There is a twilight zone in our hearts that we ourselves cannot see. Even when we know quite a lot about ourselves-our gifts and weaknesses, our ambitions and aspirations, our motives and our drives-large parts of ourselves remain in the shadow of consciousness. This is a very good thing. We will always remain partially hidden to ourselves. Other people, especially those who love us, can often see our twilight zones better than we ourselves can. The way we are seen and understood by others is different from the way we see and understand ourselves. We will never fully know the significance of our presence in the lives of our friends. That's a grace, a grace that calls us not only to humility, but to a deep trust in those who love us. It is the twilight zones of our hearts where true friendships are born. Henri J.m. Nouwen
About This Quote

The idea of a "twilight zone" is a metaphor that describes a place where the laws of physics are different from those on Earth. In the episode of The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling character Rod Serling, played by Burgess Meredith, is supposed to die during a heart transplant operation. He suddenly goes into a coma and, as he lays in a hospital bed, he suddenly awakes with no memory of anything that has happened. As the doctors try to find out how Rod was able to recover from what they thought would be his death, they discover that Rod had been in a coma for almost a year and yet no one had noticed because he had been wearing a mask all that time.

They discover that Rod was in fact in another dimension where time doesn't exist. With the help of Dr. Jerry Farber (played by Boris Karloff), they are able to get Rod to remember everything that has happened since his last memory.

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More Quotes By Henri J.m. Nouwen
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  2. Every time we make the decision to love someone, we open ourselves to great suffering, because those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. The greatest pain comes from leaving. When the child leaves home, when the husband or...
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  5. Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part...
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