A Mythic Life: Learning to Live our Greater Story Paperback – October 11, 1996

Life-changing: if you're able to slip time and the conventions of the seeing we're trapped in, the seeing that's destroying us, this book is for you. Jean Houston is a hugely significant force for good without preaching. She is able to teach us vividly and simply how to remake this world in remaking ourselves. She acquaints us with sensory and metaphysical tools of transformation she has discovered through serendipitous meetings and scientific research, both the methods we tend to believe and rely on as real and those we dismiss as imaginary. She's down-to-earth. She's funny. She's kind. She's unfettered in her brilliance. And if her methods were taught in public schools and universities across the land, we would not be afraid of the future. We'd be able to handle what's coming. Jean Houston is the most important teacher of our time.

This was one of the most fascinating and astonishing autobiographies I have ever read - - a page turner that was never boring. Jean Houston writes with vivid descriptions, candor, uproarious humor and humility. I especially loved the wonderful stories about her unusual early development of self-knowledge which led to her many remarkable abilities in later life. I greatly enjoyed learning about her mentoring by some of the greatest people of our time. She is truly a larger-than-life, most remarkable woman and this is a delicious book.

A Mythic Life is the memoir of Jean Houston. Houston is a world leader in personal and social transformation. She anachronistically weaves the reader through her dreams, her conversations, her childhood, and her adulthood. With each thread of her weaving, she describes events in her life and how each event or fractal led to her path as a spiritual teacher. Her memoir draws parallels to how people have important past events that help them blossom and fulfill their present lives.Houston's childhood involved moving often, some years several times in one school year. The moving taught her to observe, adapt, and join groups. Perhaps it was this constant out-siderness that allowed her to pause, even as a child, to see how people interact with each other and to learn how to employ optimal ways for people to work together. She shares her revelations that directed her to help people and communities deepen their creativity and their potential.It's been Houston's pursuit to engage people and communities to exercise their full potential by spiritually reaching inwardly and outwardly. The text is full of wisdom nuggets like:"Wounding often involves a painful excursion into pathos, we experience massive anguish, and the suffering cracks the boundaries of what we thought we could stand. And yet, time and again, I discover that the wounding pathos of our local stories contains the seeds of healing and even of transformation."and"On her deathbed, Margaret [Mead] suggested to me that the answers lie not with economic or political initiatives but with a deepened citizenry. We can transform the world only by transforming ourselves, for what threatens our survival is not weaponry or technology but the people who use them."Her memoir requires an acceptance that life is experienced through many types of lenses and a bit of faith in the un-seeable. It's helpful to remember that Houston is a mystic. She believes in the energies and the essence that lie within people and that tie people to their ancestors.I could have done without the second to the last chapter. She uses that chapter to break from the style of writing she used in the majority of the book to meld her love of cooking with her philosophy on improving the human condition. The chapter lacked the pace and fluidity of the previous chapters. It's my only complaint in an otherwise interesting read.Her writing led me to further books, including her friend Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. His book was on my shortlist to read because it's a must-read text for writers; yet from Houston's point of view and the conversations she shares that she had with Campbell, his famous text has a spiritual edge. In Houston's opinion, Campbell's book reveals the archetypes of spirits present in a multitude of myths and stories. Joseph Campbell was one of many of Houston's more famous friends. Her social circle also included anthropologist Margaret Mead and politician Hilary Clinton.A Mythic Life is not a summer vacation read. Choose a time to read it when you have time to contemplate her message and her life. For an immensely creative woman, her memoir's cover is dull (dark tan with white writing); luckily the content is not.More reviews at http://pagecravings.com

This is possibly Jean Houston at her most inspired and clear recalling of her encounters with amazing and intriguing people, such as her Sicilian grandmother,the biologist,priest and philosopher,Pierre Teilhard De Chardin,and anthropologist,Margaret Mead.The larger than life images of Hollywood studios, the outrageous joking of her father in the face of her Catholic traditions, and her attraction to Greek myths are built up as we also discover her love for food.Few people bubble over with as much exuberance as Jean, but she is at least as powerful in raising all of our visions of our ultimate fulfilments (De Chardin's entelechy)

good book. Well written & insightful. Glad I read it.

Ease of obtaining, and good condition of the book

Way too wordy

This book is an absolute gem.A mind-blowing, fascinating autobiography written by a master storyteller and teacher, conveyed with great intelligence, passion, and humor. Houston goes into wonderful detail about her fascinating childhood (she's the daughter of a Hollywood comedy writer, for one thing) and ensuing life (which includes infamous consultations with Hillary Clinton that all but crucified Ms. Houston in the media).I highly recommended this book.

Rambles on, and her narrative style suggests quantity should replace precision.

this woman is great!

Excellent book.