FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 2023 SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS - SECOND LIFE

 FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 2023, SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS

(last day of June 2023)

I have ventured into Richard Rohr’s philosophy a few times.  I have a friend (PM) who listens to all the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) podcasts, reads the daily thoughts, and grows stronger.

Richard Rohr (or Father Richard Rohr) is a Catholic priest who seems to me so much more than a “Catholic” priest but a universal clergy person.  The CAC is the Center for Action and Contemplation. (see https://cac.org/).  Of the various podcasts and writings, they frequently go beyond Catholicism and Christianity into mysticism and enlightenment.  (Excuse me if I characterize his work incorrectly).  One work I looked at maybe eight months ago was “And, when are you going to leave Christianity?” (for a person who grew up and still is a pretty ardent Christian that was a challenge).  

BUT - I am learning that it isn’t just Christianity - but growth and understanding that I seek.  I want to see God’s face; I want to learn at His feet.  

Aside - the traditional view is that God is “male” and the traditional pronouns are HE, HIM, HIS.  John 4:23-24 says:

“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

***

For the past several months, I’ve been in awe of the infinite God - the God who is so far beyond me that I can barely write about my understanding.  

“Currently, in 2020, it is estimated that there are around 2 trillion galaxies in the observable Universe. Each galaxy is unique, ranging in size from 10,000 light-years to hundreds of light-years.” 

Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is just one among these numerous galaxies, and it isn’t even considered a big galaxy. It stretches for 105,700 light-years in diameter and may contain at least 100 billion planets and around 400 billion stars.

Now, if we were to imagine how many planets and stars those 2 trillion galaxies might have, we would probably have to throw out our calculators. This is especially true since some galaxies are several times larger than our Milky Way Galaxy.

***
That isn’t today’s topic - but it is where my mind is - the INFINITE nature of God.  

****

So, two weeks ago, my cousin who professes not to be a Christian - but spiritual - mentioned Richard Rohr’s book “Falling Upward”, that I am now reading (okay - listening to as an audiobook).

He suggests that there are two tasks to a person’s life.  

The two tasks are as follows. The first is where we establish our primary identity, including a career, personal values, relationships, etc. 

Rohr says this: “There is much evidence on several levels that there are at least two major tasks to human life. 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.“

“In other words, we fill up our identity with the first task, and the second task is all about finding what we should fill that container with.

“But we can’t know what the right filling for our container is until we’ve had the wrong one. The container must be filled in the first task first before it can be filled in the second.

“Between these two tasks, or the two mountains, is a crash. This is where the identity that we set up in the first mountain becomes insufficient to sustain us through some kind of trial.

“We come falling down, but the key here is knowing that to fall is to go up.

“That is the primary concern of this point. We all suffer some kind of ordeal, something dies in us, only to be reborn in the second task or second mountain.

“This is the central idea of the entire book and what gives it its name.

“We will face many trials, and those trials will force us to look inward. Only then can we learn from them, harness what we learn, and move upward.

“One must face the concept of the ego, what Rohr calls the paradox of the ego. This ego is embodied in the first task, the first container that we fill.

“It is necessary for us to let go of our ego. But as Rohr points out, we have to have it firmly in our grasp before we can do so. That is the purpose of traveling over the first mountain. We have to gain hold of that ego.

“Then during the second half of life, the second mountain, we release it so that we might refill it with God and spirituality.” <end of quoted section>

*****

In that first tier, the first task, the first half of our life, we have our career, marriage, our identity.  For me, that was my 38 years as a college educator.  I built my frame, my life.  (And, my ego might want to say it was a pretty good frame, a pretty good life!!!)

I’ve written (and talked) of being slammed by a two by four, that a ton of bricks fell on me, that I was run over by a Mack Truck.  BANG.  I’ve made the analogy that I was like the apostle Paul on his journey to Damascus to persecute Christians and he was knocked off his horse and blinded.  

That smacking by a two by four started me falling - and falling upward. 

““If change and growth are not programmed into your spirituality, if there are not serious warnings about the blinding nature of fear and fanaticism, your religion will always end up worshiping the status quo and protecting your present ego position and personal advantage as if it were God.”

Now, readers who have followed me over the years (or not), know that I believe that LOVE WINS, and that LOVE TRANSFORMS.

Here is a last quote for this week:

““Until we learn to love others as ourselves, it’s difficult to blame broken people who desperately try to affirm themselves when no one else will.”

*****

And, from Dorothy Day, “I can only love God as much as the person I love the least”.  I still am working on learning HOW to LOVE - and moving beyond my old self and my old ego.  

YES - I do believe that 

LOVE WINS
LOVE TRANSFORMS

As for believing that we need to fall down before we can move upward, I’m starting to see that clearer!!!

KAREN ANNE WHITE, ©, JUNE 30, 2023