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Amazon.co.uk Review
Karen Armstrong speaks to the troubling years following her decision to leave the life of a Roman Catholic nun and join the secular world in 1969. What makes The Spiral Staircase: My Climb out of Darkness especially fascinating is that Armstrong already wrote about this era once--only it was a disastrous book. It was too soon for her to understand how these dark, struggling years influenced her spiritual development, and she was too immature to protect herself from being be bullied by the publishing world. As a result, she agreed to portray herself only in as "positive and lively a light as possible"--a mandate that gave her permission to deny the truth of her pain and falsify her inner experience. The inspiration for this new approach comes from TS Eliot's Ash Wednesday, a series of six poems that speak to the process of spiritual recovery. Eliot metaphorically climbs a spiral staircase in these poems---turning again and again to what he does not want to see as he slowly makes progress toward the light. In revisiting her spiral climb out of her dark night of the soul, Armstrong gives readers a stunningly poignant account about the nature of spiritual growth. Upon leaving the convent, Armstrong grapples with the grief of her abandoned path and the uncertainty of her place in the world. On top of this angst, Armstrong spent years suffering from undiagnosed temporal lobe epilepsy, causing her to have frequent blackout lapses in memory and disturbing hallucinations---crippling symptoms that her psychiatrist adamantly attributed to Armstrong's denial of her femininity and sexuality. The details of this narrative may be specific to Armstrong's life, but the meaning she makes of her spiral ascent makes this a universally relevant story. All readers can glean inspiration from her insights into the nature of surrender and the possibilities of finding solace in the absence of hope. Armstrong shows us why spiritual wisdom is often a seasoned gift--no matter how much we strive for understanding, we can't force profound insights to occur simply because our publisher is waiting for them. With her elegant, humble and brave voice, she inspires readers to willingly turn our attention toward our false identities and vigilantly defended beliefs in order to better see the truth and vulnerability of our existence. Herein lies the staircase we can climb to enlightenment. --Gail Hudson, Amazon.com
Daily Express
'In The Spiral Staircase, Armstrong invites the reader to discover details of her life as a whole.’
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 61 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Karen Armstrong's books seem to be getting better and better.
The first hundred pages of The Spiral Staircase are interesting, the next very interesting - but the final section is deeply moving and important. After intense study of the sacred texts of the world's major religions, Karen Armstrong re-states with great clarity and understanding a truth discovered by other mystics over the ages - true religious practice does not consist of belief in one creed or another, but in living a compasionate and thoughtful life.
I am reminded of Tolsoy's The Wisdom of Humankind, which comes to similar conclusions.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In this third volume of Karen Armstrong's biography, she traces her life journey from the time she left the convent and her life as a nun to the present day. She writes of her initial rejection of God and all things religious. She wrote and presented television programmes that promoted a secular view. Her life was marred for a long time by undiagnosed epilepsy, which resulted in the feeling (regrettably supported by her psychologist) that she had serious mental illness. Eventually she returned to religion but not to the conventional God of Western religion. She started to view religions as adherence to certain practices which took one out of oneself. Good religion is that which promotes compassion - feeling what others feel and not treating them in ways in which one would not like to be treated. Bad religion is that which promotes intolerance and hatred. This is a very well-written book that explores one person's search for meaning. It is worth reading by those who are religious, irreligious or just not sure. For me there remained one unanswered question - How can belief and practice be divorced? Whether one adheres to a religious view or not, our beliefs influence our practices but our practices also affect our beliefs.
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read both 'Through the Narrow Gate' and Beginning the World, I was intrigued to find out how Ms Armstrong would handle a further book covering the same period without being repetitive. Indeed, there are some episodes in the book which had been covered previously, but taken this time from a different perspective and I generally did not have a feeling of 'deja vu'. Ms Armstrong did refer to her previous book at times, mainly in a negative light. I did feel that this was perhaps oversensitive of her, as it is inevitable that she would view these episodes differently after a further 20 year gap. However, it was sensitively written and it would be difficult for the reader not to empathise with the difficulties she has encountered in her life. I found the spiritual content excellent and well presented, with well thought out arguments, whether or not I agreed with her conclusions.
Overall, this is an excellent book for anybody with a spiritual turn of mind and I look forward to reading her next book
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Heartening - Made Me Think A Lot
I'd recommend this book to anyone who feels that life is not going quite as they planned, who is asking the question 'where to now? Read more
Published 3 months ago by Kate Hopkins
Not as good as Through the Narrow Gate
I read this book as a follow up from her book "Through the Narrow Gate", hoping, as an ex-nun myself, to find more inspiration. Read more
Published 9 months ago by S
Thought provoking and very readable
This is a book I found it hard to put down once I had started reading - good for a long journey. She writes simply and compellingly about her own experiences, and her life path... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mrs. Vanessa Mitchell
Great read, flawed gospel
A powerful book, exceptionally well written, and full of interesting insights and commentary. I read it because I had already read her The Bible: The Biography, which is... Read more
Published 12 months ago by J. Sale
enthralling autobiography
Karen Armstrong has an unusual and interesting story to tell and she tells it with enormous brio. Not a drop of self-pity falls from her pen as she recounts the difficult path she... Read more
Published 14 months ago by H. Easton
A curious return to 'God'.
This is Armstrong's third volume of autobiography, and it attempts to completely undermine her second. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Geoff Sawers
spiral staircase
Absorbing in every respect. The last chapters are particularly good as Karen puts her past behind her, picks herself up and starts a new life doing what she was supposed to do if... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. Moshe Elias
Enjoyable read
I found Karen Armstrong's book brave and honest - she doesn't try for sympathy, but gives an account of her life after leaving the convent through Oxford and teaching to exploring... Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2010 by Ms. Caroline Phillips
Karen Armstrong's Memoir
Having read several of Karen Armstrong's books, starting with "Through the Narrow Gate" many years ago, I was intrigued to read this autobiography. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2010 by Thelma Batchelor
Beautifully honest written memoir
This is a wonderful memoir of a girl that was a nun for seven years and ended up leaving after feeling disillusioned and became a teacher, writer, speaker and much more. Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2010 by Mr. R. N. Lock
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