“Good God, keep me forever inside of your abundant and generous flow of mercy, toward me, through me, in me, and from me.”

– from Wondrous Encounters: scripture for Lent, Richard Rohr

“A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that’s just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it’s a joke.”

• Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or, Part I

The saints and the Scriptures tell us there is no true wisdom without faith. Consider this:

1. We start with information, a combination of facts and data
2. We place the data in larger frames, making more connections, and it becomes “knowledge
3. We analyze it, and it becomes “intelligence.”
4. We come to insight inside that intelligence, and we have “intuition,” which is the source of most genius.
5. We connect our single field of discipline with other disciplines, and we have the beginnings of “understanding” the unified field.
6. We allow all of this “to rest in the largest conversation possible about things” and accept that reality is both knowable and unknowable mystery. while still honoring all the previous levels of knowledge. We can now see things non-dualistically. “Transcend and Include” is now our style.

Everything belongs. This is “wisdom”!

How do you move from one stage to the next? By letting go of total reliance upon the previous stage. To keep growing, you must endure darkness and self-doubt. The person who refuses to allow darkness and self-doubt will never move on.

– Richard Rohr