"Becoming Human"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains Jean Vanier is well qualified to write a book like "Becoming Human" because he founded l'Arche, an international organization, which helps people with intellectual disabilities and another organization Faith and Light, which helps individuals with disabilities. Vanier's book is based on personal experience rather than solely being based on academic or religious grounds. The author points out that Vanier believes that loneliness be an important impetus that drives people toward change and evolution in their lives. The paper relates that Vanier notes that freedom, which is defined as sublimating personal needs and goals to truth and service to others, and forgiveness, which is defined as breaking free of personal prisons of hatred and resentment, are important in the path to becoming a fulfilled person.

From the Paper:

"Personally, "Becoming Human" has a number of specific and meaningful implications. Vanier's discussion of the journey to human maturity is especially personally valuable and insightful. Writes Vanier, becoming fully human means bringing "our heads and our hearts together" (p. 2). For me, this is a useful insight and understanding, as I have always had a tendency to live with my head rather than with my heart. In the past, I have often made decisions that were based on logical conclusions, rather than heeding my intuition, or "heart". Occasionally, I have regretted these decisions, as while they may have led me to what should have been the best solution, I often felt dissatisfied, or that something was missing. Over time, I have come to realize that the best decisions are made with both the head and the heart in mind, an idea that is clearly supported within Vanier's thesis that to become truly human one must integrate the head and the heart."

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