Richard Rohr: Gratuitous Goodness in an Age of Outrage

Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

Tami Simon

Religion, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The prophets and mystics of the Judeo-Christian tradition each had their ways of bringing attention to the hypocrisies and injustices of their particular period in history. Here in the year 2025, as we navigate our own time of disruption and upheaval, how can we as individuals raise our voices and become the compassionate, conscious change agents our world so desperately needs? In this podcast, Tami Simon speaks with Francisan friar and ecumenical teacher Richard Rohr about his new book, The Tears of Things, and what we can learn from the “sacred revolutionaries” who came before us.

Tune in to explore: the prophet’s mission and “making good trouble”; self-critical thinking (and how it’s unknown to most major institutions); sacred criticism and the revelation of the shadow; the paradigm of order, disorder, and reorder; outrage, cosmic sadness, and unlimited praise; using anger to cover up sadness; grief work and “getting to the hallelujah”; discovering the foundation of hope; contemplative thinking; conversion and transformation; opening to grace; letting go of control; why “what we don’t want to see is the problem”; waking up from our collective illusion (especially around power and control); living in a deceit-allowing culture; the word “evil”; an ever-present sense of goodness in the world; holding the tension of opposing truths; gratuitous goodness; realizing a joy that cannot be taken from you; the prophet Jeremiah and the Book of Lamentations; why the opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty; acting from the highest levels of motivation; and more.

Note: This episode originally aired on Sounds True One, where these special episodes of Insights at the Edge are available to watch live on video and with exclusive access to Q&As with our guests. Learn more at join.soundstrue.com.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, friends. My name's Tammy Simon and I'm the founder of Sounds True, and I want to welcome you to the Sounds True podcast, Insights at the Edge. I also want to take a moment to introduce you to Sounds True's new membership community and digital platform. It's called Sounds True One.
0:20.6	Sounds True One features original, premium, transformational
0:24.7	docu series, community events, classes to start your day and relax in the evening, special
0:32.6	weekly live shows, including a video version of Insights at the Edge with an after-show community
0:40.8	question-and-answer session with featured guests. I hope you'll come join us, explore,
0:47.5	come have fun with us, and connect with others. You can learn more at join.soundstrue.com.
0:54.5	I also want to take a moment and introduce you to the Sounds True Foundation, our nonprofit, that creates equitable access to transformational tools and teachings.
1:07.3	You can learn more at SoundsTrueFoundation.org.
1:11.2	And in advance, thank you for your support.
1:15.2	In this episode of Insights at the Edge, my guest is Richard Roar.
1:20.9	Richard Roar is a globally recognized Franciscan friar and ecumenical teacher
1:27.1	whose work bears witness to the deep wisdom of Christian mysticism.
1:33.3	I'm so excited that you'll have this chance to hear and connect with Richard Roar.
1:39.3	My heart flows over every time I'm with him.
1:43.3	He's the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation
1:47.8	in Albuquerque, New Mexico, an educational nonprofit dedicated to introducing seekers to the
1:55.6	contemplative Christian path of transformation. He's the author of numerous books, including the New York
2:03.1	Times bestseller, The Universal Christ. With Sounds True, he's created an audio teaching series called
2:12.3	The Art of Letting Go, Living the Wisdom of St. Francis. And now he's written a new book. It's called
2:21.7	The Tears of Things, Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage. Richard, welcome. Great to be
2:32.0	with you. It's wonderful to be back. Thank you. It's been too long. Forgive my voice. It's aged a lot.
2:40.0	It's a little crackly, but lead me where I would love to go.
	...

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