In his bestselling bookFalling Upward, Richard Rohr talked about ego (or the False Self) and how it gets in the way of spiritual maturity. But if there's a False Self, is there also a True Self? What is it? How is it found? Why does it matter? And what does it have to do with the spiritual journey? This book likens True Self to a diamond, buried deep within us, formed under the intense pressure of our lives, that must be searched for, uncovered, separated from all the debris of ego that surrounds it. In a sense True Self must, like Jesus, be resurrected, and that process is not resuscitation but transformation.

Immortal Diamond (whose title is taken from a line in a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem) explores the deepest questions of identity, spirituality, and meaning in Richard Rohr's inimitable style.

Fr. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest of the New Mexico Province. He founded the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1986, where he presently serves as founding director. Richard is the author of more than twenty books, an internationally known speaker, and a regular contributing writer forSojourners andTikkun magazines and the CAC's quarterly journal,Radical Grace. He is the author ofFalling Upward andFalling Upward: A Companion Journal.

Invitation: The Immortal Diamond of the True Self vii

Preface xvii

1 What Is The True Self? 1

2 What Is The False Self? 27

3 What Dies and Who Lives? 59

4 The Knife Edge of Experience 67

5 Thou Art That 95

6 If It Is True, It Is True Everywhere 127

7 Enlightenment at Gunpoint 139

8 Intimate with Everything 159

9 Love Is Stronger Than Death 175

Epilogue 187

Appendix A The True Self and the False Self 189

Appendix B A Mosaic of Metaphors 193

Appendix C Watching at the Tomb: Attitudes for Prayer 199

Appendix D Head into Heart: The Sacred Heart 203

Appendix E Adams Breathing: Praying from the Clay 207

Appendix F Twelve Ways to Practice Resurrection Now 211

Notes 213

Bibliography 231

The Author 237

Index 239