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    Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
    Unavailable
    Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
    Unavailable
    Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
    Audiobook6 hours

    Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

    Published by Dreamscape Media Audio

    4.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In the first half of life, we are naturally preoccupied with establishing ourselves; climbing, achieving, and performing. But as we grow older and encounter challenges and mistakes, we need to see ourselves in a different and more life-giving way. This message of falling down - that is in fact moving upward - is the most resisted and counterintuitive of messages in the world's religions. Falling Upward offers a new paradigm for understanding one of the most profound of life's mysteries: how those who have fallen down are the only ones who understand up. We grow spiritually more by doing it wrong than by doing it right, and the disappointments of life are actually stepping stones to the spiritual joys in the second half of life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamscape Media Audio
    Release dateMay 24, 2011
    ISBN9781611202267
    Unavailable
    Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

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    Reviews for Falling Upward

    4.5/5

    279 ratings24 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The author's premise is that we all have the potential for two life stages - the first being somewhat rule-bound, dualistic and driven, the second more relaxed. He writes from a Christian perspective, but with references to Ancient Greek heroes, Buddhism and other religious viewpoints. The writing is good, but heavy in places, and highly theoretical with no real examples. Much of what the author said resonated with my experience and observations, but I wasn't comfortable at the idea that the trigger to the second stage of life must always involve suffering of some kind. The middle years often have life changes, perhaps bereavements, job stresses, children leaving home, and sometimes chronic illness, but many people mature without extreme pain. I'm glad I read it, and found much of the book quite thought-provoking, but it didn't really give any positive guidance or suggestions. Those still in the author's first 'stage' of life (whatever their chronological age) would probably find it confusing, even heretical; those going through difficult circumstances would not necessarily be encouraged at the thought that this 'falling' could be the trigger to moving 'upward. But still, an interesting read.
    • 4/5
      Rohr shows us how to let go of the judgmental ways of our youth--what he calls the 'first half' of our lives, and live fully into the potential of our God-given talents during the second-half of our lives. It is not a book to be read at one sitting, nor even a book to be read only once. It may be. Book that I will repurchase as a soft-back.
    • 5/5
      One of the most profound spiritual reads I have enjoyed for some time. Rohr has a way of describing the spiritual journey of a true seeker so that I can see how it actually works. Highly recommended for all true seekers.
    • 5/5
      Very enjoyable book, narrated by the author himself. If you enjoy deep spirituality then this will satiate your Hunter.
    • 5/5
      Took me so long to understand Father Richard but he is now just making too much sense.His message has not changed but maybe my hearing is of age or persuaded.
    • 5/5
      Absolutely amazing. Hilights a great many of the issues in society and the tensions present in every day life.
    • 5/5
      Thought provoking book of the journey to evolution of a "second half" of life Catholic. In concise terms, Rohr describes the first half, the journey and obstacles to the second half, as well as, what it is to be in the second half. It is always not pretty, but it is peace filled. I feel the influence of Merton and the Dali Lama in his thoughts. It is peaceful. I have the companion journal, but have not done it yet. Trying to get a group together to do and discuss.
    • 5/5
      The perspective of 1st vs 2nd half of life makes so much sense. Loved every minute of the audio book and the soothing voice of Fr Richard Rohr.
    • 5/5
      A very helpful perspective on the spiritual journey of aging.
    • 5/5
      Always a heart, mind and faith bender, in a good way. Some stuff immediately resonates but most either starts me considering an alternative viewpoint or works underground until life brings it to the surface. Reread this book after a 10 year break. Now I get about 50% of it instead of only 25%!
    • 3/5
      Some good truths, however, he loses credibility because he communicates from the very ego he claims to be free.
    • 4/5
      A gentle book. Easy to understand, yet has such depth. I’m glad I’ve discovered the works of Richard Rohr. No ego, just wisdom.
    • 5/5
      Revelatory and affirming. An easy listen and not too cumbersome with theology
    • 5/5
      I got this book after a friend left a copy on the staff room table and I read the blurb on the back. I thought it looked different to the usual self help stuff I read so I gave it a go. I am glad I did. Richard’s Christian beliefs are gentle and are a welcome change to the fear-driving Thou-Shalt-Nots, both political and religious, who seem to dominate the landscape of traditional media and social media platforms at present. He has encouraged me to reflect on my own ailing faith and find answers to questions I had almost stopped asking.
    • 2/5
      Not anywhere near as good as Universal Christ. I was disappointed.
    • 4/5
      A beautiful book by Richard Rohr. Sometimes I felt the poetic language distracting me from the point but it seemed to be soak itself into my soul or mind somehow.
    • 4/5
      Citing numerous psychological and religious writers of many faiths, Rohr presents a model of human spiritual development as two parts, or halves, of life. The second part results from what he terms “necessary suffering” that exposes the limits of an individual’s control over his or her own life. Although it’s structured around two halves of life, the first half building up the ego and the second half going beyond it, it could also be summarized as “you must be born again.” The second half is characterized by non-dualistic thinking and a new simplicity that embraces both pain and joy, or to put it another way, life on life’s terms.
    • 4/5
      Although Franciscan priest Richard Rohr proposed two halves of one spiritual life, this may be a misnomer since the transition does not need to occur in middle-age; it may occur earlier or late in life, if the transition occurs at all. Drawing heavily on Carl Jung, he proposes that the first half focuses primarily on creating our container -- to create one's self-identity. This aspect of our life generally ends when we experience some crisis which pulls us up short, e.g., loss of a job, loss of a marriage, significant injury, etc. This events serves as a catalyst to transition us into the next phase of our spiritual journey, in which we fill our container with a deeper and richer sense of life's meaning. When reading this spiritual book, I identified several developmental psychologists in addition to Jung in its message including Erik Erikson and Lawrence Kohlberg. I would recommend this book to anyone who only see a continual falling and failing in one's final years.. This book reminds us that development is a lifetime process where falling is also countered by a "falling upward."

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Rohr does an excellent job describing the path to spiritual maturity by explaining a shift from what he terms first half of life perspective to second half of life perspective. While the second half of life may appear to be a decline in things, these things that appear to bring us down actually have the opportunity to help us to grow closer to God through a better understanding of grace.
    • 4/5
      Interesting, short but very dense book. I feel as though I might have to re-read it to be sure I understood it. On a first reading, Falling Upward raises more questions than it answers. It's filled with assertions and name-dropping, but it's oddly lacking in specifics. For example, Fr. Rohr tells us that he now understands the story of Adam and Eve on "ten different levels" other than the literal (which he asserts is the lowest level of meaning), but he doesn't tell us what those levels are, or how the reader can reach them. Moreover, if mature people are supposed to move past binary thinking during the "second half of life", why are two important concepts in the book, "first half/second half" of life and "True-Self/False Self" presented as binaries?

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Great concepts but reading this is like listening to a crabby old man lecture you. If I had not been reading this with several other guys, I would have abandoned it.
    • 5/5
      Falling Upward for me is a mixed bag. On the one hand Richard Rohr captures perfectly the image of spiritual maturity and the two essential stages needed to progress toward that image. If this is your first exposure to Rohr then it is an excellent start and I give it 5 stars. On the other hand he doesn't flesh out the image as well as he has in other works. I've read several of Richard's work and in my opinion he takes excerpts from several of his works and edits them down into Falling Upward. When compared with his other works it gets a 3; however, it gives such a good foretaste that if this book sparks the journey into spiritual maturity in motion then I highly recommend exploring Rohr further.
    • 4/5
      a timely review on what life is really all about
    • 3/5
      Wish there had been more. Turned the page and it had ended.