ETHOS (Part 11): Vulnerability | Jake Haber

This message dives deep into the misunderstood terrain of vulnerability—not as weakness, but as the courageous art of being seen. Drawing from thinkers like David Whyte, James Baldwin, Henri Nouwen, and Richard Rohr, we explore how unmasking ourselves is both a risk and a path to freedom.

 

What if your wounds weren’t problems to fix, but places where light gets in?

What if healing isn’t about having answers, but sharing presence in the ache?

What if your mask—your armor—is the very thing keeping you from love?

 

Join us as we unpack the paradox: the more we risk, the safer we become. This is a message for anyone who’s ever asked, “Am I enough?” You are. Not because you’re perfect—but because you’re real.

 

 At Aldea, we don’t strive to fix each other—we strive to see each other.

 

Come, unmask with us. The truth will set you free.

 

Quotes:

 

 

1. David Whyte

   “Vulnerability is not a weakness, a passing indisposition, or something we can arrange to do without. Vulnerability is the underlying, ever-present, and abiding undercurrent of our natural state… To run from vulnerability is to run from the essence of our nature. The attempt to be invulnerable is the vain attempt to become something we are not and most especially, to close off our understanding of the grief of others.”

2. Richard Rohr

   “We wear the masks that keep us from the very love we long for.”

3. Leonard Cohen 

   “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”

4. Henri Nouwen

   “When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain…”

5. James Finley

   “It’s a very vulnerable thing to be loved because you risk being seen.”

6. James Baldwin

   “Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.”