Tag Archives: Etty Hillesum
God Is the Beloved
When we go into the Presence, we find someone not against us, but someone who is definitely for us! Continue Reading God Is the Beloved
Coming to Terms with Life and Love
Choosing Love in a Time of Evil Coming to Terms with Life and Love Tuesday, May 18, 2021 I have been deeply moved by the wisdom of Etty Hillesum (1914–1943) for quite some time, and found myself returning to her journals many times over this past year. She died at Auschwitz at the age of 29, but her… Continue Reading Coming to Terms with Life and Love
Opposing Evil without Becoming It
Scapegoating and the Cross Opposing Evil without Becoming It Tuesday, March 30, 2021 The mystery of the cross teaches us how to stand against hate without becoming hate, how to oppose evil without becoming evil ourselves. We find ourselves stretching in both directions—toward God’s goodness and also toward recognition of our own complicity in evil.… Continue Reading Opposing Evil without Becoming It
Suffering in Solidarity
The Path of Descent Suffering in Solidarity Sunday, March 22, 2020 I am not alone in my tiredness or sickness or fears, but at one with millions of others from many centuries, and it is all part of life. —Etty Hillesum [1] The “cross,” rightly understood, always reveals various kinds of resurrection. It’s as if God were holding… Continue Reading Suffering in Solidarity
The Field of Love
Science: Old and New The Field of Love Thursday, November 7, 2019 The physical phenomenon of quantum entanglement is a wonderful illustration of the interconnected nature of reality, both spiritual and material. Allow me to try to explain in layperson’s terms: In quantum physics, it appears that one particle of any entangled pair “knows” what… Continue Reading The Field of Love
The Suffering of God
Oneness The Suffering of God Sunday, September 22, 2019 I am not alone in my tiredness or sickness or fears, but at one with millions of others from many centuries, and it is all part of life. —Etty Hillesum [1] Just days before I began writing my book about the Universal Christ, I learned that… Continue Reading The Suffering of God
God Speaks
Meeting Christ Within Us God Speaks Monday, May 27, 2019 In a time when everything was being swept away, when “the whole world is becoming a giant concentration camp,” [Etty Hillesum] felt one must hold fast to what endures—the encounter with God at the depths of one’s own soul and in other people. —Robert Ellsberg… Continue Reading God Speaks
Wounded Healers
Suffering: Week 2 Wounded Healers Friday, October 26, 2018 Only people who have suffered in some way can usually save anybody else—exactly as the Twelve-Step program illustrates. They alone have the space and the capacity for the other. Deep communion and compassion are formed much more by shared pain than by shared pleasure. Jesus told… Continue Reading Wounded Healers
Redemptive Suffering
Suffering: Week 2 Redemptive Suffering Monday, October 22, 2018 The “cross,” rightly understood, always reveals various kinds of resurrection. It’s as if God were holding up the crucifixion as a cosmic object lesson, saying: “I know this is what you’re experiencing. Don’t run from it. Learn from it, as I did. Hang there for a… Continue Reading Redemptive Suffering
Gazing upon the Mystery
Suffering: Week 2 Gazing upon the Mystery Sunday, October 21, 2018 The genius of Jesus’ ministry is that he reveals how God uses tragedy, suffering, pain, betrayal, and death itself (all of which are normally inevitable), not to punish us but, in fact, to bring us to God and to our True Self, which are… Continue Reading Gazing upon the Mystery