“The Naked Now” by Richard Rohr is a gold mine. I had just begun to practice silent prayer when I first read it two years ago. I recently decided to take a second run through this marvelous book. To be honest, this is the type of book that you need to read over and over again. You will see things that were hidden the previous time.
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Both-And
“I knew early on that there were different kinds of knowings. Words divided reality between either and or, but my living experience was always both-and.” This book will reveal how you can change the way you see from either and or to both-and.
Contemplation
One way to learn to see both-and is the practice of contemplation. “Contemplation is an exercise in keeping your heart and mind spaces open long enough for turning to see other hidden material.” Just as Jesus did, we need to enter the prayer of quiet (contemplative prayer).
“No”
Another way to learn to see both-and is by following the advice of the great teachers. “The great teachers are saying that you cannot start seeing or understanding anything if you start with “No.”
Love and Suffering
I will make one final point regarding how you can learn to see both-and. “Love and suffering are the main portals this open up the mind space and the heart space…..” These are our greatest teachers. As I look back at my life I completely agree!
Next Steps
Now that I have made my second run through this book, I will let what I read soak in. I am certain this will not be the last time I pick up this wonderful book.
Read this book slowly and with a highlighter in hand. Go back and re read the highlighted parts. You will learn how to see the naked now.
Go Further
Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning To See As the Mystics See
Richard Rohr, The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation
Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
Richard Rohr, Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self
Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer
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One on One Coaching with Rich
Does this sound like you?
“I am bored with my life?”
“I am not doing the things that I want to do in all areas of my life:”
-career, personal, family, community.
I feel unfulfilled, like I am just going through the motions everyday.
I have dreams and goals, but I am afraid to show up and take action on them.
I don’t want years to pass and be disappointed when I look back on my life.
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Do you want to obtain the freedom to become your true self, the person I’m created to be?
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Transforming the World through Contemplative Prayer: Richard Rohr, OFM, and Laurence Freeman, OSB—two long-time spiritual friends—offer practical guidance for the challenges of this time in Earth’s history. They teach us how we can put our deepest aspirations for personal realization and social transformation into practice. Their combined focus on contemplation, action, and a shared passion for truth illuminates the origins of our crisis and shows us the path toward lasting change and a more just and loving humanity. Discover the power of contemplative prayer to change the world.
Following the Mystics Through the Narrow Gate – Three leading voices in the contemplative Christian tradition explore the mystic’s path: Richard Rohr, James Finley and Cynthia Bourgeault. Experience a very special weekend conference with teachings that guide us through the long mystical tradition from early Christianity to our own time. This view into our mystical heritage opens our hearts to the Divine Mystery in which we live and are surrounded. The mystical union to which we are all invited strengthens us to live our lives with compassion and gratitude.
On Encountering the Wisdom Jesus, this brilliant author and dynamic Episcopalian priest presents her first full-length audio course about rediscovering the Master of Wisdom. Twelve immersive sessions cover: the parables as wisdom tools; Jesus’s teachings about kenosis (or self-emptying: a path as radical today as it was 2,000 years ago); Jesus as tantric master; Centering Prayer, an approach to meditation as Jesus lived it, and much more. The early Christians, teaches the Reverend Cynthia Bourgeault, were afire with the spirit of Jesus, inspired fully by his teaching of a total transformation of consciousness. How do we reclaim that fire today?
Centering Prayer Course: A Training Course for Opening to the Presence of God – Centering Prayer is a silent prayer practice that can move you toward a profound relationship with the Spirit of God within. It is a way of praying that opens the door to the Divine Indwelling—the ground of our being. With Centering Prayer, Father Thomas Keating and his colleagues Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler and Father Carl Arico present the first online course in this method for deepening your intimacy with God and ultimately consenting to the presence and action of the Divine in all aspects of your life.
Since the time of the Desert Fathers in the third century, Finley begins, Christian mystics have practiced meditation as a way of opening to the direct presence of God in daily life. Legendary seekers such as Saint John of the Cross, Saint Teresa of Avila, and Meister Eckhart explored how meditation can lead us beyond the closed horizon of the ego, to an interior and holy refuge that is always available to us. On Christian Meditation, James Finley offers a gentle introduction to this all-transforming way of life, and the ever-deepening realization of oneness with Christ it leads us to. (Based upon his book, Christian Meditation.)
Thomas Merton’s Path to the Palace of Nowhere: The Essential Guide to the Contemplative Teachings of Thomas Merton – Now James Finley, who for six years lived, prayed, and studied with Brother Louis, as Merton was known at the Abbey of Gethsemani, shares with us the gifts passed on to him by this towering figure.
The Teachings of Meister Eckhart: An Invitation to Experience God in Every Moment: The 13th-century mystic Meister Eckhart was the most brilliant Christian scholar of his day, but he was also legendary for the way that he opened listeners to the direct experience of God during his public talks. Today, his written wisdom remains alive as ever, ready to illuminate us. James Finley, one of today’s best-known teachers of the Christian contemplative tradition, invites us into Eckhart’s insights in the same way that this luminary teacher delighted in sharing them—through the spoken word.
“My experience—from the depths of depression to the heights of joy—has taught me that the path toward wholeness takes patience and passion,” teaches Parker Palmer. With An Undivided Life, you will receive his timeless wisdom and guidance to help you discern, trust, and follow your authentic self at home, in your work, and in the world. We all yearn for a life that is whole—where “soul and role” are aligned and our innermost wisdom guides us in our actions. Perhaps no one has explored this topic more deeply than bestselling author and distinguished educator Parker J. Palmer.
Waking Up in the World is an online event gathering of 30 of today’s most inspiring spiritual teachers and social visionaries—offering their most powerful practices to help us navigate these times with courage, purpose, and love.
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