@patricknouwen
on Jan 1, 2021
@patricknouwen
on Jan 1, 2021
about
PLEASE, CALL ME PATRICK
I LIVE IN NEBRASKA WITH MY WONDERFUL WIFE AND OUR TWO WILD AND WARM-HEARTED BOYS.
I homeschool my kids by day, teaching them all I know while they teach me everything I still have yet learn as a father.
By night, I write an occasional article here or there as a practice of love, presence and connection.
I live in the tension between the iconoclast and the bridge builder. Everything belongs.
vision
“I write for anyone who has been rejected by the church, for men with a hunger for positive masculine identity, and for parents doing their best to survive.”
—Patrick Nouwen
In South Africa, ecologist Gus Van Dyk discovered highly concerning and unusual aggression in adolescent male elephants— they started killing rhinos out of boredom. Investigations revealed these young bulls had been raised in a herd with no elder males. The void created toxic and self-destructive behavior. They had no idea how to be an adult elephant and could only act out of immature impulses. When the more mature males, already raised by other elder bulls, were brought back into the herd, delinquent behavior subsided within weeks.
What does this mean?
Even if boys reach adulthood,
they cannot become men if there are
no men around to show them how.
No matter who you are—we need each other.
All of us learn how to be human from those who have discovered their humanity before us. Maturity grows maturity. We’re always still learning, but the best gifts we can give one another will always reconnect us to something sacred about life and help us be more completely ourselves.
My hope is something here does that for you.
Below is a basic introduction to each topic.
Faith & Doubt
Holistic Masculinity
Respectful Parenting
My Story
mission
I must create.
LIFE HAS A WAY OF MAKING THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE UNIVERSE STILL PROFOUNDLY SIMPLE.
Everything lives. Everything dies. Everything belongs. Accepting the tension between the most beautiful and profane of life’s extremes can help snap all of it into focus. Embracing our death, rather than avoiding it, helps clarify what we want with the rest of our life.
Now more than ever, it’s a sobering possibility the life we know today will be gone in two weeks. Is there one thing you’d instantly know you need to do before you reach the end of your life?
I NEED TO WRITE.
There’s a book inside me still searching for words to give form and structure to the most inspiring and wild ideas running through my head. I’m not a great writer by any means, but I am learning to pay attention and nurture this little spark. Like a flickering flame in the darkness, it spills just enough light for me to keep moving forward. In moments of silence, profound truths are whispered to me:
“Hope once lost is found again when we honor one another’s pain.”
So here I am, writing down one sentence at a time.
Join me to explore the shifting paradigms of faith, masculinity, and fatherhood. You can read a few articles here, get in touch with me, or find me on twitter.
contact
@patricknouwen
on March 18, 2020
@patricknouwen
on April 11, 2021
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