“Religion in a mature second half of life is not a moral matter or a superiority contest. It is a mystical matter where all questions of specialness have been answered at the deepest and most radical level—by God. So it is no longer my concern.”
I took this quote from yesterday’s blog by Richard Rohr (cac@cacradicalgrace.org). It means a lot to me as I approach my 50th birthday and (I hope!) increasing maturity in my spiritual life. What I think Fr. Rohr is getting at is that as one journeys along into the second half of life a major shift happens. Like a rocketship escaping the pull of gravity, each of us is lead by God to a point where the doubts and insecurities of the Ego and the fears which make up the darker side of any of the great religious traditions begin to lose their grip upon us. On some level, much deeper than words or Consciousness we KNOW with a great certainty that we are beloved of God – and precisely becaue we are beloved of God, we are special. No need to prove it to the world anymore, or to ourselves. Now we can devote increasing amounts of our energy to the simple joys of Being.
Perhaps this is what the Buddha was getting at when he said that as a person moves from the first half of his/her life to the second the shift is from the marketplace to the monastery.
What do you think?
Jim Philipps (3rd millennium pilgrim)
3rdmillenniumpilgrim's Blog 