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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
This book was enjoyable, but I found so many of the ideas so similar to Falling Upwards that it felt a little repetitious. Still there were some new gems as Richard Rohr is great at short quippy statements that really get you to think. His somewhat circular, non-linear writing style definitely bothered some others I know that have read it, but not me.
Some good examples:
Soulful people, invariably humble and honest about themselves, are also risk takers: they both know the rules and how to break the rules properly.
The True Self is conscious, the False Self is largely unconscious, and you do evil only when you are unconscious. (so how could we be responsible for it then?)
Your False Self is not bad or wrong; it is just mortal. It is relative and not absolute. It is passing and not substantial, a largely mental and cultural construct. It will die when you die.
The False Self is energized by problems and by self-created goals almost moment by moment; The True Self (the soul) needs and feeds on a different fuel: union and contentment itself and, especially, deep resonance (meaning) of any kind.
Some good examples:
Soulful people, invariably humble and honest about themselves, are also risk takers: they both know the rules and how to break the rules properly.
The True Self is conscious, the False Self is largely unconscious, and you do evil only when you are unconscious. (so how could we be responsible for it then?)
Your False Self is not bad or wrong; it is just mortal. It is relative and not absolute. It is passing and not substantial, a largely mental and cultural construct. It will die when you die.
The False Self is energized by problems and by self-created goals almost moment by moment; The True Self (the soul) needs and feeds on a different fuel: union and contentment itself and, especially, deep resonance (meaning) of any kind.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Not since I discovered C.S. Lewis for myself have I read a book that speaks as clearly as this to my personal experience of religion in general and Christianity in particular. As I grow more distant from my somewhat fundamentalist roots, books like this show me a path forward for my own faith that I have nearly despaired of finding.
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
I love Rohr’s writing and this one is a solid and beautiful vision for our inner work. It really is all about love in the end.
Rohr is definitely one of my favorite authors. Here he explains our True Selves and how it is both different from our False Selves and connects us to God. In short, it is an important paradigm shift for me in how I understand my faith, my relationship to God and Jesus Christ, and how I hope to grow as a person. A beautiful book!
I could go on and on with quotes, but toward the beginning of the book he identifies the "four major splits from reality that we have all made...to create our False Self:"
1. We split from out shadow self and pretend to be our idealized self.
2. We split our mind from our body and soul and live in our minds.
3. We split life from death and try to live out live without any "death."
4. We split ourselves from other selves and try to live apart, superior, and separate.
Overcoming these four splits is the primary message of the book. (p. 29)
I hope to read it again after reading a few more of his others!
I could go on and on with quotes, but toward the beginning of the book he identifies the "four major splits from reality that we have all made...to create our False Self:"
1. We split from out shadow self and pretend to be our idealized self.
2. We split our mind from our body and soul and live in our minds.
3. We split life from death and try to live out live without any "death."
4. We split ourselves from other selves and try to live apart, superior, and separate.
Overcoming these four splits is the primary message of the book. (p. 29)
I hope to read it again after reading a few more of his others!
Richard Rohr has a way of bringing to the fore ways of understanding spirituality that is both future oriented, broad in concept and outreach, and revelatory. He has a way of connecting as well with a person like me who isn't by inclination contemplative. He challenges me, pushes me, and enlightens me.
In this book Rohr speaks of a search for our true self -- that is union with God. Too often we're satisfied with a false self, a self that is disconnected from the divine that has been implanted within us. It is the false self that gives place to greed, pride, anger, vanity, whereas the true self allows the love and grace of God to burst forth from our lives. Although Rohr's thinking is rooted in his Christian faith, he seeks to draw from other traditions, what he calls the Perennial Tradition, that builds bridges across our religious boundaries.
I should note that while Rohr addresses traditional Christians, the community he truly desires to reach is that which lies beyond the church walls, seeking to connect with their own search for intimacy with God.
I do recommend it highly.
In this book Rohr speaks of a search for our true self -- that is union with God. Too often we're satisfied with a false self, a self that is disconnected from the divine that has been implanted within us. It is the false self that gives place to greed, pride, anger, vanity, whereas the true self allows the love and grace of God to burst forth from our lives. Although Rohr's thinking is rooted in his Christian faith, he seeks to draw from other traditions, what he calls the Perennial Tradition, that builds bridges across our religious boundaries.
I should note that while Rohr addresses traditional Christians, the community he truly desires to reach is that which lies beyond the church walls, seeking to connect with their own search for intimacy with God.
I do recommend it highly.