Our mature years are characterised by a kind of bright sadness. Life’s dilemmas are now resolved not by criticism, force or logical resolution, but by falling into a larger “brightness.” Hopkins called it “the dearest freshness deep down things.”
There is still darkness in the second half of life – in fact maybe even more. But there is now a changed capacity to hold it creatively and with less anxiety. It is what John of the Cross called “luminous darkness,” and it explains the simultaneous coexistence of deep suffering and intense joy in the saints.
RICHARD ROHR
Falling Upward (Jossey-Bass)
Next step: A lighter backpack