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Title: The Spiral Staircase : My Climb out of Darkness by Karen Armstrong ISBN: 0-375-41318-9 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 02 March, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (26 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An amazing book-- from a great woman
Comment: I must say that there is something in this book for everyone. Karen Armstrong explores some of the deepest questions and longings of the human race today--- and throughout time, and draws from her own experience to bring greater levels of understanding.
Going from a woman who did not "find God" in the convent to almost completely disbelieving in God and back again to finding true spirituality and life, Karen Armstrong has an amazing story to tell, and she brings amazing philosophical and metaphysical insight.
At first it may seem as though Armstrong is completely against religion, as she swore she was at one time. But she is actually doing the opposite. She doesn't find God to being some mere Supreme Being up in the heavens, but also immanent in our world and "the ground of all being and in the depth of the human psyche" (last chapter)."
I've always wondered, what if God was greater than we imagined God to be? What if we can reach greater levels of growth as human beings in the world right here and now? What if all religions contained truth and all mythology was not simply based on human ignorance and stupidity? Thanks Karen Armstrong, for helping me to realize a little more that perhaps that is all not just wishful thinking. A great read for everyone!
Rating: 5
Summary: worth reading again and again
Comment: I read this book in a week, picking it up every spare moment I had. In dealing with her convent life and how it affected her once she left, she helped me understand better how the pre-Vatican church has continued to influence me. In speaking of the disappointments in her life, she helped me get a better grasp on how I have let the disappointments in my life affect me. Her courage to move on, take risks, and share her life is admitrable. In the last chapter, she puts together all she has learned, her struggles with God and apart from God, and the course of her life to sum up the essentials of religious/spiritual faith -- through compassion we empty ourselves and enable ourselves to be open to how God comes into our lives. Her conclusions will likely anger anyone who is convinced they have a corner on the truth, and will open the eyes of the many people who are sincerely seeking to understand their own lives. Her life story shows how she finally learned to be compassionate with herself and then with others. She deserves great praise for her honesty, lack of self-pity, and lucid writing.
Rating: 5
Summary: Always enlightening -- but ...
Comment: Karen Armstrong's work is always serious and thoughtful. However, in this case, she didn't really think hard enough. Her espousal of compassion as a personal religious vehicle to enlightenment is fine. Compassion is an appropriate individual (even societal) response to hunger, illness, disease, poverty, etc. It is insufficient as a response to evil. Perhaps Armstrong believes that human and social evils are all the result of a lack of compassion -- but she doesn't really address the fact that many people have both the will and the ability to simply ignore the Golden Rule and the claims of compassion. Are such people evil? If so, should they benefit from the compassion of others? If so, why? If not, why not?
While I share Armstrong's dislike of religious certainty, I believe our religious beliefs are important -- regardless of what set of beliefs a person holds. Armstrong wants to dismiss "belief" in favor of "practice" -- but beliefs help us to make sense of the things (like real evil) we encounter in the practice of our religion. They can help us answer such questions as those above, even if they remain only beliefs and not proven facts. I would be interested in seeing Armstrong address the question of evil in her next work.
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Title: Through the Narrow Gate : A Memoir of Spiritual Discovery by Karen Armstrong ISBN: 0312119038 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 November, 1994 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Karen Armstrong ISBN: 0345384563 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 09 August, 1994 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Buddha by Karen Armstrong ISBN: 0670891932 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 15 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Visions Of God : Four Medieval Mystics and Their Writings by KAREN ARMSTRONG ISBN: 0553351990 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 November, 1994 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: The Future of God: The Reclaiming of Spirituality's Mystical Roots/Cassette by Karen Armstrong ISBN: 1564553078 Publisher: Sounds True Pub. Date: February, 1995 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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