Karen Armstrong on Religion
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I'm reading Karen Armstrong's The Great Transformation, which details the development of what some have called the Axial Age (as in axis--a turning). Between 700 and 200 BCE, religions all over the world changed their focus. Previously, religion had been centered on animal sacrifice and rites designed to bring material well-being and safety. In the Axial Age, religion became about ethics---doing good.
In the introduction, Armstrong talks about "the transcendent experience that humans seem to require." And goes on with this passage:
"We all look for moments of ecstasy and rapture, when we inhabit our humanity more fully than usual and feel deeply touched within and lifted momentarily beyond ourselves. We are meaning-seeking creatures and, unlike other animals, fall very easily into despair if we cannot find significance and value in our lives."
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I'm reading Karen Armstrong's The Great Transformation, which details the development of what some have called the Axial Age (as in axis--a turning). Between 700 and 200 BCE, religions all over the world changed their focus. Previously, religion had been centered on animal sacrifice and rites designed to bring material well-being and safety. In the Axial Age, religion became about ethics---doing good.
In the introduction, Armstrong talks about "the transcendent experience that humans seem to require." And goes on with this passage:
"We all look for moments of ecstasy and rapture, when we inhabit our humanity more fully than usual and feel deeply touched within and lifted momentarily beyond ourselves. We are meaning-seeking creatures and, unlike other animals, fall very easily into despair if we cannot find significance and value in our lives."
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posted by Anonymous at
11:02 AM
2 Comments:
NEITHER HERE NOR THERE: i knew a girl named karen armstrong in college. she was ROTC. loved the indigo girls.
I WONDER: if this Age of the Axis of Evil (i paraphrase) came about because communities were relatively established and stable enough to provide for most physical needs, providing the leisure that begat philosophy, introspection, and similar.
HRM: do you per chance recall when philosophy was invented in ionia? was it during this period?
From what I can tell, the Axial Ages were born in times that were (1) stable enough to allow philosophy but also (2) right after a very traumatic, violent time, so that people were looking for answers and ways to escape the kind of upheavals that had wracked their communities.
I do recall the Ionian philosophers . . . 6th century BCE. I read them in an anthology a few years ago, and they were *fascinating* to read . . . much more than I expected!
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