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The Naked Now: Learning To See As The Mystics See (2009)

by Richard Rohr(Favorite Author)

4.31 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0824525434 (ISBN13: 9780824525439)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Crossroad

review 1: Mystic. Not a word most of Christianity is comfortable with. Too scary, too deceptive, too New Age. We want our Christianity controllable. We want clear perimeters and boundaries and borders. Tell us what our responsibilities are, then God, just be out there, anywhere, managing, because we're much be comfortable as a manager above us than being so close that You actually are IN us. Problem is, that's a religion and religion is not what Christ came to bring and act out of. "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives within you" 1 Corinthians 3:16. Wait. What? God lives in me? I have God within me? Yes, Christianity is a mystic faith. And Richard Rohr does a great job of showing you Biblically that this is exactly how we are to see our uni... moreon with God. Rohr gives ample Biblical texts and contexts that make one realize that our westernized thought of Christianity is failing us. The entire scope of Judaism giving way to the Messiah that was prophesied about and finally the Holy Spirit dwelling within is a mystic faith whose identity has been robbed by western compartmentalized thinking. Rohr goes into depth between western duality philosophy and a more eastern non-duality spirituality that is more in coherence with Biblical thought.But let's get one thing clear here. Rohr does NOT espouse new age theology nor Buddhist self-enpowering philosophy. Nowhere does Rohr ever suggest that we are our OWN god. We are in union with God within, but the God within is God, not ourselves; the actual Holy Spirit, not any sort of our own elevated status. Any referencing to Buddhism, Taoism, or Hinduism within the book is solely in context with the way the eastern mind perceives and sees the non-duality of it's surroundings and how, as Christians, if we fail to see ourselves as channels of the living God working within us, living within us, in union with us at all times, then we are not grasping the full measure of what Christ intended for us. God is within man, now, living out His work. We are the body that now houses God's Spirit. And that, is a mystical thing whether one is too afraid too admit it or not. God is not solely "out there" He is and will always be in the inner-est part of our being. I'm not sure this book is for anyone brand new to the Christian faith, as it is written with a style that assumes the reader is already familiar with some of Christianity's major tenants. It is however, an excellent book for anyone who has walked the spiritual journey a bit and is seeking to "un-do" many of the dogma's that over the years have caused one to form God in man's image. And it is more than just replacing one ideology with another ideology. Rohr makes no claim that his writing or opinion is the definitive answer to God. That would be is complete argument to his own argument; that God is non-dualistic, and is divided into predictable patterns we can understand. Some may be uncomfortable with that. Feeling as if it's to open-ended, not central enough, not fundamentalist enough. But I ask, what is more fundamentally correct than having God within as the center and allowing God to be God. That is exactly what the Bible preaches. We do not come into a religion to serve a set of laws and dogmas. We serve a living God.
review 2: Richard Rohr is a seeker. With an open mind he finds what leads him to ever greater understanding of the big questions: life, love, infinity, suffering and God. In this book, he focuses on the West's pattern of learning called dualistic thinking and finds it wanting. He argues that all great religions, including Christianity, have another process of knowing known by various names as contemplation. "It is living in the naked now, the "sacrament of the present moment," that will teach us how to actually experience our experiences, whether good, bad, or ugly, and how to let them transform us." Every chapter is a gem and ends with a summary for meditation/contemplation and in each chapter he imparts words of wisdom. In comparing religions of the East and the West he says" ..in general, they [Eastern religions] thought that balance brought one to divine union more than moral perfection did." And he has found at least as many if not more "transformed people" than in the West so he "wonders" what is missing in the West's way of believing. Some of the Chapter headings are" Practicing Heaven Now, What It means to Be a Mystic, Mystical Christianity, The Limits of Individualism, The Prayer of Jesus, The Ego Hates Change, Faith is More How to Believe than What to Believe, What Nondual Thinking is Not, and What Every Good Leader Knows. He makes his reflections relevant to daily life as he speaks from his own experiences. There is an ample number of appendices that are "practices" for the naked now. - "the Christian "tantra" "Walking Meditation" "Prayer of self-Emptying" and several more that make this a very practical book. There is a lot to "underline' in here if you, too, are a seeker. I often wondered how to integrate what I knew about eastern religious practices with a Western mind like mine. This book really did it for me and I will be returning to it often. less

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