Suffering and the Power of Compassion - Karen Armstrong

[jambawan]

In response to the video alone, not to the comments sorry , Thanks Dr it was good focus conversation/lecture re affirming and challenging esp the bit about moving on from emoting in front of screen...



[margiedemello]

fascinating, I just wrote an article with exactly the same preface as she describes. I may have to change it lol.

[Simeitsa]

To those Muslims that do not speak out against this I am DISGUSTED WITH THEM! But I am a Muslim and speak out against the wrong that goes on no matter what belief even if they are Muslims! Some people use religion as a way to manipulate and control people and say God told me to do this. Look at the Puritans. They did witch hunts. Look at the KKK. They are a protestant Christian Organization and they persecuted the blacks for being black! It is not all Muslims it is a selected few.

[Simeitsa]

@Honeydoole 

[Simeitsa]

@Honeydoole I laughed when I read this. Okay, you have a serious condition... You are stupid. Seek medical attention!!!!!! pls! What are you blah blahing about?? God is busy??? you make Him sound like He can't handle all the problems in the world. How about His creation get off their asses and start making things happen instead of blaming God for being so busy or w/e... as far as muslims slaying throats and money..DONT CONDEMN A WHOLE GROUP OF PEOPLE FOR THE ACTIONS OF A FEW!

[irajkhodadoost]

Karen Armstrong who considers herself so knowledgeable about religion should know that they all gave prophesies of some return,"... in the glory of the Father, Mahdi, 12th Imam, 5th Buddha, Shah Bahram, reincarnation of Krishna, etc. Religion which is stagnated and not renewed becomes divided into hundreds of denominations each claiming to have the ultimate truth... and fighting one another through history.

[CandlesOfUnity]

Yes, I know. Muhammad was the last of the Adamic cycle. The Imam Madhi opened the new one. Search well. The Revelation of Baha'u'llah will unite the whole world. See my playlists on the Prophets. There is two on Him.

Peace !

[frid9999]

Sometimes I just shake my head in disbelief at the crap the spiritual and vaguely religious spew out in lieu of rational and thoughtful reasoning. At this time I can think of no more harmful lie a person can tell than what she said in the first 25 seconds of this video, "We don't need a new prophet to come and tell us what to do. It's all there already."

Think about it you spiritualist drones. Think about how harmful that demonstrably false claim would be, were it to be believed by all or many.

[DamianoVinci]

false prophets are not always religious ones, they instead talk about everything to confuse your minds. Much love... only love brothers

[fctchk]

Cleavage, the auxiliary refuge of those with nothing persuasive to say.

[CandlesOfUnity]

modern thus comprehensible, what are the spiritual teachings that will bring us together and to our future after-life.

We need the Baha'i Faith, the new world religion to implement what is best in all the world religions and what is new in the divine teachings that will make us floorish as a mankind, as last united.

[CandlesOfUnity]

We need a new Prophet... Why ? Because the social laws are to be renewed. We are not at the same point in time that we were 1,000 or 2,000 years ago !!

We also need to be said in a language

[lahij]

@CandlesOfUnity  no more prophet , allah say it muhammad is last prophet after jesus will return last day with mahdi iman warrior guy battle satan destroy iblis

[seezarorest]

She is NOT talking about religion, at least it is not the main focus of her speech. She is talking about compassion for suffering. She is giving examples from philosophy and religion. In my opinion her examples are very good. I am an atheist. I don't know is she a believer or not, but in my opinion she is a wise person, and made a very important point backing it up by good examples.

[melbn]

sorry but NO.

[eirefrance]

And my point is that, even if she isn't an atheist, why do we need to lambast her. Her objective analysis of religion helps the atheist cause. If believing in some form of God helps her get up in the morning, who are we to condemn her for it?

[eirefrance]

No, varia, my parents are spiritual. I'm not, but I know my parents. They don't need validation, they simply have a different outlook on life.

[eirefrance]

C'mon, now. I'm an atheist and I support looking at the world from a skeptical, reasoned point of view. Armstrong may not be as witty as Hitch, but she's a hell of a lot nicer than he is. She's also clearly very intelligent, and if you read "A History of God" you would see that she at least thinks rationally about religion, if she isn't atheist. Just because she understands the basic humanity of the religious experience is no reason to lambast and insult her.

[LsBaba]

@eirefrance I have not come across Karen Armstrong until now. Watching her speak on this video (embedded and without seeing any comments here) her style struck me as being similar to Christopher Hitchens. Her command of the English language and her way of expressing ideas. Less forthright, certainly, but perhaps not a bad thing in some settings.

[lunei66]

Fuck off, religious tard.

[Finiras]

foraTV is like a retarded version of TEDtalks

[minzeme]

heheh. I disagree, but it's ironic you should say that because Karen Armstrong won the 2008 TED award and her prize is the reason for this talk. I didn't know TED had a channel. Thanks for the heads up!!

[Finiras]

i dont see how she could have won, besides them giving her the prize purely because she is a woman and its the politically correct thing to do

[minzeme]

uh...yeah....Kanye West should've won....to hell with compassion.

[minzeme]

It seems like few people would have problem acknowledging their own pain, but that it's more common for OTHERS to deny it. From experience, that results in loss of compassion too.

[dreamdewil]

What a woo-filled pussy appeaser.

[TheFallibleFiend]

Just a loose inference on my part. Could be mistaken. It's pretty clear that she lost her faith from the book. What's less clear is whether she ever got it back. I'm tempted to send her an email.

[solipsist8]

Smart lady.

[TheFallibleFiend]

I just finished her book, "A History of God" a few weeks back. She used to be a nun, but she lost her faith. She is, I think, an atheist. I suspect she is using religious imagery, because that's her background and not because she still believes. I'm not sure about that, but it seems reasonable. That said, I do think she's sympathetic to religious believers, not so much because they're right, but because they're striving.

[seezarorest]

You probably didn't understand her point..

[thpt]

Suffering and the tragedy of fate is inherant in human life, and what she says is valid. With or without religion, suffering happens and this advice could help us deal with it.

[BearWa11ace]

You get to choose... you can choose to give love to and serve your fellow man... or you can choose to be selfish and fearful of loss.. life is a duality... A reality that you create with thought... so.. pick any thought you like... and go with it... it will be your reward when you are done..... /shrug... =] much love!

[Aaberg123]

Google this:

Atheist Experience #622: Spinning Suffering.

[Bobbiethejean]

She looks like a Wallace and Gromitt character... insufferable religious old bat. >:P TTTHHPPPPPPTTTT!!!!!!