Join 📚 Roger's Highlights
A batch of the best highlights from what roger's read, .
The Catholic Church is now expending huge amounts of effort and time changing words in the liturgy back to the “original Latin” (which Jesus never spoke and was actually the language of his oppressors), while the world is facing unparalleled disasters at every level. The sanctuary is the only world where the clergy still have a bit of control, it seems. So again the meticulous navigating of our small river surpasses ever diving into the Big River. It makes me wonder if Jesus' first definition of church as “two or three gathered in my name” is not still the best way to avoid these sorts of illusions (Matthew 18:20). So many people I know who are doing truly helpful and healing ministry find their primary support from a couple of enlightened friends—and only secondarily, if at all, from the larger organization. Larger institutions might well provide the skeleton, but the muscle, meat, and miracles invariably happen at the local level.
AARP Falling Upward
Richard Rohr
he would purposefully connect to any lingering anxiety from the prior procedure, then release it on the exhale. In addition to this upgraded ability to let go of stress, you may also notice a subtle improvement in mood—an increased sense of connection to and engagement with colleagues, family, friends, and teammates; more comfort with emotional vulnerability; and an overall enhanced sense of calm. You may find it initially feels a bit strange to access an emotion and then let go of it so quickly. But with time and practice, this process will become easier and easier until it becomes second nature. Remember that persistent practice is the only way to build this skill. You must actually train the heart muscle to let go, just as you would train the muscles in your arm to perform a tennis serve. Through regular practice and repetition, your heart will learn to let go with greater potency and speed. It will feel softer, more open, and free.
Heart Breath Mind
Leah Lagos
We tend to be on guard against negativity, against the people who are discouraging us from pursuing our callings or doubting the visions we have for ourselves. This is certainly an obstacle to beware of, though dealing with it is rather simple. What we cultivate less is how to protect ourselves against the validation and gratification that will quickly come our way if we show promise. What we don’t protect ourselves against are people and things that make us feel good—or rather, too good. We must prepare for pride and kill it early—or it will kill what we aspire to. We must be on guard against that wild self-confidence and self-obsession. “The first product of self-knowledge is humility,” Flannery O’Connor once said. This is how we fight the ego, by really knowing ourselves. The question to ask, when you feel pride, then, is this: What am I missing right now that a more humble person might see? What am I avoiding, or running from, with my bluster, franticness, and embellishments? It is far better to ask and answer these questions now, with the stakes still low, than it will be later. It’s worth saying: just because you are quiet doesn’t mean that you are without pride. Privately thinking you’re better than others is still pride. It’s still dangerous. “That on which you so pride yourself will be your ruin,” Montaigne had inscribed on the beam of his ceiling. It’s a quote from the playwright Menander, and it ends with “you who think yourself to be someone.” We are still striving, and it is the strivers who should be our peers—not the proud and the accomplished. Without this understanding, pride takes our self-conception and puts it at odds with the reality of our station, which is that we still have so far to go, that there is still so much to be done.
Ego Is the Enemy
Ryan Holiday
...catch up on these, and many more highlights
Readwise