Moving from the Paleolithic age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the great lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality that it called by many names, such as God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah, or Dao.
Focusing especially on Christianity but including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese spiritualities, Armstrong examines the diminished impulse toward religion in our own time, when a significant number of people either want nothing to do with God or question the efficacy of faith.
Why has God become unbelievable? Why is it that atheists and theists alike now think and speak about God in a way that veers so profoundly from the thinking of our ancestors?
Answering these questions with the same depth of knowledge and profound insight that have marked all her acclaimed books, Armstrong makes clear how the changing face of the world has necessarily changed the importance of religion at both the societal and the individual level.
And she makes a powerful, convincing argument for drawing on the insights of the past in order to build a faith that speaks to the needs of our dangerously polarized age.
Yet she cautions us that religion was never supposed to provide answers that lie within the competence of human reason; that, she says, is the role of logos.
The task of religion is “to help us live creatively, peacefully, and even joyously with realities for which there are no easy explanations.”
She emphasizes, too, that religion will not work automatically.
It is, she says, a practical discipline: its insights are derived not from abstract speculation but from “dedicated intellectual endeavor” and a “compassionate lifestyle that enables us to break out of the prism of selfhood.”
Review Courtesy : retrieved from Amazon Sun, 28 Jun 2009.
For other books by karen armstrong, CLICK HERE
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Sunday, November 9, 2008
The Butterfly’s Struggle
One day a man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
As the small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole.
Then something happened
It suddenly seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no further. Hence, then the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and cut the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.
But something was strange.
The butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.
However, neither happened.
As a matter of fact, the butterfly’s life consisted of spending the rest of its time creeping around with an enlarged, puffy body and deformed wings. In other words, it was never able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the small opening of the cocoon are nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life.
In Living a Life That Matters, Harold S. Kushner (the Massachusetts rabbi whose best selling books include When Bad Things Happen to Good People) suggests that the most successful lives are the ones that most effectively manage and resolve their problems.
If the lord allowed us to go through all our life without any obstacles, that would cripple us
Besides, we could never think of shredding our fears and flying.
As the small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole.
Then something happened
It suddenly seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no further. Hence, then the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and cut the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.
But something was strange.
The butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.
However, neither happened.
As a matter of fact, the butterfly’s life consisted of spending the rest of its time creeping around with an enlarged, puffy body and deformed wings. In other words, it was never able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the small opening of the cocoon are nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life.
In Living a Life That Matters, Harold S. Kushner (the Massachusetts rabbi whose best selling books include When Bad Things Happen to Good People) suggests that the most successful lives are the ones that most effectively manage and resolve their problems.
If the lord allowed us to go through all our life without any obstacles, that would cripple us
Besides, we could never think of shredding our fears and flying.
Friday, October 3, 2008
The Secret of Shambhala - In Search of the Eleventh Insight
Plot summary - The story is set in the mountains of Tibet in search of the mythical place called Shambhala (also known as Shangri-La), accessible only by raising one's spiritual attunement to a high enough level. Among other things, the book touches on the concept of prayer energy and heaven and earth coming together.
In the remote snow-covered mountains near Tibet lies a community long thought to be a mere myth called Shambhala, or Shangri-La. Here, in this place, is knowledge that has been kept hidden for centuries - and an insight that can have profound impact on the way each of us lives our lives.
Your search for Shambhala begins with the words of a child and the vision of an old friend. Those slender clues and a powerful synchronicity will lead to Kathmandu, Nepal, and then to Lhasa, Tibet. Amid blowing snows and perilous mountains, you will meet the secret Tibetan sect that guards mysterious legends - the verbal instructions handed down for centuries that describe the inner changes one must undergo before entering Shambhala.
Finally, with Chinese agents in pursuit, you will pass through regions where anger and compassion struggle for ascendancy, and arrive at a place where the stunning reality about human prayer-energy - our underdeveloped ability to increase the synchronicity in our lives and influence what will happen to us in the future - is about to be revealed.
Like James Redfield's other books, The Secret of Shambhala has a parable effect. Open yourself to this adventure and the experience will stretch your worldview and leave you determined to channel your thoughts and wishes into a dynamic force that can help you liberate your life, enhance others, and actively change the world
Characters
John Woodson
The main character. John goes this time to Tibet, as his friends Wil and Natalie told him to do. Wil is gone when John arrives in Tibet.
Bill
Natalie's father. Has helped John with some gardering.
Natalie
Bill's daughter, who sets John out on his journey through Tibet.
Wilson James (Wil)
A steadfast character in The Celestine Prophecy, and in The Tenth Insight: Holding the Vision. Located in Shambhala.
Yin Doloe
Wil sent Yin to meet John as he goes to Tibet. Yin has a deep hate for the Military of the Republic of China. He is with John throughout most of his journey.
Jampa
A friend of Yin's. Jampa is a monk at the monastery where Lama Rigden lives, and has followed Lama Rigden for over 10 years.
Lama Rigden
The protagonists visit him for more information about the whereabouts of Wil. He understands the legends of Shambhala more than anyone else.
Hanh
He helps John concentrate on what he eats.
Colonel Chang
The one who wishes to destroy Shambhala.
Ani
The first human John meets after coming to Shambhala.
Pema
Initially about to give birth to a baby child; but the child is gone.
Tashi
Ani's son. He wants to enter John's world.
Dorjee
Pema's husband.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
