“What healthy religion is saying is that the real life is both now and later. You have to taste the Real first of all now. The constant pattern, however, is that most Christians either move both backwards (religion as nostalgia) or into the distant future (religion as carrot on the stick) and consistently avoid where everything really happens and mattersthe present moment.” FirstsRealMatterMomentsHappensChristianMovingLife IsFaithHealthyTasteConstantSticksPatternsNostalgiaReal LifePresent MomentConsistentlyBackwardsCarrotsNow And Later Author:Richard Rohr
“Most of us live in the past, carrying our hurts, guilts and fears. We have to face the pain we carry, lest we spend the rest of our lives running away from it or letting it run us. But the only place you'll ever meet the real is now-here.” RealRunningPainPastFacesHurtOur LivesGuiltRunning Away Author:Richard Rohr
“Solitude is a courageous encounter with our naked, most raw and real self, in the presence of pure love.” RealSelfPureSolitudeNakedEncountersCourageousPure LoveReal Self Author:Richard Rohr
“The real spiritual journey is work. You can make a naïve assertion that you trust in Jesus, but until it is tested a good, oh, 200 times, I doubt very much that it's true.” RealSpiritualJesusDoubtJourneyTestedAssertionSpiritual Journey Author:Richard Rohr
“True gospel authority, the authority to heal and renew things and people, is not finally found in a hierarchical office, a theological argument, a perfect law, or a rational explanation. The Crucified revealed to the world that the real power that changes people and the world is an inner authority that comes from people who have lost, let go, and are re-found on a new level.” PeopleWorldRealLawFoundLostPerfectLevelsLetting GoOfficeAuthorityArgumentHealRationalExplanationTheologicalReal Power Author:Richard Rohr
“If you're the head of the organization that has to pay salaries, bills and keep the money coming, you have to be concerned with pleasing the middle. I find it means you have to dumb down your message to something less radical than the gospel. It can't be the real gospel. It has to be "churchiness" that pleases everyone, so they come back next Sunday and keep putting money in the collection plate. I don't mean that in a cynical way. I just think it's what happens.” IfsThinkingWayMeanRealHappensNextPayMiddlePleaseMessagesConcernedOrganizationBillsRadicalDumbCollectionsSundayCynicalPlatesSalary Author:Richard Rohr
“Most Christian 'believers' tend to echo the cultural prejudices and worldviews of the dominant group in their country, with only a minority revealing any real transformation of attitudes or consciousness. It has been true of slavery and racism, classism and consumerism and issues of immigration and health care for the poor.” Has BeensRealCountryCareChristianPoorConsciousnessAttitudeIssuesGroupsRacismPrejudiceTransformationSlaveryBelieverImmigrationHealth CareMinoritiesEchoesConsumerismDominantRevealingWorldviewClassism Author:Richard Rohr
“The fears that assault us are mostly simple anxieties about social skills, about intimacy, about likeableness, or about performance. We need not give emotional food or charge to these fears or become attached to them. We don’t even have to shame ourselves for having these fears. Simply ask your fears, “What are you trying to teach me?” Some say that FEAR is merely an acronym for “False Evidence Appearing Real.” From Everything Belongs, p. 143” NeedsGivingTryingRealAsksSocialSimpleTeachEmotionalSkillsAnxietyEvidencePerformancesShameIntimacyAssaultAppearingSocial SkillsAcronyms Author:Richard Rohr
“Much of what is called Christianity has more to do with disguising the ego behind the screen of religion and culture than any real movement toward a God beyond the small self, and a new self in God.” RealSelfCultureBehindsChristianityMovementEgoScreensNew Self Book:The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective Source: The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective
“Christians are usually sincere and well-intentioned people until you get to any real issues of ego, control power, money, pleasure, and security. Then they tend to be pretty much like everybody else. We often given a bogus version of the Gospel, some fast-food religion, without any deep transformation of the self; and the result has been the spiritual disaster of "Christian" countries that tend to be as consumer-oriented, proud, warlike, racist, class conscious, and addictive as everybody else-and often more so, I'm afraid.” PeopleWellsHas BeensRealSelfCountryChristianSpiritualGivenPleasureResultsClassIssuesSecurityProudEgoConsciousTransformationDisasterVersionsConsumersRacistSincereFast Food Author:Richard Rohr
“The cross solved our problem by first revealing our real problem, our universal pattern of scapegoating and sacrificing others. The cross exposes forever the scene of our crime.” FirstsRealProblemForeverSacrificeCrimeSceneCrossesUniversalPatternsRevealingReal Problems Book:AARP Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life Source: AARP Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
“The Eucharist becomes a microcosmic moment of belief and power in which we say we believe in the real presence of God in Jesus, in this bread, and in this wine.” BelieveRealMomentsJesusBeliefWineBreadEucharistPresence Of God Author:Richard Rohr
