A fresh way of thinking about spirituality that grows throughout
life
In Falling Upward, Fr. Richard Rohr seeks to help readers
understand the tasks of the two halves of life and to show them
that those who have fallen, failed, or ‘gone down’ are the only
ones who understand ‘up.’ Most of us tend to think of the second
half of life as largely about getting old, dealing with health
issues, and letting go of life, but the whole thesis of this book
is exactly the opposite. What looks like falling down can
largely be experienced as ‘falling upward.’ In fact, it is
not a loss but somehow actually a gain, as we have all seen with
elders who have come to their fullness.
* Explains why the second half of life can and should be full of
spiritual richness
* Offers a new view of how spiritual growth happens?loss is
gain
* Richard. Rohr is a regular contributing writer for Sojourners
and Tikkun magazines
This important book explores the counterintuitive message that
we grow spiritually much more by doing wrong than by doing
right.
Table of Content
The Invitation to a Further Journey vii
Introduction xiii
1 The Two Halves of Life 1
2 The Hero and Heroine’s Journey 17
3 The First Half of Life 25
4 The Tragic Sense of Life 53
5 Stumbling over the Stumbling Stone 65
6 Necessary Suffering 73
7 Home and Homesickness 87
8 Amnesia and the Big Picture 97
9 A Second Simplicity 105
10 A Bright Sadness 117
11 The Shadowlands 127
12 New Problems and New Directions 137
13 Falling Upward 153
Coda 161
Notes 169
Bibliography 177
The Author 183
Index 185
About the author
Fr. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest of the New Mexico Province. He founded the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1986, where he presently serves as Founding Director. Fr. Rohr is the author of more than twenty books, an internationally known speaker, and a regular contributing writer for Sojourners and Tikkun magazines, and the CAC’s quarterly journal, Radical Grace.