Hiddenness, a Place of Purification
One of the reasons that hiddenness is such an important aspect of the spiritual life is that it keeps us focused on God. In hiddenness we do not receive human acclamation, admiration, support, or encouragement. In hiddenness we have to go to God with our sorrows and joys and trust that God will give us what we most need.
In our society we are inclined to avoid hiddenness. We want to be seen and acknowledged. We want to be useful to others and influence the course of events. But as we become visible and popular, we quickly grow dependent on people and their responses and easily lose touch with God, the true source of our being. Hiddenness is the place of purification. In hiddenness we find our true selves.
Henri Nouwen
3 comments:
It reminds me of a clown removing his/her facepaint. In the hiddenness we truly come clean and allow the true us to come through.
Hi. I'm not sure anymore when I first found your blog, but I found it again recently and marked it :)
Psalm 64 says "Hide me from the conspiricy of the wicked, from the noisy croud of evildoers"
Someimes, this is not the outside world, but our own amibitions and attitudes and habits.
Being hidden is a place we should seek often, and be purified.
---Nouwen is my *favorite* author, apart from God, that is :)
Take care, I am looking forward to your next post!
-M
I like this. I understand the necessity of "hiddeness". It seems that there is a pressure from society and other Christians even to avoid hiddenness. Like somethings wrong if we are not always out there being visible.
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