Customer Reviews

The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness (Walker Large Print Books)

5 star:		(83)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Karen Armstrong is -- here's the word again -- an amazing woman. Having read all of her other books with the exception of her autobiographies, I envisioned a solid academic, with cadres of graduate students pulling together masses of data for her review. No -- Armstrong is a theological autodidact! Her personal religious and spiritual journey has, to paraphrase one of her favorites, T. S. Eliot, said, led her to where she started only to know it for the first time. The God she ran from as a young adult has come to greet her in a very different form -- but I'll leave the specifics of this reverse quest for you to discover for yourself.

Where her earlier work was clever and provocative, Armstrong has matured into one of the most thoughtful liberal religious writers of our day. She recognizes that the world cannot be healed without dialogue, and that you cannot have dialogue without running the risk that YOU may be changed. "It is not enough to understand other people's beliefs, rituals, and ethical practices intellectually," Armstrong says. "You have to feel them too and make an imaginative, though disciplined, identification." (p. 290.

As one might expect from the breadth of her writings, Armstrong draws from the wells of myriad religious traditions, identifying what this reviewer believes to be the enduring truth, the thread that unities all genuine religious searching. She learns from her own varied experiences, grows from adversity (e.g. a failed PhD thesis; years of undiagnosed epilepsy; and, of course, her much-noted years as a Catholic religious) and confronts both herself and her culture with unfailing honesty.

Although Armstrong is far from the end of her journey (one hopes), she has adopted a theology of orthopraxy, which draws her into authentic living, honoring and accepting both weaknesses and strengths. Armstrong attempts to ground her life in the conviction that "compassion is a habit of mind that is transforming. . . You have to be prepared to extend your compassionate interests where there is no hope of a return." This reviewer is particularly delighted by her conclusion, based on her exhaustive research of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, that "fundamentalist movements distort the tradition they are trying to defend by emphasizing the belligerent elements in their tradition and overlooking the insistent and crucial demand for compassion." (p. 295)

These points and many others, emerge in the theological commentary that forms the final chapter in this book. This chapter alone could form the basis for several month's active discussion.

If you read no other spiritual or religious work this year -- make it this chapter. But be warned -- Armstrong's honest exploration can be dangerous to your complacency!

I recently read Karen Armstrong's "Jerusalem" and had a strong urge to learn more about her, which itself was an unusual reaction for me on finishing a work of general non-fiction. I therefore was thrilled to find that she had already written an autobiography, "Through the Narrow Gate," which ends with her decision to leave the convent. When I finished "Through the Narrow Gate," I wanted to know more. So I was beyond thrilled when I went online the day I finished that book and discovered that "The Sprial Staircase" was scheduled for release in another two weeks or so. I am not a dispassionate reviewer of this book; I felt as if she had written this book just for me. Something in my life has been leading me to Karen Armstrong's life and work, and the more I research the more it seems that I am not alone.

This book is easily the most important religious autobiography I know of since Thomas Merton's "Seven Storey Mountain," and I suspect that the analogy between the titles is deliberate. I think Armstrong knows now that her life story and work are taking on some just-dawning importance in the story of the "modern" world, East and West. It would not surprise me if this book ultimately takes a place alongside Augustine's "Confessions."

Many readers will find that "The Spiral Staircase" helps set them free -- free to find their own path, free to practice a religious tradition, free to be self-emptying and compassonate -- and not to be enslaved by ideas, beliefs, or certainty. Armstrong's story is a guide to living our humanity, which is all we can aspire to anyhow, by embracing our own suffering and the suffering and humanity of all people. The feeling I have on closing this book for the first of what will be many times is: "Let's stop the nonsense and get on with it." If you are fortunate enough to find "The Spiral Staircase" along your path, then I encourage you, with apologies to Augustine: "Take it up and read it."

Karen Armstrong's first memoir, Through the Narrow Gate, ended not long after she acted upon her decision to leave the convent where, after seven years, she had become a skeptical nun. The Spiral Staircase pick up her intellectual and religious questing and brings her devoted readers up to date on the result of her explorations into the nature of God and his/her/? place in our world and lives.
Armstrong garnered many degrees and awards as she pursued a solitary, scholarly life. While she still harbors bitter feelings about how she was treated (and NOT treated, for her epilepsy) within the convent, her life since she left the cloister has been devoted to a style of intellectual live that bears some deep similarity to the routines followed in religious orders - and the irony of this similarity does not escape her. On her lifelong quest, she found herself straying far from orthodox Christianity, delving into the teachings of both Buddhism and Islam - and she has written books on both subjects.
Here's the interesting thing: Lots of modern authors who write memoirs focus with near obsession on their illnesses, disabilities, eating disorders, depression, etc. Armstrong discusses all these issues, too, but while other memorists build them up, Armstrong seems to want to minimize them. What interests her are things she is capable of, not those she is incapable of, and her book's impact is all the richer for her minimalist approach.
This intensely personal book is also an exceedingly solitary book. The only relationship that seems to matter for Karen Armstrong is her relationship with God, a being who, in her view, probably does not exist.
This doesn't stop her from ultimately deciding (with characteristic pragmatism and without retreating from her skepticism), that leading a religious life is worth it, because "Faith is not about belief but about practice...The laws of religion are true because they are life-enhancing."
That's good enough for me.

Before I read "The Spiral Staircase," I had read "A History of God" and "The Battle for God," both by Armstrong. I had found both of those earlier books very helpful in my own religious journey, because of their intellectual rigor, their underlying respect for religious practice, and their moderate tone. I was therefore excited about reading about Armstrong's own religious and personal journey.

So I knew before even starting "The Spiral Staircase" that Armstrong was a gifted writer who could strongly influence her readers. I was astonished and inspired to read that a person who had experienced so much oppression, disappointment, and illness as a young adult, and received so little help from religious authorities and medical professionals, could emerge as such a wise, compassionate writer about religion. Although Armstrong often worried about her ability to sustain herself financially, medically, and psychologically, she always took advantage of the educational and professional opportunities offered to her, and worked hard to do the best job she could. She bravely and honestly faced her own spiritual and medical crises, and did not succumb to passivity or despair.

Another aspect of the book that impressed me was Armstrong's willingness disclose her personal disappointments and embarrasments. This sharing of her private life gave power to her book, because it showed that these discouraging events did not unduly hinder her personal and professional growth.

"The Spiral Staircase" is a courageous account of a courageous life.

Karen Armstrong is one of the most respected writers on religion today. Her books have served as guides to the three major monotheistic religions. She has also written movingly of her years as a nun and her failed attempts at adjusting to the cloistered life ("Through the Narrow Gate"). In "The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness," she writes about her adjustment to the world outside the convent and about how she came to be who she is today. This is her second book on the subject ("Beginning the World," published in 1983, is now out of print), and, as she states in her introduction, she considers her first book "a mistake" and not entirely true to what happened in her life. Thus, many years later, she has corrected the record by writing "The Spiral Staircase."

Armstrong takes her title from T.S. Eliot's poem, "Ash Wednesday." Its image of the poet climbing a spiral staircase and coming around again to a new place, a new level of understanding that is yet the same is very effective in Armstrong's hands. Her life, as she describes it, was one of trying to make a place for herself, striking out in new direction,s finding doors "slammed in her face" and yet coming around again to a place where she belongs. Before she established herself as a serious writer on religion, Armstrong variously tried academia, high school teaching, and television work. In all of her attempts, she was undermined by what eventually turned out to be a long-standing and worsening case of frontal lobe epilepsy. Her symptoms had been dismissed by the nuns as personal weakness and ignored by several psychotherapists. Only when it was finally diagnosed and properly treated could Armstrong come to terms with herself spiritually and emotionally and achieve some peace. Armstrong's discussions of this and her sense of distance from the world around her are both fascinating and moving. "The Spiral Staircase" is an illuminating read for anyone interested in the effects of a chronic untreated seizure disorder on the psyche.

To me, the most interesting part of the book was the last third. Much of the first two thirds had been about how Armstrong had lost her faith, changing from a woman with a great longing to experience the divine to one who was convinced that it didn't exist. The last section concerned how, as she was exposed to the theology and practice of various faiths, she gradually got her own faith back, although in a slightly different form. As Armstrong notes, the three monotheistic religions agree that God transcends any human attempts at categorization She began to see the similarities between religions and to see faith less as unquestioning belief in an objective set of facts about God more as practice which leads both to an experience of the Divine within the human psyche and to compassion in our experience of the world.. There is much wisdom in this approach,and my description does justice to neither Armstrong's discussion nor the religious traditions on which she draws. "The Spiral Staircase" is a beautiful book, and one that should be read by all in search of the Divine in their own lives.

Karen Armstrong's book could be read and analyzed as a text itself. At first the text seems a bit dry. Armstrong is, after all, a true British lady. The style reminds me of other British-empire women, such as Jill Ker Conway. It's a book that demands and rewards close reading, preferably repeated readings over time.

I see Spiral Staircase first as a series of ironies. Armstrong clearly was harmed by her stifling convent, but her post-convent encounters with medical and academic systems seem remarkably similar. Her convent superiors believed her "fits" were emotionally based, but so did a series of psychiatrists and physicians.

In her first book, Through the Narrow Gate, and again here, Armstrong remembers the time her superior ordered her to practice using a sewing machine without a needle -- a pointless exercise to instill obedience. Yet at Oxford, Armstrong invested three years writing a thesis that would be failed by a prejudiced but powerful examiner. There were no safeguards in the system to prevent a student from embarking on a topic that would be judged inadequate, and even a free-thinking dame valued maintaining the Oxford tradition over righting an injustice.

A final irony is that Armstrong's final career was probably made possible by her earlier series of "wrong" choices. Her first book and her experience as a nun probably gave her the "platform" that publishers require for nonfiction.

And the experience of old-fashioned convents seems to have brought about many benefits, judging by the success of many ex-nuns. One nun I knew many years ago (who claimed her order was far more enlightened!) pointed out that novitiate training and discipline create a confident, poised woman. Even if she abandons her order and her religion, she's ready to run anything from a convent kitchen to a Fortune 50 corporation.

Armstrong's book also illustrates a career path that's far more typical than many career counselors would admit. Her spiral path, which I call a "winding road" in my own articles, shows how serendipity often shapes careers. Armstrong took risks and accepted jobs that developed her skills and created a network. She sees convent, academia, teaching, and television as failures, yet each contributed a piece to her ultimate career mosaic.

And parallel to her career quest, she's exploring new ways to think about religion. An epileptic child benefits from religion without beliefs. She discovers Judaism and Islam. Don't miss her quote on pages 270-271: "I have discovered the religious quest is not about discovering 'the truth' or 'the meaning of life' but about living as intensely as possible here and now."

You can respond with an "Amen!" or "You bet!" Either would fit the spirit of this thoughtful, worthwhile book.

Karen Armstrong speaks to the seekers - seekers of truth, seekers of wisdom, and those who are engaged in a search for God. It's a given that we learn from the lives of others. Yet few have experienced this author's profound spiritual journey and been able to share it so articulately.

It is not that her powerful story needs added luster for it stands alone. Yet, hearing this reading in her voice does very much enrich the listener's experience. In addition, it is well worth replaying - a journey one would wish to hear related again and again.

For those not familiar with her best-selling hardcover book, Ms. Armstrong spent 7 years in a Roman Catholic convent. She left that protected place in 1969, deeply disappointed that she had not found God there. The world she reentered was vastly changed, and she fell prey to panic attacks and inexplicable seizures - enough to terrify the bravest soul.

She turned to psychiatry for help but that was a dead-end; her search for work was fruitless. At last, in 1976, it was found that she had epilepsy and she received appropriate care.

Next, she turned to writing and an exploration of faiths other than Christianity, much to the benefit of a world anxious for words of reassurance. She is not only a role model but a splendid teacher as well. All who listen to her words are her beneficiaries.

- Gail Cooke

Unlike many books about faith, religion, and spirituality, this book gave me new, transformative insights that are helping me to live a more meaningful, caring life.

Perhaps she was fated to fail - in the traditional sense - as a religious person, by her capacity and drive to feel and think deeply about the fundamental nature of life. However, it is as a result of this strength that Karen Armstrong has allowed herself to come face to face with the essence of God. She has asked the hardest questions about religion and faith, and has found answers that ring true with her deepest intuition and intellect.

In "The Spiral Staircase," she describes how she began to move toward this understanding as she left the convent and eventually the Catholic Church. Through study and experience, she came to believe that, "If you slavishly follow somebody else's ideas, you will be impoverished and impaired." This belief pushed her to find a new way of thinking and a new way of being. She found that, "... the religious quest is not about discovering `the truth' or `the meaning of life' but about living as intensely as possible here and now."

In the end, it is all about empathy. Amidst her intense study of all world religions, she found that, "If your understanding of the divine made you kinder, more empathetic, and impelled you to express this sympathy in concrete acts of loving-kindness, this was a good theology. But if your notion of God made you unkind, belligerent, cruel, or self-righteous, or if it led you to kill in God's name, it was bad theology. Compassion was the litmus test...." How beautifully simple!

These revelations resonate deeply with me as does her way of learning and growing. Her writing is clear and her approach is considered and humble. I am thankful that she has chosen to spend her life expanding her understanding and sharing her enlightenment with the rest of us.

Highly recommended!

As a sort of sequel to her first excellent memoir, Through The Narrow Gate, Karen Armstrong now describes her post-convent life in The Spiral Staircase.
After leaving the convent Armstrong became, basically an atheist.
She felt that she was done with God.
She knew almost nothing of the changed world she was entering, and she was tormented by panic attacks and inexplicable seizures. Her struggle against despair was fueled by a string of discouragements -- failed spirituality, doctorate and jobs, fruitless dealings with psychiatrists -- but finally, in 1976, she was diagnosed with epilepsy and given proper treatment.
The outside world did have something invaluable to offer Karen Armstrong. Freedom.
Freedom to explore her potential as a writer, which is what she would later come to understand as her true vocation, and place in the world. Through many circuitous events and experiences, Karen re-entered the personal quest for spiritual understanding by way of what can be termed "comparative theology."
Focusing her studies on the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, her own true inner story began to emerge. In her writing she experienced the moments of transcendence that had eluded her during her years of intense nunnery-ness.
And the world has been the richer for the wonderful books that Karen Armstrong has produced, and continues to produce. She has become one of the world's foremost religious scholars, her work having been translated now into more than forty languages.
Her memoirs are among the most gripping and hopeful of life histories I have ever read.

I love this comment that has been made concerning The Spiral Staircase:
"Opening this book is like sitting down for coffee on a first date with someone who is interesting and odd. Your conversation becomes unexpectedly intimate: painful tales of bafflement and illness, gleaming crystals of self-discovery and joy. By the time you get up from the table, you have fallen in love."
--Rabbi Arthur Waskow, author of Godwrestling-Round 2: Ancient Wisdom, Future Paths.

I came across this title in a women's magazine book review section. Something about the synopsis intrigued me, and I bought a copy. I was so impressed by Ms Armstrong's writing style, use of language, and her compelling honesty in describing her experiences that I read the book in less than a week. She has a luminous clarity of mind that drew me into the nightmarish world of the convent and on to her self-searching quest for identity and scholarship. Hers is a story of survival and transcendence. I look forward to reading her books on Islam and Buddha, among others. She also has an essay in the April 2005 issue of Utne magazine, warning that "misbegotten U.S. foreign policy is pushing Islamic fundamentalists closer and closer to the use of weapons of mass destruction." She's a brilliant woman, a gifted writer, and I highly recommend this memoir.