Spirituality in Etty Hillesum’s Diaries Essay

Just to begin with, it is prudent to note that Etty was a young Jewish woman at the time he wrote this diary. The diary was written in the 3rd of July 1942, the third year of the Second World War. During the time Etty was writing this book, most of the Dutch Jews had been rounded up and then brought to live in ghettos in Amsterdam. However, this is not the main thesis of this essay. This paper will try to answer the following question: “why we are not we should not always have a fixed concept concerning an important matter or even people. The author of this paper will try to answer the above mentioned question in reference to what Etty comment about it.
It is prudent to note that people should not hold a fixed concept about an important matter or people. According to Etty, war exists because different neighbours hate one another. It is therefore crucial that we refrain from such belief and then try to develop ways through which we can love one another in order to stop war. Therefore Etty belief that an individual has the capacity to reduce war by ensuring that they love one another. This implies that we should not have a fixed mind that war will continue to exist because of lack of love between different neighbours, but instead, we should always try as much as possible to fight war by developing ways to promote love in the society and among the neighbours.
Though it is important to respect God who is our mighty and to love him just like he loves us that love should also be extended to the fellow citizens. However, such love should not be egocentric. People should not have fixed opinion in God. For instance, it is impractical for an individual to fail to take her/his seriously seek child to the hospital believing that the child will just be well in Jesus name. Such fixed opinion or judgement is not allowed. As far as God is the ultimate giver and provider of everything, people should be able to make informed judgement about certain issues in life.
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that individuals are not suppose to have fixed concepts about important matters and even people like God. This is because such a fixed mind is likely to contribute to serious mistakes in life. For instance, an individual refusing to take his/her child who is in critical condition to the hospital simply because she/he believes in God might results to serious issues such as the death of the child.