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The Therapy of a Public Life
Thirty years ago, Philip Rieff wrote a book entitled, The Triumph of the Therapeutic. In essence, he argued that today, in the Western world, so many people need psychological therapy
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The Ninety-Nine and the One
Throughout the years that I’ve been writing, I’ve received lots of criticism. Sometimes it’s bitter and mean-spirited and I tend, then, not to respond to it, believing that things are
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The Language of Silence
“Nothing resembles the language of God so much as does silence.” Meister Eckhard wrote those words. What do they mean? Among other things, they speak of a deep mystery. What
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The Miracle of Existence
While doing my doctoral thesis, I had the privilege of having as a mentor the distinguished Belgian philosopher-theologian, Jan Walgrave. One day, while discussing a point in philosophy, he asked
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Loneliness and God’s Pleasure
Eric Liddel, the Olympic gold medallist and runner whose story was told in the movie, Chariots of Fire, once made this comment: “When I run, I feel God’s pleasure.” That’s
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Getting and Not Getting the Secret
What’s life’s deep secret? Do we ever really understand life? Do we ever really get things right? What lies at the center of life? These are the deeper questions that
https://ronrolheiser.com/getting-and-not-getting-the-secret/
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Ultimate Consolation
The most singularly consoling doctrine in all of religion is the Christian belief that Christ descended into hell. Christ descended into hell. What is meant by that? There is an
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Searching for Bethlehem in the Soul
Nearly twenty years ago, the renowned educator, Allan Bloom, wrote a very provocative book entitled, The Closing of the American Mind. As its title suggests, this isn’t a book that
https://ronrolheiser.com/searching-for-bethlehem-in-the-soul/
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Growth Through Dark Nights
During my last years of seminary training, I attended a series of lectures given by a prominent Polish psychologist, Casmir Dabrowski, teaching at the time at the University of Alberta.
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Looking for Rest Amid the Pressures of Life
The poet, Rumi, once wrote: “What I want is to leap out of this personality And then sit apart from that leaping I’ve lived too long where I can be
https://ronrolheiser.com/looking-for-rest-amid-the-pressures-of-life/