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A review by lory_enterenchanted
Life of the Beloved by Henri J.M. Nouwen
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
I wanted to highlight practically every sentence in this little book. Nouwen's spirituality is a pretty exact match for my own (except with far more depth of lived wisdom and more beautifully expressed). I was especially struck by the idea that the deepest human need and longing is to give oneself for others, and that our death can be a gift to others, if we live it the right way. To truly grasp this would seem to be the "change of heart and mind" that we are called to in Christian baptism. And yet how far most of us are from that recognition, that utter turning-on-its head of our usual egoistic ways, even spiritual ways that seek self-development and self-realization and self-saving. What if our self is only a letter in a great story ... a story we cannot read until we step back to view the whole ... Nouwen's words bring me closer to that possibility.
I especially appreciate his clear statement that there is no "afterlife," as a separate condition from our earthly life, but only a fuller revelation of what we are already living now. He says that for many people, their efforts to survive get in the way of living. This is the crux of the Christian message in my opinion, and yet again, how little we live according to it.
The reasons why he failed in his stated goal of writing for "secular" people are interesting, and I wonder if anyone has taken on this particular challenge successfully. How can those who see no necessity for the sacred understand those who do? Can this widening gap ever be bridged? How can people come to see that we come from elsewhere into this world - that our true life is not of this world? I can't imagine NOT seeing that -- and maybe I am wrong, and the secular people are right. But if there is even a chance that I am right, then I feel there is a duty to try to communicate the message. And yet, how, when there seems to be no common ground?
It would seem as though love could be a common element that all people share, an irreducible human need -- but there are those who see no need to feel loved by "God" and have no experience of a disembodied loving spirit, which is why talking about being "the beloved of God" has no meaning for them. Can we practice loving one another and forget about "God," the idea of which too often leads to violence, not love? Maybe we'll reach the divine some day, if we set our notions of God aside and focus on the practical, day to day reality of what love means for vulnerable, developing humans.
I especially appreciate his clear statement that there is no "afterlife," as a separate condition from our earthly life, but only a fuller revelation of what we are already living now. He says that for many people, their efforts to survive get in the way of living. This is the crux of the Christian message in my opinion, and yet again, how little we live according to it.
The reasons why he failed in his stated goal of writing for "secular" people are interesting, and I wonder if anyone has taken on this particular challenge successfully. How can those who see no necessity for the sacred understand those who do? Can this widening gap ever be bridged? How can people come to see that we come from elsewhere into this world - that our true life is not of this world? I can't imagine NOT seeing that -- and maybe I am wrong, and the secular people are right. But if there is even a chance that I am right, then I feel there is a duty to try to communicate the message. And yet, how, when there seems to be no common ground?
It would seem as though love could be a common element that all people share, an irreducible human need -- but there are those who see no need to feel loved by "God" and have no experience of a disembodied loving spirit, which is why talking about being "the beloved of God" has no meaning for them. Can we practice loving one another and forget about "God," the idea of which too often leads to violence, not love? Maybe we'll reach the divine some day, if we set our notions of God aside and focus on the practical, day to day reality of what love means for vulnerable, developing humans.