Note: Richard Rohr’s book, “Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life”, speaks of the classical hero/heroine’s journey.
The first task, which the hero or heroine thinks is the only task, is only the warm-up act to get him or her to the real task. He or she “falls through” what is merely his or her life situation to discover her Real Life, which is always a much deeper river, hidden beneath the appearances. Most people confuse their life situation with their actual life which is an underlying flow beneath the everyday events. This deeper discovery is largely what religious people mean by “finding their soul.”
(Father Rohr would identify this as our task in the second half of life.)
No one can keep you from this second half of your own life except yourself. Nothing can inhibit your second journey except your own lack of courage, patience, and imagination. Your second journey is all yours to walk or to avoid. My conviction is that some falling apart of the first journey is necessary for this to happen, so do not waste a moment of time lamenting poor parenting, lost job, failed relationship, physical handicap, gender identity, economic poverty, or even the tragedy of any kind of abuse. Pain is part of the deal. If you don’t walk into the second half of your own life, it is you who do not want it. God will always give you exactly what you truly want and desire. So make sure you desire, desire deeply, desire yourself, desire God, desire everything good, true, and beautiful.
