Paper Topic:

Reaching Out

Reaching Out by Henry Nouwen - Perfect Guide for Spiritual Seekers

Reaching Out by Henry Nouwen is a deep book about Christian religion which gives insight into the understanding of Christian teaching and spiritual search of an individual . Henry Nouwen was a Catholic priest He also taught religious disciplines in several theological Universities . That is why his books are a unique combination of personal experience and theological doctrines , which can be very useful for people , who seek for better understanding of religious doctrines and want to find their own spiritual path

Religious

search is very personal thing but Henri Nouwen managed to find those common moments , which every person passes in his or her search for God . In his book he describes three movements on the spiritual path The first movement is a way from loneliness to solitude . Nouwen states that the journey is frightful as well as exhilarating because it is the great experience of being alone , alone in the world , alone before God (Nouwen , 112 ) It is a journey that person has to pass alone . This part of the book studies multiples selves , which compose our personality and relationships between these selves . Each person is a unique combination of selves and only discovering true needs and longings of this selves makes it possible to fulfil the aim of one 's life . The feeling of loneliness everyone experiences in the beginning of his spiritual search should be replaced by the feeling of conscious solitude . While loneliness we perceive like isolation and separation from other people , solitude becomes one of the important dimensions of true faith . People are afraid to be alone . They are afraid to look deep inside their souls . They find different escapes , such as idle talks and watching television , in not to stay alone even for a minute . As Nouwen wrote in his book , We constantly find ourselves clinging to people , books , events , experiences , projects and plans , secretly hoping that this time it will be different . We keep experimenting with many types of anesthetics , we keep finding "psychic numbing " often more agreeable than the sharpening of our inner sensitivities (Nouwen , 98 They are afraid to see the emptiness inside their heart . Nouwen states Christian religion is able to help people to come in terms with their loneliness and persuades his readers that only being alone people are able to perform a real spiritual quest . There is nothing wrong in being alone because only this way people can get true union with God . We are created by God and there is a part of God inside each of us . Only being lonely and centered in our inner world can help to reach this God inside of us

The second movement describes transition from hostility to hospitality This movement studies relations between people and the way they perceive each other . Each person should discover new dimension of relationship with people , who surround him during his quest for true faith Surrounding , which seems hostile and unfriendly in the beginning , gets...

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