The deepest recess of self, soul, spirit

I’ve encountered men and women within whom I have discerned a “wounded” or a “broken” spirit – and visited it within myself on many an occasion. We are all somewhat internally battle-scarred – some more than others.

The spirit (engine room, core of the being, the deepest place within, the spiritual center) has received some lasting infliction.

Despite human resiliency, enduring rejection, or exposure to physical, sexual, or emotional violence, the “nurturing” of an alcoholic or unstable parent, (often a combination of hard circumstances) can wound or break the human spirit.

For the victim perceptions of what is “normal” and loving can be severely distorted. Trust doesn’t come easy even when there have been no rational causes for mistrust.

They might:

• Struggle to receive and to give love and regard it as a bargaining tool.
• Belittle or minimize acts of kindness and regard them with suspicion.
• Deflect compliments and ridicule those who give them.
• Constantly measure love and find it falling short of expectation.

Of course this thoroughly confuses those who genuinely care.

It’s key to not personalize the wounded person’s response to your love or affection. Speak out. Say what you see. Be kind. Firm. Offer a safe haven even if it is held at bay, viewed with suspicion, or shattered by the very persons who most need it.

Love is unleashed through simple, but not easy, human acts of seeking the highest good both for oneself and for others. Acts of offering unearned forgiveness, of reaching out to the estranged, of welcoming a stranger, of letting go of all prejudice, of rejecting dishonesty – all begin within the individual human heart.

When a person intentionally facilitates others toward finding and enjoying and exercising the full range of their humanity, he or she will know and see and experience the powerhouse love is.

Even people with reason to reject others, having themselves been rejected or treated inhumanely, have it in them to love, if they dare to muster the courage for it. It comes quite naturally to the courageous person, and when it is unleashed, the purposes and the meaning of life surge into the heart of all who have the courage to hear and respond to its powerful call.

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