In reality we know life is not like that; our road is often dreary, the way unclear. Much of the time we are lost in the dismal states of guilt, grief, betrayal, doubt, depression, anger, terror and the like. Is this all we can hope for? Perhaps not, says Hollis. The Jungian perspective, by encompassing both the meadow and the bog, asserts that the goal of life is not happiness but meaning. And meaning, though it may not be all sunlight and blossoms, is real. Swamplands of the Soul explores the quicksands where we have all floundered. It lights a beacon by showing what they mean in terms of our individual journey and the engendering of soul. For it is precisely where we encounter the gravitas of life that we also uncover its purpose, its dignity and its deepest meaning.

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