Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer

by Richard Rohr

The lie always comes in a new form that looks like enlightenment. We all say, “This is it,” and we jump on the bandwagon, the new politically correct agenda. And then we discover it’s run by unenlightened people who in fact do not love God but love themselves. They do not love the truth, but love control. The need to be in power, to have control, and to say someone else is wrong is not enlightenment. Such unenlightened leaders do not love true freedom for everybody but freedom for their system. That’s been my great disappointment with liberals. Liberals often lack the ability to sacrifice the self or create foundations that last. They can’t let go of their own need for change and control and stand still in a patient, humble way as people of faith often can.