...Running head: SPIRITUAL FORMATION: OUTWARD DISCIPLINES 95% A good assignment, but there are some areas that still need some work. After reviewing all comments, changes, and deletions (see right margin), let me know if you have any questions. OK? Spiritual Formation Throughthrough the Outward Disciplines of Simplicity, Solitude, Submission, and Service Nancy R. McCulloch Grand Canyon University: MIN -350 May 20, 2012 Please note all changes below. Spiritual Formation through the Outward Disciplines of Simplicity, Solitude, Submission and Service (In his book, “The Celebration of Disciplines,” (1998), Richard. J. Foster (1998) explains that we have grown to think of sin as an individual’s act of disobedience to God. He believes that the purpose of the disciplines is to achieve communion with God as a means of rooting out enslaving habits of the heart and of behavior. By following the disciplines, described in his book theyone will be helped in achieving inner righteousness. This point was stressed by Paul who promised that “the free gift of righteousness (shall) reign in life through one man Jesus Christ” (Rom4:17, version). This paper discusses and analyzes those chapters of Foster’s book concerningview on the Outward Disciplines. SIMPLICITYSimplicity (The discipline of simplicity is “an inward reality that results in an outward life-style” – and both of these aspects of simplicity are essential...
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...1. My reflection of Solitude is the state of being alone without being lone, solitude is a positive constructive state of engagement with oneself and is desirable state of being alone where I provide myself wonderful and sufficient company. Solitude is a time that can be used for reflection where one develops inner searching or growth or enjoyment of some kind. Deep reading requires solitude, so does experiencing the beauty of nature, thinking and creativity usually do too. Personally, solitude provides peacefulness stemming from a state of inner riches, it is a meaning of enjoying the quite and whatever it brings that is satisfying and from which we know sustenance, solitude is something I cultivate because it is so refreshing and an opportunity...
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...4 MAT Review - Nouwen Liberty University Author: Henri J. M. Nouwen Publisher: Image Summary In his book, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life, Nouwen (1975) challenges the reader to move from spiritual dryness to spiritual vitality. He first discusses the movement from loneliness to solitude. Our fear of loneliness drives us to an unending quest of activities, education, and entertainment. Our quest generally does not lead us out of our loneliness, but rather distracts us so as to pretend that loneliness does not have any impact on us. Nouwen encourages us to stop running from our loneliness and actually embrace it. In so doing, the reader can expect to find a solitude that can only achieved through a still, quiet appreciation of ourselves. The second attribute of the spiritual life presented is the movement from hostility to hospitality. A common theme discussed in this movement is the need to realize the host’s lack of ownership of the stranger or guest. The call to servitude is instead embodies the concept of hospitality. According to Nouwen, hospitality also requires the host to create a safe, receptive environment that promotes growth of the individual within the context of safe boundaries, not as a form or restriction, but one of guidance. We are reminded of the interdependence of solidarity and hospitality as Nouwen indicates “as long as we are lonely, we cannot be hospitable because as lonely people we cannot create free space” (p....
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...-------8 Summary Reaching Out was published by Doubleday Dell Publishing Group in 1986. It was written by Henri Nouwen and offers counsel in the three movements of the spiritual life. The book simplifies the relational of humanity with the living God. Nouwen (1986) explores these three movements as spiritual growth and development. This he indicated will bring people closer to God. The first movement is from loneliness to solitude. Loneliness is an inner struggle for all humans. It is a feeling that no matter how many people are around you, you still feel alone or lonely. Loneliness is to be embraced, to look at it as a phase on the journey of life. The lonely person must have the courage and the faith to follow the path from loneliness to solitude. The illustration about the New York subway was very intriguing. There are so many people traveling on the same path, yet they are alone in their isolated bubble. Solitude by contrast is being centered in life, contented in the experiences of life as it occurs. The transition from loneliness to solitude involves the path to freedom. Freedom to live life to the fullest, freedom to engage with others, to release the fear and feeling of loneliness. The...
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...Villegas Fohrweisser ID number: 1295075 Source: William Deresiewicz, “The end of solitude”, The Chronical, January 30, 2009, pg. 1 to 4. Key concepts: Social networking, Solitude, Connectivity, Contemporary self, Technology, Society, Loosing abilities, people. Main Issues: What is happening with solitude in these days? Why are T.V. and Internet a problem in these days? And how can they affect the ability to being alone? In wich way does social networking affect the human behaviour? What happen, when you lose the ability to being alone? Main Thesis: We are replacing the solitude to being in constant communication with people. T.V was designed to eliminate boredom, so, when you are bored then you turn on the T.V and Internet doesn’t allow solitude, because you are in constantly communication with people. The more you do social networking, the more known you are, and this happens because people are afraid to being alone. Solitude is important because, it is the moment when people can read, actually it is when people can think about everything. Supporting Elements: • I was told by one of her older relatives that a teenager I know had sent 3,000 text messages one recent month. So on average, she's never alone for more than 10 minutes at once. Which means, she is never alone. (The end of solitude, pg. 1) • The great age of boredom, I believe, came in with television, precisely because television was designed...
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...January 30, 2009 The End of Solitude By William Deresiewicz What does the contemporary self want? The camera has created a culture of celebrity; the computer is creating a culture of connectivity. As the two technologies converge — broadband tipping the Web from text to image, social-networking sites spreading the mesh of interconnection ever wider — the two cultures betray a common impulse. Celebrity and connectivity are both ways of becoming known. This is what the contemporary self wants. It wants to be recognized, wants to be connected: It wants to be visible. If not to the millions, on Survivor or Oprah, then to the hundreds, on Twitter or Facebook. This is the quality that validates us, this is how we become real to ourselves — by being seen by others. The great contemporary terror is anonymity. If Lionel Trilling was right, if the property that grounded the self, in Romanticism, was sincerity, and in modernism it was authenticity, then in postmodernism it is visibility. So we live exclusively in relation to others, and what disappears from our lives is solitude. Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone. Though I shouldn't say taking away. We are doing this to ourselves; we are discarding these riches as fast as we can. I was told by one of her older relatives that a teenager I know had sent 3,000 text messages one recent month. That's 100 a day, or about one every 10 waking minutes, morning...
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...January 30, 2009 The End of Solitude By William Deresiewicz What does the contemporary(當代的) self-want? The camera has created a culture of celebrity; the computer is creating a culture of connectivity. As the two technologies converge — broadband(寬頻) tipping (使傾斜/輕拍) the Web from text to image, social-networking sites spreading the mesh(網絲)of interconnection(互相連)絡ever wider (前所未有的寬度發展)— the two cultures betray(露出…跡象)a common impulse(衝動). Celebrity and connectivity are both ways of becoming known. This is what the contemporary self wants. It wants to be recognized, wants to be connected: It wants to be visible. If not to the millions(數百萬), on Survivor(倖存者) or Oprah, then to the hundreds, on Twitter or Facebook. This is the quality that validates(使有效) us, this is how we become real to ourselves — by being seen by others. The great contemporary terror is anonymity匿名者. If Lionel Trilling美國文學評論家was right, if the property(财产/所有权) that grounded (打基础) the self, in Romanticism(浪漫主义 , was sincerity(真实), and in modernism it was authenticity(真实性), then in postmodernism it is visibility. * So we live exclusively(排外地) in relation to(about) others, and what disappears from(从…处消失) our lives is solitude. Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone. Though I shouldn't say taking away. We are doing this to ourselves; we are discarding(丢弃) these riches as fast as we can. I was told by one of her older relatives that a teenager...
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...Though people truly believe themselves to be civilized, it is the threat of the ‘policeman’ and the ‘gallows and lunatic asylums’ that prevent people from descending into insanity. When removed, these are replaced with ‘utter silence’ and ‘utter solitude,’ and without any ‘warning voice,’ humans are left to truly follow their own devices and their ‘own innate strength’. Having adapted to an environment such as this, the cannibals know true restraint and can survive civilly with others; however, Kurtz is transformed from a respected figure into a ‘hollow man’. At the conclusion of the novel, Marlow recognizes that although he still retains an incredible eloquence, there is truly nothing at its core, and the systems that we have put in place to make our society function more civilly have actually resulted in a decreased ability for humans to sustain internal...
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...Rebecca Anderson Professor: Dr. Darrohn English 252 07 October 2010 Spirituality in Nature In the poem “Mont Blanc” by Percy Bysshe Shelley, there is a strong correlation conveyed between nature and spirituality. Although Shelley does not specifically mention any religious connotation, the words chosen in this poem could have more than one meaning. Perhaps Shelley purposely wrote “Mont Blanc” to have more than one meaning and has left it up to the reader to interpret and absorb this poem as it is suitable to him. I interpreted the poem to be about spirituality. I have found several connections in Shelley’s choice of words indicating spirituality in nature is possible, and it is up to the reader to discover his own ability in finding his own spirituality. The lyrical lines in stanza 5 describe the strength and majestic qualities of Mont Blanc. The mountain is portrayed as one of isolation; it is a secluded place uninhibited by man (137). Shelley uses the words, “solemn power” to describe Mont Blanc (128). In the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), one definition of solemn is, “having a religious character” another is, “Associated or connected to religious rites or observances.” The word power is defined as, “A powerful celestial or spiritual being” (OED). Because of the portrayal of the mountain and the choice of words Shelley uses to describe it, it takes on a spiritual characteristic. In addition to “Mont Blanc” being portrayed as powerful, indicating how strong...
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...life and of great significance for the moral life. Meilaender explores some of the tension which Christian experience discovers in one such relationship, that of the bond of friendship. These tensions help to explain why friendship was a more important topic in the life and thought of the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome than it has usually been within Christendom. Journal 2: Merton in LLM The author states that solitude is "not just a recipe for hermits" but a means to keeping society together. Individuals need a retreat from the exigencies and pressures of work in order to dialogue with God. Merton outlines some characteristics of the spiritual life that set the stage for solitude: gratitude, keeping awake, practicing humility, listening, and unifying our lives. He sees silence as "the mother of truth" and as a divine milieu. He calls the Psalms "the true garden of the solitary." By submitting ourselves to God, we foster our love for others while we are apart from them. This is "the true fruit and the true purpose of Christian solitude.” Journal 3: Harding in LLM In “I Hear Them… Calling”, the community really helped Vincent Harding realize his profession of historian and minister and rebel for a cause. He was able to make his own choice and he changed ideas, career ideas, and actual professions, many times. But his community was a steady rock for him to come back to, and to take advice from. They were invested in him, and he gave back to them in whatever...
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...people feel that they are isolated and lonely in a world surrounded by people. The people of modern society are prejudice and judgmental towards the ‘unknown’ person, and we will rather observe and assume things about each other than getting to know one another. This is also the case for the main character and her neighbors in Joanne Harris novel ‘Tea with the birds’ from 2001. The narrator lives in a flat in Mortimer Street. The narrator describes Mortimer Street as being “busy without being comfortable; crowded without being friendly” .Mortimer street has a sense of coldness around it, and no-one really knows their neighbors even though they “live like birds in cages” . The coldness suits the narrator, because she enjoys the solitude, privacy and silence of her own flat. This has aroused her neighbors’ curiosity and suspicious towards her, because as she describes “I’m a completely different race from my neighbors” . Both the narrator and her neighbors consider her as an outsider, but this does not bother the narrator. Her neighbors consider her as being snobby cause of her reluctance to speak with them. Therefore her neighbors observe her and presume, she is a student nurse and she doesn’t bother to correct them. Mortimer Street is a reflection on the narrators own personality. She is very introverted and doesn’t have an interest in getting to know her neighbors. The narrator lives her lonely life, until the day when Mr. Juzo Tamaoki moves in the apartment opposite to hers...
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...At nineteen years old, being a varsity athlete and ending my freshman year of college; crisis’ are, or were, the least of my worries. Honestly, almost all of these crisis had never even touched the tip of my tongue let alone inside my brain. I know that this world is not by any means perfect; this world has an abundance of debt, wars, political differences, economic struggles, religious conflicts, etc. But this imperfect world is how we evolve and revolve. Sure there are crisis’ and many more that weren't discussed during this “revolutionary period” of humanities, but what is the common and REAL crisis? To me, the real crisis of our time is that we are so self-centered in a materialistic world that we are blinded by the importance of other people and the beauty in the nature of the world and most importantly a Christian lifestyle. We must work to be in touch with reality, connected with nature, and being in a Christ centered membership. As Dr. Frazier states, “The crisis of the crisis is that people don't perceive the crisis.” It is our calling to remain awake through this time and help others remain awake so that together we can make a change. But we must not look at crisis’ as always negative. It is here our crisis’ help us revolve and evolve as people and a society together. Everywhere we look we see people on their phones; at the dinner, in school, while driving, with friends, etc. This is the problem with society. It is like we are just going through the motions of the...
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...punishments to fit their needs and own beliefs. The Development of Prisons Until the late 18th century, prisons were used mainly for the confinement of debtors who could not meet their obligations, of accused persons waiting to be tried, and of convicts who were waiting for their sentences—either death or banishment—to be put in effect. Imprisonment, later, also became the means of punishing convicted criminals. During the 16th century, a number of houses of correction were established in England and on this Continent for the reform of minor offenders. The main emphasis was on strict discipline and hard labor. Solitary confinement of criminals became an ideal among rationalist reformers of the 18th century. They believed that solitude would help the offender to become penitent and that penitence would result in reformation. This idea was...
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...Thoughts in Solitude Thomas Merton was a French American author, who was born in January 31, 1915 at Prades in France. Before Merton was born, Owen Merton and Ruth Jenkins met in Paris while studying art. After when Thomas Merton was born at Prades, they decided to move to America because of World War I. They settled at the Jenkins’ family house from Long Island, Douglaston and moved to Flushing, New York. In 1918, his younger brother, Jean Paul, was born. In 1921, Merton’s mother passed away due to stomach cancer. In 1922, Merton’s father left Jean Paul at Douglaston in the Jenkins house. Later, he moved with Thomas to Bermuda. Unfortunately, Merton’s father did not have a strong relationship with his sons because of money shortage. During this year, Merton was...
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...David Malouf author of An Imaginary Life and Sean Penn auteur of Into The Wild, explore the diverse ways in which individuals establish a sense of identity. The concept of identity further extends to encompass the impact and importance of solitude and the influence of societal constructs and pressures. The two respective texts illustrate the journey of a male who experiences separation from society and embarks into the wild. Literary and filmic techniques are used to illustrate each protagonist’s personal growth along their expedition. Both Malouf and Penn literally and symbolically associate Mother Nature and the wild with the concept of freedom, and freedom as an essential aspect of identity. The protagonist of the text Into The Wild...
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