The Human Experience

By Romano Guardini  The Human Experience shows the tremendous range of Guardini’s intellectual prowess and the enduring relevance of his philosophical and theological insights. These essays converge into a discourse on the unfathomable mystery of what it means to be human. “Every experience, be it pleasant or ugly, constructive or destructive, leaves its trace. Thus at every moment man lives by the heritage of what went before.” – Romano Guardini The Human Experience consists of four essays that converge into a discourse on the unfathomable mystery of what it means to be human. The first articulates providence as the singular embrace of free human agency with the divine dicta of history, as seen in the life of St. Francis of Assisi. The Kierkegaard-inspired “Meaning of Melancholy” shows the critical role of melancholy in illuminating the meaning of the human condition. “The Meaning of Community” explores how the intersection of individuality and commonality gives rise to a shared struc