Richard Rohr – The Wisdom Way (Part Two)

About this sermon

“The Wisdom Way: Scripture, Tradition, and Experience” was a week-long retreat held at the Center for Action and Contemplation for students from Fuller Seminary in April and May 2013. The week of teaching was designed with the goal of “understand[ing] scripture and tradition and experience in a critical way.” Ultimately, Father Richard Rohr and the Fuller students sought to develop a working definition of wisdom for those seeking contemplative spirituality. In this second session of day 1, Fr. Richard Rohr offers a broad history of contemplative Christianity, noting the thread of nondualism in the early Church. He argues that Paul, for instance, can only be understood as a nondualistic mystic: “he’s talking about mystery; he’s not talking rationally at all.” The turning point for Christianity, however, was 313 A.D. when Christianity became the imperial religion of Rome. “Empire,” Fr. Richard argues, “cannot fathom nondual thinking” and therefore much of the mysticism of Jesus, Paul, and the other early teachers was forgotten. He teaches that theologians such as St. Vincent of Lérins and St. Augustine emphasized the universality of catholicism and of the incarnation, but later thinkers like Luther, Calvin, and Knox were largely stuck in tribalistic thinking. Mystical experience, Fr. Richard teaches, is not about rational certitude but is an inner sense of being loved by God. Mystics like the desert fathers emphasized Divine experience over egoism. Similarly, Celtic spirituality was not based in rationalism but in the divinity of the natural world. Nondualistic traditions understood that “basically what leads you into nondual consciousness is mysteries that you can’t resolve: suffering.” Fr. Richard laments that “every time the Church split, we lost half of the mystery.” A major characteristic of the mystery is holding paradox, and he argues that “you can’t understand the Trinity unless you’re at the mystical level, unless you’re at the nondual level.” The Franciscan tradition, Fr. Richard teaches, has managed to hold on to the incarnation spirituality that recognizes the inherent goodness of all creation. This allows us to start with what Fr. Richard calls a “foundational yes” which allows us to hold the ego boundaries between ourselves and others with greater compassion, generosity of spirit, and freedom. This, he teaches, is contemplation. Fr. Richard notes that the “last explosion of . . . nondual teaching” occurred in the writings of St. Teresa of Ávila and St. John of the Cross, both of whom reintroduced contemplative prayer into Christianity. CENTER FOR ACTION AND CONTEMPLATION The Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) is an educational nonprofit introducing seekers to the contemplative Christian path of transformation. Founded by Richard Rohr in 1987, our programs and resources are designed to help deepen prayer practice and strengthen compassionate engagement in the world. https://cac.org Subscribe: https://bit.ly/3QypRgu Learn more about Who We Are: https://bit.ly/3D8TtdU Learn more about What We Do: https://bit.ly/3qrYFGc Learn more about Richard Rohr: https://bit.ly/3ozYdmP Learn more about Contemplation: https://bit.ly/3wNojGF

Topics

• Wisdom