belief and behavior were the important things. There was no...

Several years ago I published a book called The Soul of Sex, based on the premise that in our society we are so obsessed with sex, not because we are too sexual, but because we are not sexual enough. The excessive and perhaps offensive sexuality you see on the Internet...

We live in a dangerously polarized country, and we could all avoid being coerced into divided camps. You can resist being polarized, but you have to be alert and creative. Sometimes, when simply watching a football game, I try not to identify with either team. It isn't easy, but it's...

A few years ago I was giving a talk on the human side of medicine to a large, excited audience at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. After the talk a surgeon came up to me and said that whenever they install a new piece of machinery in his part of...

One of the first things I learned after beginning to practice psychotherapy was that everyone is at least a little neurotic, and everyone, at one time or another, could do with a little therapy. I'm understating my case.

I'm tempted, and yet I'm not going to broaden the notion of...

What is the defining myth of our times? I've heard our culture described as materialistic, but we don't seem to love the material world all that much. I've also heard our philosophy labeled as "the myth of fact." Although I do see the academic world mad in its pursuit of...

Greek mythology tells a story about Atalanta, a young woman who is a devotee of the virgin goddess Artemis and doesn't want a husband. Her father wants her to marry, so she makes a deal. She'll run in a race and, should she lose, marry anyone who wins. A young...

Several years ago I made a two hour drive on a snowy winter day to Boston to hear a lecture on the creative life. I told a friend about my plan, and he said something I've never forgotten: "I wish I had that much enthusiasm about my life."

Recently I...

I was watching an excellent documentary on the sorry state of the physician's life in these days of insuranceocracy -- government by and for the insurance companies -- when a woman said, "Doctors are quitting because medicine just isn't fun any more."

The word "fun" struck me. An entire film...