Henri Nouwen on illusion
Henri Nouwen68 quotes“Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared.”
More from Henri Nouwen
We need to be angels for each other, to give each other strength and consolation. Because only when we fully realize that the cup of life is not only a cup of sorrow but also a cup of joy will we be able to drink it.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing that is a friend who cares.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen Those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. LOVE is stronger than fear, life stronger than death, hope stronger than despair. We have to trust that the risk of loving is always worth taking.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen Our humanity comes to its fullest bloom in giving. We become beautiful people when we give whatever we can give: a smile, a handshake, a kiss, an embrace, a word of love, a present, a part of our life…all of our life.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen We are all healers who can reach out and offer health, and we are all patients in constant need of help.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen Let’s not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen Hope means to keep living amid desperation and to keep humming in the darkness.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen The greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity or power, but self-rejection.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen Once we deeply trust that we ourselves are precious in God’s eyes, we are able to recognize the preciousness of others and their unique places in God’s heart.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen Our greatest fulfillment lies in giving ourselves to others.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen In a world so torn apart by rivalry, anger, and hatred, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that can bridge all divisions and heal all wounds.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen We are called to be fruitful – not successful, not productive, not accomplished. Success comes from strength, stress, and human effort. Fruitfulness comes from vulnerability and the admission of our own weakness.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen Every time there are losses, there are choices to be made. You choose to live your losses as passages to anger, blame, hatred, depression and resentment, or you choose to let these losses be passages to something new, something wider, and deeper.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen We cannot make it rain but we can see to it that the rain falls on prepared soil.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen One of the tragedies of our life is that we keep forgetting who we are.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen The main question is not, how can we hide our wounds but how can we put our woundedness in service to others.
Henri NouwenHenri Nouwen
Original quotes
From our community writers
And that is how time heals, not by erasing but by blurring all the memories.
VesmirVesmir Let me follow my dream. Let me follow my queen.
Moses AlexanderMoses Alexander Be kind to yourself, the way you would be to someone you love.
Courtney PeppernellCourtney Peppernell We need to surrender ourselves to the water before we can climb the spiral ladder.
Nikol MejdnNikol Mejdn You gave me the courage to rise but my darling robin why did you fly leaving me behind these four walls all alone?
Ophelia ScarlettOphelia Scarlett Giving up your dreams is easy, but ask yourself is it really easy to live without dreams?
Sania AbbasSania Abbas It’s funny how we say a person ‘made’ us when they actually broke us. Sort of like how I say ‘funny’ – but I actually mean sad.
Ranata SuzukiRanata Suzuki You can’t keep living backwards – Reminiscing on what was, And terrified to pursue What could be.
J.S BrownJ.S Brown
Meet the writers
More on illusion
If you want real control, drop the illusion of control; let life have you. It does anyway. You’re just telling yourself the story of how it doesn’t.
Byron KatieByron Katie As gold purified in a furnace loses its impurities and achieves its own true nature, the mind gets rid of the impurities of the attributes of delusion, attachment and purity through meditation and attains Reality.
Adi ShankaraAdi Shankara The self is fundamentally an illusion arising as a reflection of the soul in matter, much as a clear lake at midnight reflects the moon.
Fred Alan WolfFred Alan Wolf If I could give you only one advice, I would say: Don’t identify with anything. Be completely empty – no one. Be no-body and see if you lose anything but delusion.
MoojiMooji The belief that a personal life exists apart from God creates experience disconnected from God. This is painful and frustrating. Our spiritual work is to break down the illusion that we have a life here and that a life of God is somewhere else.
Michael BeckwithMichael Beckwith The mental never influences the physical. It is always the physical that modifies the mental, and when we think that the mind is diseased, it is always an illusion.
Claude BernardClaude Bernard O my companion, Worldly comfort is an illusion, As soon you get it, it goes.
MeeraMeera Even when Krishna gives you strength, maya will delude you to think it is your strength.
Radhanath SwamiRadhanath Swami
