Center for Action and Contemplation – Father Richard Rohr’s Daily
Meditation – Friday, 31 January 2014 “The Space between Stage Three and Stage
Four”
“Levels of Spiritual Development (Part One)”
“The Space between Stage Three and Stage Four”
Friday, January 31, 2014
If a death is required between every stage—a period of darkness
and not knowing—then surely an even larger letting go is necessary to move from
Stage Three to Stage Four. This is probably why most Western cultures are at
Stage Three. Without great love (and I mean great love of someone beyond
myself) and great suffering, where there is a major defeat, major humiliation,
major shock to the ego self, very few people move to Stage Four. This is the
great dying that all spiritual teachers are talking about. As Jesus puts it,
“Unless the grain of wheat dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it
dies, it will bear much fruit” (John 12:24).
Historically, classic initiation rites were programmed to move
people to at least an initial experience of Stage Four; if you can get people
to Stage Four, normally growth will continue to happen from there, because now
you know that dying to self is central and necessary. You have begun to learn
the art of letting go. You have learned that you do not need to be certain
every step of the way. The meaning of faith is slowly becoming clear for you:
walking in darkness and trust. A certain tolerance for ambiguity and paradox is
learned in the movement from Stage Three to Stage Four. But to be honest, many
backslide from Stage Four when they see how high the price is (1960s hippies,
the broad-minded but arrogant liberal, etc.).
Adapted from The Art of Letting Go: Living the Wisdom of St.
Francis, Disc 5 (CD)
Gateway to Silence: Open me to wholeness
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PO Box 12464
Albuquerque, NM 87195-2464 (mailing)
(505) 242-9588
cac.org
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