Human Beings Like Power

"You see, I believe that we are all very broken in our capacity to relate. Human beings like power and to be admired and to be brilliant. When you start living with people with disabilities, you begin to discover a whole lot of things about yourself. Some are easy to live with, but others can make you climb the wall. Others can make you touch your own brokenness, your own poverty, your own violence and so on. I have lived experiences when I have sensed incredible violence inside of myself. Maybe being in community I didn't hurt anyone, but I discovered who I was. I discovered also that the truth will set me free, and so there's the gradual realization about what it means to be human. To be human is that capacity to love which is the phenomenal reality that we can give life to people; we can transform people by our attentiveness, by our love, and they can transform us. It is a whole question of giving life and receiving life, but also to discover how broken we are." Jean Vanier

Acclaimed as the 'Canadian who inspires the world' (Maclean's Magazine) and 'Nation Builder of the Year' (The Globe and Mail, 2008), Jean Vanier is the founder of the international movement of L'Arche communities, where people who have developmental disabilities and the friends who assist them create homes and share life together. Jean Vanier has become a leader in consciousness-raising about the suffering of all who are marginalised. He is internationally recognised for his compelling vision of what it means to live a fully human life and for his social and spiritual leadership in building a compassionate society. He has written a number of best selling books. He resides in the original L'Arche community in France, when he is not travelling and speaking.

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