Human Formation – Adrian Van Kaam

In the context of our example, such enfleshment applies first of all to the vital dimension; it can then be applied to other dimensions of human formation. The first condition for effective formative implementation is relax- ation. One should let go of all tension, socially, vitally, functionally, and spiritually. Formation science emphasizes in this regard the develop- ment of the general form disposition of gentleness.

At the start of this exercise of implementation of imagination, this disposition will enable us to go through a phase of gentling the force of our vital-functional for- mation energy. This energy may have been invested, among other things, in deformative imagination dispositions that have to be overcome. For example, I may be disposed to image myself as an overly shy person, a wallflower.

I have to overcome this disposition and the images in which it expresses itself. A first step to diminish its hold over my life is to gentle my formation energy. This will indirectly diminish the energy invested in this dispositional image. Now I can distance myself from this disposi- tion. Once I become gentle, I should foster another general form disposition promoted by science, that of openness. Openness in this sense is the same as humility. It is a dwelling in the light of the truth no matter how humili- ating or painful this truth may be.

I thus withdraw formation energy from its investment in my dispositions. I do so by ‘‘gentling down.’’ This makes energy available for openness or humility and for new form reception and form donation. In practice, this withdrawal of energy means for most of us a withdrawal from busy inner and outer functioning.

Such agitation is fueled by the form energy invested in our active dispositions. In the case of Peter and his lower back pain, the formation counselor got him to relax deeply. This relaxation provided him with the necessary distance from his deformative disposition. It freed some of the energy in- vested in it. He could then be humbly open to the deformative disposi- tional image. He was able to talk back to it imaginatively under the in- creasing guidance of his power of appraisal.

Guidelines to Effective Use of Formative Images How do we influence the formative vital-functional dimension of our life via imagination? How can we make this dimension available to ap- praisal and appreciation as well as to the power of effective decision?

This volume of Formative Spirituality is devoted to the theory of formation dis- positions, that is, the dispositional base of our empirical life. After setting out the theoretical foundations of disposi- tion formation—formation fields and dimensions; formative mind and will; formative apprehensions, appraisal, and affirmation; formative imagina- tion, Memory, and anticipation; and in- itial and ongoing formation history— the work turns to the fundamental for- mation dispositions of the heart and their mutual interaction.

Of all the dis- positions that give form to life, those associated with the symbol of the hu- man heart are the most enduring and the. most decisive. The symbolic heart is the core form of empirical life; it is its affective dynamic center. In this vol- ume attention is focused on the core disposition of awe, its modes and ex- pressions, its relation to form traditions, its cultural obstacles, and its evolve- ment within cosmic and transcosmic form traditions.

eee Dr. Adrian van Kaam is a renowned spiritual writer and professor of forma- tive spirituality as an academic and practical discipline. Ordained a priest in 1947, he studied and taught phil- osophy and psychology in a seminary in his homeland, Holland. In 1953 he came to the United States, where he taught and studied the psychology of spiritual formation and received a doc- toral degree in psychology from Case Western University.

For the last twenty years he has dedicated himself to re- search, teaching, and writing in the field of formative spirituality. Appointed a professor at Duquesne University, he founded the Institute of Formative Spiri- tuality in 1963. Within this institute Dr. van Kaam initiated, along with his col- leagues and graduate students, the science of fundamental human forma- tion, or formative spirituality. He is founder and editor of the journals Stud- ies in Formative Spirituality and Envoy as well as author of 24 books and over 100 articles.

Formative Spirituality Volume Two HUMAN FORMATION Digitized by the Internet Archive In 2022 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/nhumanformationO002vank Formative Spirituality Volume Two HUMAN FORMATION -ADRIAN VAN KAAM: CROSSROAD +» NEW YORK 1989 The Crossroad Publishing Company 370 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Copyright © 1985 by Adrian van Kaam All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of The Crossroad Publishing Company. Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Van Kaam, Adrian L., 1920- Human formation.

(Formative spirituality ; v. 2) Bibliography: p. 253 Includes index. 1. Spiritual life—Catholic authors. 2. Christian education—Philosophy. 3. Disposition (Philosophy) 4. Christianity—Psychology. 5. Catholic Church— Education. I. Title. Il. Series: Van Kaam, Adrian L., 1920- .

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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