Loving the Stranger

This week I have been pondering a Greek word: philoxenia. It literally means ‘love the stranger’. 

Theologies are often developed around this core concept of welcoming the stranger and, through this process, becoming acquainted. I have been reflecting on how this can result in a feeling of belonging, which is such a powerful antidote to that feeling of estrangement from the world, which sometimes can feel overpowering. 

It’s one of the things I particularly love about our men’s group, where we don’t try to force anything, but just let people be as they are and through this we come to know one another over time. I have felt this building a stronger sense of connection with the world around me. 

But I have also been pondering the stranger/s within myself. This week I have been immersed in Moore & Gillette’s classic book ‘King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine’. I don’t love everything in this book and it makes a lot of assumptions. But it is helpful in providing a way of seeing our personalities, and especially in shedding light on our ‘shadow’ characteristics, and how these can creep through from boyhood. 

So, with this in mind, I have been considering ways of welcoming those parts of myself that I have never really understood, and inviting them to sit around a metaphorical table with ‘me’ and get to know one another. Those are the fragments that struggle to establish and maintain boundaries, the perfectionist, the one who is very impatient, the one who is furious, the judge, etc, etc… Could be an interesting convo! I’ll keep you posted.