Description
An update to the bestselling Falling Upward from Franciscan Father Richard Rohr
In the revised and updated edition of Falling Upward, Richard Rohr seeks to help readers come to terms with the two halves of life. In this book, Rohr teaches us that we can’t understand the meaning of "up" until we have fallen "down." More importantly, Rohr describes what "up" can look like in the second half of life.
Most of us tend to think of the second half of life in chronological terms, but this book proposes a different paradigm. Spiritual maturity is found "when we begin to pay attention and seek integrity" through a shift from our "outer task" to the "inner task." What looks like falling down can be experienced as falling upward—and is not necessarily connected with aging. This new edition focuses on practical guidance that you can use to live a life of love and meaning in a world of suffering and challenge. Falling Upward is an invitation to living the gospel and a call to ongoing transformation.
- Gain a spiritual perspective on the "the common sequencing, staging, and direction of life's arc" and learn how to bring forth your gifts in the second half of life
- Grapple with difficult feelings, fears, and emotions associated with "great love and great suffering"
- Learn how we "grow spiritually much more by doing it wrong than by doing it right" Understand why so many of us resist falling into the second half of life
Readers of Rohrs previous works and those new to the remarkable teachings of this Franciscan priest will find comfort and inspiration in this guide to lifelong spiritual growth.
Table of Contents
Foreword vii
The Invitation to a Further Journey xi
Introduction xv
1 The Two Halves of Life 1
2 The Hero’s Journey 11
3 The First Half of Life 17
4 The Tragic Sense of Life 33
5 Stumbling Over the Stumbling Stone 41
6 Necessary Suffering 47
7 Home and Homesickness 55
8 Amnesia and the Big Picture 61
9 A Second Simplicity 67
10 A Bright Sadness 75
11 The Shadowlands 81
12 New Problems and New Directions 87
13 Falling Upward 97
Afterword 103
Coda 111
Notes 115
Bibliography 123
The Author 127
