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Falling Upward: A Spirituality For The Two Halves Of Life

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This is in interesting book. Rohr uses the story of Odysseus as a structure for understanding maturity. He is quite fluent in modern psychology and anthropology as well as the ancient myths. Rohr believes that the ancient myths in many ways better understand how we should live. For such a strong advocate of non-dualistic, "both-and" thinking, Fr. Rohr sure relies heavily on what seems to me to be more dualistic, "either-or" distinctions between "first half" and "second half" people with their respective concerns for their "container" vs. its "contents." There is the "shadow self" and the "true self." While there is some validity in these distinctions, they can also make it too easy to pigeonhole others and put ourselves in a category apart, beyond the understanding of others and the flaws they might expose in our own way of thinking and living. Then there are statements like this: "Either God is for everybody and the divine DNA is somehow in all of the creatures, or this God is not God by any common definition, or even much of a god at all" (p. 109). Really? It's just that simple? Hmm.

Between these two tasks, or the two mountains, is a crash. This is where the identity that we set up in the first mountain becomes insufficient to sustain us through some kind of trial. Once you touch upon the Real, there is an inner insistence that the Real, if it is the Real, has to be forever."He puts all of “Christian Europe” at fault for entering into WWI + WWII, and implies that they shouldn’t have tolerated those wars (leaving the option of tolerating Hitler and Stalin’s destruction of millions of people). He also reminds us that the “official church” (whatever that means) doesn’t say that Hitler and Stalin are in hell (a place that is merely where we put ourselves by not growing). First for the insights I most appreciated, which I think come out of long pastoral work with people seeking to grow in their faith throughout life. There are two key insights that are important: Without the effect of air resistance, each object in free fall would keep accelerating by 9.80665 m/s (approximately equal to 32.17405 ft/s) every second. In reality, though, a falling object's velocity is constrained by a value called the terminal velocity. Being well into my second half of life and having read several other books on human development and spirituality, I was interested in reading this one also because some good friends recommended it. The book is well worth reading and thinking about. Fr. Rohr has many good things to say. But I found it less helpful to me than other books like it. Although any Bible-reading Christian from a non-cult sect would say that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died to pay for the sins of man, Rohr tells us that there is no one theology of Jesus so there can’t be any true theology of Jesus.

He comments on the fact that many other religions do a better job of understanding God and man, yet remains a “Catholic” because of the “tools” the church gave him. Tools which apparently allowed him to deny all of that church’s doctrine and still call himself a priest. When you get your,’Who am I?’, question right, all of your,’What should I do?’ questions tend to take care of themselves” Finally, he identifies Victor Turner as a leader of the male spirituality movement. Victor Turner was not that. Victor Turner was an anthropologist--an expert in ritual process whose work was frequently appropriated by the male spirituality movement, mostly by the Joseph Campbell, mythopoetic crowd. I have nothing against that crowd crediting Victor Turner with some of their basic tenets, but he wasn't some big Male Spirituality Guru. Not a big deal. I just want Rohr to get it right. Richard Rohr, writer, activist, lecturer, Franciscan Priest, has lived long and reflected deeply upon that living. In this small, but very weighty tome, he distills his conclusions about life being lived fully, deeply, in full awareness and completeness. His words are dense, accurate and speak directly to the heart. More suffering comes into the world by people taking offense than by people intending to give offense.” – Ken Keyes

Summary of Falling Upward

It is no secret to those who know me well that I have become increasingly dis-enfranchised with my church experience in recent years. Rohr explained for me much of my dissatisfaction within this "upward falling" phenomenon. In fact, his treatment of much of organized religion, although indicting, was also quite gracious. He suggests that "most groups and institutions (including churches) are first-half-of-life structures that are necessarily concerned with identity, boundaries, self-maintenance, self-perpetuation, and self-congratulation". If we recognize this, it guards us from losing hope by having false expectations and expecting, or even demanding, what these groups cannot give. It follows, of course, that to judge or condemn these organizations is proof that we are still likely first-half-of-life people. Rohr goes on to suggest that "in the second-half-of-life, you can actually bless others in what they feel they must do, allow them to do what they must do, challenge them if they are hurting themselves or others - but you can no longer join them in the first half of life." This reflected very closely my recent ability to inwardly bless and wish my best friend success in his recent joining of our church board - the same church board that I recently left for what I now sense are many of the reasons Rohr seems to cover in this book. Rohr and Morrell have given us a liberating and yet totally orthodox invitation into the life of God. This book is a celebration of the Trinity, not as bad math (1+1+1=3), and not as baffling mystery to avoid, but as the divine movement of love. The Divine Dance is an example of why Rohr has had such a profound influence on so many Christians seeking to balance reason and mystery, action and contemplation, not to mention faith and real life. - Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastor, House for All Sinners and Saints, Author, Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People But if this is the case, what do we mean by “two halves,” and how do we know that these halves exist? Then—a crisis. "Some kind of falling," Rohr says, is necessary for continued spiritual development. "Normally a job, fortune, or reputation has to be lost," writes Rohr, "a death has to be suffered, a house has to be flooded, or a disease has to be endured." The crisis can be devastating. The crisis undoes you. The flood doesn't just flood your house—it washes out your spiritual life. What you thought you knew about living the spiritual life no longer suffices for the life you are living. Understanding the spiritual aspects of aging is as important as appreciating the systems and biological processes that age us. Richard Rohr has given us a perfect guide to what he calls the "further journey," a voyage into the mystery and beauty of healthy spiritual maturity. - Mehmet Oz, M.D., host of the 'Dr. Oz Show'

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