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Black & White

Writer's picture: Doug WeissDoug Weiss

I just finished re-reading for the second time a book that I want to commend to you, Falling Upward, by Fr. Richard Rohr. Rohr is a Franciscan Friar, a former prison chaplain, author, speaker and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in New Mexico. I plan to read this book again very soon. Here's why.


If you have ever wondered about your purpose in life and found no good answers or even direction in your existential search, perhaps wrestled with or rejected organized religion along the way but remain anxious or in doubt about the future, I urge you to pick up this slim volume and read it. I promise you it will stand everything you thought you knew about yourself, the meaning of your life and the universe on its head.


Now that is a lot to promise. It seems impossible any book could address all those questions, startle, perhaps even shock you as it leads you without exhortation, to the truth within you that you may not even know was there. Yet that is exactly what this book does.


But first, a caveat. Some clergy, a few theologians and proponents of this or that faith have branded Rohr a heretic because he holds in a delicate balance an abiding love of his own Christian Catholicism even as he is sharply critical of much of what is taught and practiced by organized religions. But Rohr is not setting out a counter doctrine or theology, far from it. He is simply asking us to see what is plainly before our eyes, and daring us to confront it. There is no possibility I could do justice to this book in a brief post and I won't attempt a synopsis. Let me instead offer a few thoughts for you to reflect on that will perhaps give you sufficient cause to learn more.


First, what exactly is Falling Upward? Well it is many things but very simply it is a life passage from what Rohr describes as our first stage of life into another, richer, more meaningful second. This transition has little to do with age, though sometime in midlife is when many of us begin to earnestly question the received wisdom which framed the first half. There is no use by date, however, second stage life awaits when we are ready, and at any age.

The first stage of our lives, Rohr reveals, is all about a dualistic world view. We are Black or White, Right or Wrong, our world is constructed of Ones and Zeroes, and we are governed by Ego and ID, Structure or Lawlessness. We are Rich or Poor, Conservative or Liberal, a True Believer or an Atheist, and we will end up in Heaven or Hell. It is a perspective of absolutism, of polarity and it has been with us since the human race gained language and learned to reason. The dualistic mind "compares, competes, conflicts, conspires, condemns and cancels any evidence that might offer a contrary view, then it crucifies with impunity". Almost all the conflict we experience in the world, political, social, psychological or personal arises from this dualistic view that, as Rohr puts it, we sacralize as saving our souls or in more secular terms, making the world safe for democracy. Dualism, says Rohr, is the underlying cause of "racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, religious imperialism and prejudice of all kinds".


Through the lenses of history, mythology, psychology, poetry, and yes, through scripture, Rohr lifts the veil, so that we might see no longer through a "glass darkly", but clearly those views of ourselves and the world we occupy that keep us from becoming who we were meant to be. Life in the second stage is not dualistic, it is not a life that can be lived by the self-satisfied shadow selves we created to make our way through the first stage because that life is preoccupied with the wrong values, with unanswered questions and willing self-deception. But we can experience a life transformed, a second coming of ourselves, and Rohr shows the way.


As I said earlier, that is a lot to promise. Second stage transformation is not for the faint of heart. Rohr reminds us that it is never a settled but an ongoing process that we ourselves will challenge, but what lies ahead for us if we are committed is a richer, fuller and more fulfilled life than we have ever imagined for ourselves. As many of you, I've read more than my fair share of books promising to answer my existential questions and transform my life. What I found were some bits and pieces and a host of platitudes that left me asking, is that all? Rohr makes no such promises--he simply lays out the evidence for us to see and decide for ourselves what sort of life the next stage will be.


Falling Upward is not a difficult book to read--I found myself rushing ahead, eager for the next insight despite having read it once before, and that is why I plan to read it again a third time. My thirst for what Rohr has to say is not quenched but I want to temper expectations. Falling is not a theological dissertation, a philosophical tract or psychological case study. It is not an evangelical exhortation but a practical and wholly grounded work so rich, so profound that if it speaks to you as it did to me, you will make it a place from which to start Falling Upward.

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