The Mid-Life Passage Parts I and II
The Beginning.
The Mid-Life Passage or “Middle Passage” as James Hollis calls it is not a chronological event, but it tends to visit us somewhere between the ages of 35-65. The Middle Passage commences when you ask, “Who am I apart from my history and the roles that I have played?” (Hollis, p.19 The Middle Passage). At this stage, one is often frought with a sense of deep suffering characterized by a stark tension emerging between the accommodations one has made to “fit in” to culture and the new self rooted in one’s unique soul seed that is yearning to crack open and deliver a new vitality! This tension can feel unbearable at times.
Withdrawing Our Projections
Inevitably, the life that wants to live in us settles for nothing less. The journey towards this unfettered life naturally requires that we relinquish the unmeetable expectations we’ve placed on the world and especially our most precious relationships. It’s a time to surrender the ways in which we’ve judged others inaccurately by placing them on impossible pedestals or shunning them into the gutters of low-life land. This necessary step liberates not only the precious “other” but also the exiled soul within you that’s been knocking on your door for quite some time. Withdrawing your projections allows you to return to Earth and “feel the mud” beneath your feet. You get to step into your body in its own majesty and fullness and experience both the mystical grandeur and radical limitation of being a human being.
The Mid-Life Passage Parts III and IV
Shadow Work
Once we relinquish our projections, (not that this is a linear process or done all at once), we get to meet our shadow material. These are the parts of us that have been repressed and awaiting the redemption of a meeting with your heart. Held in a space of compassionate curiosity, these parts come alive with fervor and often need a steady presence of warmth and love to be welcomed into the fold once again.
Re-emergence into Wholeness
As you continue down the corridor of shadows, you will discover that a potent truth awaits you. You are your own healer. Your soul knows the way and yearns to bring back into sacred company all of the parts that have been missing the great banquet of YOU!
