This is a very practical book on probably the most important subject there is. Armstrong does a very good job on bridging the personal and the political. This is a book I will keep, to read multiple times. ( )

Began reading with Ruby's bookclub in Dallas, TX; COVID pandemic halted our meetings in late 2019. Book was put on 2023 list for Progressive Group and I finished it. Am now trying to find a way I can implement the 12 steps.

About the author author: quoting from the book's dust jacket: "Karen Armstrong is the author of numerous other books on religious affairs. In February 2008 she was awarded the TED Prize and began working on the Charter for Compassion, , ,The Charter was signed in November 2009 by a thousand religious and secular leaders." About the book: the reviewer for "The Economist," said of this work, "[Armstrong] has delivered something people badly want: a way to acknowledge that faith can be taken seriously as a response to deep human yearnings without needing to subscribe to the formality of organized belief."

This is yet another book that is good but disappointing because it did not live up to my expectations.

I am a big fan of Karen Armstrong. Although she is selective in what she chooses to focus on in her writing, she is still, in my opinion, one of the best religious historians when it comes to writing books that are readable, compassionate, intellectually challenging, and jam packed with information.

Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life is, quite intentionally, a very different type of book. It is supposed to be a guide to implementing the ideas in the Charter for Compassion [1] championed by Armstrong. However, Armstrong, the religious historian, seems to have a difficult time communicating the practical.

The book is full of great elements that just don't quite add up to a coherent text. In ~200 pages, Armstrong tries to cover a survey of compassion in different religious traditions, a philosophical discussion of what compassion is and why it is necessary, and a practical plan for increasing the compassion in your life. These threads all get jumbled up, and that makes it hard to pull the value from that book.

In what is both disappointing and supportive of the book's overall value, a lot of the problems were merely organizational. A strong editor who encouraged the use of things like section breaks and parallel structure could have transformed this from an average book to a great book.

All that said, the real value of this book is in practice, not intellectual assent. Armstrong's steps, if applied with appropriate effort, do seem like they would result in a more compassionate self.

The steps do not stand on their own, but for completeness I will list them anyway. Note that some of the steps are sequential while others are not -- this was one of my organizational quibbles with the book (also, the very names of the steps show how much the book could have been improved by an editor with an eye for structure and consistency). The steps: (1) learn about compassion, (2) look at your own world, (3) compassion for yourself, (4) empathy, (5) mindfulness, (6) action, (7) how little we know, (8) how should we speak to one another?, (9) concern for everybody, (10) knowledge, (11) recognition, (12) love your enemies.

And now, it's time to go apply some compassion!

[1] http://charterforcompassion.org/share/the-charter ( )

En este importante y estimulante trabajo, Karen Armstrong, una de las pensadoras más originales sobre el papel de la religión en el mundo moderno, proporciona una guí­a apasionada y práctica para ayudarnos a hacer del mundo un lugar más compasivo. Los doce pasos que ella sugiere comienzan con "Aprender sobre la compasión" y se cierran con "Ama a tus enemigos". En medio, ella asume el amor propio, la atención plena, el sufrimiento, la alegría simpática, los lí­mites de nuestro conocimiento de los demás y la "preocupación" para todos. Ella comparte métodos concretos para ayudarnos a cultivar y ampliar nuestra capacidad de compasión, y proporciona una lista de lecturas para alentarnos a escuchar las narrativas de los demás. Armstrong nos enseña que convertirnos en un ser humano compasivo es un proyecto de por vida y un viaje lleno de recompensas. El primer paso: aprender acerca de la compasión. El segundo paso: mira tu propio mundo. El tercer paso: la compasión por ti mismo. El cuarto paso: la empatí­a. El quinto paso: la atención. El sexto paso: la acción. El séptimo paso: lo poco que sabemos. El octavo paso. Nos hablamos el uno al otro: el noveno paso: la preocupación por todos El décimo paso: el conocimiento. El Undécimo Paso: Reconocimiento. El duodécimo paso: ama a tus enemigos. -
In this important and thought-provoking work, Karen Armstrongone of the most original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern worldprovides an impassioned and practical guide to helping us make the world a more compassionate place. The twelve steps she suggests begin with Learn About Compassion, and close with Love Your Enemies. In between, she takes up self-love, mindfulness, suffering, sympathetic joy, the limits of our knowledge of others, and concern for everybody. She shares concrete methods to help us cultivate and expand our capacity for compassion, and provides a reading list to encourage us to hear one another´s narratives. Armstrong teaches us that becoming a compassionate human being is a lifelong project and a journey filled with rewards.The First Step: Learn About CompassionThe Second Step: Look at Your Own WorldThe Third Step: Compassion for You rself The Fourth Step: Empathy The Fifth Step: MindfulnessThe Sixth Step: Action The Seventh Step: How Little We KnowThe Eighth Step: How Should We Speak to One Another? The Ninth Step: Concern for Every body The Tenth Step: Knowledge The Eleventh Step: RecognitionThe Twelfth Step: Love Your Enemies