Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: Invitation. -- Introduction. -- 1 The Two Halves of Life. -- 2 The Hero and Heroine's Journey. -- 3 The First Half of Life. -- 4 The Tragic Sense of Life. -- 5 Stumbling over the Stumbling Stone. -- 6 Necessary Suffering. -- 7 Home and Homesickness. -- 8 Amnesia and the Big Picture. -- 9 A Second Simplicity. -- 10 A Bright Sadness. -- 11 The Shadowlands. -- 12 New Problems and New Directions. -- 13Falling Upward. -- Coda. -- Notes. -- Bibliography. -- The Author. -- Index.

"A fresh way of thinking about spirituality that grows throughout life. In Falling Upward, Fr. Richard Rohr seeks to help readers understand the tasks of the two halves of life and to show them that those who have fallen, failed, or "gone down" are the only ones who understand "up." Most of us tend to think of the second half of life as largely about getting old, dealing with health issues, and letting go of life, but the whole thesis of this book is exactly the opposite.? What looks like falling down can largely be experienced as "falling upward."? In fact, it is not a loss but somehow actually a gain, as we have all seen with elders who?have come to their fullness.?? Explains why the second half of life can and should be full of spiritual richness Offers a new view of how spiritual growth happens loss is gain Richard Rohr is a regular contributing writer for Sojourners and Tikkun magazines This important book explores the counterintuitive message that we grow spiritually much more by doing wrong than by doing right."--