What If These Times are a Call to Rediscover Soul?

What you will learn from this article:

Absolutely nothing.

You will simply be provoked and inspired to think beyond the medical or symptom view of psychology and politics and consider the soulful mythopoetic views of James Hillman. And if the state of this upcoming election is freaking you out, watching the Hillman video I attached may give you a much broader worldview that may both soothe and motivate you to right action.

Twenty-three years ago, I stepped into the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), thinking I was there to study psychology. I wasn’t yet committed to becoming a therapist, but I was committed to becoming more conscious. And I had come to the right place. Thank you CIIS. I wish I had given you more gratitude back then. This video was so fun. Gisele was a student when I was there and that classroom WAS one of my classrooms. LOVE it!

Little did I know, CIIS would invite us all into a carnival of paradox. We didn’t just read psychological theories; we tore them apart, side-eyed the Western view of the self, tried them on, practiced them on ourselves, and wondered aloud, “What if spirituality is part of this whole being-human thing?” It wasn’t uncommon for classmates to drag in family members or spouses to dissect their dynamics in front of us—a three-year psyche-dismantling experiment.

Every Wednesday for one semester, I sat in a Shamanic Circle led by Ralph Metzner, who guided us into deep unconscious journeys for hours while he beat his drum. I trained with Staci Haines, learning about trauma, the nervous system, and the body in context long before these ideas became popular. Rob Fisher, still one of my favorite teachers of Hakomi, was instrumental in helping me realize I was in love with the man I would eventually marry. At CIIS, we didn’t just learn psychotherapy—we absorbed it into our bones. The curriculum included somatics, trauma, art therapy, eco-psychology, and transpersonal psychology before they were mainstream.

I may have thought it was a bit hokey at the time, but twenty-three years later, I realize how privileged I was to be there. I did not take one course in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) so I was mad at CIIS for a few years because insurance providers wouldn't panel us graduates. I thought it would mean I couldn't make a living. I was wrong. We were sought after because we were not strictly CBT. Not to poo poo CBT. I like it. It is more a tool in my toolbox now. But we could hold a lot more complexity.

That damn diagnosing class though. Oomph. That was the one class nobody loved: DSM 101. Necessary for state board exams, but far from soul-enriching. Our trickster of a teacher made us do the boring DSM work while we also read James Hillman’s The Soul’s Code, a bold, poetic take on what lies beneath our suffering and sense of purpose. If you’ve read it, you know what a brilliant stinker move this was. Hillman hates diagnosing of any kind. He was like a voice from another realm—a reminder that soul, beauty, and nature aren’t just add-ons to a balanced life; they are life. Neglect them, and we become people with psychological “symptoms.” Medicalizing those symptoms and trying to fix them in a reductive way is the opposite of healing. It’s another form of the wound—the belief that we can control the soul. (Jungians, I’m a novice at Hillman, so please chime in—I’d love to learn more from you.)

If you’re feeling empty, frustrated, or just plain exhausted by the world today on the eve of the US election, you might want to give Hillman a listen. I’ve attached a video watch it here, which touches on some of his ideas. Hillman’s work speaks to something many of us feel but may not understand: despite everything we have—despite fighting for what’s right, despite working on ourselves—we’re still left with a nagging sense of disconnection and emptiness. Hillman suggests that this void runs deeper than any headline or daily grind; it’s rooted in a collective loss of soul, beauty, and purpose. Our politics cannot bring that back for us. Although he does say much about how being political animals is also part of our nature.

In There’s a 100 Years of Psychotherapy and the World is Getting Worse, Hillman questions why, despite endless self-help books and therapy sessions, we still feel as lost as ever. He critiques our tendency to blame mothers and parents for our issues, as though the entirety of our struggles begins and ends there. What lives inside us includes a much bigger story—one woven with ancestors, community, how we relate to nature and the callings of our soul. Hillman’s work pushes us beyond the medicalized, wound-centered model that fixates on parental blame and attachment wounds (he picks on Bowlby and Ainsworth in The Soul's Code in gasp worthy ways, I am shooketh bc these are the theories du jour today) and instead points to a getting deeply in touch with our purpose that transcends wounds. Viewing things this way invites us to show the fuck up for the complexity of life, freeing us from becoming overly uptight about fixing ourselves or others.

Yes, basic needs matter—Maslow’s hierarchy and all. Hillman is not someone to read if you are needing symptom relief right now and are in accute crisis. That is when I lean hard on CBT and PTSD training. But his perspective is important to name right now because of the time we are in. Some symptoms won't heal unless we view them from the poetic, mythic, and the ancient guide of souls or ancestors. Weird, I know. I think it is weird too but watch the video and maybe get a book of myths. I really dig Simon Yugler's, Psychedelics and the Soul for an easy first introduction to myth. Once we’re safe enough from our traumas, we have that bottom part of Maslow's hierarchy covered, then we can journey in the unconscious realm. Hillman’s work is a timely relief in today’s growing chaos, when it feels like we’re being asked to fix everything, including ourselves. His message reminds us: it’s not about endlessly fixing, it is about getting in touch with what was lost. It’s about living the life our soul signed up for. We have been so disconnected from our essential nature since we started believing our intellect ruled and had lots of religions and systems whisper in our ear that we could control nature. I know it is a weird twist of the brain. But try it on.

I recommend this book by Bill Say if you want to explore life myth and the soul's call more.