Monday, June 13, 2011
Broken?
Over the last week I have heard two different men say, "Everyone knows they are broken." I did not prompt this response, they just came up in the context of what was being discussed. And it's been nagging at me...really? Maybe I am off or maybe my definition of "knowing ones self as broken" looks very different from theirs. I'm still trying to figure it out at the moment and don't have the energy to do so just yet. But I would like to hear your thoughts, definition, etc. Got any?
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6 comments:
I think everyone is "broken" in the sense that our various faculties (the passions, reason, imagination, our physical appetites, etc.) are both damaged in the sense of not working at full capacity, and are also dis-integrated in the sense of not working in harmony with one another. But I certainly do not think that everyone knows that they are broken. Quite a lot of people are in complete denial about their brokenness, either in part or in total, it seems to me.
I would agree. My experience to date, is that people are aware they mess up, make mistakes on a cerebral level but have all sorts of reasons, explanations, excuses for doing so and it doesn't hit our core often or at all. On an emotional/spiritual level many of us are very unaware or just don't feel like remaining on that level and are protective and not able to truly 'surrender' control, the need to be right, or the like. To me when I hear the word "broken" used it requires that a level of honesty, humility, and vulnerability must follow it - and that is what I believe is hard to come by, know, and see - whether in myself or others.
I immediately feel guarded and don't want to dwell on it: broken? of course, move on. I feel afraid that if I make eye contact, so to speak, with my brokenness then whatever illusion of control I clutch to will dissolve and there I'll be, nothing but warts and incompetence. Yippee...
By the way, have you heard Over the Rhine's new CD, "The Long Surrender"? Good, right?
Thank you all for your comments!
Yes, Wayward, I do have "The Long Surrender"... I got it shortly after it came out but have only listened to it a few times. I am somewhat afraid to say that I don't love it yet. There's nothing of theirs that doesn't feel like skin, so I expect it to grow on me at some point. I don't know if I had great expectations because of who produced it, but I have actually been bored by it?! Like I said, I think it just needs to grow on me. Always a fan though, and wish we could go on the train tour!
@Mary...I find its the clutching to the illusion of control that makes me more tired and fearful than anything. When I'm doing that (which is most of the time) I can only enjoy one thing: the (unlikely) fulfillment of my objective of the hour. And all the other stuff I could be enjoying is going by in a great blur.
@Piddler...I was underwhelmed with The Long Surrender at the first listen. My sister felt the same way. (She's the one who turned me on to OTR). But I like it a whole lot more now, and the song "Days Like This" is now one of my all-time favorites. I could live in that song.
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