“I cannot know in another being what I do not know in myself” (p.113).
“We cannot know the great things of the universe until we know ourselves to be great things” (p.113).
These two quotes from our latest Palmer(2004) reading are at the core of what I believe his book and this class are all about: to truly embrace our vocation as educators we must take care to not only know ourselves, but love ourselves. This means accepting our wholeness and our brokenness, our strength and our weakness, our hopes and our fears. It means taking time to reflect honestly on our lives, striving to develop healthy and fruitful relationships with others ( friends, colleagues, students, family, etc), and trying to live a life of balance. As Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God”; if we truly know and love ourselves, we will develop soft eyes and approach life and our vocation“ open and receptive, able to take in the greatness of the world and the grace of great things” (p.116). The paradox is that loving ourselves is not always an easy thing to do and success ultimately hinges on our relationships with others and our faith in God. Our identity and integrity are derived from our personal relationships and help provide meaning and purpose to our lives. Our faith and care for our relationship with God provides us the courage to endure the journey and wonder at the mysteries.
God’s Grandeur
THE WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings
-Gerard Manley Hopkins
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The Stewing Pot
- "The unexamined life is not worth living." St. Ignatius of Loyola
- " The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there."- John Buchan
- "Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance."- Will Durant
- " How do I work? I grope." - Albert Einstein
- "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." - William Shakespeare
- "Originality is the art of concealing your source." -Thomas Edison
6 comments:
This is so true, Brendan - that we must get to know ourselves and love ourselves in order to serve and love others - to see the great potential of our students for example, so that they can be people of greatness, endowed with the "graces of great things" from God. You also mention indirectly ways to get to know ourselves and nurture and cultivate our interior lives, such as having healthy and fruitful relationships, living a balanced life and faith in God. The ways which Palmer mentions in Ch. 1 "Heart of the Teacher," such as writing a journal, spiritual reading, meditation, solitude and silence and walking in the woods are other practical means to cultivate our "inner lives," our "backstage lives." As St. Augustine mentions in his book, the "Confessions," "Lord, let me know myself, let me know you." I mentioned in my blog that once we get to know ourselves better and get to know God, it becomes a little easier for us to care for and serve others, since we can see God in these people.
What a wonderful insight Brendan. I am just hoping and praying that all educators will remember that we are called to take time to reflect honestly on our lives, striving to develop healthy and fruitful relationships with others (friends, colleagues, students, family, etc), and trying to live a life of balance.This will surely make a colorful and fruitful community.
You provide a beautiful insight on what the vocation of a teacher truly means. At the core of who we are we need to love ourselves, but you are right - it is not always easy. Developing healthy relationships, reflection, and balance help bring about our wholeness, finding a way to always do it is still a mystery.
I think that it is true that you have to know yourself and love yourself to truly give it your all. However, this is not always my experience.
Now, confidentially... ha ha, I struggle with inner peace. However, when I walk into that school building I truly love my life, love what I do, and experience God in all the goods and bads of our little community. But now, I sit in San Francisco in my room responding to everyone's blogs because I am so homesick.
My point is, when the students, faculty, and parents are not around, I feel disconnected inside. When they are around, I feel like life was painted beautiful colors just for us.
But I wonder how that fits in with being spiritually whole?
Because, Fr. Peter (our president) gave a homily at our staff retreat about "we are broken, but we are blessed (and loved)." I believe that at our school/church.
I feel my heart being put back together when I am at Lourdes. It's almost as if they are my family.
In the end though, they are not my family. Am I relying on them (something external) to keep myself together internally.
And, how healthy is that?
What a profound reflection. I totally agree with your reflection about knowing ourselves to be "great things." Of all God's
creations, we humans are the closest to share this grandeur.I remember a line in a song that goes, "To love yourself is the greatest love of all." I believe this is a not a selfish kind of love. It is a love that raise us and make us one with God. Thank you very much for a great contemplation and may God bless you.
What a profound reflection. I totally agree with your reflection about knowing ourselves to be "great things." Of all God's
creations, we humans are the closest to share this grandeur.I remember a line in a song that goes, "To love yourself is the greatest love of all." I believe this is a not a selfish kind of love. It is a love that raises us and make us one with God. Thank you very much for a great contemplation and may God bless you.
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