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No images? Click here October 20, 2020 On the first day of Fall (September 21), I sent you a letter with the heading “Some simple but urgent guidance to get us through these next months.” Many responded that we should continue with such guidance in this apocalyptic time [from the Ancient Greek apokalúptō,which means to disclose or reveal]. It seems we now require some necessary falling, so that is what I hope to share with you whenever an inspiration arises. I would like to entitle this series of communications Letters from Outside the Camp. If my meaning is not immediately apparent, I expect it will become so in the coming months. Many of you are probably familiar with my use of the paradigm of Order > Disorder > Reorder to describe the universal pattern of change and transformation. After my last letter, a CAC staff member pointed out to me that I tend to apply this paradigm in one of two ways. In the first case, I try to show Americans (and other nationalities by association) how to spiritually thrive amid the DISORDER of Empire and the Imperial Church, a version of Christianity that has allowed itself to be co-opted and distorted by the illusions of “Empire.” Regardless of whether you are Orthodox, Catholic, or Protestant, this is what most of us were handed—largely without knowing what we were being given. Consider: the wholesale toleration and support of the enslavement of human beings, the Doctrine of Discovery that allowed us to colonize and oppress indigenous peoples, the deep Disorder of two World Wars and the Holocaust, the perpetuation of Jim Crow and white supremacy by major cultures of denial. Only in hindsight, as we are able to chart the arc of history and recognize the depth of our blindness, do the consequences of this co-option become so humiliatingly apparent. In the second case, I use this paradigm to encourage and guide those who are ready to move out of Disorder and into REORDER. In my various books and meditations, I often refer to this as the Second Half of Life, or Resurrection, Recovery, Salvation, the Nonviolent Life, the Third Way, or just Enlightenment. I’m afraid this group has always been a minority in every age, as conservatives tend to hide in a presumed perfect Order and progressives often get lost in a perpetual Disorder that lacks any Center. To use Jesus’ metaphor, when one blind person tries to lead another, they both fall into the pit (Matthew 15:14). I am not saying all people were lost for the last 2000 years—not at all; but, I am saying we have failed to reveal to the world more than a pittance of the great Good News that is the Gospel. They will surely be able to accuse me of the same 2000 years hence. God always fills in the gaps by grace and mercy and this will never change. There seems to be no utopian age. But now, what I will try to do is lead people consciously and lovingly into a necessary and conscious DISORDER—which is part of what I think John Lewis meant by “Good Trouble” and the Hebrew prophets by EXILE. Below is an updated version of a brief meditation I wrote and offered to our CAC staff shortly after the pandemic began this past March. At that point, I suspected this might be What the Pandemic Is Saying to the World. Humanity, you are all One. There are no higher and lower in this world. Many to whom you look for power and leadership Don’t play the victim! Just stay in the eternal circle of the Suffering and the Servants. A great deal has happened since the beginning days of the pandemic, yet the fundamental reality of humanity’s interconnectedness remains as true now as it has been at every moment in our history. But, as Pope Francis said in his recent encyclical (Fratelli Tutti [1] or All Brothers—and Sisters by implication), If everything is connected, it is hard to imagine that this global disaster is unrelated to our way of approaching reality, our claim to be absolute masters of our own lives and of all that exists. DISORDER is already upon us by reason of our planet, our history, our politics, our economy, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the widespread increase in mental and emotional unhealth. Our job is to make “Good Trouble”—and probably even “Necessary Trouble”—so that humanity can spiritually and politically mature. It is about falling—but, as always, falling upward. Richard Rohr
[1] Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, 34. The work of the Center for Action and Contemplation is possible only because of people like you! Learn more about how you can help support this work. If you would like to change how you receive these emails you can update your preferences or unsubscribe from our list. Read our FAQ or privacy policy for more information. 1705 Five Points Road SW Albuquerque, New Mexico 87105 USA Share Tweet Share Unsubscribe |
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