Writing 12 years after the book’s original publication, Richard Rohr shares his happiness at the positive response to Falling Upward. He feels that it was so well-received because American culture desperately needs this guidance. He clarifies that transitioning to the second half of life could occur from one event, or, more commonly, a series of small moments during mid-life.

He believes that people in contemporary American culture struggle with paradox and nuance and crave order, clarity, and certainty. For this reason people also struggle with understanding Jesus’s message, which emerged from a culture of storytelling and parables. Dualistic thinkers will critique paradox as “fuzzy” thinking, when really it is just nuanced. Paradoxes are woven into the fabric of our lives. For instance, we might feel annoyed by someone or not like aspects of them, but still love them deeply. Similarly, we can love and forgive ourselves when we make mistakes without caving to laziness or excuses.

Rohr feels that contemplation is a valuable practice of considering things until they are beautiful, and learning how to accept what we encounter. Now in the final years of his life, Rohr recognizes that everything is always moving, transitory, and dying. Looking back on his arguments about suffering, Rohr feels “phony,” stating that suffering is necessary because his suffering has not been very severe compared to many people’s.

He revisits the idea of sin and critiques the church’s framing of sin. He argues that sin is not “offending God” or making Jesus suffer, contrary to what he was taught growing up. Indeed, he argues that this is organized religions’ attempt at controlling people through shame. Instead, people should understand sin to be a “collective illusion” which helps them ignore the harm they are causing. For instance, racism, militarism, and capitalism are collective illusions. 

Rohr argues that while culture is incredibly persuasive, it is not always right; Jesus himself was skeptical of following cultural norms. Rohr remembers working in a small Indigenous village in New Mexico and a Black community in a disadvantaged part of Ohio. Both of these experiences helped him see the limitations of capitalism, as people there were more loving and generous, and less status-conscious. The author concludes his Afterword by reminding the reader that the book is a “call to being” rather than to action, asking them to change themselves first so their service is genuine.

In Rohr’s Afterword he adds to his work’s argument by reframing sin from a personal offense to God to a “collective illusion.” By relying on his own observations, rather than referring to specific scriptures, the author’s message may seem unsupported to some believers while intriguing to others. This additional discussion on sin leaves the reader with food for thought about their own weaknesses. By defining sin in this way, the author presents cultural norms as potentially problematic, as they bake sin into people’s everyday lives and attitudes, normalizing it or even lauding it. He explains, “Sin always has a very seemingly heroic definition, like hoarding money for the sake of it, then calling it prudence or common sense. These are self-serving illusions, which can only be held strongly by the individual if they reach a level of validation from the whole culture” (107). By pointing to capitalism, militarism, and racism as examples of sin, the author is more pointedly political. This challenging conclusion to his book asks the reader to question culture and the habits and attitudes it has entrenched in their lives.

Chapter Lessons

• Seeking order and clarity prevents people from understanding the paradoxes of life
• Sin often manifests as “collective illusions”
• Be critical of cultural norms and how they might tolerate or encourage sin

Reflection Questions

• Rohr speaks of the “collective illusions” that lead to sin. What are some of the “collective illusions” in your own culture? How do you conform to, or resist, these illusions in your own life?
• Rohr speaks of how people sometimes mask sin by defining it as something else, such as disguising greed by calling it prudence. Which sins or flaws in your own life might you be disguising from yourself or others? What could you do to more openly acknowledge and work through these flaws?
• What cultural attitudes have you questioned or rejected? Why?