De facto “salvation” has little to do with belief systems, belonging to the right group, or correct ritual practice. It has everything to do with living right here, right now, and knowing a beautiful and fully accepting God is this very moment giving to you. All you can do is sit down at the banquet and eat. If you can enjoy heaven now, you are totally prepared and ready for heaven later.
Richard Rohr: Love & Forgiveness
Healthy religion names what’s real, what’s true, what really works, and what works in the long run—here and later. This ultimate reality, the way things work, is quite simply described as love.
.. Forgiveness is an act of letting go. When we forgive we do not forget the harm someone caused or say that it does not matter. But we release bitterness and hatred, freeing ourselves to move on and make choices grounded in our strength rather than victimization. Forgiveness opens our closed hearts to give and receive love fully.
Commodity Culture
All great spirituality is about letting go. I say this as an absolute statement.
.. You see, if something is working, you don’t need another one or a higher one or a better one—which is what a consumer culture builds on. If something is already making you happy, you don’t need more of it. The fact that you need more and more and better and better of almost everything tells me that the commodity culture isn’t working.
.. The task of healthy religion is to communicate to you your inherent dignity and the dignity inherent in everything else too. If you do not discover that deep inherent meaning, then everything else will finally disappoint you, driving your obsession with more. As the Twelve Steppers wisely say, “You only need more and more of what is not working.”
Mature Spirituality
The primary result of mature religion is to help us grow up early so we don’t keep going down the same dead ends and making the same mistakes over and over again—“doing the same thing and expecting different results,”
.. This ultimate reality, the way things work, is quite simply described as love. Religion is supposed to teach us the way of love.
.. Philosophically, you will never discover the Logos, the blueprint, the pattern,