Becoming Authentically Human

“The Lord God said: ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him’” (Gen. 2: 18).  None of us is meant to live in isolation or to isolate ourselves from others. We need one another in order to grow in the truth and be set free.    Adam needed Eve and Eve needed Adam.  Cain needed Abel; Abel needed Cain. When Cain killed his brother, he faced the truth about himself when God communicated with him.  We all need to be in communication with others, men with women, women with men, both men and women with God in order to grow spiritually, that is,  to grow in openness and to achieve freedom’s potential.  

Feedback and self-disclosure to another human being/human beings are essential to spiritual growth.  That is why God did not leave Adam alone. That is why God created humans, male and female, to complement each other and be each other’s helper in becoming authentically human.  We might better understand this reality by reflecting upon the Johari window.  Ian Miller ( Ian Miller @thenursepath) writes in “The Nurse Path, on November 11, 2013:  “The Johari window was developed in the 1950′s by two psychologists, Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham. It can be used as a tool for developing self awareness…

“The Johari window is divided up into 4 quadrants. Each quadrant represents the knowledge, skills, values, attitude and feelings of an individual.The area covered by each quadrant reflects to what extent this information is shared or hidden from others, or from oneself.

“The 4 Quadrants:

1. what is known by the person about him/herself and is also known by others – open area, open self, free area, free self, or ‘the arena’
2. what is unknown by the person about him/herself but which others know – blind area, blind self, or ‘blindspot’
3. what the person knows about him/herself that others do not know – hidden area, hidden self, avoided area, avoided self or ‘facade’what is unknown by the person about him/herself and is also unknown by others – unknown area or unknown self. 
4. what is unknown by the person about him/herself and is also unknown by others – unknown area or unknown self." 
   

As we grow spiritually, we grow in openness: to God, to self and others. The  “open area”  is enlarged by feedback, shared discovery, self-disclosure and self-discovery.  Let the blind see, Jesus tells us in the Scriptures. And, in eternity, what is not known, that which is hidden, will come to light. We can begin this process right here and now!