The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness

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 tradi

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 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