Lexie Carroll’s Reviews > Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life > Status Update
Lexie Carroll
is on page 63 of 199
The terms Heaven & Hell refer firstly to PRESENT experiences. Heaven is a state of union both here & later- everyone is in Heaven when they have plenty of room for communion & no need for exclusion. The more we exclude the more hellish & lonely our existence is. No one is in hell unless they choose a final aloneness & separation. It ends up being about desire; we get what we wish for-‘on Earth as it is in Heaven’
— Aug 16, 2026 02:39PM
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Lexie’s Previous Updates
Lexie Carroll
is on page 78 of 199
In the 2nd Half of Life, we do not have strong & final opinions about everything, every event, or most people, as much as we allow things & people to delight us, or sadden us, & truly influence us. We no longer need to change or adjust other people to be happy ourselves. Ironically, we are, more than ever before, in a position to change people- but we do not NEED to, and that makes all the difference.
— 13 hours, 21 min ago
Lexie Carroll
is on page 72 of 199
“I must sadly admit that I am still rather impatient with people who do not see things this way. It took me a long time to get here myself, so I have learned to be more patient & compassionate over time. I don’t need to push the river as much now, or own the river, or get everybody in my precise river. Nor do others have to name the river the same way I do in order for me to trust them or their goodwill.”
— 13 hours, 30 min ago
Lexie Carroll
is on page 71 of 199
People who are so certain always seem, like Hamlet’s Queen, to “protest too much” & try too hard. (It is probably necessary to eliminate most doubt when we are young- doing so is a good survival technique. But such worldviews are not true- and they are not wisdom. To hold the full mystery of life is always to endure its other half, which is the equal mystery of death & doubt.
— 13 hours, 35 min ago
Lexie Carroll
is on page 63 of 199
Jesus says we must become like a little child (Matt. 18:3) in response to the egotistical and ambitious question of the apostles (“Who among us is the greatest?”). We may be surprised & disappointed by what it means that our faith is “built on the faith of the apostles”- they barely ever got the point and seem as thoroughly foolish as we are. But God still used them- like us, they were little children too.
— Aug 16, 2026 02:19PM
Lexie Carroll
is on page 61 of 199
“It is the whole of nature, extending from the beginning to the end, that constitutes the one image of God Who Is.”
-St. Gregory of Nyssa (330-395), “On the Creation of Man”
— Aug 16, 2026 01:27PM
-St. Gregory of Nyssa (330-395), “On the Creation of Man”
Lexie Carroll
is on page 59 of 199
We are created with an inner drive & restlessness that sends all of us looking for true self (whether we know it or not)- on to the risks & promises of a second half of life. Numbing addictions & mindless distractions are the real sins- the shape of evil is SUPERFICIALITY rather than cliché ‘hot sins’. God is found in the DEPTHS of things (even of our fallings/failures). Sin is to stay on the surface of things.
— Aug 16, 2026 01:24PM
Lexie Carroll
is on page 54 of 199
Jesus’s talk of “losing your life” to save it (Matt.16:25) can be thought of as losing the false self. Your false self is your role, title, & personal image- largely a creation of your own mind & attachments. It will & must die in exact correlation to how much you want the Real. Such necessary suffering will always feel like dying, which topic (dying) should be addressed by spiritual teachers- if they are good.
— Aug 15, 2026 10:39PM
Lexie Carroll
is on page 52 of 199
When Jesus talks about “hating” family (Luke 14:26), he is undoing the 4th commandment (which is necessary for the 1st half of life). Many people are kept from mature religion because of the pious, immature or rigid expectations of their first-half-of-life family. It takes a huge push, self-doubt & some degree of separation for people to find their own soul/destiny apart from what Mom & Dad wanted them to be/do.
— Aug 15, 2026 10:29PM
Lexie Carroll
is on page 51 of 199
So the church is both my greatest intellectual & moral problem, and my most consoling Home. She is both pathetic whore, and frequent bride. In a sense the church itself is the next cross that Jesus is crucified on, as we limit, mangle, and try to control the always too-big message. All the churches seem to crucify Jesus again & again by their inability to receive his whole body, but they often resurrect him too.
— Aug 15, 2026 09:19AM
Lexie Carroll
is on page 47 of 199
Carl Jung believed that so much unnecessary suffering comes into the world because people will not accept the ‘legitimate suffering’ that comes from being human. He wrote that neurotic behavior is usually the result of refusing that legitimate suffering. Ironically, this refusal of the necessary pain of being human brings to the person 10 times more suffering in the long run.
— Aug 15, 2026 09:11AM