Why I Believe Every Sunset Is A Happy Sadness

After almost 55 years, I am still a mystery to myself.

And yet, I’mgradually and painfully coming to understand what John of the Cross called “luminous darkness,” a concept I refer to in perhaps a more “secular” way as delicious agony.These words are an attempt to describe the coexistence of deep suffering and intense joy in my life.

As I enter what Richard Rohr, in his priceless book Falling Upward, calls my second half of life, I find myself having less need or interest in eliminating the n...