Wounded Healer

I've been rereading a book called "The Wounded Healer" by Henri Nouwens. Its not a book that can be skimmed through - there's a LOT to chew on and to try to understand! And also to see if you agree with him - after all, just because it is in a book by a well respected writer, doesn't mean it has to be swallowed whole, does it? First published in 1979, it speaks of 'nuclear man' - seems to be his name for today's 'postmodern man' A man ahead of his time? Some extracts: "Nuclear man no longer believes in anything that is always and everywhere true and valid." And we can see the evidence of that kind of relativism, can't we? The 'grey areas' of life seem to have multiplied: few things seem to be black or white any more. So much has become relative - think of the Middle East crises. Our take on it depends on which side of the fence we are standing. It has become increasingly difficult to form an opinion - there are pros and cons both ways. In our own country, today's liberation heroes were 'terrorists' 20 years ago. Leadership changes, a different perspective is brought to light and everything shifts and blurs. People who had been seen as traitors were now held up as those brave ones who dared to defy the old ways. Things that seemed true then, are now shown to be not true. How would it be if leadership changed again? Would we again be subject to shifting sands of 'facts' To what extent were we, and are we now, being brainwashed? Pilot's question: "What IS truth" is a very good one. Another quote: "He (nuclear man) is primarily looking for experiences that give him a sense of value" I have to admit that I see that in myself. I really want to feel that my life has had value; that it has made a positive difference in other's lives. My question about this for Mr Nouwens would be: "Haven't people always wanted that?" I suppose that we have to learn to get our sense of value from the truth that God loves us. After all, He proved the high value He places on us by the price He was prepared to pay for us. If we try to get our sense of value by experiences and the opinions of other people, we are on very shaky ground indeed. Quicksand even Because we all know how fickle people are, even the nicest of them. And experiences come and go Some good, some bad. . . Still very much in the process of pondering on these things -