I’ve been reading some Jean Vanier lately for some work I am doing on theology and disability, and I’ve come across what appears to be an idea central to his thought – that at our core, as fallen humans, is a wound of loneliness. Most of what we do is develop strategies to protect this wound, and most of our relational decisions stem from how we respond to others in the midst of our woundedness. The disabled, for Vanier, are special because they tap into our wound in a way others do not. The disabled, and I’m thinking mostly mentally disabled here, do not pick up on the kinds of strategies we usually employ in conversations, nor are they impressed with the kind of things that impress the world. Instead, they want someone to be with them, to love them, and not leave them. The disabled only want what we do, and yet they refuse to settled for what we do (i.e. shallow conversations, approval, etc.).

I have heard people speak about this in a lot of different ways, but I like his description of the wound of loneliness and how certain people tap into that wound. Our calling, then, as Christians, is to be a people who are taken through that wound of loneliness to find Jesus, who, through his own wounds, has set us free. This freedom is not merely freedom from sin, but freedom from sins effects – freedom from creating selves to navigate the world without being hurt. Vanier offers us another way, a way of being with others in love where we walk through our brokenness to truly live. Doing so, he warns, will make you unable to function in “normal” society. May it be so.

Any thoughts? Do you like this language?