…but if you are only going to read one book this summer, may I humbly but highly recommend:
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(1) “Falling Upward” by Fr Richard Rohr. Father Rohr has been the second most important spiritual teacher in my life over the last 6-7 years. I’ve never met him, but his books and .mp3s and articles have been a life-line to a deeper way of following God than I could have imagined. His book “Everything Belongs” literally changed me on the inside. Powerful stuff.
In Falling Upward, Father Rohr unpacks the two tasks of the two halves of Life. “In the first half [of life] you’ve got to find your identity, your significance; you create your ego boundaries, your ego structure, what I call “the creating of the container.” But that’s just to get you started. In the second half of life, once you’ve created your ego structure, you finally have the courage to ask: What is this all for? What am I supposed to do with this? Is it just to protect it, to promote it, to defend it, or is there some deeper purpose? The search for meaning is the task of the second half of life.”
And he spends the rest of the book talking about how this happens, what it looks like, and the crucial role of “necessary suffering” in the whole process. I can’t communicate how moving and profound and foundation shaking and beautiful this book is…at least to me! I’m right at the intersection of the first and second half of my life, and acutely feel the pain and possibility of the leap. Honestly, I’ll probably read this book again this summer, and probably again before the rest of the year.
Have any of you read it? Any Richard Rohr fans out there? I’d love to hear what you think!
I’ve read most of what Richard has written, and he just keeps getting better and better. This is absolutely a must-read.
Comment by Mike Todd — June 11, 2011 @ 11:55 am
I’m in the middle reading “Everything Belongs” for the first time and am absolutely loving it. Very powerful stuff and I can’t wait to read everything else he’s written!
(BTW, did the inspiration for “Enchanted” come from here? I’m on the chapter “Cleansing the lens” and its made me think of that song several times and I was curious)
Comment by John J — June 11, 2011 @ 12:08 pm
Your comment “the second most important spiritual teacher in my life” begs the question, who is the first?
Comment by Benjamin — June 14, 2011 @ 9:38 pm
Big Rohr fan! Another great book/author you might be interested in is Riding the Dragon by Robert Wicks.
Comment by Katie — June 19, 2011 @ 8:44 pm
[...] say this: on one of the blogs that I follow, the author recently recommended Falling Upward, as his most-challenging book on spirituality. I think I agree. I think several years from now I will still be pointing back to [...]
Pingback by Charlie Dean’s Blog » Falling Upward — June 23, 2011 @ 6:14 am
An older, wiser man in my church recently told me that Falling Upward should be on the top of my reading list. And so, like you do when an older, wiser man tells you to do something, I did it.
Yesterday morning I started reading and couldn’t put it down until I was finished. It’s challenging, and thought-provoking and I’m sure will become the fodder for much discussion in my circle of friends.
And – John J – I had the same thought about “Enchanted.”
Comment by Charles — June 23, 2011 @ 6:17 am
[...] summer, I sincerely recommend “Falling Upward” by Fr Richard Rohr. Read more about it HERE. This passage resonates with me deeply and captures the central idea… “Usually, [...]
Pingback by trying to fall upward « aaron niequist — July 25, 2011 @ 7:58 am