Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

by Richard Rohr

The first task is to build a strong “container” or identity; the second is to find the contents that the container was meant to hold.

The advantage of those on the further journey is that they can still remember and respect the first language and task. They have transcended but also included all that went before. In fact, if you cannot include and integrate the wisdom of the first half of life, I doubt if you have moved to the second.

For some reason, religious people tend to confuse the means with the actual goal.

The “adepts” in all religions are always forgiving, compassionate, and radically inclusive. They do not create enemies, and they move beyond the boundaries of their own “starter group” while still honoring them and making use of them. Jesus the Jew criticizes his own religion the most, yet never leaves it! Mature people are not either-or thinkers, but they bathe in the ocean of both-and.

We can save ourselves a lot of distress and accusation by knowing when, where, to whom, and how to talk about spiritually mature things. We had best offer what each one is ready to hear, and perhaps only stretching them a bit!

Theologically and objectively speaking, we are already in union with God.

The educated and sophisticated Western person today has many levers, but almost no solid place on which to stand, with either very weak identities or terribly overstated identities.

Paradoxically, your loyal soldier gives you so much security and validation that you may confuse his voice with the very voice of God. If this inner and critical voice has kept you safe for many years as your inner voice of authority, you may end up not being able to hear the real voice of God.

Every time God forgives us, God is saying that God's own rules do not matter as much as the relationship that God wants to create with us.

The only consistent pattern I can find is that all the books of the Bible seem to agree that somehow God is with us and we are not alone.

If your notion of heaven is based on exclusion of anybody else, then it is by definition not heaven.

To hold the full mystery of life is always to endure its other half, which is the equal mystery of death and doubt. To know anything fully is always to hold that part of it which is still mysterious and unknowable.

Our mature years are characterized by a kind of bright sadness and a sober happiness, if that makes any sense.