spirituality of imperfection
"The particular nature of our shame tells us exactly all the ways we need to come out of hiding. Shame is difficult, shame is painful, shame is our reinforced recoil from the same experiences that previously seemed to break our hearts and made us feel shameful in the first place. But shame is our constant companion, who for our own good and for the
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A.A.’s earliest members “tried on” the ideas and insights of these brilliant, often eccentric thinkers, and whatever matched their own experience became part of the patchwork.
Ernest Kurtz • The Spirituality of Imperfection
If there is such a thing as human perfection, it seems to emerge precisely from how we handle the imperfection that is everywhere, especially our own. – Richard Rohr
The problem with organized religions, Bill Wilson once complained, “is their claim how confoundedly right all of them are.”7 The spirituality of imperfection that forms the heart and soul of Alcoholics Anonymous makes no claim to be “right.” It is a spirituality more interested in questions than in answers, more a journey toward humility than a
... See moreErnest Kurtz • The Spirituality of Imperfection
The late eighteenth-century Hasidic master Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches us, “If you want to return to God you must make yourself into a new creation. You can do this with a sigh.”9
Adina Allen • The Place of All Possibility: Cultivating Creativity Through Ancient Jewish Wisdom
Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It’s thinking of yourself less.
When the founder of Hasidic Judaism, the great Rabbi Israel Shem Tov, saw misfortune threatening the Jews, it was his custom to go into a certain part of the forest to meditate. There he would light a fire, say a special prayer, and the miracle would be accomplished and the misfortune averted.
Later, when his disciple, the celebrated Maggid of