Quote

The Greek idea of fate is moira, which means portion. Fate rules a portion of your life. But there is more to life than just fate. There is also genetics, environment, economics, and so on. So it's not all written in the book before you get here, such that you don't have to do anything. That's fatalism.

James Hillman

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James Hillman
Age: 85 †
Born: 1926
Born: April 12
Died: 2011
Died: October 27
Non-Fiction Writer
Philosopher
Psychologist
Atlantic City
New Jersey
Book
Fate
Mean
Environment
Fatalism
Life
Written
Genetics
Idea
Portion
Means
Portions
Also
Greek
Anything
Economics
Ideas
Rules

More quotes by James Hillman

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As Plotinus tells us, we elected the body, the parents, the place, and the circumstances that suited the soul and that, as the myth says, belongs to its necessity.
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We can't change anything until we get some fresh ideas, until we begin to see things differently.
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The moment the angel enters a life it enters an environment. We are ecological from day one.
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Each person enters the world called, like an oak tree, to fulfill their soul’s agenda.
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From my perspective as a depth psychologist, I see that those who have a connection with story are in better shape and have better prognosis than those to whom story must be introduced.
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Loss means losing what was. We want to change but we don't want to lose. Without time for loss, we don't have time for soul.
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Teachers today can't take to a child.
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Fear is a huge thing for older people.
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We're an air bag society that wants guarantees on everything that we buy. We want to be able to take everything back and get another one. We want a 401-k plan and Social Security.
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Too often in the west we fail to realize that even in eastern disciplines the spiritual life is not meant as an escape from the worldly life. There is karma to be fulfilled on earth, within the dharma of necessity.
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It's important to ask yourself, How am I useful to others? What do people want from me? That may very well reveal what you are here for.
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Follow the lead of your symptoms, for there’s usually a myth in the mess, and a mess is an expression of soul.
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You are born with a character it is given, a gift, as the old stories say, from the guardians upon your birth...Each person enters the world called.
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I tend to think that you fulfill your own destiny, whether you realize it or not.
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I don't think you can revive traditions on purpose.
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We need to work on the world so it will not be so oppressive.
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The capacity for people to kid themselves is huge. Living on illusions or delusions, and the re-establishing of these illusions or delusions requires a big effort to keep them from being seen through. But a very old idea is at work behind our current state of affairs: enantiodromia, or the Greek notion of things turning into their opposite.
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By setting up a universe which tends to hold everything we do, see, and say in the sway of its cosmos, an archetype is best comparable with a God
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Art, for example, becomes art therapy. When patients make music, it becomes music therapy. When the arts are used for therapy in this way, they are degraded to a secondary position.
James Hillman
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The gift of an image is that it provides a place to watch your soul.
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