Kay Gilbert
Dear Hearts,I only have the Kindle version of Richard Rohr’s The Divine Dance, so page numbers are not available in the questions for this week. However, I’m indicating the book section from which the quotes & questions come.
INTERFAITH FRIENDSHIP
1. “In short, we made Jesus Christ into an exclusive savior instead of the totally inclusive savior he was meant to be.”
What did Rohr mean by this?
2. “There are only two things strong enough to keep you inside the dance of life: Great love and great suffering. These open you to your deepest, truest nature. They keep you in the circle instead of climbing pyramids.”
Do you agree with Rohr’s statement? What does he mean by “in the circle” as opposed to “climbing the pyramids?”
DO WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT SIN?
3. “Against this backdrop, sin is elegantly simple to understand: sin is whatever stops the flow.”
Define “the flow” again. How can “the flow” be restarted and maintained?
4. Rohr notes, “Paul’s paradoxical observation that ‘the Law was given to multiply the opportunities for failing, so that where sin abounds, grace abounds even more.’ What an amazing and courageous insight, and so totally counterintuitive! God’s mercy is so infinite and resourceful that God uses even our sin for our own redemption.”
Do you agree with Rohr and Paul?
5. “God is essentially saying, ‘It is you who cannot afford to be unloving; you just can’t. It’s going to stop the intrinsic flow, and you’ll be outside the mystery; you’ll be outside the flow of grace that is inherent to every event—yes, even sin.’ We are not punished for our sins—we are punished by our sins! This is why Jesus commanded us to love.
How is it that we are punished BY our sins? Can you give an example?
6. “You must love. You must, or you won’t know the basics. You won’t know God, you won’t know yourself, and you won’t know the divine dance. And some kind of suffering is always the price and proof of love.”
Do you agree with this statement?
7. It is “more important to live moment by moment in communion, staying in the positive flow and noting all negative resistance. This is your contemplative practice, which we originally just called prayer.”
What is meant by “moment by moment in communion?” What is “negative resistance? How do you “note” it?
ENTERING BY ANOTHER DOOR
8. “Perhaps much of the weakness of our first two thousand years of reflection upon the Trinity—and many of our dogmas, for that matter—is that we’ve tried to enter this space through the door of our logical mind instead of through the door of prayer.”
How are the “door of logical mind” and the “door of prayer” different?
9. “The Trinity—and its generative effect, love—is the true “theory of everything.”
A theory of everything (ToE), final theory, ultimate theory, or master theory is a hypothetical single, all-encompassing, coherent theoretical framework of physics that fully explains and links together all physical aspects of the universe. (Wikipedia) In light of this definition of ToE, what do you think of Rohr’s statement?
Kay Gilbert, CNM, Ph.D
School of Nursing, Retired
San Diego State University
5500 Campenile Avenue
San Diego California 92182-4158, United States
4935 Dorena Court
San Diego, California 92122, United States
kayg@sdsu.edu
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