--- title: "8 Transcendence Quotes By Karen Armstrong" description: "8 Transcendence quotes by Karen Armstrong. Plus more from Karen Armstrong and more Transcendence sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/921/karen-armstrong-1053_being_well-the-idea-of-god-as-a-supreme-being_436713.jpg" --- > [Well, the idea of God as a supreme being means that he is simply like us, writ large, and just bigger and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/well-the-idea-of-god-as-a-supreme-being-means-that-he-is-simply-like/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/921/karen-armstrong-1053_being_well-the-idea-of-god-as-a-supreme-being_436713.jpg) > [Religions have found that if you behave in a certain way, if you sort of perform certain rituals that expand your mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/religions-have-found-that-if-you-behave-in-a-certain-way-if-you-sort/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/415/karen-armstrong-1053_ability_religions-have-found-that-if-you-behave_588147.jpg) > [Religion is a search for transcendence. But transcendence isn't necessarily sited in an external god, which can be a very unspiritual, unreligious…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/religion-is-a-search-for-transcendence-but-transcendence-isn-t/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/28e/karen-armstrong-1053_concept_religion-is-a-search-for-transcendence-b_590019.jpg) > [We have domesticated God's transcendence. We often learn about God at about the same time as we are learning about Santa Claus;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/we-have-domesticated-god-s-transcendence-we-often-learn-about-god-at/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/280/karen-armstrong-1053_ideas_we-have-domesticated-god-s-transcendence_1197637.jpg) > [“Perhaps the central paradox of the religious life is that it seeks transcendence, a dimension of existence that goes beyond our mundane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/perhaps-the-central-paradox-of-the-religious-life-is-that-it-seeks/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b01/karen-armstrong-1053_life_perhaps-the-central-paradox-of-the-relig_1465347.jpg) > [Religion is a practical discipline and it's one that we have always done, ever since humanity appeared on the scene when Homo…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/religion-is-a-practical-discipline-and-it-s-one-that-we-have-always/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f8d/karen-armstrong-1053_discipline_religion-is-a-practical-discipline-and-i_2189352.jpg) > [Jewish, Christian, and Muslim theologians have insisted for centuries that God does not exist and that there is 'nothing' out there; in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/jewish-christian-and-muslim-theologians-have-insisted-for-centuries/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cb/karen-armstrong-1053_aim_jewish-christian-and-muslim-theologians_2279113.jpg) > [Religious ideas and practices take root not because they are promoted by forceful theologians, nor because they can be shown to have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/religious-ideas-and-practices-take-root-not-because-they-are-promoted/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dab/karen-armstrong-1053_bases_religious-ideas-and-practices-take-root_2784372.jpg) ## Other authors on Transcendence - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-abhijit-naskar-99.jpg) Abhijit Naskar 34 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transcendence/abhijit-naskar/) - [Kamand Kojouri 9 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transcendence/kamand-kojouri/) - [Michael Bassey Johnson 8 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transcendence/michael-bassey-johnson/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-rajneesh-77002.jpg) Rajneesh 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transcendence/rajneesh/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b014/author-joseph-campbell-53286.jpg) Joseph Campbell 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transcendence/joseph-campbell/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-tom-robbins-91549.jpg) Tom Robbins 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transcendence/tom-robbins/) ## More by Karen Armstrong > [If it is written and read with serious attention, a novel, like a myth or any great work of art, can become an initiation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/if-it-is-written-and-read-with-serious-attention-a-novel-like-a-myth/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [A gentleman is not born but crafted. He had to work on himself in the same way as a sculptor shaped a rough stone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/a-gentleman-is-not-born-but-crafted-he-had-to-work-on-himself-in-the/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [I was a lousy nun. I couldn't do it. I couldn't find God. It wasn't suitable for me. It is suitable for very few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/i-was-a-lousy-nun-i-couldn-t-do-it-i-couldn-t-find-god-it-wasn-t/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [I have become convinced, through my studies, that the only way to achieve a safe, just and viable world is to live by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/i-have-become-convinced-through-my-studies-that-the-only-way-to/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [In the past some of the most influential Jewish, Christian and Muslim theologians, such as Maimonides, Aquinas and Ibn Sina, made it clear that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/in-the-past-some-of-the-most-influential-jewish-christian-and-muslim/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [The great task of our time is to build a global society, where people can live together in peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/the-great-task-of-our-time-is-to-build-a-global-society-where-people/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [We want to create, never mind the leaders or the bishops or chief rabbis or imams, or Popes. We want to create a grassroots…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/we-want-to-create-never-mind-the-leaders-or-the-bishops-or-chief/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [If we don't manage to implement the Golden Rule globally, so that we treat all peoples, wherever and whoever they may be, as though…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/if-we-don-t-manage-to-implement-the-golden-rule-globally-so-that-we/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [After I left the convent, for 15 years I was worn out with religion, I wanted nothing whatever to do with it. I felt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/after-i-left-the-convent-for-15-years-i-was-worn-out-with-religion-i/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [“As we have seen, so many of the things we once took for granted have proved unreliable that we may have to “forget” old…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/as-we-have-seen-so-many-of-the-things-we-once-took-for-granted-have/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [Yet a personal God can become a grave liability. He can be a mere idol carved in our own image, a projection of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/yet-a-personal-god-can-become-a-grave-liability-he-can-be-a-mere-idol/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [“I discovered that I felt at home and alive in the silence, which compelled me to enter my interior world and around there. Without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/i-discovered-that-i-felt-at-home-and-alive-in-the-silence-which/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [Each of the world religions has its own particular genius, its own special insight into the nature and requirements of compassion, and has something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/each-of-the-world-religions-has-its-own-particular-genius-its-own/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [“all rightly guided religion that submitted wholly to God, refused to worship man-made deities and preached that justice and equality came from the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/all-rightly-guided-religion-that-submitted-wholly-to-god-refused-to/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) > [“advocates of evolutionary theory since Thomas H. Huxley (1825–95) have found altruism problematic.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/advocates-of-evolutionary-theory-since-thomas-h-huxley-1825-95-have/) [Karen Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-armstrong/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transcendence/karen-armstrong/#itemlist", "name": "8 Transcendence Quotes By Karen Armstrong", "numberOfItems": 8, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Well, the idea of God as a supreme being means that he is simply like us, writ large, and just bigger and better, the end product of the series; whereas this divine personality that we meet in the Bible was, for centuries, regarded simply as a symbol of a greater transcendence that lay beyond it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Karen Armstrong" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/well-the-idea-of-god-as-a-supreme-being-means-that-he-is-simply-like/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/921/karen-armstrong-1053_being_well-the-idea-of-god-as-a-supreme-being_436713.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/921/karen-armstrong-1053_being_well-the-idea-of-god-as-a-supreme-being_436713.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/921/karen-armstrong-1053_being_well-the-idea-of-god-as-a-supreme-being_436713.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Well, the idea of God as a supreme being means that he is simply like us, writ large, and just bigger and…” — Karen Armstrong", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Religions have found that if you behave in a certain way, if you sort of perform certain rituals that expand your mind and make you realize that will make you realize and help you to seguey into transcendence and perform certain acts, adopt a certain lifestyle, you develop new capacities of mind and heart, just like the dancer, or the athlete that make you into a whole human being and principle after one of these disciplines right across the board in all of the faiths is compassion, the ability to feel with the other person.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Karen Armstrong" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-armstrong/religions-have-found-that-if-you-behave-in-a-certain-way-if-you-sort/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/415/karen-armstrong-1053_ability_religions-have-found-that-if-you-behave_588147.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/415/karen-armstrong-1053_ability_religions-have-found-that-if-you-behave_588147.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/415/karen-armstrong-1053_ability_religions-have-found-that-if-you-behave_588147.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Religions have found that if you behave in a certain way, if you sort of perform certain rituals that expand…” — Karen Armstrong", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Religion is a search for transcendence. 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