Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong

Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong

 

Title: Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life | eISBN : 978-0-307-59563-8 | Author: Karen Armstrong | Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. | Year: 2010 | Pages: 150 | Language : English | file: pdf, epub & mobi

A Word from Karen Armstrong

The work of the Charter for Compassion and this book is born from Karen Armstrong’s commitment to provide practical and actionable ideas that can indeed transform our world. Armstrong offers these words of advice to reading groups:
 
I suggest that at the end of each session, each person resolves to introduce one regular practice into his or her life. This resolution should, for example, be “realistic.” It has to be something that you can feasibly include in your daily routine; it should be challenging, but not so demanding that you give it up after a few days; it is no good saying, for example, “I am never going to say another unkind word to anybody in my life ever again,” because this just isn’t going to happen. It should be something really concrete: “I am going to go out of my way to perform one act of kindness each day to somebody (make a list of candidates!) who really annoys me.”
 
The resolution should also be practical. It shouldn’t be something vague, such as “I am going to open my heart to the whole world.” That is meaningless unless it becomes a concrete reality in your life.
 
Be creative and inventive; there is no need to stick slavishly to these suggestions: think of ways in which your actions can become a dynamic and positive force for change, not just within yourself but in the world around you. Make each resolution a regular part of your life, and by the end of the course you will have twelve new habits that should be effecting a transformation within yourself and your immediate environment.

One of the most original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world—author of such acclaimed books as A History of God, Islam, and Buddha—now gives us an impassioned and practical book that can help us make the world a more compassionate place.

Karen Armstrong believes that while compassion is intrinsic in all human beings, each of us needs to work diligently to cultivate and expand our capacity for compassion. Here, in this straightforward, thoughtful, and thought-provoking book, she sets out a program that can lead us toward a more compassionate life.

The twelve steps Armstrong suggests begin with “Learn About Compassion” and close with “Love Your Enemies.” In between, she takes up “compassion for yourself,” mindfulness, suffering, sympathetic joy, the limits of our knowledge of others, and “concern for everybody.” She suggests concrete ways of enhancing our compassion and putting it into action in our everyday lives, and provides, as well, a reading list to encourage us to “hear one another’s narratives.” Throughout, Armstrong makes clear that a compassionate life is not a matter of only heart or mind but a deliberate and often life-altering commingling of the two.

CONTENTS

Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
PREFACE Wish for a Better World
THE FIRST STEP Learn About Compassion
THE SECOND STEP Look at Your Own World
THE THIRD STEP Compassion for Yourself
THE FOURTH STEP Empathy
THE FIFTH STEP Mindfulness
THE SIXTH STEP Action
THE SEVENTH STEP How Little We Know

THE EIGHTH STEP How Should We Speak to One Another?
THE NINTH STEP Concern for Everybody
THE TENTH STEP Knowledge
THE ELEVENTH STEP Recognition
THE TWELFTH STEP Love Your Enemies
A Last Word
Acknowledgments
Notes

Suggestions for Further Reading
About the Author

 

A Last WordThe Trojan War did not end with the embrace of Achilles and Priam. The fighting continued the next day and would not cease until the beautiful city of Troy was destroyed. We have moments of insight that take us beyond our self-absorption, but it is all too easy to fall back into our old ways. Yaakov’s epiphany at Peniel was the high point of his life, but he was unable to build upon it. The authors of Genesis show that his later life was characterized by a debilitating egotism. When his daughter Dinah is raped, Yaakov is more concerned about his standing in the region than with her suffering. Instead of treating all members of his family with equal affection, he shows a self-indulgent partiality to his favorite son that has almost fatal consequences. 

This does not mean that we end on a depressing note. It is rather a reminder that the attempt to become a compassionate human being is a lifelong project. It is not achieved in an hour or a day—or even in twelve steps. It is a struggle that will last until our dying hour. Nearly every day we will fail, but we cannot give up like Yaakov; we must pick ourselves up and start again. If you have followed the steps carefully, you have come a long way. But the process is not over. You will have to work at all twelve steps continuously for the rest of your life—learning more about compassion, surveying your world anew, struggling with self-hatred and discouragement. Never mind loving your enemies—sometimes loving your nearest and dearest selflessly and patiently will be a struggle!

I hope I have shown in this book that compassion is possible, and that even in our torn and conflicted world some people have achieved heroic levels of empathy, forgiveness, and “concern for everybody.” We are not doomed to live in misery, hatred, greed, and envy. As Xunzi insisted, any one of us can become a sage, an avatar of compassion. When we feel cast down by our pain and by the misery that we see all around us, we should experience our dejection as a call to further effort. The mythos of compassion tells us what to do. Instead of becoming depressed by our repeated failures, we should remember that constant practice does indeed make perfect and that if we persevere, we too can become a force for good in the world.

King Pasenadi, the Buddha’s friend, fell into a deep depression when his wife died. He no longer felt at home anywhere and had taken to leaving his palace and driving for miles with his army, going aimlessly from one place to another. One day, he was driving through a park filled with huge tropical trees.Dismounting from his carriage, the king walked among their great roots, which were themselves as tall as a man, and felt consoled. These ancient trees “inspired trust and confidence.” “They were quiet; no discordant voices disturbed their peace; they gave out a sense of being apart from the ordinary world, a place where one could take refuge” from the cruelties of life. As he contemplated these marvelous old trees, the king was reminded of the Buddha: his inner quiet had raised him above petty disturbances in a world of clamorous egotism, and you could shelter with him in a crisis.

A person who is impartial, fair, calm, gentle, serene, accepting, and openhearted is indeed a refuge. In the person of the Buddha, who had gone beyond the limitations and partialities of selfhood, many experienced a humanity that made them feel that life was endurable. A truly compassionate person touches a chord in us that resonates with some of our deepest yearnings. People flock to such individuals, because they seem to offer a haven of peace in a violent, angry world. This is the ideal to which we aspire, and it is not beyond our capacity. But even if we achieve only a fraction of this enlightenment and leave the world marginally better because we have lived in it, our lives will have been worthwhile. There is no more to be said. We know what we have to do.

This is the end of the book, but our work is just beginning.

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Armstrong is the author of numerous other books on religious affairs, including The Case for God, A History of God, The Battle for God, Holy War, Islam, Buddha, and The Great Transformation, and a memoir, The Spiral Staircase. In February 2008 she was awarded the TED Prize and began working with TED on the Charter for Compassion, created online by the general public; crafted by leading thinkers in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism; and launched globally in fall 2009. She lives in London.

READ THIS BOOK ONLINE

DOWNLOAD THIS BOOK: click below or save link as

Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong PDF

Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong EPUB

Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong MOBI