Now-here

Artist: Van Gogh

Image from Wikimedia Commons

I first discovered Richard Rohr when I lived in Ireland - back in the early nineties. And I'm so glad I did. His writings and the recordings of his talks have been of great help to me in my continued formation ever since. Here's something he said that can offer rich material for many hours of reflection:

Let go of the private dream for the dream of God. Most of us live in the past, carrying our hurts, guilts and fears. We have to face the pain we carry, lest we spend the rest of our lives running away from it or letting it run us. But the only place you'll ever meet the real is now-here. It's the hardest place for us to live, the place where we're most afraid to live, because it feels so empty and boring. Now-here almost always feels like nowhere, and that's precisely where we must go.

Desmond Tutu also talks about the dream of God.

Probably the "private dream", as Rohr puts it. is really the dream of the ego. When you think about it, that dream is so very made up. It's not real at all. And yet, we become so easily attached to it. Learning to be right here, right now, helps us see through the phoniness of it all.