Naked and Ashamed: Dealing with It — Glory to God for All Things

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The Scriptures record that Adam was ashamed and hid. It’s a primal response. Shame is experienced as a burning sense of exposure and vulnerability. It begs to be clothed upon and hidden. 61 more words

Naked and Ashamed: Dealing with It — Glory to God for All Things

Fr. Stephen FreemanFr. Stephen Freeman says:

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To “bear” shame is to acknowledge it in the presence of God, not run from it, and, allow Him to comfort us. That “comfort” can take the form of forgiveness and absolution in confession. In some settings, such as a therapeutic, it can be acknowledging it and talking through it. It can also happen with someone close and trusted – in which case some sort of affirmation of who we are, in spite of the shameful thing, is helpful.

It is not true that all men already bear their shame – we run from those feelings, quite often, turning them into something else – feelings that are not as painful.

allegory by Jean-Léon Gérôme in 1896, with his Truth Coming out of her Well to Shame Mankind. This is apparently based on a quotation attributed to Democritus, “Of a truth we know nothing, for truth is in a well” (or, more literally, ‘in an abyss’). She isn’t carrying a mirror, but a whip with which ‘to chastise mankind’.