Longing is a compass that guides us through life. We may never get what we really want, that's true, but every step along the way will be determined by it.
All of us wrestle with the angels of our inabilities all the time. We live in fear that our incapacities will be exposed. We posture and evaluate and assess and criticize mercilessly.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the struggle with self-doubt and the fear of vulnerability in facing our limitations.
Joan D. Chittister's quote highlights the internal battle many individuals face regarding their perceived shortcomings and fears of inadequacy. It speaks to the universal anxiety of being judged based on our limitations, which often leads us to adopt defensive postures, engage in self-criticism, or overly judge others as a way to shield ourselves from exposure. This struggle suggests a deeper understanding of courage, as facing our 'angels of inabilities' requires bravery and honesty with ourselves.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech to encourage vulnerability, this quote could illustrate the fear of inadequacy.
More from Joan D. Chittister
All quotes →Feminism without spirituality runs the risk of becoming what it rejects: an elitist ideology, arrogant, superficial and separatist, closed to everything but itself. Without a spiritual base that obligates it beyond itself, calls it out of itself for the sake of others, a pedagogical feminism turned in on itself can become just one more intellectual ghetto that the world doesn’t notice and doesn’t need.
We talk religion in a world that worships the bread but does not distribute it, that practices ritual rather than righteousness, that confesses but does not repent.
Hospitality means we take people into the space that is our lives and our minds and our hearts and our work and our efforts. Hospitality is the way we come out of ourselves. It is the first step towards dismantling the barriers of the world. Hospitality is the way we turn a prejudiced world around, one heart at a time.
The question is not, do we go to church; the question is, have we been converted. The crux of Christianity is not whether or not we give donations to popular charities but whether or not we are really committed to the poor.
It is a pathetic moment in the history of the human condition when the outside world tells us who and what we are - and we start to believe it ourselves. Then, bent over from the weight of the negativity, we start to wither on the outside.
Similar quotes
The primary thing when you take a sword in your hands is your intention to cut the enemy, whatever the means. Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy's cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this. If you think only of hitting, springing, striking or touching the enemy, you will not be able actually to cut him.
We fight not to enslave, but to set a country free, and to make room upon the earth for honest men to live in.
The hate and scorn showered on us Negro officers by our fellow Americans convinced me that there was no sense in my dying for a world ruled by them. I made up my mind that if I got through this war I would study law and use my time fighting for men who could not strike back.
What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.
If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated suffering.
You've been told that you're broken. That you're damaged goods ... there is also Post-Traumatic Growth. You come back from war stronger and more sure of who you are.