"When man is no longer able to look beyond his own death and relate himself to what extends beyond the time and space of his life, he loses his desire to create and the excitement of being human." (pg. 13)
Nouwen is talking about what he calls the "nuclear man". Essentially he is talking about the post-modern generation (he wrote this in '72 before our language of post-modernity was widely used). He says that the plight of the post-modern individual is caused by a Historical Dislocation, a Fragmented Ideology, and a Search for New Immortality. What I love about Nouwen's approach is that he doesn't attack Post-Modernity but acknowledges it as just another philosophy that will one day be replaced by something else; it's just what we've got to work with for now.So, according to him, when we cease to seek immortality we cease to be fully human (ie. created in God's image).
There's a thought. What do you think?
He says that mankind's desire to extend himself beyond his own life is part of what it means to be made in God's image.
To create is to emulate the creator.
So please "create" some comments and discussion.
9 comments:
ok - you really ARE way smarterthan me if you are reading this book. and it's ok - i can admit that. we "read" this book first year at Bethany...i think i had Shirley Issac. it was the most horrible class, i almost failed and so my view on this book is slightly tainted. so maybe i should read it again...
Haha! We were both in that class, Janelle... back then I thought that the book sucked.
But I saw this book sitting on my shelf and thought I'd give it a second chance. I'm glad I did. I find it quite profound... obviously too much for either of us as silly little freshmen!
This is possible but it makes me wonder if that was the way it was meant to be. I mean as far as we know Adam and Eve were not created with an expiration date and that it was sin that brought this on (correct me if I'm wrong. So would Adam and Eve have had this desire. The temptation from Satan with the fruit was that of the knowledge of good and evil not immortality. So I wonder if this desire for immortality comes from our position as fallen humans or if this was a trait that was created by God and therefore part of the image of God?
Tim S.
I think that this idea that when we no longer seek immorality we 'cease to be fully human' is truly profound. I think that this is what post-modernists are grasping for when they are ask the question 'is this all there is?' Since it is the need of every human to face their own mortality and possible immortality it is reasonable to say that immortality is an innate idea. Innate, in my opinion, are components hard-wired into us by God. So what does this mean for the post-modernist then? That immortality is a built-into-humans characteristic? That being said, does the post modernist necissarily deny that humans are immortal? Or if not, what is their standpoint?
Tim"
In my humble opinion, Adam and Eve were created mortal in the normal human sense. However, both sides of the argument essentially argue scripture from points of silence. I believe the only way that we can extend our mortality beyond our own lives is through the creative world (and this is Nouwen's main point). Like JRR Tolkien said, "we make...because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker." Thus for Tolkien, his writing of fantasy was a "human right."
Heather:
You tell me. You are a post-modernist... albeit a Christian one. However Nouwen continues from the quote I used, and describes the dilema of the Nuclear Man this way:
"A life after death can only be thought of in terms of life before it, and nobody can dream of a new earth when there is no old earth to hold any promises."
So in other words, the post-modernist may want to be immortal but not if immortality simly looks like an extended mortality.
I don't spend time thinking about my death, but I know it is inevitable. But that is just the death of my body. I will be with our Lord and Savior.
If we were all imortal, that might be OK. But if I was imortal, and nobody else was...old age would get very depressing. I sometimes think about seniors who live into their 90's or even live to be 100. All thier friends have died. I once read most of a book by Robert Heinlein. The main character was several hundred years old and wasn't very happy. Always having to make new friends because the others were dying. OK, the last part could have been partly due to his chosen career.
I choose to live life to its fullest. Try to glorify God in what I do. Sometimes I even step outside my comfort zone to achieve these goals.
Rick
I think God's original plan was for man to live forever, but sin introduced death temporarily. There was a tree of life in the Garden of Eden, and when Adam and Eve sinned, they were cast out of the garden to prevent them eating of the tree of life and living forever in a sinful state. But I love the truth that in Rev. 22 the tree of life appears again for the healing of the nations. The epoch of sin is over and we get to go back to the beginning and live forever. That's what we were made for!
So if it was the Tree of Life that was maintaining Adam and Eve's "immortal" state then weren't they mortals partaking of immortal fruit? If by simply removing the Fruit of the Tree of Life from their diet they became mortal I would hardly call their previous state "immortal" (at least in the same sense that God and the Angels are immortal).
Just wondering/stretching the box a bit.
I guess we could ask, how long after creation was the fall, and had they actually already eaten of the tree of life before they were expelled? Does one need to eat from it only once to live forever,or eat continually? Somehow I think only once, which would mean they had not eaten of it before leaving the garden. Perhaps God prevented it, knowing what was coming. Can you imagine what this world would be like if everyone born lived forever on earth?
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