Karen Armstrong

Karen Armstrong is an 80-year-old, world-renowned British scholar of religion and a recipient of the TED Prize.

Although she was once a Catholic nun, she has since declared that she does not adhere to any particular religion.

She deeply respects religious values but places more emphasis on "compassion and empathy" rather than faith itself.

Her writings focus on understanding and explaining various religious traditions in a comprehensive and inclusive manner.

The reason I wish to live a day as Karen Armstrong is twofold:

first, as I often say, I have a deep longing to experience the brilliance of extraordinary, genius-level intellects.

Second, I have yet to reach a definitive conclusion about my own faith, and I hope that through her insights, I might arrive at some form of certainty.

In particular, her life experience—being a nun, breaking away from that life, and ultimately becoming a scholar who deeply studies diverse religions without adhering to any single one—makes her uniquely wise and insightful.

Even for just a single day, I would hope to absorb her wisdom and attain clarity about my own spiritual questions in an accelerated, transformative way.

Religious scholars in the world can generally be divided into those who adhere to a particular faith,
or  those who approach religion from a transcendent academic perspective,
or those who critique religion.

Among them, Karen Armstrong stands out as a globally recognized scholar, once a Catholic nun deeply devoted to God but she later left the convent, becoming a non-believer while dedicating herself to the profound study of religion.

Inspired by her perspective, I find myself wishing, even if just briefly for a single day, to gain wisdom and conviction about faith and religion in my own life.