SPIRITUALITY E PRACTICE

Book Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

 

The Great Transformation 
The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions 
Karen Armstrong
Anchor 04/07 Paperback $15.95
ISBN: 9780385721240

This magisterial work fits right in with Karen Armstrong's

 bold mission to explore the place and purposes of religions

 in the modern world. It follows in the stream of her books on

 Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. She contends

 that during a period from 900 - 2000 BCE, four regions created

 the religious and philosophical traditions that have transformed 

the world: Confucianism and Daoism in China, Hinduism and

Buddhism in India, monotheism in Israel, and philosophical

 rationalism in Greece. Out of the early seeds of the Israelite faith,

 the flowers of Rabbinic Judaism, Christianity, and Islam bloomed

. She presents a chronological and in-depth assessment of the sages 

of this incredible "Axial Age" with portraits of the Buddha, Socrates,

 Plato, Confucius, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the mystics of the Upanishads,

 Mencius, Euripides, and well as the later sages in their lines, including

Jesus and Muhammad.

In the opening pages of this ambitious work, Armstrong states that the

unprecedented violence of the twentieth century and the savaging

 of the good Earth make it very clear that we need spiritual resources

 to help us tame our egos and our tendencies to harm one another and

 the planet. Before the Axial Age, ritual and animal sacrifice had been

 the main sources of religious meaning: "The Axial sages changed this:

 they still value ritual, but gave it a new ethical significance and put 

morality at the heart of the spiritual life. The only way you could

encounter what they called 'God,' 'Nirvana,' "Brahman,' or the 'Way

' was to live a compassionate life. Indeed, religion was compassion."

Throughout her overview of the religions developed in Israel, India,

 Greece, and China, Armstrong reveals that the sages were opposed

to the violence that was rampant in their societies. But they also realized

 that it was not enough to just speak out against brutal and barbaric

 behavior. In their different locations, they all came up with the same

 approach to eradicate vanity, resentment, aggression, and the desire

 to dominate others. It was the empathetic spirituality of the Golden Rule.

We were quite impressed with Armstrong's treatment of the impact of

Confucius who, like the Indian sages, saw the ego as the source of so

 much violence and cruelty. He taught that if people could move beyond 

selfishness and act instead according to altruism, the world would be a

 different place for them. This is also the impulse behind filial piety and

 other acts of gracious behavior. Confucius wanted people to be fully

conscious of what they were doing. Instead of lording it over others,

 he emphasized dealing with others as equals. At the heart of the

 courtesy taught by Confucius was a deep respect or reverence for others.

To become a fully developed human being, according to nearly all the

 Axial sages, you have to abandon greed and unkindness and practic

e love. But not just love for those closest to you but love to stranger

s and the entire world! Armstrong also salutes the sages for their 

refusal to slight fear and pain.

 Suffering was an essential prerequisite for enlightenment. Facing 

death was another practice deemed important for human development.

The Axial sages were not perfect: they were indifferent to women and

 there was no female in their number. But their emphasis on the spiritua

strong laments:

"Centuries of institutional, political, and intellectual development hav

 tended to obscure the importance of compassion in religion. All too often

the religion that dominates the public discourse seems to express an 

institutional egotism: my faith is better than yours! As Zhuangzi noted,

once people interject themselves into their beliefs, they can become

 quarrelsome, officious, or even unkind. Compassion is not a popular 

virtue, because it demands laying aside of the ego that we identify

 with our deepest self: so people often prefer being right to being compassionate."

One of the many worthwhile things about The Great Transformation is that Armstrong shows that spiritual practice is what can unite the world's religions, despite differences in dogmas and beliefs. Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and Hindus can work together on compassion projects to save the planet and ward off the toxins of constant warfare. The sages have given us spiritual practices to spur us to serve others in love. It's a simple but very important message: when we act from compassion, everyone becomes a brother and sister.