christopherhildreth

This past week I was rereading some books that I had stacked up, one was Turning To One Another by Meg Wheatley. Great book about the value of simple conversations and being presnt in those conversations. What struck me was a quote by Paulo Freire which said,

 “What if we discover that our present way of life is irreconcilable with our vocation to become fully human?”

If you are like me, I don’t often find myself thinking about what it means to be fully human. You may be asking the same question, but for Paulo, the answer is that the vocation, or calling, to be fully human is given to us and therefore signifies that we are part of a larger place.

To become fully human means that we live an open life that is filled with generosity. We become more human each time we make the decision to reach out instead of withdrawing into our personal sufferings and experiences.

We can only become fully human when we extend ourselves. When we create a world of secrecy and whispers around us, we lose life rather than gain life. When we chose to become aloof and non-communicative we allow our ego to reign and prevent our own growth. When we close ourselves off from those around us, we may pretend that we are doing it for our own good. The truth is that we lack the courage to engage real dialogue – conversations where I speak and then become silent and listen. Speeches do not give; they are not generous. Listening and opening ourselves up to one another are acts of generosity. These are the actions that lead to our becoming fully human and going from a human doing to a human being.

This entry was posted on November 12, 2008 at 8:18 am and is filed under Awareness, Belief, giving, Influence, Life, People. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: conversation, dialogue, future, margaret wheatley, paulo freire