Rohr tackles dualistic thinking in the Western Christian faith and points to a time where mystery and paradox were not only embraced in the tradition but a significant aspect of practice. His clarity and brevity dealing with heady matters demonstrates a deep level of distillation and I truly appreciate the appendix that offers practice to accompany his theoretical endeavors. The end paragraphs at the end of each chapter made me wince, their style akin to a self-help manual, but overall this is an accessible book of faith and wisdom.

“I am.... moving between cultures, seeing between religions, but also happily a Christian.” Richard Rohr

A good place to be.

I especially like some of the prayer exercises in the appendix.

4 star? 5 star? I originally gave it 4, because I hate to be too enthusiastic, but then I bought 3 copies of the book to lend to friends because my own copy is so annotated and dog-eared as to be unreadable by someone else. ( )

I’ve had this book recommended to me for years, and when I got a gift card for Mother’s Day, I finally plunged in and bought it. So glad I did.

The author is a Catholic priest and he’s had time to reflect on what religion should bring to us and what it isn’t bringing to us. And since religion isn’t doing its job, Rohr has decided to help out and share some real secrets we are missing out on.

Shall I share one? I think I shall.

Jesus is telling us these secrets in every word he speaks, but we are too caught up in our dualistic thinking to understand what he is telling us. To get to Jesus, to experience God, we have to let go of our scientific yes-no, black-white thoughts and be in the naked now.

Sounds easy, right? Rohr would beg to differ. It’s the hardest thing you will ever do.
I better get busy, then. Off to live in the naked now. Let’s see if I can try to put Rohr’s secrets to work. ( )

How to finally move beyond Dualistic thinking.
How to think without thinking.
This is not a book for speedy reading. Read slowly and then put it down. Pick it back up in 3-6 months and then again in another. This is my second go round. I'll post a more in-depth review after the third. ( )