The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation

The Divine Dance is a wonderful, essential book that illuminates the very core of all reality. Many Christians do not realize that the heart of our faith—its most practical and truest essence—is our actual participation in the eternal, dynamic relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This theological truth has been central to my own faith for two decades, yet quality material on the subject is rare. Discovering this book felt like uncovering a profound spiritual treasure. I treated this volume less like a typical read and more like a devotional, focusing on just a few pages at a time to fully enjoy and internalize the material. I am truly grateful for this precious book.

Fr. Richard Rohr and Fr. Anthony De Mello (now deceased) are kindred spirits. Both are willing to look beyond the "rules" and "codes" of organized religion (Eastern and Western) to the underlying message of all deep spirituality: the love that is God (whatever that term may mean for you) is and has always been freely given to every person and everything in creation and is constantly flowing toward us from God's side - with no worthiness requirement or need to be religiously, politically or socially "correct." Our inability to experience this continuously flowing love, which is the deepest and most real essence of who God is and of who we are as very tiny parts of an ever-evolving and expanding universe, results either from unawareness (see De Mello's book, "Awareness") or from our uniquely human capacity to use our freedom to say "I refuse to acknowledge or take part in such freely given, constantly flowing love because it simply cannot be that easy; because if it is that easy, then I must love and accept myself as I am - including all of my own flaws - and I must also love and accept every other person and every other thing in same manner - without judgement about whether they are good enough, smart enough, kind enough, or of my political or spiritual or cultural views or not. If I am to remain in and be a part of the flow of this love, I must freely and fully receive it and transmit it, continuously. No exceptions." As Fr. Rohr points out, this is HARD work - much harder than following any type of strict religious or moral codes, which have always been developed by Ego-driven human minds to make our side (group, religion, etc.) correct and all of the others wrong. Just look at any strict fundamentalist views and the torture, exclusion and murder that have resulted, both in the past and in the world today (as Crosby, Sills & Nash sang so aptly in "Cathedral": "So many people have died in the name of God that I can't believe it all."). Fr. Rohr writes that pure, freely given and continuous love, which is the essence of God, simply cannot be understood by the rational, judging, Ego-driven mind; it can only be EXPERIENCED and then acted upon in and through our relationship with ourselves, with others, and with all of creation. This view of reality leads to self-acceptance and acceptance of others, even when we disagree with them or have been hurt by them. That's why the message of this book is so important, particularly as our world seems to be moving more and more toward positions of "my way or the highway" in all things religious, cultural and political. "The Divine Dance" will challenge you to see yourself and all of reality in a new, extremely freeing and loving way. It will also challenge your beliefs about identifying who's "right," who's "wrong," who's "in" and who's "out." If you're up for that challenge, you'll love this book. If you already have this all figured out and you "know" that your way is the only correct way, then you may want to pass on this book. It'll probably just piss you off.

For most of my life I was raised in faith traditions that were mostly about externals: actions and words ...not about a transformational inner life. Lots of memorizing "The Word", and practicing whatever tenets of a particular church might consider acceptable and as identifiable as a fraternal club handshake. Then when I was faced with what seemed like unbearable challenges in my own life, it became vital to my sanity and survival to "own" my faith instead of simply competing for first place among my peers for being the holiest appearing of them all. It wasn't THAT dramatic, but I desperately needed to re-assess what I actual did believe, and rid myself of the toxic burdon of man made dogmas that had poisoned my heart. Among the changes, was the concept and understanding of my/our placement in Christ ... as part of the Divine Dance that is the well addressed topic of this book. Throughout scripture there are such confirmations as our being accepted in The Beloved, Christ being the firstborn among many brothers and sisters .... and many, many more. All of them pointing to the reality that our acceptance and eternal love in the heart of our Father has nothing to do with how good or bad we are, how many religious "buzz phrases" we have memorized .... but simply because of Who HE is .. and his provision for our placement as sons and daughters in and through Christ. I looked very much forward to the release of this book, and in every way so far I am loving it. Because of the depth of the thoughts that are written, I am grateful that the chapters are short ... enabling me to read a short portion of the book each night (when I do a lot of my reading) ... and then "tink on these things" .. and assimilate them into my being. I am a careful and slow reader (Lectio?) and also when there is a book that has a message well worth reading and whose message I seek to be a catalyst for transformation in my own life, I read it several times ... as I will this one. In my opinion this isn't a book of "fluff", but one that has substantial depth and insight. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is serious about his/her faith journey. I believe it will truly "remove the scales from one's eyes" and totally change the way our life can and should be iived. Will Byrd, osb

The Divine Dance - by Richard Rohr If you’re wondering what’s happening to Christianity, the increasing volume of discord between progressive and conservative Christians on both sides displaying “non Christian” behavior then this is the book for you. Is it “liberal theology“ to suggest that God is mysterious and complex and loves us despite ourselves? Does the imagry of how we see God matter? Is it possible to limit God by misunderstanding who God is, or are we simply limiting ourselves, in the moment. Where is the convergence between Holy Scripture and science? Is the the culture of the world limiting the potential of Gods work through people? Assuming God’s sovereignty, while this may be true, it would have to be intentional and likely temporary. The lack of unity is not an irregularity within any faith, let alone Christianity. Rohr writes: “Culture is built on empire, towards the aggrandizement of the group, towards making itself number one—this creates the interior conflict that scripture already describes as the conflict between the world (the system) and the spirit.” In another book, “Prayer - Does It Make Any Difference?” Phillip Yancey, another of my favorite faith writers writes: “Jesus knows the heartbreak of unanswered prayers. His longest prayer, after all, centers in a request for unity, “that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” The slightest acquaintance with church history (at recent count 34,000 distinct denominations and sects) shows how far that prayer remains from being answered.” What if our discoard over issues like holiness, right to life, right to choose, sexual promiscuity and identity, and the ideas of charity and freedom, inalienable rights, grace and punishment could all be reconciled? Rohr, and others he has researched, read and describes in this mind expanding book, have been recognizing the complexity of God, and the holy emphasis on the power of loving relationships over substance as seen and reflected in the understanding of the Holy Trinity since ancient times. This is not a new idea. Nor is it inconsistent with the possibility and potential of a new and powerful spiritually based world view. In his book Richard Rohr seeks to help unlock the Trinity with all its dynamic complexity, as God is modeling for humanity a path forward for Christianity. What’s holding us back? “The shape of the cosmos—quasar to quark—is Triune.”

Franciscan priest Richard Rohr considers The Divine Dance the most important book he has ever written. I concur that this is indeed a very important book. His thesis is that whatever is going on in God is like dancing, a flowing of life. Knowledge of God is participatory; it is knowing from within, from participating in the dance. Sin is stopping the flow of the dance. Moreover, he says, “What physicists and contemplatives alike are confirming is that the foundational nature of reality is relational; everything is in relationship with everything else” (page 69). Being a psychiatrist, I would add that behavioral science and neuroscience are confirming the same. The book contains important take home messages. Among my favorites are the following: Messages about God: “Whatever is going on in God is a flow, a radical relatedness, a perfect communion between Three [Father, Son and Holy Spirit for a Christian]—a circle dance of Love. And God is not just a dancer; God is the dance itself” (page 27). “… God … is actually inter-being …” (page 82). God loves you, not because you are good, but because God is good (page 110). “The cross is the standing icon and image of God, showing us that … God is in the suffering with us” (page 132). “Jesus became incarnate to reveal the image of the invisible God” (page 174). Messages about the universe and us: “Our starting place was always original goodness, not original sin” (page 32). “Personhood is not a static notion, but an entirely dynamic and relational one … our original identity in God. All human personhood implies a process of coming to be in love! Sin is every refusal to move in the direction of our deepest identity as love” (page 77). “…this ‘whole creation itself … [is being] brought into the same glorious freedom as the children of God’ and is ‘groaning in one great act of giving birth’” (page 114). “Humans change in the process of love-mirroring, and not by paying any price or debt” (page 132). “Creation just keeps unfolding …” (page 147). The book ends with a quote from Catherine of LaCugna: “The very nature of God, therefore, is to seek out the deepest possible communion and friendship with every last creature on this earth” (page 194). An appendix describes seven practices for experiencing the Trinity. I highly recommend this book for people of all faiths who seek inspiration for living in our current time of increasing interconnectedness.

I read this book because its author is Richard Rohr and because I got a chance to receive a review copy from Mike Morrell. Morrell is a busy guy working as Communications Director at Presence International and some other places. Mike helped Rohr convert lectures into book form. The result is a book to be savored and read repeatedly. Topics from the book have shown up several times in my recent talks at Unity of North Houston. The book isn’t arranged in chapters but discusses the Trinity in an ever-tightening spiral. Er, uh maybe a dance? Viewing our relationship with God as a dance is refreshing for me. In New Thought, we often remove the mystery of the relationship to our detriment. Rohr challenges all our dual thinking and somehow make the idea of three become a unifying thought. He looks at Eastern Christianity and even a bit farther east to our Perennial Philosophy brethren—Buddhists. He writes, "Don't start with the One and try to make it into Three, but start with the Three and see that this is the deepest nature of the One" (43). Rohr leads us to believe that the dance with God is the basis of everything that is and extends this spiritual idea to our politics and relationships. As a Unity minister, I appreciate Rohr’s dedication to the Perennial Philosophy and find most of his work blends well my theology. I have read most of Richard Rohr’s books and listened to many of his lectures. This book is the most important of his books in my library. Note: I received this book from SpeakEasy in exchange for my review. Before I finished the first 50 pages, I bought my copy.

I'm already a Richard Rohr admirer from reading his daily meditations, so I was excited to start this book. I checked it out at the library while I was waiting for my order to arrive. I hope non-catholics won't be put off that the author is a catholic priest. It's simply about God's love for all of Creation, and especially for humanity, all of us. No one is excluded. It's oriented around the Holy Trinity; Father, Son, Holy Spirit, but Rohr isn't attempting to convert anyone to Catholicism or any other religious denomination. He draws heavily from Scripture from both the Old and New Testaments. For anyone wanting to connect or reconnect with your God, try this book. It's great news for anyone who was taught to be afraid of God and His wrath toward sinners, or are weary of just sitting in church and not being inspired. God's people don't have to be afraid anymore. With due respect to those who diligently trained us in our beliefs, this isn't 'Religion Class'; Nor is it anti-religion. It's about the loving, merciful God, the Mystery of one God in three Persons, the Holy Trinity, and we're all invited to join in this 'Divine Dance', a life-changing experience. One thing: this isn't the easiest read. Sometimes, I've had to go over a page or paragraph again to fully understand, and there is the occasional ten-dollar word; but please don't be put off by any of that. And there's no rush to finish it. It's not a scholarly work intended just for Theologians,

Open your eyes to the beauty of relationship and dance with the Trinity. The mystery unfolds through Richard Rohr’s wisdom