“Aren’t you, like me, hoping that some person, thing or event will come along to give you that final feeling of inner well-being you desire?” – (H. Nouwen, P.34) I both wept and hollered “amen” after completing Henri Nouwen’s, Life of the Beloved. For most of my life, the message that someone else or something will bring me a sense of wholeness and/or worthiness, has been held tightly to my chest. Even as I experienced a powerful, spiritual rebirth following a painful divorce, I have still had to push away the message that I am not enough. That my worth depends on others input or approval and that God is disappointed in my imperfection. Similarly, as a mother, I love my children unconditionally, just as my Creator God loves me. So why
Many individuals strive to be the best and thrive in this world inhabited by seven billion people, by taking control over their own destiny. However, success requires a sacrifice of personal desires and ambitions at times which not a lot amongst us are willing to give. It is sooner or later that the temporary reformation fails and their true self resurfaces where they are back at where they began. A lot of us are unwillingly left to deal and live with these unfortunate circumstances. The impact that these events leave upon us is very significant and sometimes temporary. The poem, "The tent delivery woman's ride" by Wilmer Mills, and my own experience explains that the significant events negatively effect an individual's ability to determine
An individual’s meaning or purpose in life cannot truly be realized unless they are faced with a situation in which their course of action directly affects their future. In most cases, humankind is forced to face an extreme circumstance when something comes to an end, whether it be positive or negative, for that ending means that change is inevitable and approaching. Thus, life becomes more meaningful as something ends, for people are forced to realize what is truly important to them as well as the idea that nothing lasts forever. Individuals must choose which of the aspects and goals of their lives are the most significant and should be focused on as they approach a resolution, as can be seen in the Gawain Poet’s Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Therefore, due to the finality of an ending and the uncertainty of the following events, humankind can reveal what they believe are the
that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him
times represent a unique calmness. Toni Morrison doesn’t make any exceptions to this idea. In her novel Beloved, Toni Morrison uses trees to symbolize comfort, protection and peace. Morrison uses trees throughout Beloved to emphasize the serenity that the natural world offers. Many black characters, and some white and Native American characters, refer to trees as offering calm, healing and escape, thus conveying Morrison’s message that trees bring peace. Besides using the novel’s characters to convey her message, Morrison herself displays and shows the good and calmness that trees represent in the tree imagery in her narration. Perhaps Toni Morrison uses trees and characters’ responses to them to show that when one lives through an ordeal as horrible as slavery, one will naturally find comfort in the simple or seemingly harmless aspects of life, such as nature and especially trees. With the tree’s symbolism of escape and peace, Morrison uses her characters’ references to their serenity and soothing nature as messages that only in nature could these oppressed people find comfort and escape from unwanted thoughts. Almost every one of Morrison’s characters find refuge in trees and nature, especially the main characters such as Sethe and Paul D. During Sethe’s time in slavery, she has witnessed many gruesome and horrible events that blacks endure such as whippings and lynchings. However, Sethe seemingly chooses to remember the sight of sycamore trees over the sight of lynched boys, thus revealing her comfort in a tree’s presence: “Boys hanging from the most beautiful sycamores in the world. It shamed her- remembering the wonderful soughing trees rather than the boys. Try as she might to make it otherwise, the sycamores beat out the children every time and she could not forgive her memory for that” (6). Although Sethe wishes she would’ve remembered the boys instead, she probably rationalized this thought because when she asks Paul D about news of Halle, she pictures the sycamores instead of the possibility that Halle has been lynched: “‘I wouldn’t have to ask about him would I? You’d tell me if there was anything to tell, wouldn’t you?’ Sethe looked down at her feet and saw again the sycamores” (8). When Schoolteacher whips Sethe, leaving her back leathery with scars, she refers to the scar as a chokecherry tree to soothe and to lessen the physically and emotion...
Beloved is a novel set in Ohio during 1873, several years after the Civil War. The book centers on characters that struggle to keep their painful recollections of the past at bay. The whole story revolves around issues of race, gender, family relationships and the supernatural, covering two generations and three decades up to the 19th century. Concentrating on events arising from the Fugitive Slave Act of 1856, it describes the consequences of an escape from slavery for Sethe, her children and Paul D. The narrative begins 18 years after Sethe's break for freedom. The women in the house knew it and so did the children...by 1873 Sethe and her daughter Denver were its only victims". The novel is divided into three parts. Each part opens with statements to indicate the progress of the haunting--from the poltergeist to the materialized spirit to the final freeing of both the spirit and Sethe. These parts reflect the progressive of a betrayed child and her desperate mother. Overall symbolizing the gradual acceptance of freedom and the enormous work and continuous struggle that would persist for the next 100 years. Events that occurred prior and during the 18 years of Sethe's freedom are slowly revealed and pieced together throughout the novel. Painfully, Sethe is in need of rebuilding her identity and remembering the past and her origins: "Some things just stay. I used to think it was my rememory. You know. Some things you forget. Other things you never do. But it's not. Places, places, are still there.
For nothing is self-sufficient, neither in us ourselves nor in things; and if our soul has trembled with happiness and sounded like a harp string just once, all eternity was needed to produce this one event—and in this single moment of affirmation all eternity was called good, redeemed, justified, and affirmed."
Beloved, like many of the other books we have read, has to deal with the theme of isolation. There was the separation of Sethe and Denver from the rest of the world. There was also, the loneliness of each main character throughout the book. There were also other areas of the book where the idea of detachment from something was obvious. People’s opinions about the house made them stay away and there was also the inner detachment of Sethe from herself. The theme that Toni Morrison had in mind when the book was written was isolation.
Celebrating individuality, our age invites us to express our feelings and realize our goals. It promotes happiness, while seeking to accommodate traditional moral values. But the focus on personal existence only makes the realization of death's inevitability more threatening. Torn between an outmoded religious tradition and a secular world on the ascendency, o...
Going through life means experiencing great happiness but also great loss. Every loss we face may hurt and cause us grief, but we must let life take its course and endure the pain, for we cannot know true happiness without knowing true sorrow. Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” discusses the hardships that come with pain and loss and gives insight about how a person can overcome that pain. Even the pain might hurt a great deal right now, the wound will only heal if we allow ourselves to feel that pain. As famous poet Lao Tsu once said, “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.”
Who Is Beloved by God? After reading the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison, many readers may find it helpful. themselves asking who Beloved really was. There are basically three answers that would satisfy this question that she is the actual baby.
Throughout the novel “Beloved”, Denver goes under a series of adjustments which change her character dramatically and drastically from the girl that once was bound by house 124 and the girl that now embraces the supernatural and all that I around her.
As an individual feels the dread of time and goes through the process of depression, the idea of dissociating themselves comes into play. Stout describes this throughout her essay as leaving the soul or describing it as “flying away”. It may seem as if some individuals are secure with their own identity, however that is never the case for the traumatic events that force each person to fall into a state of desperation and lose their self-conception. Meanwhile in Karen Armstrong’s essay, she describes how through spiritual practices some abolish all the negativity that surrounds everyone just to find meaning. Yet still the idea cleansing your mind from all trauma, to reach a safe harbor, where you feel relaxed and comforted is never the brightest solution. Due to the fact that when you lose a memory, you are short yourself of an experience. In both Stout’s and Armstrong’s essay, the willingness to dissociate yourself from the harsh realities of society with ease comes into question. In the end when one interferes with the interpretation of traumatic events, the meaning behind life turns out be blemished and left
William Shakespeare shows the reader that religious hope is easy to come by when life is going well, but in the case of the persona it is even easier to fall away from religion. All that anyone truly has to fall back on is love. Love exists for both the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless. It costs nothing, and it breeds hope as well as happiness. To Shakespeare and his persona hope and happiness are worth more than all the jewels and gold a king could have. Gold and jewels are just items, and while they may glitter and shine, they cannot bring a man to Heaven. Whether it is physical, emotional, or religious, only love has the power to bring a man to the gates of Heaven.
Christ Most Beloved: Let us re-asses our relationship with our Heavenly Father and see we if measure up to our individual responsibility as required. We are more faithful to our wive and husband than to our God the giver of such. Deut.
The Hour of Power you tube video was of Mr. Nouwen on being God’s Beloved (Being the Beloved (FULL) by Henri Nouwen). The chart of the zig zag short life was a visual reminder of how interaction and influences can redirect the personal view of who we are. Jesus was told by God that he was Beloved, and this gave him strength during his earthly trials. When it was described that even Jesus relied on this knowledge to make it through, I realized how important it is for me to do the same more consistently. I will hold on to this as I begin my first semester at William Jessup University.