Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Introduction
- Music as Metaphor in Etty Hillesum’s Spirituality
- A “staretz” in Camp Westerbork: The Connections Between Slavic Orthodoxy and the Spirituality of Etty Hillesum
- Etty Hillesum: Humanity as a Task
- Etty Hillesum & Albert Konrad Gemmeker: A Twofold Analysis of the Perpetration of the Westerbork Commander
- “Now is the Time to Put into Practice: Love Your Enemies”: Several Notes on Hillesum’s “Love for Enemies” in Levenskunst
- The Cares of the Pagans: The Reading of Matthew 6:25-34 by Søren Kierkegaard and Etty Hillesum
- Dialogizing Life amidst a Culture of Death: Etty Hillesum, Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor and Nazi Reductionism
- Patience and Hope in the Writings of Julian of Norwich and Etty Hillesum
- The Girl Who Could Not Kneel: Etty Hillesum and the Turn Inward
- Etty Hillesum and Charlotte Salomon: Pregnancy as a Theme in Their Lives and Works
- Wandering Beyond Words: Etty Hillesum and Clarice Lispector
- “Verbalize, Vocalize, Visualize”: Creative Death and Performative Writing in the Testimonies of Hillesum and Levi
- A “No” that Is an Affirmation: Etty Hillesum and Simone Weil Against the Laws of Force
- From Enclosure to Disclosure: Images of the Self in Etty Hillesum’s Diary
- A Story of Individuation in the Writings of Etty Hillesum: A Jungian Perspective
- Mad Midrash in the Diaries of Etty Hillesum
- The Mystery of Encounter: Poetry and Faith After Auschwitz in the Work of Paul Celan and Etty Hillesum
- Can Religion Help Heal a World Broken by Trauma?: Etty Hillesum as Our Ancestor in the Qahal Goyim
- The Contours of These Times:Etty Hillesum as Chronicler of Love Transcending Hate in Her Times, for Our Time, for All Time
- Etty Hillesum’s Hand Analysis: The Prologue to Her Diaries
- Suffering, Silence, and Wisdom in the Life of Etty Hillesum
- Feeding the Soul: Etty Hillesum’s Pedagogical and Spiritual Path
- Am I Really a Woman?: A Question About Female Identity in Etty Hillesum
- A Powerless God: Etty Hillesum and Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- New Light on Etty Hillesum’s Actions in Camp Westerbork
- “My Beloved Desk, the Best Place on this Earth”: Etty Hillesum Says Goodbye to Her Familiar Surroundings
- Etty Hillesum’s Humanism: Ethical, Philosophical and Theological Comments
- Etty Hillesum’s Struggle to See Clearly: A Story of Two Worlds
- Present Traces of a Past Existence: Through the Lens of Photography
- Etty Hillesum Bibliography
- Works on Etty Hillesum
- Index of Names and Subjects
- Index of Citations
Feeding the Soul: Etty Hillesum’s Pedagogical and Spiritual Path
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Introduction
- Music as Metaphor in Etty Hillesum’s Spirituality
- A “staretz” in Camp Westerbork: The Connections Between Slavic Orthodoxy and the Spirituality of Etty Hillesum
- Etty Hillesum: Humanity as a Task
- Etty Hillesum & Albert Konrad Gemmeker: A Twofold Analysis of the Perpetration of the Westerbork Commander
- “Now is the Time to Put into Practice: Love Your Enemies”: Several Notes on Hillesum’s “Love for Enemies” in Levenskunst
- The Cares of the Pagans: The Reading of Matthew 6:25-34 by Søren Kierkegaard and Etty Hillesum
- Dialogizing Life amidst a Culture of Death: Etty Hillesum, Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor and Nazi Reductionism
- Patience and Hope in the Writings of Julian of Norwich and Etty Hillesum
- The Girl Who Could Not Kneel: Etty Hillesum and the Turn Inward
- Etty Hillesum and Charlotte Salomon: Pregnancy as a Theme in Their Lives and Works
- Wandering Beyond Words: Etty Hillesum and Clarice Lispector
- “Verbalize, Vocalize, Visualize”: Creative Death and Performative Writing in the Testimonies of Hillesum and Levi
- A “No” that Is an Affirmation: Etty Hillesum and Simone Weil Against the Laws of Force
- From Enclosure to Disclosure: Images of the Self in Etty Hillesum’s Diary
- A Story of Individuation in the Writings of Etty Hillesum: A Jungian Perspective
- Mad Midrash in the Diaries of Etty Hillesum
- The Mystery of Encounter: Poetry and Faith After Auschwitz in the Work of Paul Celan and Etty Hillesum
- Can Religion Help Heal a World Broken by Trauma?: Etty Hillesum as Our Ancestor in the Qahal Goyim
- The Contours of These Times:Etty Hillesum as Chronicler of Love Transcending Hate in Her Times, for Our Time, for All Time
- Etty Hillesum’s Hand Analysis: The Prologue to Her Diaries
- Suffering, Silence, and Wisdom in the Life of Etty Hillesum
- Feeding the Soul: Etty Hillesum’s Pedagogical and Spiritual Path
- Am I Really a Woman?: A Question About Female Identity in Etty Hillesum
- A Powerless God: Etty Hillesum and Dietrich Bonhoeffer
- New Light on Etty Hillesum’s Actions in Camp Westerbork
- “My Beloved Desk, the Best Place on this Earth”: Etty Hillesum Says Goodbye to Her Familiar Surroundings
- Etty Hillesum’s Humanism: Ethical, Philosophical and Theological Comments
- Etty Hillesum’s Struggle to See Clearly: A Story of Two Worlds
- Present Traces of a Past Existence: Through the Lens of Photography
- Etty Hillesum Bibliography
- Works on Etty Hillesum
- Index of Names and Subjects
- Index of Citations
Summary
Abstract
During the years of the Shoah, Etty Hillesum engages a particular path intended to promote a process of human edification. Along the way to the realization of the “self that one is,” she understands that “body and soul are one,” and that “the inner world is as real as the outer world.” Both elements need to be cared for. While taking care of one's body comes quite naturally, deciding to take care of one's soul is not such an obvious choice. The soul has its own particular needs, which are very commonly ignored or misunderstood. It is necessary to decode the soul's needs. To follow this path, she develops a form of philosophizing for life that sees man as both subject and object of the enquiry and that humanizes the individual who pursues it. Together with Etty Hillesum, we learn how to cultivate this knowledge of the soul.
Keywords: unity of body and soul, caring/nourishing of soul, decoding needs of soul, philosophizing for life, pedagogical path
The thoughts I would like to share in this article, range from the philosophical to the pedagogical. All are based on considerations that arose in the aftermath of the Shoah. The turn towards mass extermination became possible when the general trend of events shifted to “making man no longer human.” So our question becomes: is it possible to experience the opposite– a “path towards humanization?” How can we embark on a journey towards the full realization of our human nature?
During the years of the Shoah, Etty Hillesum set forth on just such a journey. She created and engaged a pedagogical and spiritual path intended to remove the causes of dehumanization and promote a process of human edification. As a young woman of twenty-seven in Holland in the nineteenforties, she realized it was her existential priority to work on herself and discover what it would take to attain completeness as a human being. She began on 8 March 1941, when she wrote on the first page of her diary, “but I know again now that […] I simply need to do a lot of work on myself before I develop into an adult and a complete human being.”
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- Information
- Lasting Significance of Etty Hillesum's Writings , pp. 305 - 314Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2019