Out of Tragedy and Trauma

 What’s left?

Unshakable Conviction

that Life itself is Holy

Richard Rohr

The view from the edge of life is different and often much clearer than the way most of us see things. Life-threatening illness may cause people to question what they have accepted as unchanging. Values that have been passed down in a family for generations may be recognized as inadequate; lifelong beliefs about personal capacities or what is important may prove to be mistaken. When life is stripped down to its very essentials, it is surprising how simple things become. Fewer and fewer things matter and those that matter, matter a great deal more. As a doctor to people with cancer, I have walked the beach at the edge of life picking up this wisdom like shells.

One of my patients who survived three major surgeries in five weeks described himself as “born

again.” When I asked him about this, he told me that his experience had challenged all of his ideas about life. Everything he had thought true had turned out to be merely belief and had not withstood the terrible events of recent weeks. He was stripped of all that he knew and left only with the unshakeable conviction that life itself was holy. This insight in its singularity and simplicity had sustained him better than the multiple complex systems of beliefs and values that had been the foundation of his life up until this time. It upheld him like stone and upholds him still because it has been tested by fire. At the depths of the most unimaginable vulnerability he has discovered that we live not by choice but by grace. And that life itself is a blessing.

(Richard Rohr. Order, Disorder, Reorder: Part Two Dying as Disorder. Thursday,  August 20, 2020)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Resurrection

Image
  If Jesus Never Called Himself God, How Did He Become One? Bart D. Ehrman Terry Gross is the host and co-executive producer of Fresh Air, an interview format radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed throughout the United States by National Public Radio (NPR). She interviews Bart on April 7th, 2014 and prepares the discussion to reflect on Bart's book "How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee." The discussion addresses topics such as the major difference between the first three gospels — Matthew, Mark and Luke — and the last gospel, John. On how Roman emperors were called "God." On the emergence of the Trinity. On the difference between history and the past and on the empty tomb and the resurrection, just to name a few. The Case Against the Resurrection (Bart D. Ehrman) Video ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ How Jesus Became God On the dates January 29-31, 2016, Bart D. Ehrman gave three separate lectures to atten...
Read more

Proprioception of Thought

Image
  THERE IS NO ACTIVISM THERE IS ONLY PROPRIOCEPTION OF THOUGHT By Matthew Capowski NOTE: In physiology the term proprioception refers to the capacity of the body to have self-awareness of its own movements.  David Bohm introduced the term “proprioception of thought” to refer to the possibility for thought to become aware of its own movements as well through direct perception. We could say that practically all the problems of the human race are due to the fact that thought is not proprioceptive. – David Bohm (Source: On Dialogue, 1996) And we think the crisis is outside of us; it is in us.  The crisis is in our consciousness. – Jiddu Krishnamurti (Source: Conversation between Jiddu Krishnamurti and Jonas Salk in Ojai, California, March 1983) Things can be different than how they are.  Conflict can be ended.  But not through the application of thought.  Every form of activism, and every theory, plan, group, or organization I delved into assumed that we could...
Read more

This Mortal Coil - Terror Management Theory - Death Denial Systems of Belief

Image
  Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality The Great Human Dilemma  “This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and self-expression - and with all this yet to die.” (Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death) Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality OUR HUMAN PREDICAMENT “Human beings find themselves in quite a predicament. We have the mental capacity to ponder the infinite, seemingly capable of anything; yet housed in a heart-pumping, breath-gasping, decaying body. We are godly yet creaturely.” This Mortal Coil The fear of death drives many evils, from addiction to prejudice and war. Can it also be harnessed as a force for good? Many people think consciously about their mortality only once in a blue moon. Maybe if an odd mole appears. Or after a close call in the car. Or when they read about the death of a celebrity their age. Maybe it’s in the middle of the night, wh...
Read more