Path of Descent (MP3)
DETAILS
Richard Rohr describes Jesus' directive to us to be images of him. Jesus' journey—the way of the cross—is explored in a new and liberating way. Richard calls the Western culture's ideals of progress and winning into question and reveals the true path of ascent as Jesus' path of descent.
What Richard calls "the language of descent" is the "theme of themes" of the Bible. Call it "powerlessness," "the bias from the bottom," "the way of the cross" or "vulnerability," human beings have to be taught how to win by losing. Life itself is a series of necessary losses.
Religion has tended to prefer the way of "ascent," attainment, which is much more to the liking of the human ego, even though it always defeats us. The Jewish prophets and self-critical thinking are represented most fully in Jesus, who tries to train his disciples in a path of descent and ego stripping instead of ego attainment. Jesus tells us to love more, rather than to idealize anything except God. It is in suffering and the mystery of contradictions, our own and the world's, that we move to consciousness and holiness.
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Approximate length: 4 hours