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| Monarch butterfly in my backyard. |
(My two books are:
I'm now working on:
How God Changes the Human Heart.
Technology and Spiritual Formation.)
How God Changes the Human Heart.
Technology and Spiritual Formation.)
After reading Henri Nouwen's Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit I see how indebted I have been to him regarding my own idea of "ontological dualities of the human spirit." Nouwen calls them "polarities." They have a vectorial, from-to movement. They help us understand the directionality of spiritual formation and spiritual transformation.
The
My original eight ontological dualities are:
i. From PRIDE/SHAME to -------------- HUMILITY
ii. From CONTROL to
-------------------- TRUST
iii. From REJECTION
to ----------------- AFFIRMATION
iv. From EVIL to
-------------------------- GOOD
v. From FEAR to
--------------------------- FAITH (RISK; OBEDIENCE)
vi. From MATERIALISM to
-------------- SIMPLICITY
vii. From DEATH to
----------------------- LIFE
viii. From PROTECTIONISM
to ------- SACRIFICE (From SELF-CENTEREDNESS to... SELFLESSNESS)
Michael Christensen, in "Nouwen’s Place in Spiritual Development Theory" (Appendix), identifies twenty-six such "polarities" in Nouwen's writings. They include:
From LONELINESS to----------------------SOLITUDE
From HOSTILITY
to-------------------------HOSPITALITY
*From ILLUSION
to----------------------------PRAYER
From SARCASM
to---------------------CONTEMPLATION
*From OPAQUENESS
to--------------TRANSPARENCY
From LONELINESS to----------------------SOLITUDE
From
FATALISM to-------------------------FAITH
From WORRYING to------------------------PRAYER
From MIND
to--------------------------------HEART
From DISSIPATION
to---------------------HOMECOMING
*From RESENTMENT to--------------------GRATITUDE
From FORGIVEN to------------------------FORGIVER
From PROFESSIONALISM to------------CREATIVE
MINISTRY
From ALIENATION to---------------------COMMUNITY
From COMPETITION to-------------------COMPASSION
From ANGUISH to--------------------------FREEDOM
*From SORROW to---------------------------JOY
*From THE HOUSE OF FEAR to----------THE HOUSE OF
LOVE
From AGING to------------------------------DYING
*From EXCLUSION
to----------------------INCLUSION
From DENYING
to--------------------------BEFRIENDING DEATH
(Christensen, Appendix
in Nouwen, Spiritual Formation, Kindle Locations 2119 ff.)
*In Nouwen's work, seven of the Spirit-movements predominate (indicated by *).
*In Nouwen's work, seven of the Spirit-movements predominate (indicated by *).
As we dwell in God's
presence the Spirit of God meta-morphs our hearts, with a "from----
to" movement. We are changed from, e.g., a HATEFUL HEART to LOVING HEART. In
this way our subhuman heart takes on the form of Christ's heart. (Galatians
4:19).
The Core Movement is: FROM SUBHUMANITY...... to HUMANITY (i.e., CHRISTLIKENESS).
Christensen writes:
"These movements of the Spirit may vary with the individual and with one’s season of life and community of faith; yet no one’s spiritual life is static, absolute, or perfectly completed, as if we must graduate from one movement to another before continuing our journey. Rather, we remain in motion and in the process of discerning which way the wind of God’s activity is blowing in our life. The process involves becoming aware of and naming the subtle movements of Spirit. To live spiritually is to seek to breathe with the Spirit’s rhythm and move in a God-ward direction on the long walk of faith.”
The Core Movement is: FROM SUBHUMANITY...... to HUMANITY (i.e., CHRISTLIKENESS).
Christensen writes:
"These movements of the Spirit may vary with the individual and with one’s season of life and community of faith; yet no one’s spiritual life is static, absolute, or perfectly completed, as if we must graduate from one movement to another before continuing our journey. Rather, we remain in motion and in the process of discerning which way the wind of God’s activity is blowing in our life. The process involves becoming aware of and naming the subtle movements of Spirit. To live spiritually is to seek to breathe with the Spirit’s rhythm and move in a God-ward direction on the long walk of faith.”
See especially Will
Hernandez, Henri Nouwen and
Spiritual Polarities: A Life of Tension.
