Brené with Father Richard Rohr on Spirituality, Certitude, and Infinite Love, Part 1 of 2

Hi, everyone. I'm Brene Brown, and this is Unlocking Us. I don't even know where to start. This is part one of a two part series with someone who has had immeasurable influence on my life, and that is father Richard Rohr. He's a Franciscan friar and a teacher, an internationally recognized author and spiritual leader. He teaches primarily on incarnation mysticism, nondual consciousness, and contemplation with a particular emphasis on how these affect the social justice issues of our time. He is the author of so many books. I think 30 maybe 34. And I'll just be really honest with you. I just finished recording the two part series, and I'm just I have got no words. I just have feelings, big feelings, big feelings of love and deep feelings of spirituality and connection. Yeah. I'm so glad you're here for this. At Criminal, we've made it a tradition every December to dedicate an episode entirely to animals who are really going for it. And Tony, what happened when you pulled over? Nothing out of the ordinary until I saw the cat on the back of the roof behind the luggage carrier. Listen to our fifth annual animals episode on Criminal wherever you get your podcasts. Before we jump into the conversation, let me just give you kind of the official background on father Richard. He is a Franciscan friar and ecumenical teacher. He bears witness to the deep wisdom of Christian mysticism and tradition of action and contemplation. He is the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Really, he teaches how God's grace guides us to our birthright as human beings made of divine love. He is the author of a lot of the big books that you may know, the Universal Christ, the Wisdom Pattern, just this, and a book that was transformative for me, Falling Upward. Let's jump in. I have to take some deep breaths and get really centered because your work has meant so much to my life and my family. I have to start by saying thank you. Especially during the last couple of years, I find myself really digging into books that are tattered and torn and loved and highlighted and rereading things that you've written and saying, oh, are you sure? Are you sure uncertainty is supposed to be this hard? Well, I'm sorry. I didn't know you lived in Austin. I was just down there last month for a few days. Could've visited you. I didn't know. Man, I do. I split my time between Austin and Houston. So I see. You're from Texas? Fifth generation. Oh my. Okay. Oh my. I won't hold it against you. Please don't. And all of its beauty and all of its suffering. That's right. That's the right answer. I thought if you would be so generous today, I thought I would read a few of the quotes that have completely turned my world upside down, a few …