Sacred Nature

Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World

By: Karen Armstrong

Narrated by: Karen Armstrong

Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

From one of the most original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world, a profound exploration of the spiritual power of nature—and an urgent call to reclaim that power in everyday life.

"Much has been written on the scientific and technological aspects of climate change.... But Armstrong’s book is both more personal and more profound. Its urgent message is that hearts and minds need to change if we are to once more learn to revere our beautiful and fragile planet."—The Guardian

Since the beginning of time, humankind has looked upon nature and seen the divine. In the writings of the great thinkers across religions, the natural world inspires everything from fear, to awe, to tranquil contemplation; God, or however one defined the sublime, was present in everything. Yet today, even as we admire a tree or take in a striking landscape, we rarely see nature as sacred.

In this short but deeply powerful book, the best-selling historian of religion Karen Armstrong re-sacralizes nature for modern times. Drawing on her vast knowledge of the world’s religious traditions, she vividly describes nature’s central place in spirituality across the centuries. In bringing this age-old wisdom to life, Armstrong shows modern listeners how to rediscover nature’s potency and form a connection to something greater than ourselves.

©2022 Karen Armstrong (P)2022 Random House Audio

Breath of knowledge, depth of compassion, urgent relevancy of topic.

Her deep respect and uncommon understanding of each of the worlds religions with regard to their profound respect for nature.

Wore me out.

Not that that’s bad. Just a huge amount of detailed information on how the major religious traditions teach/taught that Nature should be treated as Holy/Sacred. And how we in the West (and the rest of the world as it becomes westernized) have strayed from that with dire consequence.

Certainly will recommend it, but it’s not light reading. Nice poetry selection though. ;)

Sacred Connection

I love this book. It has inspired me to dive deeper into my own work.

Lots of good stuff...

but not the laced in leftist doctrine. We get enough of that everywhere else.

As Insightful As Ever

Karen Armstrong always opens my mind to a wider way of being and appreciation for the world around me...not just the divinity of nature, but the people that make up your day to day living, and the mundane task we trudge through each day. Take a moment, wherever you may be and become aware the divine spirit that surrounds you.

Mixed bag

I have many books written by Karen Armstrong and while I enjoy her research and insights I found this one to be a bit disappointing for several reasons:
- extreme western centric take on a global issue. author gives examples of climate change in Europe exclusively while saying it is a global issue ima typical Eurocentric AngloSaxon way .
Yet at the same time she praises Eastern religions and their connection to nature as something we can be saved by - yet fails to mention catastrophic floods and warmth in the East (focusing exclusively on warming and floods in Europe). This argument is not only offensive in detached European imperialistic way but also lacks basic logic.
- The author talks about climate change in a non scientific (she does not offer any real data ) yet very preachy, righteous and apocalyptic way which is t more of woke politicized agenda than actual deep dive into serious issue at hand
- The author suggests we can “save the planet “ which is sharp contrast with the whole point of the book that tries to argue that we are not above nature
- The author tends to oversimplify and idealize relation to nature that our ancestors had
The whole book seems more like trendy, righteous oversimplified patchwork of anthropological research used for a politicized righteousness which is very disappointed coming from this author

Lastly I must admit I am not a fan of the trend on audible where authors read their own books. Reading books is a serious art form and takes certain skills and tones and very rare are the authors who have that - and understandably so . Why audible is pushing for authors reason their own books I am not sure but it does my do audio books any good! On the contrary! I am certain I would enjoy this material (as many others) much more if it was read by a professional reader.

Transformative

This book definitely made me think outside the box! Great book for anyone exploring different paths of spirituality!

Wonderful

I hope I can do something more with my mindfulness she describes. The golden rule by any name or tradition is the answer.

Inspirational

Spectacularly written, rich with natural wisdom and how we all literally must get back to our roots.

Thank you, Ms Armstrong

What joy to listen to a true scholar share her knowings in not only an accessible manner (including references and dates), but also in a respectful, gentle, and generative way--modeling her points.