Nouwen's Discernment

   Theologian Henri Nouwen wrote a very interesting book called On Discernment, which I read while I was in the library today. This book describes how all of a person's interactions with other beings have special significance, albeit often hidden underneath the surface appearances that people might happen to present. From a Christian perspective, this book explores the ways in which our interactions are refracting different elements of a more divine, spiritual relationship with a creator being, and thus it is best to cherish other beings in certain ways to reveal the hidden wisdom in those interactions. I certainly think that this kind of perspective also resonates in a Buddhist sense, because it essentially shows how interconnected beings really are.
   In a sense, one cannot fully know her or himself unless they can see these different aspects of themselves as revealed by others. I guess the attitude that best describes it in a Chan way is that we treat all beings as mind communicating with mind. It's not two different 'minds' conferring with each other, but its mind in a kind of iterative communication which mirrors its own nature. This process of  repeating 'mirroring' seems to serve the important function of allowing the mind to soften its grasp of phenomena and self, by encountering situations which continually challenge that identification with a conscious self. Maybe in the Christian context, this might be similar to encountering divinity within, through a sometimes painful process of letting go of what one cherishes to be 'oneself', whether it's the sense of control one has over things, or the sense of confident knowing, or even the sense of family or group affiliation. All these things continually need to be challenged before a person can truly 'know' this deeply mysterious and ungraspable presence in the universe--and to even know that they can't possibly ever fully 'know'.