If it is not tempered by compassion, and empathy, reason can lead men and women into a moral void.

Karen Armstrong

Tempered By Compassion

If it is not tempered by compassion, and empathy, reason can lead men and women into a moral void.

Karen Armstrong

Karen Armstrong is a British author and commentator primarily known for her works on comparative religion. Born in 1944 in Worcestershire, England, she initially joined a Roman Catholic religious order and spent seven years as a nun. This early chapter of her life provided a foundation for her enduring quest to understand spirituality, but it was only after leaving the convent and attending Oxford University that she began to explore the religious traditions of the world. Her experience both within and outside the convent shaped her conviction that faith is deeply intertwined with human history and psychology.

Armstrong has written more than 20 books, including bestsellers like "A History of God" and "The Battle for God." Her writing seeks to illuminate the common threads that run through the world’s major religions, emphasizing the importance of compassion, ethics, and the interconnectedness of all human experience. Armstrong has the rare ability to distill complex religious and historical concepts into language that is both accessible and resonant, making her a sought-after speaker and advisor on matters of faith and interfaith dialogue.

Her impact extends beyond academia and the written word; she is also the creator of the Charter for Compassion, a cooperative effort to restore compassionate thinking and action to the center of moral and religious life. The Charter has received international recognition and serves as a testament to Armstrong’s commitment to bringing a nuanced understanding of faith into everyday life. Through her writings and initiatives, she contributes to the ongoing dialogue about what it means to be a compassionate human being in a diverse and often divisive world.

Civil Religion, Civil Society
Twelve Steps To A Compassionate Life

Armstrong, Karen. Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.

Karen Armstrong

Theme: Compassion

About Karen Armstrong’s Quote [Commentary]

Karen Armstrong’s words remind us that reason alone is an incomplete guide on the path of human morality. She warns that intellect, unmoored from the grounding influence of compassion and empathy, can drift into a moral void. While reason might offer us brilliant insights, solve complex equations, and even send rockets to the moon, it can also justify wars, exploitation, and inequality if not balanced by a heartfelt understanding of our shared humanity. In essence, Armstrong calls us to marry our thinking and our feeling, to weave together the head and the heart, because one without the other leaves us incomplete, unmoored from the values that make us deeply human.

The moral void Armstrong speaks of is not an empty space but rather a space filled with the debris of self-interest, detachment, and ultimately, suffering. To live in a moral void is to be disconnected, not just from others but from a crucial aspect of ourselves. Compassion fills this void with the recognition that our lives are not separate streams but intertwining rivers. It enables us to see the other not as an object to be analyzed or used, but as a fellow traveler on this complex journey of life, deserving of dignity and kindness.

Armstrong’s warning serves as a timeless call for a more holistic, integrated way of being. Her message does not devalue reason but asks for it to be harmonized with empathy, creating a more symphonic experience of life. This isn’t just a philosophical nicety; it’s an urgent necessity. The challenges that face our world—be it racial inequality, climate change, or global conflict—demand solutions born from a combination of rationality and deep, abiding compassion. In that sense, compassion is not the antithesis of reason, but its truest companion, the grounding force that enables us to wield our intellect responsibly, in service to the interconnected web of existence we all share.

Karen Armstrong’s Definition of the Golden Rule

But compassion can’t be enacted without first grasping its essence in a way that reclaims it from the realm of abstraction and makes it an actionable quality. Armstrong offers a necessary definition:

“Compassion is aptly summed up in the Golden Rule, which asks us to look into our own hearts, discover what gives us pain, and then refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else. Compassion can be defined, therefore, as an attitude of principled, consistent altruism…”

—Karen Armstrong, Twelve Steps To A Compassionate Life. P. 45.

An Additional Karen Armstrong quote:

“One of the chief tasks of our time must surely be to build a global community in which all peoples can live together in mutual respect; yet religion, which should be making a major contribution, is seen as part of the problem. All faiths insist that compassion is the test of true spirituality and that it brings us into relation with the transcendence we call God, Brahman, Nirvana, or Tao. Each has formulated its own version of what is sometimes called the Golden Rule, “Do not treat others as you would not like them to treat you,” or in its positive form, “Always treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself.” Further, they all insist that you cannot confine your benevolence to your own group; you must have concern for everybody—even your enemies.”

—Karen Armstrong, The Charter for Compassion.

Resources

The Charter For Compassion Website

Tempered By Compassion

Resources

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