Towards a Nonjudgmental life
Submitted by Ford Prefect on March 8 2001 14:15:28
|
Daily Meditation: March 8 by Henri Nouwen; from Bread for the Journey, Harper Collins, New York, 1997 Towards a Nonjudgmental life One of the hardest spiritual tasks is to live without prejudices. Sometimes we aren't even aware how deeply rooted our prejudices are. We may think that we relate to people who are different from us in colour, religion, sexual orientation, or lifestyle as equals, but in concrete circumstances our spontaneous thoughts, uncensored words, and knee-jerk reactions often reveal that our prejudices are still there. Strangers, people different than we are, stir up fear, discomfort, suspicion, and hostility. They make us lose our sense of security just by being "other." Only when we fully claim that God loves us in an unconditional way and look at "those other persons" as equally loved can we begin to discover that the great variety in being human is an expression of the immense richness of God's heart. Then the need to prejudge people can gradually disappear. ---------- [personal note] I continually try to do what Nouwen suggests here, but my progress (if any) is so gradual that it seems to be non-existent. What he says is incredibly tough for me to do. ---Ford |
Follow ups: