Jean Vanier’s Daily Thought – Saturday,
28 December 2013
“Two Essential Elements in
Human Life”
What meaning can be found in
life in the modern world? So many people today are searching, so many seem lost
and no longer have any kind of ethical reference points; so many are
dissatisfied with a purely materialistic life, with ephemeral pleasures or with
a quest for power and success. ...
Through my experiences both
before and in L'Arche I have discovered the importance of two essential
elements in human life that can give it meaning both for people of goodwill who
have no religion, and for people who are searching for God, whatever their
religion: being, and being open, having a clear identity and being open to
others. We establish an identity through the place where we live, our family,
culture, education and physical and psychological state. But we establish it
too through our choice of profession, our gifts and abilities, our values and
fundamental motivations in life, through friends, through the commitments we
make and through searching for truth in ourselves and in life. Being open to
others, especially to those who are different from ourselves, is to see them
not as rivals and enemies but as brothers and sisters in humanity, capable of
bringing light and truth into our lives, and of living in communion with us.
Openness does not imply
weakness, nor a tolerance which ignores truth and justice. Being open does not
mean adhering to others' ideologies. It means being truly sympathetic and
welcoming to people, listening to them, and in particular to people who are
weak or poor or oppressed, so as to live in communion with them.(Jean Vanier,
Our Journey Home, page 145)
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