Notes "The spiral staircase"
2048
By Karen Armstrong.
"This must be the way human life worked. He who loves his life will lose it; he who loses his life shall save it. This was not an arbitrary command of God, but simply a law of the human condition. If you cast your bread upon the waters and were prepared to give it up for good, it would come back to you - albeit in another form."
P261
"There is no point to speak if there is nothing to say."
P418
"...in most traditions, faith was not about belief but about practice." Hyam Maccoby
P468
"Repeated actions would lead to the cultivation of a new awareness. The point is that this was not a belief system, but a process. The religious life designed by Muhammad made people act in ways that were supposed to change them forever."
P468
"... , you could not understand the truth of a religion by simply reading about it's beliefs. The tradition became alive only when you lived it and observed those rituals that were designed to open a window on transcendence."
P503
"In Yhe words of the late Joseph Campbell, we have to "follow our bliss," find something that wholly involves and enthralls us, even if it seems hopelessly unfashionable and unproductive, and throw ourselves into this, heart and soul. As the foundress of my religious order used to say: "Do what you are doing!" My "bliss" has been the study of theology. For other people it may be a career in law or politics, a marriage, a love affair, or the raising of children. But the bliss provides us with a clue: if we follow it to the end, it will take us to the heart of life."
P527
By Karen Armstrong.
"This must be the way human life worked. He who loves his life will lose it; he who loses his life shall save it. This was not an arbitrary command of God, but simply a law of the human condition. If you cast your bread upon the waters and were prepared to give it up for good, it would come back to you - albeit in another form."
P261
"There is no point to speak if there is nothing to say."
P418
"...in most traditions, faith was not about belief but about practice." Hyam Maccoby
P468
"Repeated actions would lead to the cultivation of a new awareness. The point is that this was not a belief system, but a process. The religious life designed by Muhammad made people act in ways that were supposed to change them forever."
P468
"... , you could not understand the truth of a religion by simply reading about it's beliefs. The tradition became alive only when you lived it and observed those rituals that were designed to open a window on transcendence."
P503
"In Yhe words of the late Joseph Campbell, we have to "follow our bliss," find something that wholly involves and enthralls us, even if it seems hopelessly unfashionable and unproductive, and throw ourselves into this, heart and soul. As the foundress of my religious order used to say: "Do what you are doing!" My "bliss" has been the study of theology. For other people it may be a career in law or politics, a marriage, a love affair, or the raising of children. But the bliss provides us with a clue: if we follow it to the end, it will take us to the heart of life."
P527