Falling Upward A Companion Journal

A valuable new companion journal for the best-selling Falling Upward 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." The Companion Journal helps those who have (and those who have not) read Falling Upward to engage more deeply with the questions the book raises. Using a blend of quotes, questions for individual and group reflection, stories, and suggestions for spiritual practices, it provides a wise guide for deepening the spiritual journey. . . at any time of life. Explains why the second half of life can and should be full of spiritual richness Offers tools for spiritual growth and greater understanding of the ideas in Falling Upward Richard Rohr is a regular contributing writer for Sojourners and Tikkun magazines This important companion to Falling Upward is an excellent tool for exploring the counterintuitive messages of how we grow spiritually.

Many, if not most, people and institutions remain in 'the first half of life' forever, preoccupied with establishing their identity, climbing, achieving, and performing. If you knew there was a further journey, wouldn't you choose to do the 'first half' quite differently? The further journey involves challenges, mistakes, loss of control, even 'necessary suffering', because that is how we grow. This message of falling down and in fact moving up is the most counter-intuitive message in most of the world religions, including and most especially Christianity. We grow spiritually much more by doing it wrong than by doing it right. The Companion Journal helps those who have (and those who have not) read Falling Upward to engage more deeply with the questions the book raises. Using a blend of quotes, questions for individual and group reflection, stories, and suggestions for spiritual practices, it provides a wise guide for deepening the spiritual journey - at any time of life.

We are all addicted in some way. When we learn to identify our addiction, embrace our brokenness, and surrender to God, we begin to bring healing to ourselves and our world. In Breathing Under Water, Richard Rohr shows how the gospel principles in the Twelve Steps can free anyone from addiction – from an obvious dependence on alcohol or drugs to the more common but less visible addiction that we all have to sin. ‘A must-read for any person who recognizes the need to go “inward” on their soul’s journey to question what their relationship is with God, themselves, and others.’ The Cord ‘Rohr is a perfect writer on the subject of the 12 Steps. His easy-to-read book is essentially a commentary on each of the steps, with twelve chapters and a postscript that concisely tackles the big religious questions of human suffering, suffering with which addicts and their families are intimately acquainted. Jesus, Rohr answers, is no stranger to suffering . . . This is a good book for those in recovery from addiction and those who love them. Publishers Weekly ‘Richard Rohr continues to guide us to greater wholeness . . . his books have helped countless souls, especially those who struggle with issues of brokenness and seek transformation.’ National Catholic Reporter

Dissolve the distractions of ego to find our authentic selves in God In his bestselling book Falling Upward, Richard Rohr talked about ego (or the False Self) and how it gets in the way of spiritual maturity. But if there's a False Self, is there also a True Self? What is it? How is it found? Why does it matter? And what does it have to do with the spiritual journey? This book likens True Self to a diamond, buried deep within us, formed under the intense pressure of our lives, that must be searched for, uncovered, separated from all the debris of ego that surrounds it. In a sense True Self must, like Jesus, be resurrected, and that process is not resuscitation but transformation. Shows how to navigate spiritually difficult terrain with clear vision and tools to uncover our True Selves Written by Father Richard Rohr, the bestselling author of Falling Upward Examines the fundamental issues of who we are and helps us on our path of spiritual maturity Immortal Diamond (whose title is taken from a line in a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem) explores the deepest questions of identity, spirituality, and meaning in Richard Rohr's inimitable style.

FALLING UPWARDS is a vivid group biography and adventure that tells how men and women first felt as they rose towards the clouds into a new dimension - of science, exploration, warfare, literature, discovery.Romantic biographer Richard Holmes floats across the world following the pioneer generation of balloon aeronauts, from the first heroic experiments of the Montgolfiers in 1780s to the tragic attempt to fly a balloon to the North Pole in the 1890s. Dramatic sequences move from the early Anglo-French balloon rivalries, the crazy firework flights of beautiful Sophie Blanchard; the revelatory ascents over sprawling Victorian industrial cities of Northern Europe; and the astonishing long-distance voyages of the American entrepreneur John Wise, and the French photographer Felix Nadar. Later we find balloons used to observe the horrors of battle during the American Civil War (including a memorable flight by General Custer); the tale of sixty balloons that escaped Paris during the Prussian siege of 1870; and the terrifying seven mile high flight - without oxygen - of James Glaisher, helping to establish the science of meteorology and the environmental notion of a 'fragile' planet. Readers will also discover the writers - from Mary Shelley to Edgar Alan Poe, Dickens to Verne - who allowed the imaginative impact of flight to soar in their work. In exploring the interplay between technology and science fiction, the understanding of the biosphere, and the metaphysics of flight itself, Holmes offers another of his subtle portraits of human endeavour, recklessness and vision.

In this companion to The Universal Christ, Richard Rohr and Patrick Boland offer forty reflections and practices exploring what it means to live “in Christ.” In his landmark book The Universal Christ, Richard Rohr articulated a transformative view of what it means to recognize Jesus as “Christ”—as a portrait of God’s constant, unfolding work in the world. Now, in partnership with Patrick Boland, a psychotherapist and member of Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation community, he invites readers to engage with the themes of the book through spiritual practice. Each reflection in this book draws on a key passage of The Universal Christ, paired with prayers, journal prompts, and embodied exercises that invite readers into a more personal encounter with the truth that the presence and compassion of the Christ are in every thing. Whether read daily for the season of Lent or explored over the course of a year, Every Thing Is Sacred is a hope-filled journey into the love at the heart of all things.

Richard Rohr, internationally known retreat leader, speaker and writer, plumbs the depths of the Job's story and its relevance for us today. Rohr strips Christian faith down to the essentials, beyond glib answers and a "hand-me-down" experience of God, and points the way to true knowing. In this invigorating exploration, the tension between suffering and faith becomes a powerful means to an authentic, open connection with the divine.

“A rich, brilliant and important book: wonderfully readable and personal, filled with insight and wisdom, it invites us into practices that can transform our lives.” —Marcus J. Borg, author of Speaking Christian “Brian McLaren is a bridge builder. In these simple yet profound spiritual practices he perfectly marries his evangelical heart and contemplative soul, and we are all richer for the union.” —Cynthia Bourgeault, author of Centering Prayer and The Wisdom Jesus In the same way he revitalized our faith in A New Kind of Christianity, church leader Brian McLaren reinvigorates our approach to spiritual fulfillment in Naked Spirituality—by tearing down the old dogmatic practices that hamper our spiritual growth, and leading us toward the meaningful spiritual practices that can help transform our lives.