You come to God not by being strong, but by being weak; not by being right, but through your mistakes.
Richard RohrFamine, poverty, abuse, you can't keep that all blocked out. If you let those things teach you, influence you, change you, those are the events that transition you without you even knowing it to become more compassionate.
Richard RohrThe people who know God wellโmystics, hermits, prayerful people, those who risk everything to find Godโalways meet a lover, not a dictator.
Richard RohrThe important thing is the willingness to give back the gift that is you, not the perfection of the gift itself. Can you feel the difference?
Richard RohrAll great spirituality teaches about letting go of what you donโt need and who you are not. Then, when you can get little enough and naked enough and poor enough, youโll find that the little place where you really are is ironically more than enough and is all that you need. At that place, you will have nothing to prove to anybody and nothing to protect. That place is called freedom. Itโs the freedom of the children of God. Such people can connect with everybody. They donโt feel the need to eliminate anybody . . .
Richard RohrPeople who think they can just do a non-stop flight to mystical, non-dual thinking, to get it out without going through the process, are usually not right. That's airy-fairy thinking. They have to wait until they are hurt themselves, or they are cheated, or lied to or betrayed, and they will see that their non-dual thinking is not tested, or truly a gift of the spirit. It's simply fuzzy thinking.
Richard Rohr