The Spiral Staircase (TSS) is a book about the author, Karen Armstrong (KA)'s self-discovery, in which she relates the events of her life and how she had gradually come to the realisation that the path she had chosen, while defying conventional approaches to God, eventually brought her closer to him.
(If you are aghast at this topic, don't worry, this is all I'm going to say about religion in this post.)
Were it left to me, I would never have picked up this book on the basis of its introduction. But a friend had introduced this book to me, and the extent to which he had spoke of the book, attributing to it the highest praise and how it had reasonated with him, sparked my curiousity. For this friend of mine is hardly one who is given to effusive praise, let alone speak in such glowing terms of something he had read.
So resolving to pick up the book some day, I jolted down the title. By chance, I recalled the title one day while I was surfing around for a book to pick up. It so happened that the library delivery service that my office subscribes to carried this book, so deciding that now was as much a good time as any, I "checked out" the book in my virtual cart. When the delivery was made a few days later, it languished for a couple of days in my office drawer. I was for some inexplicable reason, quite reluctant to pick it up. When confronted with the reality of the book, I still entertained reservations about its capability to enthrall me. At the back of my mind, I was prepared to consign it back to the bookdrop without opening it.
There the book lay until one day, I was left without a book to read when I needed one. Deciding to give it a try, I brought it along with me. The introduction did not inspire, for KA had chosen to start the book with her story of how she had commenced her training to be a nun. Not being a religious person by any stretch of the word, I couldn't relate, much less understand.
But I am glad I read on, because by the time I came to the part about her leaving the Church, I was in thrall. When she struggled to adapt, desperately wanted to fit into the world that had leapt ahead of her during her years in the Church, I thought I could even sympathise, even empathise with her realisation that she stood apart from her peers and that nothing in her current life could speak for her.
When she wrote about being a "fake" in the way she cobbled ideas from literary masters to form her own body of work, it also reasonated in a way with me. For while I always publicly maintained my pride in having attained a 'distinction' in English, a secret part of me always thought that it was due more to my illustrious assembling of literary criticism offered by my betters before me. The only true pride I had was in practical criticism since one had to work on the piece extempore. But even so, my pride in this accomplishment was somewhat diminished when at the end of my 4 years in university, one professor made the chance comment that she considered "prac crit" a senseless way of appreciating literature. In reading this book, I was reminded once again of this, and with the benefit of hindsight I think the secret suspicion had in a not-insignificant way contributed to my refusal to study English in university, despite being told that my distinction (in English) was rare in the extreme, and that very few people could lay claim to it in the year I took my exams.
KA's struggle to find herself was to take several more turns, from being diagnosed with a psychiatric illness to finding herself tested in other ways. But she draws constantly from the strength of others' insights, from her friends, to literary masters. The title of the book, is taken from Eliot's "Ash Wednesday". In reading the poem as she interprets it, I can see why she used it.
Out of Eliot's poem, "because I do not hope to turn again" and "desiring this man's gift and that man's scope" have become memorable phrases for me now. They seem to echo my own tenets of striving to be contented in life, rather than hankering after what I cannot have. (Here I must emphasise the "stiving" part, because I usually don't accomplish it at all.)
I have many other thoughts throughout reading this book, which is why I think it's a great read. It has something for everybody: for people struggling to come to terms with their religion, for people who like reading stories in which there are literature references (me), and for the thoughtful people who like a book that makes them think, I think you will be able to find something to relate to and draw some insights from.
For the record I intend to buy this book.Think a second reading will offer me different impressions.
Geek rating: wow! (straight off the geek scale)
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