We cannot talk seriously about the link between aging and spirituality without considering the theology of my favorite Catholic author, the Franciscan priest Richard Rohr. He is the founder of the intriguingly titled Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Rohr has written several dozen books, made hundreds of speeches and podcasts, and now publishes daily meditations on his website. As the title of his center might indicate, he is a practical mystic who has remained a Catholic, but one who (like Francis of Assisi himself) has been successful in criticizing his church from within, “by [using] its own Scriptures, saints and resources,” which he says “is probably the only way you can fruitfully criticize anything.”
In 2012, Deanna and I had the honor of hearing him in person at a weekend seminar, the “January Adventure in Emerging Christianity” at St. Simon’s Island, Georgia.
Having read a number of his books, I judge his best three to be Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life (2011), Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self (2013), and The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe (2019).
All of Rohr’s work, at least over the past twenty-five years, puts him in the category of progressive or incarnational (my preferred term) Christianity. While The Universal Christ presents the fullest picture of his conviction that God is in all creation, and we that we share in the divinity of Jesus, the best look at what we might call the theology of aging, come in Falling Upward.
So let’s go Rohring into his study of spiritual growth, even though this brief summary will not do it justice.
First, when Rohr talks of the two halves of life, a term first used by Carl Jung, he is not really speaking of chronology. He is primarily referring to a process of spiritual maturation to which we are lured by some ‘transgression’ or failing. Those who reach this second half of life (I entered’ it-haltingly in my mid-60s) usually do so because they “fall down and move up,” something he describes as “the only workable meaning of any remaining notion of original sin.” In this and other works Rohr repeatedly refers to “great love or great suffering” as the two most common triggers for spiritual growth.
“Great suffering,” at least, comes close to what Alcoholics Anonymous calls reaching rock bottom. Not everyone has one of these experiences but Rohr believes that two groups of people most likely to deny its meaning are the very rich and the very “religious.” Both think they have it made in the first half of life.
OK, so what is this first half of life all about—and why is it necessary to our spiritual growth?
In the first half of life we address the basic needs such as food, shelter, reproduction, security, and career success. Rohr puts it more colorfully: “The first journey is always about externals, formulas, superficial emotions, flags and badges, correct rituals, Bible quotes, and special clothing, all of which largely substitute for actual spirituality (see Matthew 23: 13-32).”
Although our behavior in this stage of our life is ego-driven and sometimes even narcissistic, this stage is when we “create the container” which has to be strong enough to contain “the inner experience of God” during the second part of our journey. This container is constructed “through traditions, group symbols, family loyalties, basic respect for authority, civil and church laws,” as well as by the “value and special importance of [our] country, ethnicity, and religion.” He is speaking here about the moral anchors we associate with civilized life. He also knows that we need to balance law and freedom to grow spiritually. And the second half of life builds upon and “transforms” the first half. Both are necessary.
That last notion of balance, sometimes seen as the paradoxical union of two opposites, is a strong theme in Rohr’s thought. Western civilization has long valued an “either-or” dualistic value system that Rohr finds antithetical to spiritual growth and conviction that God and creation are ultimately one. We must embrace the seeming contradictions, even tragedy, as part of growth, to enter the second half of life.
(to be continued)