Epiphanies - Karen Armstrong

Kareen Armstrong entered a Convent at the age of 17. Her aim, to dedicate her life to God". Seven years later she left. 

She tells the story of those years in her book,  Through The Narrow Gate.

In the introduction she writes:

At first, my new involvement in religion remained on an intellectual, critical level. But as I went deeper into the history of religion, I began to experience that sense of being on a quest that had impelled me to become a nun and had kept me in the convent for all those years. It was different, of course, because I was older, and I hope a wiser person, this time round. Though particularly drawn to the study of mysticism. I knew from my attempts at meditation in the convent I did not have it in me to be a mystic. 

Yet, occasionally, when I'm studying either at my desk at home or in the British Library, I have what can only be described as a glimmer of transcendence. 

It only lasts a fraction of a second, but it gives the sense that life has some ultimate meaning and value for that brief moment, in much the same way as a great piece of music or an inspiring poem. There is no way of categorising that something, any more than it is possible to explain why art or music has this power. It cannot be summed up in a message or doctrine. But I now know enough to realise that what I'm engaged in is what the Benedictine monks called lectio divina (divine study), which they say yields occasionally an inevitably brief second of oratio (prayer). ....

I'm not claiming any great visionary experience, yet occasionally while studying theology, I too feel uplifted by a second of wonder and delight that momentarily illuminates the whole page. This type of spirituality would, it seems, have suited me better than the kind of meditation we learned in the convent. Everybody comes to the divine in his or own way, and it seems that my writing and broadcasting career, which has often been critical of certain aspects of religion, has led me back to some form of religious life.