"Sometimes we want to know ourselves as if we were machines that could be taken apart and put back together."
You think?
Man, today, some of my parts, like my BRAIN - consisted of water balloons! Swear to God! Lift my head up, put it in a sling shot, and fire! Kaboom! Water balloon brains smashed everywhere. Those tiny bits of red and blue rubber explosion, next to droplets of water. That's one of the freaking images I had of my parts today. I wanted to explode and examine them, but dang, is that messy, messy, messy!
And so Nouwen shows up in my email inbox (Thank you Henri Nouwen Society for these daily meditations!) and reminds me that I don't have to know it all, or get it all, or even understand it all. "It all" being me and my life and my choices and my circumstances. Nah. I can just sit in silence, and let myself be loved. All of my ballooning and watery parts and what not.
Peace, Love
Melissa
The Ways to Self Knowledge
"Know yourself" is good advice. But to know ourselves doesn't mean to analyse ourselves. Sometimes we want to know ourselves as if we were machines that could be taken apart and put back together at will. At certain critical times in our lives it might be helpful to explore in some detail the events that led us to our crises, but we make a mistake when we think that we can ever completely understand ourselves and explain the full meaning of our lives to others. Solitude, silence, and prayer are often the best ways to self-knowledge. Not because they offer solutions for the complexity of our lives but because they bring us in touch with our sacred center, where God dwells. That sacred center may not be analysed. It is the place of adoration, thanksgiving, and praise.
- Henri Nouwen
No comments:
Post a Comment