Shared Weakness

an excerpt from “The Spirituality of Imperfection” by Ernest Kurtz

This sense of shared weakness creates what is truly a community. Participants in such a setting learn to appreciate rather than resent the strengths in others because they know that, at bottom, they are the same – flawed and imperfect. Those who do not share weakness find in others’ strengths a threat. But those who recognize shared weakness see in others’ strengths a hope: the hope that your strengths might also support me. With shared weakness as our common bond, we can rejoice in another person’s strengths rather than be threatened by them.

Spirituality begins with this first insight: We are all imperfect. Such a vision not only invites but requires Tolerance: active appreciation of the richness and variety of human beings on this earth, along with the understanding that we all struggle with the same demons, we all share the same fears and sorrows, we all do the best we can with what we have.