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The Wounded Healer Rating of Book: 8 out of 10 Review: This is a short book. It is only four chapters long, but each has a power all of its own. This is an especially useful book if you are a "boomer". I don't know if they were calling us boomers yet at that time. He is talking in Chapter 2 to the "Rootless Generation", I believe that would be us. In particular he talks about what it will take for us to accomplish ministry, leadership. As a mid-life person at this time, I found his insights very penetrating and accurate. We, as a generation, entered the inner world. He feared that one day the church would be accused of failing at a basic task, the task of "offering creative ways to communicate with the source of human life". He wondered if we would be able to articulate our experience to others in useful ways. He wondered if we would be able to help those seeking God, to "discover reality as the source of their existence". He wondered if we would be able to articulate what seekers were feeling and experiencing vaguely, afraid to express, what they were unsure of the meaning of, unsure if they were normal in their experience. He wondered if those who went deeply inward could re-connect with the world they were in truth an integral part of. These are profound questions for us now as mid-life folks. Where are we headed? How are we going to shape the world for good or evil? How are we going to re-connect with the outer world after our inward journey? He describes us as a father-less generation searching for authority. He believes the source of our authority will be compassion. The compassionate man will be able to stand in the middle of his flock, but does not get caught up in the need to conform. He will be able to avoid the emotional distance found in pity and the exclusive attitude created by sympathy. In compassion he will be aware that God is God and man is man. For the man of compassion "nothing human is alien", he is able to be aware that the weaknesses of his friends and the sins of his enemy are in truth the reflections of his own heart, his own shadow he found within him, and as such he can find compassion for them and will be challenged to make a place for them in his heart and world, together. He says an inward fatherless leader will need to be a contemplative critic. He fears we will become sarcastic and cynical. He fears we will loose hope. He knows we can protest, but we are not sure what we can "witness for". He calls us to break through the cycles of immediate needs and satisfaction and be the contemplative who leads a revolution based on the inward truth we have found. Our job is to take away the masks of illusion that hide the true situation in the world. We must move to the heart of the matter. We must plant the seed and trust in how it will grow. We must find hope. We will be people of prayer. We cannot abide the "churchy" world so well. It must be this way. Recently, many old walnut trees have been dying in the Willamette Valley. They were planted long ago by folks from four generation back. I have cried watching the majestic old giants dying. We have four of them, last year we cut down one due to its demise. The others are dying slowly. Many around the community are dead. Now, it is time for me to plant trees. I will plant trees that some future generation will sit under, build swings on, have picnics around, celebrate the fourth of July near, pick nuts under, and watch them sway in the winter winds. This is how it must be. I will act on faith to do what others will benefit from, this is the call to our generation. This is the task given to those who have moved inward, come out and plant seeds from the source within. Curtis Climer January 18th 2010 |
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