Foreword—I spent more than half of 2013 at Pendle Hill in Wallingford, PA, and fell in love with many things about it. My latest passion is with their pamphlets. Here I have, after reading them, set down the most impressive excerpts of each, with rare paraphrasing and additions of my own [in brackets]. Most of all I am impressed with the timelessness of these pamphlets, the oldest of which go back more than 80 years.
121. Patterns of Renewal (by Laurens Van der Post; 1962)
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121. Patterns of Renewal (by Laurens Van der Post; 1962)
About the Author—Laurens Van der Post was born of Dutch parents in South Africa, and spent time as a prisoner of the Japanese during WW II. In 1961, he led a Pendle Hill week-end seminar. He spoke 4 times to a crowded Pendle Hill Barn room, using the stories of the African Bushman to make vivid the processes and symbols of renewal. This pamphlet has been edited by Elizabeth Vining from a recording of his talks.
[Introduction]—The pattern of renewal in what I call “the 1st man of Africa,” is the earliest known human pattern still alive & accessible to us now. I think that what we need today isn’t knowledge of [this pattern] so much as experiencing this pattern. Modern man is cut of from experiencing a dynamic pattern of renewal in himself. Modern man is the prisoner of knowledge. We hide behind what we know; the unknown is treated as an enemy.
Fire is merely energy, not light or warmth or security against the beast. The great sun-within-ourselves, our interaction with the universe and ourselves, is cut off. Our narrowed [rational] awareness rejects all sorts of things that make up the totality of the human spirit: intuition, instincts & feelings. It is this moment that natural man feared most of all; he called it “a loss of soul.” [We go on without ours; he died and vanished without his].
[People of the Stars]—My African nurse, half Bushman & half Hottentot told me this story: A man captured superb, black and white cattle. He put them out to graze and milked them every morning until 2 mornings he found they had already been milked. He stayed up the 3rd night and saw a cord come down from the stars, and young women coming to milk his cattle. He caught one, the loveliest of them all. She asked him not to look in her basket without permis- sion. He could not resist and opened it; it appeared empty to him. This made the woman very sad and she vanished.
My old nurse said: “What was so awful is that he saw nothing of all the wonderful things she had brought from the stars for both of them.” Part of our predicament today is due to the impoverishment of the natural images in us all. Our narrow rational awareness has cut us off from the image-making thing in us. These images are the source of an enormous spiritual & psychic energy; we are poor without them.
[1st Man of the World]—I was born in the heart of Bushman country; my nurse was ½-Bushman and my earliest companions were 2 Bushmen spared from my grandfather’s raid against them. I made a pact with myself that I would go to the Kalahari Desert to see these people and beg their pardon for what we had done. I lived with these people some time, recorded their stories, experienced what their life was like. Through their stories I linked up with the natural pattern that the earth of Africa had produced in the imagination of its 1st children.
What sort of person was this 1st person of life? He had a child-man shape. In a good season he had a large stomach and a behind that served him rather as the hump does a camel. He loved the rocks & he loved painting; [he may have] inhabited the whole of Africa. He was a hunter, He grew no food at all, kept no cattle. He lived entirely on an act of faith with nature, in an extraor- dinary intimacy with nature. Wherever he went he belonged and felt he was known. Trees knew him; animals knew him; stars knew him. He was in relationship; “Grandfather” and “Grandmother” was the highest title of hone he could bestow. The pressure of the numbers we are obsessed with pulls us out of true, forces us to add to the weight of being and not to the quality of being. Their relationship with nature was an individual one.
[Bushman Stories]—These people knew what we don’t: without a story you haven’t got a civilization. Their story-images are a kind of hieroglyphic of the spirit. [I witnessed] a woman holding her child to the stars. [I was told]: “That woman is asking the stars … to give him the heart of a star… because the stars are great hunters & she wants her little boy to have the heart of a hunter.” The image of the wind as a 1st urge of life, a 1st intimation of the spirit, was very close to the Bushman.
The wind which spun upon itself & rose in a spiral to the sky [was] aspi- ring higher & going back into the waters of the beginning. A Bushman killed an ostrich one day. There was a feather with just a little blood on it. The wind picked up the feather, spun it up to the sky, carried it, & dropped it in a place of water, reeds & flowers. This feather gradually takes shape & becomes a young ostrich again.
I had with me a “tame Bushman” (South African for a Bushman who has survived his captivity). He had the faculties of his race, but had been cut off from the 1st things in himself. When he saw that we recorded the music & dances, that they were valued, he found again the value in himself, & he changed out of all recognition.
We are in a period of transition of extreme peril. By taking these pat- terns of renewal to our inner place where water is, and where reeds & flowers grow, we can stimulate our own awareness. [My different take on the prodigal son parable is that the son who goes into the world, when the capital he had is spent, then he must come home to mother and father. He is enriched and restored; he truly becomes greater]. The separation of the rational and the natural man is only justified if it leads to a greater reunion of the rational and the natural.
[Ostrich & Honey]—I asked my Bushman hunter Mu, “Mu, why is there always an egg outside the nest?” He said, “Well you know the ostrich is weak up there. He had a great shock once. He’s got to put that egg outside the nest. If he didn’t have it in front of him to remind him of what he’s doing he’d get up and walk away.”
“A man noticed that wherever the ostrich had his hole there was always a wonderful smell. He saw from a bush [that the ostrich had fire under its wing]. The man said to the ostrich, “I have found some wonderful merenda, you must come with me.” When the ostrich stretch upward and lifted its wings to reach the merenda. The man lifted the wind and took the fire. That was the ostrich’s great shock.
The bee to primitive man is the image of wisdom; honey is the quintes- sence of the bee. Through devotion, selflessness and dedicated work the bee makes this wonderful substance, which looks as if it were made [of matter and light]. The moon is also of immense importance in the 1st spirit of Africa.
[Kabu, the Praying Mantis]—The main character in the spirit of the 1st man of Africa is Kabu, the praying mantis. This man chose the mantis because he realized that creation started almost with a point. If creation starts from a position of the spirit, when there is no bulk, then the praying mantis is chosen because he, in a sense begins like that. This insect has a Bushman face. In the beginning, the bee was carrying Mantis over the waters, trying to find a dry place. He saw a flower standing on top of the water and he put Mantis in the flower, and that is how Mantis began. [Mantis’ family included]: a rock-rabbit [his wife]; Porcupine, his adopted daughter; Kwammang-a , the elements and es- sence of a rainbow (they had two sons, one who burrowed into his hut, the other fought things head-on.).
The rock-rabbit is rock-steady; she is a very good mother and is con- stantly getting Mantis out of trouble. No animal knows its way more gently, more firmly or more surely through the dark than porcupine does; her father was All-Devourer. She represents Mantis’ intuitive soul. Kwammang-a as the rainbow represents the conscious discriminating aspect of man. Mantis takes a springbok lamb into the desert and feeds it honey from a hole. The shadow of an elephant covers the hole, and the elephant eats the springbok. Mantis takes a quill, goes down the elephant’s throat and stabs him until he disgorges the lamb. Thus Mantis rescues the small from vanishing in the exaggeration, the small from excess.
[Pattern of Renewal: 1. War with the Baboons]—Mantis’ son is a [symbol] of his realization that if life is to have meaning he must create be- yond himself. Mantis sends out his son, his vision, into the worlds to make war against the baboons. The baboons are the intellectuals, the great critics. Emotionally they are immature, insensitive about the feelings of others & extremely sensitive about their own. They find young Mantis, gather their numbers, & when he tells them he is collecting sticks for his father to make war on them, they batter him to death so that his eyes fall out; [the vision is lost].
The baboon/critics play with the eyeballs/vision & claim them/it as their own. Mantis fights the baboons, takes back the eye/ vision & escapes. He takes it to where reeds & flowers grow & immerses it in water. Day by day the eye changes, until he finds the young Mantis, renewed & restored. [Among the reeds & flowers, the boy was anointed & completed]. Vision is phase one of the pattern of renewal.
[Pattern of Renewal: 2. Mantis & the Beautiful Eland]—The eland is the antelope dearest to the Bushman’s heart; they represent civilization & cul- ture. Mantis decides to create an eland, [which is metaphorical for community, culture, civilization]. He makes the eland out of a shoe that Kwammang-a, the discriminating rain-bow element within him, had thrown away; it suggests the rejected stone becoming the cornerstone of the building to come. He puts it deep into the water and sees it changing day after day. He see his image emerge out of a tine little model of the great antelope. He rubs him all over with honey (i.e. He devotes all the sweetness and wisdom of his nature in making this animal strong).
When Mantis is away, his family battle with the animal, thus mastering him and eat him. Mantis comes back and experiences the great bitterness that all creators must experience, that they have created an element beyond them- selves in which they are not allowed to participate. All that is left is the gall of the eland, the bitterness. Mantis pierces the gall, which covers him all over and blinds him. He staggers and gropes around, and finds an ostrich feather and wipes the gall out of his eye. He takes the feather, throws it up into the sky, & tells it that it must be the moon and lighten the darkness for men. The moon is a symbol of renewal in the imagination of the Bushman. It represents the intuitive element of the spirit which carries light through the darkness. It is all of the shy intuitive elements that light the dark, that reveal the true self.
[Pattern of Renewal: 3. Young Man and the Lion]—[A young Bush- man hunter, in spite of knowing better, fell asleep at a watering hole]. Sleep here is an image of unawareness, of falling asleep on the way to the water of life, and being taken unawares. A lion came to the watering hole; a lion has all the good animal qualities. The lion picks up the young man & puts him in a tree. [Just to be sure, the lion smashes him into the fork of a tree a 2nd time. This causes tears of pain, which the lion licks away]. This changes their relationship.
The young man escapes and runs home and tries to hide in his com- munity. The lion comes and will not leave the village, [and will not accept a substitute]. The community brings the young man to the lion, who kills and thus masters the young man. He then allows the community to kill and master him. [A kind of death awaits someone who fails to renew himself, or fails to become whole in his greater natural image]. You have to live out your deepest self if you are going to be of creative service and if you are going to be an instrument of increase in life. That is the 3rd stage of renewal.
[Pattern of Renewal: 4. Mantis and the Great-Devourer]—When you have been re-created by the sense of becoming, within the context of the com- munity, beyond the context of community, through finding your own individual self, [you can complete your renewal only by renewing] your relationship with God—renewing the god itself. Mantis has, in spite of being beaten, managed to get some sheep for himself. Mantis’ entire family is there, except for Porcu- pine’s father, the All-Devourer.
Mantis cannot swallow his zebra meat, which is the symbol for flight and evasion; no more evasion. Mantis has Porcupine invite All-Devourer to eat sheep with him, knowing that All-Devourer will far eat more than just sheep. All-Devourer ponderously follows Porcupine’s tracks back to her home. As he approaches a shadow falls and the whole sky goes black. It is the darkness which we face from time to time; twice in my generation in 2 world wars our inadequate spirit called in the all-devourer to deal with these arrested aspects of ourselves. If we do not do so freely, life calls in the terrible healer, disaster, to deal with the situation.
The All-Devourer sits down to feed with him. Soon the sheep are gone, the shelters are, the external all-shape containing Mantis’ family vanishes, food utensils are gone, the family is eaten except for Porcupine and her sons. She tests her sons and finds one to be gentle and the other to be fierce. She places a son on either side of All-Devourer and they cut him open. Out comes all the vanished world. Porcupine nourishes them and leads them far away from the scene to a new country. She led them to a new state of being, to a new and greater element of being which they could not have accomplished before this descent into the All-Devourer.
[Conclusion]—The stories of other nations and other civilizations all end with this birth and rebirth, by going deep down into the darkness, by being devoured into this deep, deep thing with which we have not kept our reckoning, [stayed on course toward] before. Very soon after the telling of this story, the Bushman vanishes, exterminated. Birth, procreation, death, rebirth, these are the 4 stages in the evolution of the spirit.
In the last days when I was in the desert, a Bushman died. They buried him with his face to the east, the direction from which the new day comes. They buried him with ostrich eggs full of water, his bow, arrows and spear. They piled red sand over him & lit a fire. I asked them, “Why the fire? And they answered, “Because it is dark where he is and he needs the light of the fire to show him the way to the day beyond.”
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122. The Civil War Diary of Cyrus Pringle (Foreword by Henry
Cadbury; 1962)
Foreword—Cyrus Pringle is known to specialists as a pioneer plant breeder & botanical collector. He is also one of the Quakers who battled with their consciences during the Civil War. Cyrus Guernsey Pringle (1838-1911) was born in East Charlotte Vermont. [He had to leave the University of Ver- mont] to care for his widowed mother and younger brother; in literature, lan- guage, and science he was largely self-taught. He spent nearly 40 years in the Southwest and in Mexico collecting specimens.
[This diary] deals with an inward and timeless problem of a sensitive conscience. The diary begins with the events of the day following his call to service, and tells all that happened to him after his refusal to serve, [including] what happened in his mind and heart. It was printed after his death, and 50 years after the events in the Atlantic Monthly (February 1913). Pringle’s two companions were Lindley M. Macomber and Peter Dakin. Particular interest attaches to Lincoln’s behavior in the case. He felt keenly the problem of recon- ciling war with conscience and understood the Quaker position.
Outwardly Quaker conscripts met both kindness & cruelty. Inwardly they had the natural conflict between the evil of making any surrender to military might and the desire to escape punishment and be obedient to reasonable expectations. The issue is too complicated to be solved by a personal religious faith; it is still in the main a moral problem. Human moral progress often de- pends on the spontaneous response of one or two sensitive persons to quite unexpected situations, when that response became convincing & contagious. —Henry J. Cadbury.
[This diary] deals with an inward and timeless problem of a sensitive conscience. The diary begins with the events of the day following his call to service, and tells all that happened to him after his refusal to serve, [including] what happened in his mind and heart. It was printed after his death, and 50 years after the events in the Atlantic Monthly (February 1913). Pringle’s two companions were Lindley M. Macomber and Peter Dakin. Particular interest attaches to Lincoln’s behavior in the case. He felt keenly the problem of recon- ciling war with conscience and understood the Quaker position.
Outwardly Quaker conscripts met both kindness & cruelty. Inwardly they had the natural conflict between the evil of making any surrender to military might and the desire to escape punishment and be obedient to reasonable expectations. The issue is too complicated to be solved by a personal religious faith; it is still in the main a moral problem. Human moral progress often de- pends on the spontaneous response of one or two sensitive persons to quite unexpected situations, when that response became convincing & contagious. —Henry J. Cadbury.
[7th month-8th month, 1863]—At Burlington, Vermont, on the 13th of the 7th month, 1863, I was drafted. With ardent zeal for our Faith & the cause of our peaceable principles, I felt to say, “Here am I, Father, for thy ser- vice. As thou will.” I felt many times since that I am nothing without the com- panionship of the Spirit. Wm Lindley Dean and I appeared before the Provost Marshal [on the 27th] with statements of our cases [and on the 29th for a hearing]. On the 31st I came before the Board. Respectfully those men lis- tened to the exposition of our principles. The Provost Marshal released me for 20 days.
We were urged by our acquaintances to pay our commutation money [or hire a substitute, because it] was our duty. We confess a higher duty and deny any obligation to support so unlawful a system, as we hold war to be, even in opposition to evil & in defense of liberty. [We couldn't hire a substitute & thereby bring others to evil]. Here I must record Rolla Gleason’s (the mar- shal) kindness; he treated us with respect and kindness. [In the train cars on the way to Brattleboro, VT we were] filled with apprehensions of long, hope- less trials, of abuse and contempt, of patient endurance (or an attempt at this), unto an end seen only by the eye of a strong faith. At Brattleboro our citi- zen’s dress was taken from us & we were shut up in a rough board building.
Brattleboro—26th day, 8th month. Aimless is military life, except be- times its aim is deadly. Idle life blends with violent death-struggles till the man is unmade a man; & henceforth there is little manhood about him. He is made a soldier, a man-destroying machine. 3 times a day we are marched out to the mess houses for our rations. As we go out and return, on right and left and in front & rear go bayonets. Hard beds are healthy but I query[:] Cannot the result be defeated by the degree? Our mattresses are boards. I praise the discipline I have received from uncarpeted floors through warm summer nights of my boyhood. Lindley M. Macomber (LMM) and I addressed the following letter to Governor Holbrook and hired a corporal to forward it to him [Excerpts from letter]:
“We love our country and acknowledge with gratitude to our Heavenly Father the many blessing we been favored with under the government, & can feel no sympathy with any who seek its overthrow. But . . . we can't violate our religious convictions either by complying with military requisitions, furnishing a substitute, or paying commutation money. [We suffer] insult and contempt, and penalties of insubordination, though liberty of conscience is granted us by the Vermont and US Constitution. . . Truly thy Friend, Cyrus G. Pringle.”
Camp Vermont: Long Island, Boston. 28th day—[On the train to Long Island, a cavalry officer threaten to have anyone escaping or putting their head out of the window shot. [We marched through Boston to the harbor]; at the head of this company, like convicts, walked, with heavy hearts and downcast eyes, two Quakers. [On the island] troops gather daily from all the New England States except Connecticut and Rhode Island. All is war here. We are surroun- ded by the pomp and circumstance of war, and enveloped in the cloud thereof.
The men with us give us their sympathy. Although we are relieved from duty and drill, we have heard no complaints. LMM and I appeared before the Captain; he listened to us respectfully and promised to refer us to General Devens. Though fair be the earth, it has come to be tainted and marred by him who was meant to be its crowning glory. Old Father of Mercies, forgive the hard heartlessness, blindness and scarlet sin of my brothers.
In Guard House. 31st day—LMM & I separately came to the judg- ment that we must not conform to the requirement to clean about camp and bring water. [First argument and then threats were offered in response to our refusal]. All who commit misdemeanors are confined [in the island’s hotel]. In most, as in the camps, there are traces yet of manhood & of the Divine Spark, but some are abandoned, dissolute. [The blacks are jeered by substitutes from the New York draft riots]. I must say the blacks are superior to the whites in all their behavior. Here we are in prison in our own land for no crimes. More [than that], we are here for obeying the commands of the Son of God and the influ- ences of his Holy Spirit.
“We love our country and acknowledge with gratitude to our Heavenly Father the many blessing we been favored with under the government, & can feel no sympathy with any who seek its overthrow. But . . . we can't violate our religious convictions either by complying with military requisitions, furnishing a substitute, or paying commutation money. [We suffer] insult and contempt, and penalties of insubordination, though liberty of conscience is granted us by the Vermont and US Constitution. . . Truly thy Friend, Cyrus G. Pringle.”
Camp Vermont: Long Island, Boston. 28th day—[On the train to Long Island, a cavalry officer threaten to have anyone escaping or putting their head out of the window shot. [We marched through Boston to the harbor]; at the head of this company, like convicts, walked, with heavy hearts and downcast eyes, two Quakers. [On the island] troops gather daily from all the New England States except Connecticut and Rhode Island. All is war here. We are surroun- ded by the pomp and circumstance of war, and enveloped in the cloud thereof.
The men with us give us their sympathy. Although we are relieved from duty and drill, we have heard no complaints. LMM and I appeared before the Captain; he listened to us respectfully and promised to refer us to General Devens. Though fair be the earth, it has come to be tainted and marred by him who was meant to be its crowning glory. Old Father of Mercies, forgive the hard heartlessness, blindness and scarlet sin of my brothers.
In Guard House. 31st day—LMM & I separately came to the judg- ment that we must not conform to the requirement to clean about camp and bring water. [First argument and then threats were offered in response to our refusal]. All who commit misdemeanors are confined [in the island’s hotel]. In most, as in the camps, there are traces yet of manhood & of the Divine Spark, but some are abandoned, dissolute. [The blacks are jeered by substitutes from the New York draft riots]. I must say the blacks are superior to the whites in all their behavior. Here we are in prison in our own land for no crimes. More [than that], we are here for obeying the commands of the Son of God and the influ- ences of his Holy Spirit.
9th month: 1st day, 9th month—Oh, the horrors of the past night—I never before experienced such sensations and fears; never did I feel so clearly that I had nothing but the hand of our Father to shield me from evil. The others [left us alone, but there was bedlam and a chained-up, delirious drunk in the next room]. We learned the next day that the drunk was from a religious family, but was drawn into bad company.
3rd day—A Massachusetts major complimented our choice of religious books and tried to persuade us to serve. He told us of another Quaker Edward W. Holway of Sandwich; we received permission to write to him, but the Major never gave him the letter. Oh the trials from these officers [coming to persuade us to serve]! One after another comes in to relieve himself upon us. [When persuasion does not work] they usually fly into a passion and end by bullying us. How can we reason with such men? They have stopped their ears to the voice of the Spirit, and hardened their hearts to his influences. A little ser- vice was required of LMM, but he would not comply, [even in the face of loaded guns]. This is a trial of strength of patience.
6th & 7th day—Major J. B. Gould, 13th Mass. Came in with the determi- nation of persuading us to consent to be transferred to the hospital here. In more than an hour, he lost no part of his self-control or good humor. [We were taken to the hospital, where the major] demonstrated kindness by his reso- lution that we should occupy and enjoy the pleasanter quarters of the hospital tent whether we served there or not. He passed by LMM and Peter Dakin [PD] outside the tent and declared they were the strangest prisoners of war he ever saw.
3rd day—A Massachusetts major complimented our choice of religious books and tried to persuade us to serve. He told us of another Quaker Edward W. Holway of Sandwich; we received permission to write to him, but the Major never gave him the letter. Oh the trials from these officers [coming to persuade us to serve]! One after another comes in to relieve himself upon us. [When persuasion does not work] they usually fly into a passion and end by bullying us. How can we reason with such men? They have stopped their ears to the voice of the Spirit, and hardened their hearts to his influences. A little ser- vice was required of LMM, but he would not comply, [even in the face of loaded guns]. This is a trial of strength of patience.
6th & 7th day—Major J. B. Gould, 13th Mass. Came in with the determi- nation of persuading us to consent to be transferred to the hospital here. In more than an hour, he lost no part of his self-control or good humor. [We were taken to the hospital, where the major] demonstrated kindness by his reso- lution that we should occupy and enjoy the pleasanter quarters of the hospital tent whether we served there or not. He passed by LMM and Peter Dakin [PD] outside the tent and declared they were the strangest prisoners of war he ever saw.
13th & 14th day—Henry Dickinson (HD) wrote, stating that the Presi- dent, though sympathizing with those in our situation, felt bound by the Con- scription Act. [The choice was between hospital service & overseeing blacks on confiscated rebel estates]. What would become of our testimony and determination to preserve ourselves clear of the guilt of this war? We received the unwelcome advice from HD to go into hospital service, [which left us feeling unsupported,] desolate and dreary in our position.
16th & 17th day—[More local Friends visit & write advising us] that we might enter the hospital without compromising our principles; [we find ourselves in discomfort and disagreement with that advice]. Their regard for our personal welfare and safety too much absorbs the zeal they should possess for the maintenance of the principle of peaceableness of our Master’s kingdom. [Our home meeting friends sent] kind & cheering words of Truth. Major Gould bade us Farewell and expressed a hope that we should not have so hard a time as we feared. [He probably also saw to it that we had the liberty of the vessel named Forest City.]
Forest City, 22nd & 23rd day—We cross the mouth of Chesapeake Bay to Fortress Monroe & then steamed up the St. James past Norfolk to leave the New Hampshire detachment at Portsmouth, back to Fortress Monroe and up the Potomac to Alexandria. We hear that we are to go right to the active field. Fierce indeed are our trials.
16th & 17th day—[More local Friends visit & write advising us] that we might enter the hospital without compromising our principles; [we find ourselves in discomfort and disagreement with that advice]. Their regard for our personal welfare and safety too much absorbs the zeal they should possess for the maintenance of the principle of peaceableness of our Master’s kingdom. [Our home meeting friends sent] kind & cheering words of Truth. Major Gould bade us Farewell and expressed a hope that we should not have so hard a time as we feared. [He probably also saw to it that we had the liberty of the vessel named Forest City.]
Forest City, 22nd & 23rd day—We cross the mouth of Chesapeake Bay to Fortress Monroe & then steamed up the St. James past Norfolk to leave the New Hampshire detachment at Portsmouth, back to Fortress Monroe and up the Potomac to Alexandria. We hear that we are to go right to the active field. Fierce indeed are our trials.
Camp near Culpeper. 25th day—Though we felt free to keep with those among whom we had been placed, we could not consent to carry a gun even though we did not intend to use it. We succeeded in giving the young officers a slight idea of what we were & why we did not pay our commutation. A council was soon held to decide what to do with us. The guns were thrust over our heads and hung upon our shoulders.
[As we marched, seeing for the first time, a country made dreary by the war-blight, one realizes as he can no other way something of the ruin that lies in a war’s trail. When one contrasts the face of this country with New England, he sees stamped on it the great irrefutable arguments against slavery & war, these twin relics of barbarism so awful in their consequences that they change the face of the country. We marched 4 miles, the guns interfering with our walking. We declined to be present at inspection of arms, and were ordered by the colonel to be tied. We were threatened great severities & even death. We seem perfectly at the mercy of the military power.
26th day—Yesterday my mind was much agitated; doubts and fears and forebodings seized me. This morning I enjoy peace; I feel as though I could face anything. Oh, praise be to the Lord for the peace, love, & resignation that has filled my soul today! There is a holy life that is above fear; it is a close communion with Christ.
Regimental Hospital, 4th Vermont—The colonel came to us apologi- zing for the roughness with which he had treated us at first. He urged us to go into the hospital stating that this course was advised by Friends about New York. He gave us until the next morning to consider the question and report our decision. If we persisted [we might] be exposed to the charge of overzeal and fanaticism even among our own brethren. At last we consented to a trial at least till we could make inquiries and ask the counsel of our friends.
26th day—Yesterday my mind was much agitated; doubts and fears and forebodings seized me. This morning I enjoy peace; I feel as though I could face anything. Oh, praise be to the Lord for the peace, love, & resignation that has filled my soul today! There is a holy life that is above fear; it is a close communion with Christ.
Regimental Hospital, 4th Vermont—The colonel came to us apologi- zing for the roughness with which he had treated us at first. He urged us to go into the hospital stating that this course was advised by Friends about New York. He gave us until the next morning to consider the question and report our decision. If we persisted [we might] be exposed to the charge of overzeal and fanaticism even among our own brethren. At last we consented to a trial at least till we could make inquiries and ask the counsel of our friends.
The voice that seemed to say, “Follow me” kept pleading with me, con- vincing of sin, till I knew of a truth my feet had strayed from the path. We met with the Colonel in the morning, requesting him to proceed with court-martial. I have seen LMM in the thoroughness & patience of his trial to perform service in hospital, and seen him fail and declare to us, “I cannot stay here.” I have received new proof from the experimental knowledge of an honest man, that no Friend desiring to keep himself clear of complicity with this system of war & to bear a perfect testimony against it, can lawfully perform service in the hos- pitals of the Army in lieu of bearing arms.
[10th month] 3rd & 6th day at Washington—I was asked to clean the gun I brought, and declining, was tied some 2 hours upon the ground. We were ordered into our companies, that, separated, and with the forces of the officers of a company bearing on us, we might the more likely be subdued; no personal injury was allowed. [I met] with the Colonel and begged of him release from the attempts by violence to compel my obedience & service. He replied that he had shown us all the favor he should; he turned us over to the military power and was going to let that takes its course, [i.e.] henceforth we were to be at the inferior officers’ mercy. He denied that our consent was temporary and conditional and declared that a man who wouldn’t fight for his country did not deserve to live.
[When asked by the lieutenant if I would clean my gun, & after replying] “I can't do it,” I was tied to stakes on the ground for 2 hours. I wept from sor- row that such things should be in our own country. It seemed as if Christ's gospel had never been preached upon earth, and the beautiful example of his life had been utterly lost. I wondered if it could be that they could force me to obedience by torture, and examined myself closely to see if they had ad- vanced as yet one step toward accomplishing their purposes. I found myself, through divine strength, as firm in my resolution to maintain my allegiance to my Master.
[When asked by the lieutenant if I would clean my gun, & after replying] “I can't do it,” I was tied to stakes on the ground for 2 hours. I wept from sor- row that such things should be in our own country. It seemed as if Christ's gospel had never been preached upon earth, and the beautiful example of his life had been utterly lost. I wondered if it could be that they could force me to obedience by torture, and examined myself closely to see if they had ad- vanced as yet one step toward accomplishing their purposes. I found myself, through divine strength, as firm in my resolution to maintain my allegiance to my Master.
[The next morning I reported to the lieutenant who said, “You are or- dered to report to Washington. I do not know what it is for.” Short & uncertain at first were the flights of Hope. As the slave many times before us, leaving his yoke behind him, we turned our backs upon the camp of the 4th Vermont.
At the War Office we were soon admitted to an audience with the Adju- tant General [& then] Surgeon General Hammond. Here we met Isaac Newton [IN], Commissioner of Agriculture. We understand it is through the influence of IN that Friends have been able to approach Government heads in our behalf & to prevail with them to so great an extent. The Secretary of War & the Presi- dent sympathized with Friends. The one door of relief that appeared was to parole us [to our homes], subject to their call, though this they neither wished nor proposed to do. [In the meantime] we were sent to Medical Purveyor Abbot, who assigned us to Douglas Hospital.
8th-13th day—We all went out to see the city on a pass. IN came to see us, stating that he had called upon the President that afternoon to request him to release us & let us go home to our friends. A woman sought help to prevent her 15 year-old son from being shot for desertion. IN approached the President, who halted the execution.
On 11th day we attended meeting, held in Asa Arnold’s house; there were but 4 persons besides ourselves. On 13th day LMM faced the officer of the day where he served. The officer demanded obedience & a salute; LMM gave him neither, & was put in the guardhouse. The surgeon in charge had him released. We are all getting uneasy about remaining here. If our relea- ses do not come soon, we feel we must intercede with the authorities, even if the alternative be imprisonment.
At the War Office we were soon admitted to an audience with the Adju- tant General [& then] Surgeon General Hammond. Here we met Isaac Newton [IN], Commissioner of Agriculture. We understand it is through the influence of IN that Friends have been able to approach Government heads in our behalf & to prevail with them to so great an extent. The Secretary of War & the Presi- dent sympathized with Friends. The one door of relief that appeared was to parole us [to our homes], subject to their call, though this they neither wished nor proposed to do. [In the meantime] we were sent to Medical Purveyor Abbot, who assigned us to Douglas Hospital.
8th-13th day—We all went out to see the city on a pass. IN came to see us, stating that he had called upon the President that afternoon to request him to release us & let us go home to our friends. A woman sought help to prevent her 15 year-old son from being shot for desertion. IN approached the President, who halted the execution.
On 11th day we attended meeting, held in Asa Arnold’s house; there were but 4 persons besides ourselves. On 13th day LMM faced the officer of the day where he served. The officer demanded obedience & a salute; LMM gave him neither, & was put in the guardhouse. The surgeon in charge had him released. We are all getting uneasy about remaining here. If our relea- ses do not come soon, we feel we must intercede with the authorities, even if the alternative be imprisonment.
20th-26th day—I shall not say but we submit too much in not decli- ning at once, but it has seemed most prudent at least to make suit with Government rather than provoke the hostility of their subalterns. Is patience justified under the circumstances? [I got sick &] after a week I find that I am reduced very low in strength and flesh by the sickness and pain I am experiencing.
11th month. 5th day—I spend most of my time on my bed, much of it alone. And very precious to me is the nearness I am favored to attain unto the Master. The fruits of this are sweet, and a recompense for affliction. Edward W. Holway saw IN on my behalf; IN met with the President, who read a letter from a New York Friend, and instructed Secretary Stanton that “all those young men be sent home at once.” The order was given and we were released. Upon my arrival in New York on 7th day, I was seized with delirium from which I recovered after many weeks, through the mercy and favor of Him, who in all this trial had been our guide and strength and comfort.
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123. Prayer: The Cornerstone (by Helen G. Hole; 1962)
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123. Prayer: The Cornerstone (by Helen G. Hole; 1962)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR—Helen G. Hole is a graduate of Vassar with a Master’s from Columbia. She is Assistant Professor of English at Earlham Col- lege; her husband Allen D. Hole teaches French there. They have led Earl- ham Foreign Study trips in France. Helen & Allen are active in the Society of Friends. Prayer: The Cornerstone was 1st delivered as an address at the 1961 Pendle Hill Mid-Winter Institute.
William Penn said, “I would have thee and all men to know that I scorn that religion which is not worth suffering for, and able to sustain those who suffer for it.”
William Penn said, “I would have thee and all men to know that I scorn that religion which is not worth suffering for, and able to sustain those who suffer for it.”
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE 1ST CHRISTIANS—Our entire family visited the town of Herculaneum, not far from Naples. Herculaneum was buried by hot mud at the same time Pompeii was buried in ashes. We climbed to a small 2nd-story servant’s room. On one wall, in a sort of alcove, we could see a place where a wooden cross had been embedded. It brought home to me the impact of that 1st Christian movement. The 1st Christian had no church property, no separated clergy, no acknowledged authority except experience in the life of Spirit. [I have seen at the heart of Christianity’s vitality] 2 essential factors whose combination was irresistible.
Koinonia/Encounter—The New Testament (NT) shows me that there were no solitary Christians. [The solitary eunuch of the NT either gathered friends to form a fellowship or almost certainly ceased to be a Christian]. There is much evidence in the NT as to the quality of the relationship between the members of the Christian fellowship. They felt the need to meet frequently, to pray, sing, eat, rejoice, all together. There was [a sense] that they were a part of something significant. Each person was important, each had a part to play. Here we have an example of a community grounded in the individual encounter between the human soul and God, but at the same time taking place in the here and now of human society.
Koinonia/Encounter—The New Testament (NT) shows me that there were no solitary Christians. [The solitary eunuch of the NT either gathered friends to form a fellowship or almost certainly ceased to be a Christian]. There is much evidence in the NT as to the quality of the relationship between the members of the Christian fellowship. They felt the need to meet frequently, to pray, sing, eat, rejoice, all together. There was [a sense] that they were a part of something significant. Each person was important, each had a part to play. Here we have an example of a community grounded in the individual encounter between the human soul and God, but at the same time taking place in the here and now of human society.
This fellowship is an essential factor which characterized the Christian movement. The 2nd basic element which I find is that each person in this community had known Jesus. It is evident that Paul was convinced that there could be no contact more immediate than the spiritual contact he had known with Jesus. We all of us tend to feel the Early Christian’s accomplishment would be impossible for us, [never to be achieved in another time]. But there has been the exhilaration and purity of the Franciscan movement, the surging power of the Wesleyan revival, and the early years of Quakerism, which we choose as our example.
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE 1ST FRIENDS—Those 1st Friends had no trained clergy; no one had authority over them except those with the autho- rity of spiritual experience: George Fox, William Penn, those who spoke with power. There was a tremendous sense of fellowship among these people too. They had a tremendous sense of the overwhelming significance of the experience they were going through together. Each individual Friend played a part in this community. William Penn said, “I would have thee & all men to know that I scorn that religion which is not worth suffering for, and able to sustain those who suffer for it.” The 1st church and the Quaker movement were made up of very human people. I believe with absolute certainty that this same source of power is open to us today.
PRAYER: CORNERSTONE/WORSHIP/VOCAL PRAYER/SMALL PRAYER GROUP—The vitality of both communities was prayer; I believe it was their cornerstone. Practically every passage written after George Fox’s 1st experience is permeated with explicit or implicit references to prayer. Faith which overflows in real spiritual power must be fed with prayer. Our Quaker fellowships must be nourished with prayer if they are to endure as centers of life & power, rather than as static institutions. Prayer [here] is a method of raising & uniting the soul to God in the attempt to bring our will into line with God’s purpose. There is prayerful corporate waiting which takes place in any meeting when it has centered down. Prayer—a loving attention to God, a surrendering to the spirit Jesus expressed—is our task as individuals and as a group.
Vocal prayer may instill life into a previously dead silence, or it may bring unity to a meeting whose ministry has seemed scattered and discordant, or gather up and bring together fragmentary messages. There are many mee- tings in which such prayer is scarcely ever heard. Is it possible that public prayer’s practice calls for a certain unapologetic, open commitment which many of us are not prepared to make?
The 3rd place for prayer within the Quaker Fellowship is in the small prayer group. Most of us live as isolated individuals, suffering under a separate burdens of inadequacy, & even guilt & fear; we limit our relationships to the superficial level. In a prayer group we put our energies into trying to express our hidden, buried selves, without repressions or evasions or pretense. [The deep sharing of these groups] brings with it a healing vitalizing power which may transform the lives of the group’s members and bring power to the meeting as a whole.
A fellowship’s unity & power will come when the members uphold each other in prayer. A true intercession is when we concentrate our whole soul force on the need of each person & hold them up before God. It is this sort of prayer which must be the basis of a true fellowship, if it is to have depth, or the basis of any deep Christian relationship. The regenerative power released by this prayer will inevitably be channeled into the meeting’s life.
PRAYER: IN THE FAMILY; OF LOVE—It is in the family that our chil- dren should conceive of God's love for the 1st time through the love of parents and brothers and sisters. Our testimony for peace must begin at home, by creating family harmony. At home the child may sense the possibility of a God-oriented life. The degree of success will be determined by the degree of our own personal commitment and our own progress in the life of prayer. Is your home a center for the spiritual nourishment of your family and those who enter it?
Every meeting needs a few individuals mature enough and dedicated enough to communicate with people who have special needs. Persons needing help need to be recognized by someone who cares, someone who is willing to lay aside his own preoccupations in order to focus on their needs. Simone Weil writes, “[The unhappy] have no need of anything in this world but people capa- ble of giving them their attention.” [Few of us have the confidence] in our meager resources or the spiritual maturity to the problems of others without becoming emotionally involved. Only the wisdom resulting from a sustained and disciplined life of prayer can channel through us the spirit of healing which these persons who suffer so sorely need.
THE CENTRALITY OF PRAYER—If prayer has not been a reality throughout the week for at least a core of its members, participants in the Sunday meeting can't reach high levels of worship. [Vocal Prayer flows from a cup already full]. We have to make a place for regular prayer. We have time if something has to be done; prayer must become a priority. But we must learn how to pray and practice praying. Prayer is an art that must be acquired and cultivated. We can learn from classical religious documents on prayer, but we learn most as we apply their precepts to the needs that we ourselves experi- ence in prayer. Gradually, irrevocably, we find as we walk the [prayer] path that every part of our lives calls for revision.
Fred Tritton queries: “Are you continually relating every thought, impulse, & action to God? Are you watchful and alert that nothing goes forth that doesn't proceed from that holy center? Knowing how to use the silence brings a quiet mind and clearer understanding of our tasks. Lives rooted in prayer are necessary for any vital, powerful meeting for worship if it is to continue to grow.
Fred Tritton queries: “Are you continually relating every thought, impulse, & action to God? Are you watchful and alert that nothing goes forth that doesn't proceed from that holy center? Knowing how to use the silence brings a quiet mind and clearer understanding of our tasks. Lives rooted in prayer are necessary for any vital, powerful meeting for worship if it is to continue to grow.
OBSTACLES TO PRAYER—[Our age] is not an age of faith. We know too much about suffering and brutality & insecurity. For all of the public spea- kers in a 3 month period, some turn of speech was inevitable which be- trayed the complete and corrosive uncertainty that is in the air in our time. Some persons feel that there is little to be hoped for beyond survival. How can we accept a theological structure which must make room for human suffering? In an atmosphere of this kind, how can we find a place to stand in, a faith to pray?
THE HIDDEN GOD—In our relationship with someone else, there is always an element of not being able to possess, to encompass, to get near. God is infinitely more hidden from us than a person, infinitely more free & incal- culable. To know God in even the smallest degree, we must transcend the limitations of our finite selves. We have to be partly transformed into God if we are to know God, and [true] faith is essential to this transformation.
True faith should be something which stirs and disturbs us. What is required of us is the total surrender of our whole being to the search. Prayer can become the orientation of all the attention of which our soul is capable towards God. We have to regulate our course before we are sure of it; we have to continue along it for a long time, guided by faith alone. “I believe; help thou my unbelief.” &, “Blessed are they who haven’t seen & yet believe.”
True faith should be something which stirs and disturbs us. What is required of us is the total surrender of our whole being to the search. Prayer can become the orientation of all the attention of which our soul is capable towards God. We have to regulate our course before we are sure of it; we have to continue along it for a long time, guided by faith alone. “I believe; help thou my unbelief.” &, “Blessed are they who haven’t seen & yet believe.”
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124. Saints for this Age (by A. J. Muste; 1962)
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124. Saints for this Age (by A. J. Muste; 1962)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR—A. J. Muste, now in his 70s, has devoted his life to causes that stem from a religious faith—peace action, racial equality, politi- cal & economic justice. The present pamphlet contains the essence of the speech to Philadelphia YM on “Springs of Religious Living in Our Age.” A. J. Muste is a member of the Society of Friends & a long-time staff member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He wrote 3 other pamphlets.
“If we go deep enough, we reach the common life, the shared experi- ence of man, the world of possibility. If we do not go deep enough, if we live and write half-way, there are obscurity, vulgarity, the slang of fashion, and several kinds of death.” Muriel Rukeyser
[“Christians in Rome”]—I spend a good deal of time these days among those who are regarded as unbelievers, [who might easily say]: “Lord I do not believe; help me to recognize that nevertheless I do believe.” Our age is an age of crisis, & in the final analysis the crisis is religious. It is essential that we should think about what it is to be human, what the presuppositions we live by are, and the nature of the resources we draw on in extremity.
My mind has repeatedly turned to Paul’s words in Letter to the Romans: “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” Most early Chris- tians were city-dwellers. The tribes & their religions which had related their devotees to a realm beyond the immediately tangible & visible had lost their power & relevance. The sensitive ones among them experienced spiritual agonies in the search of release from guilt, escape from the bleak prison of the self, release from the terror of death. They suffered agonies in the search for identity and salvation. Christians & Jews had a God who claimed a higher allegiance than Caesar, & an experience which they regarded as richer than Roman citizenship. The state cult had to be enforced & it had to demand unquestioning obedience.
[“Beloved of God”]--Paul could use the term “beloved of God” and be sure they would recognize its applicability to themselves. It was because in the moment of ultimate despair and self-abasement they had found God, pure grace, possibility. There was ecstasy for these uprooted and inwardly torn individuals in the realization that they were “beloved.” They were saved by finding that a true community existed, a community of love.
The State sensed a threat in a fellowship which was somehow set apart from the “the world” in which they existed, a world they saw as deeply lacking, unreal, impermanent, bound to pass away. The practical result of this view was that the early Christians had broken loose from “the world”, from its rewards, its threats, its standards, and its view of security. They were in movement toward a goal.
Abraham, in obedience to divine command, left his ancestors’ city. [In tribes], the individual could hardly conceive of himself or be conceived of as having existence outside this pattern. In the Hebraic tradition man came to know that his destiny & his God aren’t ties which bind & confine, but are ahead of him, drawing him outward & onward. Abraham went out looking for a city which existed—& yet had to be brought into existence as the perfect & holy city. It is the more real city because the potentiality of realization & completion remain.
The experience of having broken loose [from] an illusory reality & being related instead to the real was expressed by early Christian in the concept of the 2nd Coming of Christ. To them Christ was the wisdom of God, the power of God. The divine was always about to break into history. This fellowship represents a great movement in history, in the dialogue between God and man, in the unfolding of the divine-human society.
My mind has repeatedly turned to Paul’s words in Letter to the Romans: “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” Most early Chris- tians were city-dwellers. The tribes & their religions which had related their devotees to a realm beyond the immediately tangible & visible had lost their power & relevance. The sensitive ones among them experienced spiritual agonies in the search of release from guilt, escape from the bleak prison of the self, release from the terror of death. They suffered agonies in the search for identity and salvation. Christians & Jews had a God who claimed a higher allegiance than Caesar, & an experience which they regarded as richer than Roman citizenship. The state cult had to be enforced & it had to demand unquestioning obedience.
[“Beloved of God”]--Paul could use the term “beloved of God” and be sure they would recognize its applicability to themselves. It was because in the moment of ultimate despair and self-abasement they had found God, pure grace, possibility. There was ecstasy for these uprooted and inwardly torn individuals in the realization that they were “beloved.” They were saved by finding that a true community existed, a community of love.
The State sensed a threat in a fellowship which was somehow set apart from the “the world” in which they existed, a world they saw as deeply lacking, unreal, impermanent, bound to pass away. The practical result of this view was that the early Christians had broken loose from “the world”, from its rewards, its threats, its standards, and its view of security. They were in movement toward a goal.
Abraham, in obedience to divine command, left his ancestors’ city. [In tribes], the individual could hardly conceive of himself or be conceived of as having existence outside this pattern. In the Hebraic tradition man came to know that his destiny & his God aren’t ties which bind & confine, but are ahead of him, drawing him outward & onward. Abraham went out looking for a city which existed—& yet had to be brought into existence as the perfect & holy city. It is the more real city because the potentiality of realization & completion remain.
The experience of having broken loose [from] an illusory reality & being related instead to the real was expressed by early Christian in the concept of the 2nd Coming of Christ. To them Christ was the wisdom of God, the power of God. The divine was always about to break into history. This fellowship represents a great movement in history, in the dialogue between God and man, in the unfolding of the divine-human society.
[“Called to be Saints”]—This phrase did not mean that they were all or always extremely virtuous, ascetic, saintly in the usual sense of the word. Joy was an outstanding characteristic with them. I always have a certain sus- picion of alleged saintliness which lacks a tone of buoyancy & effervescence. Saintliness expressed itself in experimentation, in relation to violence and property. Some form of apocalypticism is a conscious or unconscious part of the mentality of those who are drawn into intentional communities.
There are dissenting groups from the prevailing culture who practice communal habits within their group without living in a commune or giving up mingling with the mainstream of urban or rural life. The same thing may be said of the early Christians. They achieved koinonia of a remarkable kind, even though they did not live in a Middle Eastern commune. Perhaps the most amazing thing about these men and women is that they could say as a fact of their life that: “In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, free man.”
[Our own Condition]—It is obvious that there are indeed many resem- blances between our condition and the “saints in Rome.” We are largely city- dwellers; old boundaries are being wiped out. It is a world in which the old faiths are no longer dominant factors. Psychologically and spiritually they are root- less. People are fragmented and alienated. The operative religion is that of the State. If humans are not loyal, you have to force them to be. And the tramp of soldiers is heard on every road of our world as in the ancient Roman one.
[Our own Condition]—It is obvious that there are indeed many resem- blances between our condition and the “saints in Rome.” We are largely city- dwellers; old boundaries are being wiped out. It is a world in which the old faiths are no longer dominant factors. Psychologically and spiritually they are root- less. People are fragmented and alienated. The operative religion is that of the State. If humans are not loyal, you have to force them to be. And the tramp of soldiers is heard on every road of our world as in the ancient Roman one.
We belong to the Society of Friends, a community of love, a family of persons, [of which we are a beloved part]. We know that the salvation of our age is in our keeping, & we know that we have a mission; we are “called to be saints.” How then shall we wait for the Spirit? How do we open the door? [We often focus] exclusively on the idea that people are “naturally good,” that they have that of God in them, [& ignore] the corruption, weakness, & alone- ness [that is there]. In fixing our eye on one aspect of truth we inevitably shut out or blur another. We shall achieve confidence & power only in the degree that we don’t deceive ourselves about ourselves.
I had been brought up with an abhorrence of the shame of preaching what one does not desperately try to practice, and with a Calvinistic conviction about human frailty and corruption. It is when we are aware of our [dishonesty and] impurity that we are pure. “The sense of the meeting” [is a seed beginning to grow & a good place to start]. But evasion, indirection, the play of ambition, the thirst for power, are present in our business meetings and committee work.
[Facing the World Realistically]—The temptation to adapt Gospel demands to circumstances & to abandon the hard effort to mold one’s life & the world is subtle & pervasive. G.K. Chesterton writes: “The strict aim, & strong doctrine, may give a little in the fight with facts; that is no reason for beginning with a weak doctrine or twisted aim … Don’t try to bend, any more than trees try to bend. Try to grow straight; life will bend you.”
A true religious life depends on facing ourselves & probing deeply. Reli- gious life is nourished by facing our world. When we look at regimes & people creating monstrous evil, the Gospel asks: “Have you seen the monster in yourself? It will be in the degree that we don’t gloss over & suppress reality, that our faith in “that of God” in men will be pure & efficacious. We have to function in relation to such realities as exist & recognize as Martin Buber did, that “It is difficult to drive the plowshare of the normative principle into the hard soil of political reality.”
[Facing the World Realistically]—The temptation to adapt Gospel demands to circumstances & to abandon the hard effort to mold one’s life & the world is subtle & pervasive. G.K. Chesterton writes: “The strict aim, & strong doctrine, may give a little in the fight with facts; that is no reason for beginning with a weak doctrine or twisted aim … Don’t try to bend, any more than trees try to bend. Try to grow straight; life will bend you.”
A true religious life depends on facing ourselves & probing deeply. Reli- gious life is nourished by facing our world. When we look at regimes & people creating monstrous evil, the Gospel asks: “Have you seen the monster in yourself? It will be in the degree that we don’t gloss over & suppress reality, that our faith in “that of God” in men will be pure & efficacious. We have to function in relation to such realities as exist & recognize as Martin Buber did, that “It is difficult to drive the plowshare of the normative principle into the hard soil of political reality.”
Can we have in our day a Christianity which “speaks to power” & [out of] love? It depends on if we can resist our respective [denomination’s] temptations & come together to agonize a way to a common program. If we try to evade and escape from the findings & the challenge of science’s new know- ledge, it means that we are afraid, we haven't experienced the love which casteth out fear. We shall then be ineffective and futile.
[Conclusion]—Early Christians turned their backs on the ephemeral, weak, doomed “world” & “age,” in which they lived, in the sense that they [did not] place their bets on it, did not give it their ultimate allegiance, were not inti- midated by what it could do to them, and did not seek security & satisfaction and security within its structure and standards. Amongst the “unbelievers” I found people who were truly “religious” in the sense that they were very, very committed to the cause they embraced.
The Left had the vision, the dream, of a classless and warless world. Christian liberals had had this vision. Their crime was not to see that it was revolutionary in character and demanded revolutionary living & action of those who claimed to speak for it. The early Christians did feel the reality, the autho- rity, of the fellowship which they had found. The quality of looseness from the world-that-is, of experimentation, creativeness, characterizes all the great peri- ods of religious history.
The world we have known is passing. Humankind has to find the way into a radically new world; we have to become a “new humanity” or perish. If we are at such a juncture, we shall be loose and experimental. We shall set less & less store by the world’s gifts and we shall truly live in the Society of Friends, the fellowship of love, shall truly believe that the divine-human society is real, is the future.
The world we have known is passing. Humankind has to find the way into a radically new world; we have to become a “new humanity” or perish. If we are at such a juncture, we shall be loose and experimental. We shall set less & less store by the world’s gifts and we shall truly live in the Society of Friends, the fellowship of love, shall truly believe that the divine-human society is real, is the future.
If we continue in this way we shall daily love more deeply. We shall do it not because we are wise, strong, politically astute, but because the Spirit dwells in our hearts & the Lord is [always] coming. Muriel Rukeyser wrote: “If we go deep enough, we reach the common life, the shared experience of man, the world of possibility. If we do not go deep enough, if we live and write half- way, there are obscurity, vulgarity, the slang of fashion, and several kinds of death.” We must make a clean break, must be loose of the “world,” must be thoroughly experimental, and [thoroughly] convinced of profound possibilities.
A
Prayer for Parents [Excerpt]—Father
[Parent] of us all, we are caught in a fear that there will be no future for
our children. We are beset with
temptations to act in many directions at once [to “save the world”]. Shall
we save the world and lose the soul of one untended child? Spare us the
blasphemy of taking the world’s weight on our shoulders. Help us to lead our little ones to the true
source of all being, as we have been led. Grant that we may together experience the
outpouring of thy love, that our children may know the one source of true joy.
Children
and Solitude—When William Penn found
himself in a period of enforced retirement, he “kissed the Gentle Hand which
led him into it,” for he found his solitude a great treasure. I have come to feel solitude is the most
natural thing in the world; that children, like adults should need & cherish
times of solitude. The importance of
[and emphasis on] the socialization process in the development of the individual
seems to have obliterated awareness of the kind of growth that takes place when
the individual is not reacting with others. In sociological literature, “privacy” is something defensively
[desperately] longed for, rarely achieved.
We have a real compulsion to groupism, rather than to develop our
private selves.
In examining the positive function of
aloneness in the individual’s deve- lopment, we are moving against the mainstream
of thought of our time. [The knowledge
that] physiological psychologists and neurologists have [gained about how the
brain works] is remarkable. Add to this
[sociological know- ledge that has been gained], and we have an impressive body
of knowledge about what makes a person what they are. But humankind will come to a spiri- tual dead end if they don't allow time apart
and in solitude for things to happen inside [the self].
Our latest information about the nervous
system’s operation, combined with our creativity knowledge, must lead [to
awareness of] the importance of solitary meditation in the human mind’s
development. The vividness and variety
of inward images and sounds vary from person to person, but the basic
phenomenon is universal, like breathing, yet unique to each individual in the
light-pattern they use. It needs to be
counterbalanced by experiencing the outside world. The danger faced by most
children is what we might call imagery deprivation. [They need time to go off quietly and mull
things over; groupism resists this “mulling time”]. The duality of [being] dust of the earth and
image of God is a duality which the fact of our creation challenges us to
encompass.
We know it was the tremendous creativity in the
Renaissance and the Enlightenment Age which produced explosive & exciting
developments in 20th century society. 1st, creativity is a fundamental
characteristic of the human mind; there is no sharp dividing line between the
creative thinker and artist and “ordinary” human being. 2nd, the essence of creativity is
fragments of know- ledge and experience being recombined to create a new synthesis. 3rd, there has to be large chunks
of uninterrupted time available for creative activity, for the brain to work
with impressions from the outside world.
The workings of the unconscious mind are of little use if [time isn't
taken to organize them with the conscious mind.
Solitude—H. G. Wells said, “I need freedom of mind. I want peace for work. [He wanted a Great Good Place
[The childhoods of Isaac Newton, Joan of Arc, Herbert Spencer, and Lord
Herbert of Cherbury were used as examples]. Anything which brought about a
drastic break in the usual routine and left a lengthy period of time in which
the child was [left to the child’s] own devices was remembered as a time of
special importance [to the inner life].
Before a child can consciously make use of time alone,
comes that im- portant moment in one’s life which represents the dawning of the
self-consci- ousness. Except for this
sense of me, [life] is perhaps a purely animal or sen- sual experience, occupying
the merest point of time.
[Importance
of Self-Awareness Moment]—Why is such a moment so important? This may be the first conscious integration which the
young mind undertakes of the world outside with the interior world of one’s
mind. Because awareness of spiritual
reality depends on experiencing the invisible as real and present, it is likely
to flower most in the children who have times alone. A study of religious experiences of children
between 9 and 14 [shows that] the most meaningful experiences were at times
when they were alone in house, forest, or field.
There are many kinds of aloneness, and they are not by
any means all desirable. [It is
important] to provide the child’s mind with materials with which to work. Unfortunately our generation of parents has
developed a negative attitude toward steeping the mind of a child in Scripture
and the language of religious experience.
Many children [once] labored under a heavy burden of doleful religious
imagery and admonition. In the close
warm communities of early Friends Meetings children knew life, love and fun as
well as the Time of Reckoning's somber truth; they worked out their own
solutions to the inward and outward pulls they felt.
Their resolutions did not come in ready-made
scriptural formulas, or through application of external admonitions. Ruth Fellows (18th century) said, “I left [Mother’s] counsel behind me, trod her testimony under my feet & took
a large swing into vanity. . . [The Lord] stopped me in the midst of my career
and took off my chariot wheels.” Benjamin Bangs (17th century) had a
similar response: “I had such a
visitation, as I had been ignorant of before, in which a sweet calmness spread
over my mind; if I could but keep
to this, what might I grow up to in time?
Sarah Stephenson, [17th
century daughter of a rich merchant, enjoyed vanity and loved the Lord. She heard] the seemingly trivial words of
Elizabeth Ashbridge, “What a pity that child should have a ribbon on her head.”
[It was] enough to set her permanently on the Lord’s path, ribbonless. These
Quaker journals are an enduring demonstration that seeds planted unnoticed
bring forth unanticipated flowers. For
the early Quakers the prescription for religious nurture was simple: provide a living human example of the
God-directed life, provide time for religious experience in worship [and the
reading of the Bible] within the family circle and the Meeting.
[Crisis of
Identity]—We must look well [into the
crisis of identity in] the nurture of the 20th Century child. Who is
taking “time out” to probe for the new dimensions in a now-unimagined
life? Who is dreaming dreams? Who is
seeing vision? Where are the solitary
ones? They are all about, but they
are too few, & we make it very hard for them.
Haven't we each of us stumbled
upon a child’s solitary joy? Each of
us has our own recollec- tion of solitary childhood joy, hidden away deep in our
minds for safekeeping.
These are solitude’s fruits for children: A sense of
who & what they are, whence they came, their place in God’s world. [Instead
of math formulas or art, their “recombining knowledge & experience to create
a new synthesis”] may produce a beautifully ordered life, one of the highest
forms of integration any- one may achieve.
[Creative Solitude]—How do we adults help to make creative soli- tude available to our children? 1st, by finding meaning in it for ourselves. Helen Thomas Flexner said: “[The] moments of intense listening for God’s voice in the room with my grandfather are among the most vivid memories of my early childhood.” In homes where silence is lived, the child finds it easy and comfortable to turn to it. [Even rare] times of family worship become hours to be remembered and valued for their scarcity [and for bringing more] love and awareness.
[Creative Solitude]—How do we adults help to make creative soli- tude available to our children? 1st, by finding meaning in it for ourselves. Helen Thomas Flexner said: “[The] moments of intense listening for God’s voice in the room with my grandfather are among the most vivid memories of my early childhood.” In homes where silence is lived, the child finds it easy and comfortable to turn to it. [Even rare] times of family worship become hours to be remembered and valued for their scarcity [and for bringing more] love and awareness.
The silence of the Quaker Meeting for Worship opens a
unique door into solitude for the child who is fortunate enough to experience
corporate listening. Rufus Jones
said: “Sometimes a real spiritual wave
would sweep over the Meeting in these silent hushes . . . and carry me into
something which was deeper than my own thoughts. Little William Harvey has been squirming
through the first long hour [of a 2-hour Meeting. He listened [without under- standing to] a
message delivered with deep conviction by an older Friend. William said, “I feel that he was a good man,
that what he said was not lightly spoken. . .
I am conscious of feeling awe.”
[Grandmamma offers a prayer in her Quaker dress and bonnet, her face
shining with an inner radiance].
Whether they are awe-struck or mischievous, we know in
our hearts that our children must have solitude in order to do the kind of
inward growing which we cannot plan for them.
One educator said that the greatest danger of our time is “unoccupied”
minds; he recommended school year-round.
May it not rather be that unoccupied
time is the only thing that can lead
to the creatively occupied mind? Walter
De la Mare says: “There is a natural
instinct to preen the wings and choose the food and water . . . converting into
song and beauty and energy the seed of a thistle.”
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126. Readiness for religion (by Harold Loukes; 1963)
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Rufus Jones (born January 25, 1863)—Rufus Jones devoted himself to understanding and clarifying his living tradition’s meaning, to seeing its impli- cation for the present and future, and to putting his knowledge and insight at the service of his fellow. His uncovering of the story of firsthand, primary religious experience is of permanent value, as is his insistence that each new generation of Christian should face its own situation afresh.
We are the unlucky generation, [caught] between parents who believed children should do what they’re told, and children who believe that parents should do what they’re told. Our parents [softened the strict and brutal methods of their parents, but still expected] to be believed and obeyed. The parents of this generation [softened their methods even further,] and have sought to let their children come to the realities of the world for themselves. Rousseau said: “Let the child live; let the child reach out under the spell of the child’s own nature, & grasp reality [as a child].” [Parents seek to strike a balance between Rousseau’s advice and the need to provide some guidance]. Childhood has its own meaning & its own demands, & they cannot be denied without grave loss.
The freedom we planned was freedom in a familiar world; the freedom they have is freedom in chaos [and rapid change]. To our children motor cars, radio, television, and space travel are part of their mental furniture. They take it for granted, as well as their right to go ahead from where we stop. We do not know what to teach our children that will help them when they grow up. In trying to draw the line between our authority and their freedom, between their now and their future, between proper control and improper tyranny, we are still full of doubt.
The Problem of Religious Education—There is a peculiar difficulty for those who seek to bring up their children to “be themselves,” and to recognize their calling to be [children of God]. [How do we as parents balance the old Quaker advices of “example,” “self-control,” and “obedience to law” with the current philosophy of “freedom of self-expression?” Where do we find support to do this in the absence of close-knit Christian communities of the past, where a “guarded education” was possible?] The guarded edu- cation is no longer available. Our children move out into what we now call the peer-group; they forge a culture for themselves. There is no great hostility toward us, but there is a simple need for a fresh start, a need to be different.
A Questioning Generation—On the way to this difference, they begin to ask us questions like: Why isn't the Christian idea very widely accepted now? Why should I be a Christian if I can be good without? How far is it right for Christians to impose beliefs on others? How do you prove God’s presence? What is man’s purpose on earth? We both know that for many of these questions there is no simple answer. [How then are we to answer Christianity’s difficult questions?] What can our children understand? Are there stages of development which we may learn to wait for, and to take advantage of?
Religious Readiness—There are some things we can say about the child's growth towards religious awareness. We can say that the small child (4 or 5) does not possess the mental equipment for dealing in any true sense with the concept of God. A child’s moral judgment proceeds from a high perso- nalized, specific and rule-bound phase (7-8), to general concepts (9-10), to true moral insight [11-12), to a sense of responsibility to others (13-14).
[Children’s heroes evolve from being most often parents to historical, literary, or Biblical characters at 12 years]. Some [14 year-olds seem to be] struggling to emerge from the “old man with long hair and a beard, wearing white robes” [image]. They interpret our [God language] not in terms of our experience but of their own [e.g. Fatherhood of God= our experience of our father; God's wrath= our father’s wrath; God's justice=no tangible experience]. Interpreting concepts in childish terms distorts for the child our central affirma- tions and the biblical narratives we present as part of the child’s preparation for insight.
The 1st danger in the attempt to teach religious ideas before our chil- dren have the mental equipment to cope with them is that they may acquire religious vocabulary with no conceptual substance. The other danger is that they may be led to believe and trust in a false god. What then are we to do [to present God to our children]? Rufus Jones says that he was surroun- ded in his home by a wordless witness to God’s reality, in the “hush of thanksgiving” before meals, and in the “weighty silences” after Bible readings. [It was left for him to naturally grow into it]. There is trust here, the waiting spirit of childhood, & the readiness to accept second hand what will one day become first hand.
Experience of Fatherhood—Though we cannot convey religious con- cepts to our children, this doesn’t mean we can't offer the beginnings of reli- gious experience. The offering of the experience of being loved is the be- ginning of Christian education. The Incarnation is an assertion [of God’s love], and that though man is corrupt, his humanity still has divine potential. [Fur- ther], the love of God is unshakable; it is to that love that man is called. The mark of the Christian home is the quality of its love, which is other-willing, an unwavering resolve that spirits shall find room to grow, and minds shall be lit and nurtured by the light and nourishment we have to bestow.
Things and Words—If they are to love their children like this, parents must have the same love for one another. [Any tension between parents will be felt by the children]. Love shown in the home leads to the love of God. [It is best to] lay aside our anxiety about rushing our children into the presence of God, and for recognizing that they are in the presence of God.
We can tell them about people in the Bible, in the church, and in the Quaker community, even if the stories are a little above our children’s heads. We can let them share in worship, [but the “saying prayers” at bedtime is questionable, a habit that may teach the wrong lessons about what God is & what prayer is]. If our children share in our humbling silences, they have the possibility of discovering the true meaning of prayer. We cannot “teach” our children to pray; we can only let them learn it from us.
Conflict in Adolescence—[So far we have described how children up to 10 or 11 learn] from the way in which their parents and friends, present them a selection of reality. We must now turn to the age of conflict, when our selec- tion of reality is tested by the unselected reality of the [“outside”] world. Those with true, ordered, & loving homes aren't shaken very deeply. [Other homes may see adolescents turn to aggression, withdrawal, or conformity].
Adolescence offers a new opportunity, not for a complete change of personal structure, but for choosing a new direction. We should look to a slow maturing of the personality, a gradual enlightenment as the person sees God’s hand upon the complexities of the person’s life. The adolescent is a role-player. [Eventually] the adolescent settles for the most efficient [role or] life-style, the image of self that can be [most bearably] lived with.
Aspects of Maturing—[The adolescent is faced with developmental tasks of dealing with a new image, relationships independent of parents, future work, economic independence, and developing a sex-role. Among these developmental tasks is that of attaining a set of moral values and a view of the meaning of life that will make sense of the rest of experience. [It is tempting to treat this task] in isolation, but Friends [have a concern for] “true godliness” that enables one to live in the world [i.e. the other tasks that will act out that godliness].
The adolescent wants to ask, “Why do we have to live?” and then wants to hear us talk about it. [If there are questions about self-worth & work, we offer verbal and non-verbal affirmation of worth, and experience, ideas, and enthusiasm about the possibilities and challenges facing our child in finding the best place to make a contribution. The issue of independence from us and forming independent relationships, is naturally the most difficult one for us to help with. For a time they may lose touch with us in the depths. We can help in a more general sense with] the rapid intellectual advance of adole- scence, by speaking of what we believe to be the meaning of life. What have we to offer them from the faith that we live by, but whose formulation is now so far in the past?
The Need for Honesty; Maturity—When children put smart questions to us about God, they are asking: What does God mean in your personal decision & action? What do you mean by obeying God? Do you really make sense of the world by your belief in God? [If God, Christ, and God’s vision of humankind is really meaningful to us, then we shall have truth to convey, however badly we put it over. It may not reach our listener at the mo- ment of asking, [and there may] come a time of doubt & testing. Someone may even reject the outward signs of commitment to the strong Quaker atmo- sphere they were brought up in. We must not order them to go to Meeting. [If they leave], many of them will soon be back, when they [can] go as persons, and not as conscripts.
In the future they may say, “I had to have religion, but it had to be diffe- rent from my father’s.” [If they “change” or reject religion, most] often they are making a personal self-affirmation. All stages of growing up are, in a sense, painful both to parents and children; but with a pain that is in the nature of things, and that is transcended by the will to life.
Maturity in the divine will to life is the intention behind Christian educa- tion. Quakers have always tried to view their task [as seeking] a creative and personal expression of vision. For this task they rejected others’ creeds, others’ moral codes, & they affirmed that each must encounter the divine love in the heart of one’s own situation. The way to maturity is [first] through immaturity. If we try to run beyond nature in the persuasion to religious insight, we lose our efforts [to guide our children towards spiritual maturity] as surely as if we try to make a child read before they are ready.
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127. Thou dost open up my life; selections from
the Rufus Jones
collection. (Ed. Mary H.
Jones; 1963)
Foreword—This pamphlet commemorates the 100th year
since Rufus Jones’ birth, and comes from cartons of note cards written by Rufus
Jones for his sermons and talks of the ‘30s & ‘40s. The earlier selections
were written on [the backs of] cards that originally [served another purpose]. Later ones were on new, blank note
cards. Rufus Jones never appeared to use
notes. They served to fix a central idea
in his mind and were only a spring-board from which he took off. Rufus Jones had a simple, direct manner of
speaking, and knew that the Kingdom of Heaven
Thou
Dost Open up my Life (after 1933)—When
I was 8, I read the Psalms entirely through.
Much of it was over my head and I missed the mea- ning, but the exalted
nature poetry thrilled me. I could feel
the difference between the [legalistic] scribe, and the [poetic] prophet. Psalm
119:32 says: I will obey thee eagerly as
thou dost open up my life.” [Self-expression
is popular today], but it is useless to talk about self-expression until we
have a self to express. Which one of our
1,000 possible selves shall we express? How [do you] get a rightly fashioned life
that is truly worth expressing? How [do
you] open out the possibilities of life?
Religion opens up life.
The
Way of Growth (after 1933)—Psalm 1 is
the first one I ever learned; it compares a man to a tree. They both grow. How much does the Bible have to say about growth? Lilies toil not; they let the forces of
life operate, and then find themselves beautiful. Growth is silent, gentle,
quiet, unnoticed. It isn’t effort, it
isn’t struggle that makes persons grow; it is contact with life forces. Spiritual life begins with life from God and
grows through light and truth and love which have their source in God. We are the soil, God’s farm; God is the rain
and dew.
Breadth
and Length and Depth & Height (early ‘40s)—[“That ye may be able to comprehend with all saints the
breadth, length, depth, & height.”— Ephesians 3:18] I want especially to call attention to the
dimensions of life for which Paul prayed.
I am thinking especially this morning about the horizontal and
perpendicular [and] the Book of James.
[In this book] the writer has taken great pains with its creation; it is
a sermon, not an epistle. He disagrees
with Paul about faith, for action is the life of all. This book is all horizontal; it is thin in
depth and height [i.e. there is a lot of connection with humankind, but little
connecting with Christ and God. [In
Ephesians] you have the mystical note— the depth and height that makes a great
horizontal life possible.
Not
a Book Religion (1934?)—Jesus came to
Nazareth
To Whom
Shall we Go (1940s)?—What is the alternative? What is the substitute for
Christ? To Whom would you turn in personal crisis, when everything seems to
crash in on you? What is your major
sup- port? The crowds took him for a miracle worker, and
wanted him for a political king.
Everything was done that could spoil a prophet, a spiritual guide of
life. John has Jesus saying that I have
come to re-orient your life, to make it significant, to bring inspiration, to
kindle life with aim, purpose, and direction, to be inward food of the soul.
Science can't be an alternative to Christ. All its paths lead to boundaries where
research ends & the things we most want lie beyond those boundaries. [It does not] ennoble the soul & give it over-brimming joy in life. George Fox said, “I heard a voice which
said, ‘There is one, Christ Jesus that can speak to thy condition.’ ” He was
and is the cure of souls. He knew human nature, through and through, and yet he expects so much of us.
Every Day
Living (1945-48)—On one occasion
Moses took the Elders up on the mountain, and they too saw God; the great
Reality broke in on their lives, and then “they did eat and drink.” Elders
throughout biblical and church history had divine meetings with God and then
they came back to the business of life on a new level of life and significance.
We need the lift of vision and the inspiration of contact with God. It ought to
gird and equip us for everyday life.
We want leaders unique and peculiar in
their leadership, but we no less need to have the level of the rank & file
raised to a new level of life & power. In Colossians, Paul instructs them on how they should conduct themselves in daily life [in all their relationships and duties which] are transformed by
this dis- covery of the Divine Presence. The
sacred and the secular are 2 indivisible aspects of one life, [lived] to the
glory of God.
The Father’s Business (late ‘30s, early
40s)—[At 12, Jesus stayed be- hind in Jerusalem
In this early period of Jesus’ life, his main business
was preparation for his mission. Later Jesus saw in children what he had
felt as a child—that it is perfectly natural to be open-souled to God, and to
be preparing for the main business of life—being an organ of the Spirit. Unnamed saints, Brother Lawrence, country
doctors, street sweepers, lighthouse keepers, mothers, toilers in any field may
make life a ministry [for] the Father’s business.
The
Constructive & Prophetic Service of Religion (late 30s)—The world needs this service today. When vital &
creative, it dignifies & ennobles one. [What it calls for is a person with
a serene, adventurous spirit].
Contact But
Not Communion (after 1934)—I love to
see a sower striding across a well-prepared field and flinging out his seed
broadcast with a prodigal [overflowing] hand, and thinking of the harvest. [Jesus may have seen this as a boy & used it
in a parable, with himself as the sower]. He flings out great truths & sees some of
them going to waste [on dry, hard minds]. The miracle of transmitting life lies within the seed but it won't germinate without cooperation from the soil [the soul]. Truth is laid alongside a soul; [there is contact but no communion]. [Jesus offers seed & door]: I am the door. By me if any enter in, they shall be saved.” They shall have contact & communion .
Caring
Matters Most—It often takes a whole
lifetime to learn the mea- ning of the greatest words we use. I wish we might lift love up and see it in
the light of its divine possibilities. Baron von Hügel said, “. . . Caring
matters most. Christianity has taught
us to care.” Love is caring beyond all known limits for what
concerns another.
What Men
Live By (early 1930s)—I went once to
Cana of Galilee and visited the house where the famous wedding took place and
the water was changed to wine. Cana
is repeated in this Meeting House. [A marriage of spirits takes place, and
ordinary water is changed to the sparkling wine of life]. “May God bless us and keep us and may we live
together in such a spirit of love that God can enjoy our life together. Love is
what men live by.
The
Christmas Texts (mid 1940s)—The NT
has many ways of heral- ding the great event of Christmas. [Shepherds and magi, expert star-watchers,
were invited to the event]. It seems
very fitting that the first scientists who came to Christ should have been
startled. St. John’s
Behold!
(late 1920s)—We of modern times live
more in the attitude of questioning than of exclamation. We lose the sense of wonder
and vision. “Be- hold!” has the force of an imperative, as though they say “See what
I see. Open your eyes to the meaning of what is before you.” I John 3:1 says: “Behold
what love the Father bestowed on us that we can be God's sons.” Alfred, Lord Tennyson writes: “Not of sunlight,/ Not of moonlight,/ Not of starlight,/
O young mariner,/ Down to the haven, Call your companions,/ Launch your
vessel,/ Crowd your canvas,/ Ere it vanishes/ Over the margin./ After it, follow it./ Fol- low the gleam. (from Merlin and the Gleam).
Underneath
are Everlasting Arms [Deut. 33:27] (Late ‘30s, early ‘40s)—The more I see of loss and sorrow and death and
separation, the less easy I find it to talk of such things in words. Once more we have had to disco- ver the fact we
are so prone to forget—how fragile is the container of all our most precious
treasures. [But] Death cannot be an
enemy—it must be the way of fulfillment, the way into richer life and greater
love.
Faith in
Immortality (early 1940s)—One of our time's most noticeable features is the weakening faith in immortality. The
“heaven in the sky” is gone, & the body’s resurrection seems crude &
materialistic. It seems strange that Paul’s great spiritual conception has
never quite got into man’s consciousness; it is a marvelous insight. Paul
holds that we are weaving a permanent soul- structure while we live & think &
act here in the body. The apostle shows how life moves on in stages &
always has a form which fits the realm it inhabits.
The spirit is sown a
natural body at birth but slowly under divine influ- ence it grows & is
transformed into inner spiritual substance, which is at home with God as soon
as it is freed from its old encasement. The new-formed nature is the same kind
of reality as God. Alfred, Lord Tennyson writes of a baby’s growth: But as he
grows he gathers much,/ & learns the use of “I” & “me”,/& finds “I
am not what I see,/& other than the things I touch”(from In Memoriam)
Take no
Thought for the Morrow (1939-45)—Few
things would make life more impossible that to take the Sermon on the Mount
literally. The inte- resting thing is that
Jesus himself did not follow it literally.
[He used oriental exaggeration frequently
in it.
It is first of all a new spirit, a new joy, a new radiance, a new thrill of living—not the burden
of a new legal system. Christ’s major
point throughout the Sermon on the Mount is to get rid of fears & an- xieties. He isn't against ownership as such, only
against excessive worry over things. The
real issue which Jesus is discussing is:
In what does your life really exist? He is making a powerful plea for
inspiration in our lives and insight of real values. Buoyancy and radiance [need to replace] worry and anxious care.
Mary and
Martha (late 1920s)—[For] centuries
Mary and Martha have stood for 2 life-alternatives. These are not alternatives
to choose between. Either way of life is poor & thin without the other. The 2
must be fused into one [person] before a complete life is obtained. It is fuss
and worry, bustle and distraction that Jesus criticizes in Martha—not her
action. The whole point of the story bears on one’s central choice or focus of
life. Mary has chosen the one simple
thing that makes life inherently good and that lasts through all mutations and vicissitudes.
You can choose a whirl of secondary aims or you can concentrate on intrinsic
riches. Every time the soul catches a glimpse of eternal truth or beauty it
quickens its powers to catch more; love and service become easier.
Blessed are
the Meek (late 1920s)—[In the
Beatitudes] the quality of spirit is good because blessedness is essentially
conjoined with that trait of character, with that kind of person. The trait that perhaps most puzzles this
strenuous & militant world is meekness.
[But] the most elemental qualities of true scientific or historical research
are traits of meekness: absence of
bluster and assertiveness, restraint that [sticks to] the facts; patience [& commitment to report] things as they are. Christ’s meek man is, in the same
way, a per- son who has calm and absolute confidence in the eternal nature of
things, & in the goodness of the divine Heart; a man like Abraham Lincoln.
The
Plumb-Line (early 1940s)—“I saw God,
the Eternal, holding a plumb-line in his hand.”
[Amos 7:7]. Amos was a product of
the desert, stern, unafraid but with a strange power to feel the eternal behind
the temporal. He told them [in Bethel
A Living
Hope (1942 or later)—The 27th
Psalm is one of the most striking instances of a sudden shift from the highest
faith [“The Lord is my light & my salvation” (v. 1)] to a dark night of the
soul [“. . . put not thy servant away in anger . . . leave me not, neither
forsake me.” (v.9)]. [It began on a high
note (v.1),] then come doubt and agony and he faces the mystery of evil, the
divine silence, the loss of assurance and exultation (v.9). His phrase “I had believed to see the
goodness of God in the land of the living” is significant.
The hope of personal
life after death comes [much later than the Psalms] in the OT. The old psalmist
has his finger on the central nerve. Is the universe fundamentally
significant? Has it produced & will it
answer the deepest longings & strivings of human hearts? We can trust [God’s divine besto- wal on
us] as the mariner trusts his compass.
The
Challenge of the Closed Door (mid 1940s)—Christ didn't say, did not promise, that the door to the things we
most desire is an open door. One of the
first laws of life is: you must seek; you must want & then you must eagerly
& patiently knock. It seems strange
that the things we want most are not fur- nished ready-made. Apocalypses all take the easy line of
expectation. Every- thing is to be done
for us without effort on our part. It
looks to me as though Christ put His blessing on the slow, hard way. The trouble with the Scribes and Pharisees
was that they didn’t have wants; they
had arrived. They were at their easy
goal [and reward]. There is no open door
to our new world order. We must face
that challenge of the closed door.
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About the
Author—Dorothea Blom has written
& lectured for many years in art-related fields. The summer of 1962 she
gave a Pendle Hill course on encountering art. For the past 8 years she has
taught at the Pleasant Adult School New York New
York
[For every great artist], there have been thousands of anonymous ones who achieved a good connection between inner and outer worlds leavening the community. If it were not so, the world would never have survived. Dorothea Blom
INTRODUCTION—We ask limited & limiting things of art. Therefore we thought art was limited. We mistook it for diversion, luxury, a
refined interest on which to spend surplus time and money. We have asked art to fit our cramped and
matter-of-fact world. The melodramatic
and sentimental drained off surface emotion without involving us in real
emotion. We lost the power to recognize genius in our midst.
Young Rembrandt succeeded brilliantly in
meeting the [commercial] re- quirements [of his world]. In mid-career, he turned away from success
towards freedom to formulate a new visual language, and [he among others] lived
the rest of his life in poverty and obscurity. The Western community lives in a
world of dematerialized physics, yet still sees
the world in terms of mechanically ori- ented science. The sensitive,
reflective person must recover and liberate the languages of spirit, among
which is art.
[Once, I
stood before a painting], with floodgates of compassion wide open & all the
world drenched in healing light. The whole world & I were forgiven. [Among
the many questions that arose was]: How
can one build a relationship to art to serve healing processes &
transformations? I saw that my opinions, my knowledge were barriers to a
living relationship with art. I allowed the pictures to act on me rather than
imposing on them.
My most thrilling find in the art books
[was where Bernard Berenson describes how he found the answer to the question]:
What is art? He stood at an ancient
building’s entrance. Suddenly he found himself caught up with the throbbing
life in some foliage sculptured on the aged door jamb. The uni- verse's heart pulsated there, & in Berenson too. [After that], all visual experi- ence
became characteristically alive & wonderful. Clive Bell writes: “Art & religion belong to the same world …When the majority lack the sensibility to respond [to art & religion] …nothing is left of art & religion but
their names. Jacques Maritain says, “The poetic perception which animates art catches what matters most in Things, the transparent reality & secret
significance on which they live.”
WHAT
IS GREAT ART?—Great art is a visual equivalent of a fresh and unique
encounter with life. There are plastic values & formal values in a work of art. The grasping of the universal in a particular becomes a transformation
& is the content of great art. Where
artist and a particular meet non-verbally, the divine in each answers the
other. “Inward” imagery becomes the
content of their painting.
“Mona Lisa” was the soul image for men of the
Post-Renaissance world. [The most famous
works of some artists do not always maintain the power to transform]. Whether we recognize greatness or not, some of art's imagery will filter through and affect our lives and our way of
seeing; they teach us to see things the way we do. We need to be wary of being over-impressed by
fame or authority. It is not objective
greatness we seek, but a sensibility to discover our own spiritual and
temperamental relatives among the great.
WHAT
CAN ART DO FOR US?—Find joy in it.
Sheer joy. Moderns have trouble
crediting joy as a substantial reality. What exactly, does great art do for
us? Laurens Van der Post says, “We
behave as if there were some magic in mere thought, and we use thinking for
purposes for which it was never de- signed.” Thinking at its best formulates
freshly in the light of new impressions, intuitions and feelings. What
part does the thinking function play in the creating of great art? It
participates, and never dominates.
It would seem that the gathering of
person requires all the original God- gifts sifted from the acquired self:
manners; mannerisms, skills, habits; opini- ons. Because we don't credit the value of our uneducated sides or honestly listen to them, they live a life of their own, they rebel against our exploited side exactly as neglected or rejected children do. Uneducated senses demand comforts and satisfactions, distraction and diversion.
A person tyrannized by the senses is glued to them and has no life of
their own.
Intuition is knowledge & recognition
awakening within. Untrusted, they sift through fingers without ever affecting
the life into which they come. Emo- tion is a source of vitality & drive. The
image educates emotion where reason never reaches. [Misuse results in anxiety].
We treat world crises as a cause of anxiety rather than [a] consequence of
anxiety; we divorce knowledge of the fact from the feel of the fact … we fail
to “see feelingly.”
The great artist has an acute &
compelling sense contact with the outer world and a sheer necessity that it
serve more than momentary comfort and desire.
A great artist trusts the intuitive flicker, holds onto it, focuses on
it, until emotion surges up in support of it.
A great artist holds to an image until depth of feelings knows and
understands what mind alone cannot know; [the great artist “sees feelingly.”]
HOW
DO WE COMMUNICATE WITH ART?—Every
person is endowed with 2 ways of seeing. [There is] matter-of-fact seeing,
functional observation. [There is
communicative vision, where the image relates to the observer, affects the
observer deep within]. Such an observer
is sensitive to one’s own deeper response.
One has a better connection with life & sees the world around one
differently; the ordinary familiar world is reborn and fills one with wonder
and awe. Those who say “I know what I
like” mean “I like what I know.” They gravi- tate to the familiar, and cater to
the inner status quo.
If we spend our entire time
“interpreting” a picture, analyzing it, deducing symbolism, deciphering style
& technique, what chance has the picture to live in its own right? If you have a tendency to fasten on a detail
of picture, missing its microcosmic “life of its own,” consciously practice
[the normal sight habit of bouncing attention around an image]. Glean a bit at
a time until the bits reveal themselves in their relationship. Why is
it that the work of art that repels or both attracts & repels has the power
to heal? [By facing powerful images fearlessly outside ourselves that represent something we cannot face within, we affect the inner factor.
ART IN THE HOME—If I had to choose between museum trips & the
collection of folio-sized reproductions I rotate in my home, I would choose
the latter. A library of reproductions
is as important to relation to art as a library of records is to music. One
family put one period or one artist at a time on a board. These pictures participate
actively in family life, drawing responses from all ages. We can put our art
books on stands with the book always open.
In buying an original, move slowly,
so that you won’t outgrow your choice in a year or 2. Art in the home does 2
things. It implants imagery in the memory. This inner store of imagery caters
to one’s needs for imagery in vari- ous growth processes through the years; it cultivates the fresh seeing of life.
[Where the imagery of the average TV fare competes with great art,] the
richer & more powerful imagery of great art wins out.
A LOOK AT
OUR ART TRADITION—Herbert Read wrote:
“The arts have an originative function in history—they pre-figure & give
plastic precision to inhibitions & aspirations that would other wise remain
repressed & voice- less. Art swings
pendulum-like between 2 worlds, the inner world and the outer world. The richest periods lie in the intervals
between the extremes of this pendulum swing.
Earliest man belongs to both worlds.
Archaeologists once saw Egypt Early Kingdom
The early 2nd Millenium reflects the
full-blown emergence of the indivi- dual with all its implied responsibility to God
and man. As the 2nd Milenium
got under way both Egypt Mesopotamian Valley Egypt
The next bridge period is Greece Rome
Next, rugged northern realists caught the Christian
flame and created a monastic art we call Romanesque. A good-earth connection
and a strong decorative impulse, along with classic motifs were woven into an
unselfcon- scious “expressionism.” Before
the cathedrals were complete the great generative surge had spent itself. To
the south, St. Francis recovered a com- munication between inner and outer worlds
better than anyone since Jesus. The
northern fresh way of seeing drifted slowly back to the south.
Giotto became a splendid dawn of the Renaissance,
straddling the year 1300; in the 15th century they discovered linear
perspective, deep space, and volumes in that space. [The bridge was crossed] and Michelangelo,
Raphael, and da Vinci towered against a mediocre background. In the 2nd half of the 16th
century we see the pattern of the Western World: a powerful but blind energy,
and a smattering of those who see.
The 19th century flowered in a Renaissance
as impressive & prophetic as the earlier one.
Goya found the necessity and genius to draw from outer reality a visual
language for the neglected and outraged inner person. Blake gave traditional
themes new life as they work within a man.
Finally Renais- sance met with the Impressionists, who released a new,
immediate seeing & trained the greatest generation of painters since the 1st
Renaissance: Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin and Seurat.
Cezanne, [with his visual language reflecting his
“little realization,”] ap- pears to be the greatest new idiom for communicative
seeing in hundreds of years. In 1906, the
Fauves dominated the art world in Paris
Modern art, good bad & indifferent, repels &
disturbs many people. It makes sense in light of the community’s condition.
The artist tends to live the unlived side, the neglected side, within the
community. Is art today poorer than traditional art? We forget how much bad art the past has had. The public of 1860 loved bad art—art reflecting its famine of inner life. The public today
feels threatened by art reflecting its inner limitations.
Both Roualt & Chagall lived
honestly through disconsolation & disillu- sionment; both healed &
recovered their innocence. Their paintings became more luminous, more moving,
more infused with new life as they became older. Matisse is the most original
designer since the Renaissance; [his work made] contact between the inner &
outer world. Picasso is a prototype 20th century man: restless;
moody; energetic; egocentric; inventive; occasion- ally creative; phenomenal in
his skills. The outer world seems to hammer at his door & demand
involvement.
[Our] new age demands a 4-dimensional image of man. Henry Moore may be the greatest sculptor
since Michelangelo, but for many he remains a foreign visual language. The spiritually-leavened human imagery of our
own Quaker Fritz Eichenberg is full of timeless vigor when he gathers imagery
from the Bible, Shakespeare and Dostoevsky.
John Marin and Charles Burchfield give us new seeing of nature that
sings like our most beautiful Psalms. Morris Graves, Paul Keel, Jackson
Pollack, Piet Mondrian, and Wassily Kandinsky [all contributed greatly to living
communicative art]. During 30 years of
“abstract” painting, Kandinsky, this highly mystical and intensely human man,
lived through an ever evolving image-making career.
Modern art is a babble of tongues. In this it reflects the tenor of our community. The great artist sometimes works through a valuable stage of diagnosis, & this further confuses us. Unless we see clearly how we are with eyes of spirit, how can we be healed? Where do we as individual fit into our culture’s generative potential? [For every great artist], there have been thousands of anonymous ones who achieved a good connection between inner and outer worlds leavening the community. If it were not so, the world would never have survived.
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129.
Nonviolent action: How it works (by George Lakey; 1963)
I—[Jews before Pilate; Quakers facing Puritans in
Boston; the French responding to Bismarck’s demands; and civil rights sit-ins
are all successful cases of non-violent action.
Evidently, non-violent action has some kind of power, even when the
action isn't very spectacular. This
pamphlets task is to discover the how of
non-violent action. About
the Author—George Lakey (1938- ) is director of Training for Change &
trains activists at the Martin Luther King School for Social Change.
He has helped lead several
social change movements. He founded Philadel- phia Jobs with Peace
Campaign, a coalition of labor, civil rights, poverty &
peace groups. He directed Quaker Action Group assisting
Puerto Rican natio- nalists. George Lakey has written 6
books, including
Grassroots
&
Nonprofit Leadership Guide (1996)
&
Manual
for Direct Action
(1965).
This
pamphlet's
task is to discover the "how" of nonviolent action, be
it "power
of God,” or "power of love”; either
answer leads to more
questions. We
aren't content with a nonviolent action "philosophy."
II &
III—[In looking at the opponents in a
campaign, we find that] the opponents react in various ways. Sometimes they change their minds com- pletely;
[sometimes they still disagree & yet bow to the campaigners’ demands. In the 5th century B.C. Rome
In Brazil
IV—[Sometimes the campaigners achieve their aims, even
though their opponents still disagree and could
continue to oppose, but choose not
to]. During the Salt Satyagraha of
1930-31, some Englishmen felt that the Empire was not worth treating the
Gandhians the way the police were forced to treat them. [In the American suffrage movement, public
sentiment went from impar- tial or slight antagonistic, to offense at the lack of
patriotism, to sympathy for the harsh prison sentences and conditions that the
women endured]. Finally the issue of
suffering became stronger than that of suffrage. The women were using the mechanism called persuasion.
V &VI—It now appears that there are coercion, conversion,
& persua- sion mechanisms. [But, why has
the opponent] changed his mind? All
men, no matter how debased they seem, treat their own group members well. In history we see that violent persons do not
regard their opponents as fully human.
E. Franklin Frazier notes that:
“where human relationships
were established between masters and slaves, both slaves and masters were less
likely to engage in barbaric cruelty. It
is easy to be violent against those who are seen as inhuman or non-human.
VII &
VIII—The Puritans believed that the
Quakers [were irreverent and that they were] plotting to burn Boston Boston Boston Boston Boston
IX & X—How
can your theory [of identification by suffering] ac- count for [the extermination
of 6 million Jews]? In non-violent action the figure—[the outstanding
quality] is suffering; the ground—[context]
is the actions of the campaigners
which precede and accompany the suffering. The campaigners show bravery, openness, and
goodwill. The suffering of the Jews was
not voluntary; it built up gradually, and the ground composed of their ac- tion (& inaction) caused their
suffering to be seen as non-human. Suffering so perceived does not have the power to “melt the heart of the evil-doers.”
Identification
by suffering in a context of goodwill, openness, & bravery, is the process
which persuades & converts. [A change in attitude is neces- sary to go beyond
persuasion to conversion]. People change attitudes most often when criticism of
their attitude does not imply criticism of them. In the Gandhi-led South
African Satyagraha, Gandhi called off the campaign until a railroad strike was
settled; campaigners must show patience.
XI & XII—[Here are 8 policy implications which derive from the
theory]:
1. Nonviolent action works on such a fundamental level
that cultural
differences count for little.
2. What it takes to get through to people will vary,
depending on the
campaigner’s ability to be recognized as a human being.
3. [When local people are not with us, we must establish
new bonds
of identification with the persons we are trying to reach, perhaps
by self-suffering].
4. A decision should be made before the campaign begins
regarding
the mechanisms used. [In some situations coercion is not possi-
ble, because there is no dependency between opponent cam-
paigner. This leaves persuasion and conversion; some
oppo-
nents are persuaded, some are converted].
5. Sitting down on the pavement, paying your fine, and
going home
is not usually considered suffering.
6. If image is important then quality of participants is
more impor-
tant than quantity.
7. Just appearing to be non-violent isn’t enough; drawing
on inner
strength to be non-violent
is needed.
8. Does the
campaign have the staying power to get through the
antagonism [necessary for
relevance] to the sympathy
which lies on the other side?
The problem of “how to combat evil without acting like
a devil” will be with us until we better understand how to mobilize the forces
of God, within ourselves and within those who differ with us.\
130. Poetry among Friends (by Dorothy Lloyd Gilbert; 1963)
About
the Author—Dorothy
Lloyd Gilbert Thorne (1902-1976) is widely known to Friends for her service as Recording Clerk in North
Carolina Yearly Meeting and the Five Years Meeting of Friends, for
her writing, and for her contributions to the Friends World Committee
and the United Society of Friends Women. She taught at Guilford
College from 1926 to 1954. This
pamphlet grew out of a 1959
lecture
given at Guilford College, concerning
the
growing
number of poets now being nurtured in the Quaker tradition.
Friends have rarely been poets in the past. The only name that arises naturally is that ofWhittier
Friends have rarely been poets in the past. The only name that arises naturally is that of
In both Quakerism and poetry the worshipper & the
reader, touched by the power & beauty which gives life, may perceive the likeness
without putting it into words. Dorothy
Mumford Williams writes: “Both the poem
and the wordless prayer derive their shape out of a yearning to experience
perfection.” Quakerism as George Fox &
Thomas Kelly prove is Poetic. The Quaker
poet often finds a poem in the Quaker meeting.
Barbara Hinchcliffe believes that the message of a poem or a meeting
happens in a way neither foreseen nor directed.
Modern poets are also writing about great Quaker
figures of the past, & although these men are well known through journals &
biographies, the poet can still add a touch of interpretation which makes
the reader realize that the vitality of Fox & Woolman & Nayler is not
spent. Although Sam Bradley’s poem. “The Standing Forth of George Fox,” has some
superficial resem- blances to his appearance before the Court of the Star Chamber
in 1660, the poem is built from symbols rather than from the specific
historical occasion.
The reading of the words of James Nayler spoken about
2 hours before his death in 1660 became for Kenneth Boulding an illuminating
spiritual expe- rience; he wrote 26 sonnets inspired by the phrases of James
Nayler. A num- ber of modern Quaker poets are entirely at home within the
sonnet’s narrow bounds, among them E. Merril Root, Gerhard Friedrich, Sam
Bradley, John McCandless, Euell Gibbons, Bruce Cutler, and William B. Evans.
[In the 1950s & early ‘60s, Dorothy Mumford Williams
wrote] a series of poems, collected under the title of John Woolman: Mapmaker—A Meditation on Landmarks on His Journey. She says: “Writing like tailoring requires an
inte- grity of craftsmanship which comes only in a spirit of prayer and the word
seen with the inner eye takes the same kind of invisibility as the stitch. When a poet tries to get inside another
person’s mind, he may begin to show the effects of another personality in his
style.
Poetry is communication. Sam Bradley wrote: “There are some who say that a public for
poetry no longer exists. To me this is
like saying the spirit no longer creates and sings. No matter how Herculean the poet’s art, he fails if he doesn't find understanding hearers . . . Neither poetry nor
religion is what a man does with his solitary self; it is a happy
heaven-and-earth involvement with others.”
Albert Fowler, an accomplished writer, believes that a poem is no better
than its best reader.
[The following queries by Barbara Hinchcliffe address
the general atti- tude among Friends towards the arts]: Do
Friends have a concern to seek out & mature the flame of creativity that
burns in all? Do we provide an atmosphere in our Meetings for Worship, and in our schools which helps us to
discover our creative abilities, discipline them, and exercise them to the
fullest power God has given us? By our
own work is a vision of the Truth advanced among us, & let to shine before
all so they may be led to a clearer knowledge of their Father?
The Quaker poet believes in the disciplines of thought
and form. He knows how to keep technique
under his feet; he is apt to achieve his indivi- duality of expression with the
more conventional verse forms or by skillful adaptation; he values his
sincerity & the integrity of his thought and there is, in his work, a sense
of the eternal goodness of life. For
them the writing of poetry is a way of life and a sounding joy.
In the period when art and literature and music were
avoided, Quakers produced a number of fine naturalists. The poet's art is just as satisfying as
the naturalist's skill. Nature
poetry is rarely objective. The poet looks on nature & what he sees revealed
is his own thought. Much of the nature
poetry writ- ten by Friends opens with a perception in nature which leads into
the moment of insight, [writing a poem of both nature and religion]. The Quaker poets’ descriptions of person are
also often filled with insight.
At Quakerism's very center there is a place of
utter quietness where spirit with spirit can meet. Poems which speak from that center are a
benedic- tion on the troubled spirit.
Winifred Rawlins says:
“All things that are speak
with a tender voice./ Life speaks to life,
existence speaks to being;/
Only our ears are closed, our
eye too dim/ For this compassionate
seeing.
life, honors his humanness to give him fortitude, with him discovers first hidden beauties and forces of the earth and then “the shadow of joy at midnight and intimation of cosmic bliss which enfolds both men and the stars.”
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131. The Dilemmas of a Reconciler: Serving the East-West Conflict (by Richard K. Ullmann; 1963)
About the Author—Richard K. Ullmann was born in Frankfurt on Main & took his degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Frankfort University. He taught in Canton & Serres, Greece. After some time in Buchenwald he went to England as a refugee from Nazi oppression. He joined the Society Friends in 1946 & served for many years at Woodbrooke. He was a vice-president & member of the working commission of the Christian Peace Conference in Prague, in the summer of 1958. [His experience with this organization is the basis of this pamphlet].
[Introduction]—[My mother, when listening to each side of an argument, would tell each side that she understood, & that they were at fault]. Each side began wondering why this sympathetic listener had not accepted the self- righteous version of one’s own point of view. [They would take a good look at what the other side was saying]. I doubt that my mother was much concerned with the rights & wrongs of a case, nor was she very religious. Friends do something similar in telling each side where it has failed to understand the just grievances of the other. Techniques of personal contact can’t be applied to social & international relationships without adjustment.
Personal & Impersonal Relationships—Individuals aren't involved as persons, but as exponents of groups & power systems over which they have limited control. Between groups & power systems, the “self-sacrifice” asked of groups isn’t a true sacrifice of the self. For the statesman, the reconciler's inter- vention is at best one political influence among many. Any influence a states- person has belongs to the category of technical & social action. By using pres- sure groups a states-person is pushing one’s own peace policies by hook or by crook. The reconciler’s interest should be directed towards people. If one loses “disinterestedness,” one loses one’s spiritual power.
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131. The Dilemmas of a Reconciler: Serving the East-West Conflict (by Richard K. Ullmann; 1963)
About the Author—Richard K. Ullmann was born in Frankfurt on Main & took his degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Frankfort University. He taught in Canton & Serres, Greece. After some time in Buchenwald he went to England as a refugee from Nazi oppression. He joined the Society Friends in 1946 & served for many years at Woodbrooke. He was a vice-president & member of the working commission of the Christian Peace Conference in Prague, in the summer of 1958. [His experience with this organization is the basis of this pamphlet].
[Introduction]—[My mother, when listening to each side of an argument, would tell each side that she understood, & that they were at fault]. Each side began wondering why this sympathetic listener had not accepted the self- righteous version of one’s own point of view. [They would take a good look at what the other side was saying]. I doubt that my mother was much concerned with the rights & wrongs of a case, nor was she very religious. Friends do something similar in telling each side where it has failed to understand the just grievances of the other. Techniques of personal contact can’t be applied to social & international relationships without adjustment.
Personal & Impersonal Relationships—Individuals aren't involved as persons, but as exponents of groups & power systems over which they have limited control. Between groups & power systems, the “self-sacrifice” asked of groups isn’t a true sacrifice of the self. For the statesman, the reconciler's inter- vention is at best one political influence among many. Any influence a states- person has belongs to the category of technical & social action. By using pres- sure groups a states-person is pushing one’s own peace policies by hook or by crook. The reconciler’s interest should be directed towards people. If one loses “disinterestedness,” one loses one’s spiritual power.
A reconciler, will hardly appear to the eyes of statesmen as a detached arbiter or mediator to whom they may open their hearts about their mutual entanglements. Even if disinterested, he's still an exponent of a reconciliation policy; he must try to remain a partisan of God in a world where varieties of worldliness compete. [At best], he may impress them with qualities different from a politician’s. He will be placed by them on the political chessboard as a pawn to be used, through whom the opponent may be informed, misled or influenced. His group’s culture will never allow him to be just a partisan of God. His sense of collective responsibility is at once a major motive toward reconciliation & a major obstacle to detachment. [He must be prepared to use people and be used].
Used and Being Used—For several years the Christian Peace Confe- rence has convened meetings of Christians from the Eastern, Western, & non- aligned countries of Europe. [It is a struggle for Western Europe to meet with their Eastern counterparts with] a genuine concern for reconciliation, and to avoid any defamation as “fellow-travellers.” Many Western participants have become convinced that their Eastern brethren are deeply concerned for and actively engaged in, overcoming the spirit of the cold war.
[Then we look at the] freedom of Eastern European churchmen to meet with us [anywhere] in Europe at a time when the Government sponsored anti- religious campaign is stepped up once again. If there is no duplicity in the attitude of our fellow-Christians in Eastern Europe, can we say the same for their governments' attitude? We had better admit without prevarica- tions that our Eastern brethren are being used for communist policy [& pro- paganda] and that we are being used the same way.
We must refuse cooperation if and when we feel sure that we are being used exclusively for wrong purposes, [while at the same time] be ready to be the bridge over which the others are invited to walk. It is possible to be used by communist governments for the purposes of God, and for those governments to be used by God. God is using them to open the door for our meetings with our Eastern brethren when they need our support. We cannot wish to use our bre- thren as a 5th column of Western policies. We rather seek to transform "peace ful competitive coexistence” into true cooperation [with and] for all humankind. We are using their governments for our own purposes while being used by them for theirs.
The notion that on no account must we allow communists to use us for any purposes at all is untenable. [As the extreme opponents on each side] feeds a caricature of the other side to his propaganda machine, he thereby makes himself a caricature & feeds the propaganda machine of his antagonist; enemies need each other for their enmity. Most sane people recognize the 2 antagonistic systems have become interdependent. Western & Eastern scien- tists are assisting each other in achieving modern insights of the 20th cen- tury's 2nd half. All such changes happen through people ready to be used. [In determining] the right purpose for which to be used & to use other people, the reconciler has little to go by except his will for integrity in every action, under divine guidance.
Rigidity and Acquiescence—[At home] a reconciler will urge on one’s government such policies as are conducive to freedom and justice for all. In communist countries one will discover that one is modifying one’s position in the direction of gradualism. We know only too well how quickly our attitudes stiffen under outside attack and how hotly we then defend hardly defensible causes, [like defending a brother we normally can hardly stand].
In freeing colonies gradually, aid given by the West to recently liberated and developing countries is [uniformly] regarded as “neo-colonialism.” Aid given by communist countries, [even] weapons, is regarded as sheer altruism and promotion of the inevitable world revolution. All of us are hypersensitive in some respects, all suffering from traumatic experiences or hidden sin, & hidden guilt, and hidden injury.
Rigidity and Acquiescence: [Reconciler’s Way]—Acquiescence is often the only way open to him. Thus he may agree to statements which have become acceptable to all sides only because the words chosen are vague, ambiguous and [freely interpreted]. [But there is value in honest disagreement]. Paul Lacey said, “Beneath the war of words we were learning respect for one another’s thinking and integrity as persons … Well-meaning people often look so hard for the obvious areas of agreement that they ignore the constructive uses of frank disagreement, the ability to see the other’s point of view while maintaining our own.”
Rigidity and Acquiescence: [Reconciler’s Way]—Acquiescence is often the only way open to him. Thus he may agree to statements which have become acceptable to all sides only because the words chosen are vague, ambiguous and [freely interpreted]. [But there is value in honest disagreement]. Paul Lacey said, “Beneath the war of words we were learning respect for one another’s thinking and integrity as persons … Well-meaning people often look so hard for the obvious areas of agreement that they ignore the constructive uses of frank disagreement, the ability to see the other’s point of view while maintaining our own.”
Without adopting the other’s code, we no longer question his honesty when he follows it honestly. [With all the respect gained for the other], the reconciler is still confronted with the quandary of standing up for his integrity appearing rigid or of acquiescing in duplicities. The reconciler must be as inte- rested in the possible effects of his words as in their truthfulness,
Objectivity & Focus—Normally Friends only stress the need of under- standing the other. Friends [who are reconcilers] consider it equally important to be understood. American Quakers [working at] better understanding between the US and the USSR spend a considerable part of their interpretation as a defense against any suspicion against fellow-traveling. The British reconciler will give as much or as little of the negative impressions as will make one ap- pear trustworthy [and believable]; objectivity is intertwined with the need of persuasion.
Objectivity & Focus—Normally Friends only stress the need of under- standing the other. Friends [who are reconcilers] consider it equally important to be understood. American Quakers [working at] better understanding between the US and the USSR spend a considerable part of their interpretation as a defense against any suspicion against fellow-traveling. The British reconciler will give as much or as little of the negative impressions as will make one ap- pear trustworthy [and believable]; objectivity is intertwined with the need of persuasion.
[In a strange environment away from home one must learn understan- ding and be understood in one and the same process of tactful exchange. One must put things as they can be seen and understood by others. While the focus of the telescope must be adjusted to the vision of each, they must be directed to look through it clearly and not through the blur of their abnormal sights.
In 1959, the Christian Peace Conference of Prague, rather than have “day of repentance” for Hiroshima, which would be seen as denouncing the US, they would have a “day of prayer,” & share responsibility for allowing the world to drift [towards an attitude of extreme violence]. It is unfortunate that many an action undertaken for the sake of peace has missed its purpose because too little care or none has been taken to focus it rightly [e.g. San Francisco to Moscow March (1961); anti-nuclear protest banners in Moscow (1962) Everyman III in Leningrad (1962). In all three cases the focus & perspectives were adjusted to the West. While adjustments must be made, reconciliation is impossible without truth.
In 1959, the Christian Peace Conference of Prague, rather than have “day of repentance” for Hiroshima, which would be seen as denouncing the US, they would have a “day of prayer,” & share responsibility for allowing the world to drift [towards an attitude of extreme violence]. It is unfortunate that many an action undertaken for the sake of peace has missed its purpose because too little care or none has been taken to focus it rightly [e.g. San Francisco to Moscow March (1961); anti-nuclear protest banners in Moscow (1962) Everyman III in Leningrad (1962). In all three cases the focus & perspectives were adjusted to the West. While adjustments must be made, reconciliation is impossible without truth.
The reconciler must preserve his integrity for the sake of reconciliation precisely while making considerable allowances, again for the sake of recon- ciliation. [Rather than being rigidly “objective,” he must] enter imaginatively into the conditions of the quarreling groups, feeling with them their sense of wrong when they feel wronged, understanding when they feel right. [Through this] understanding and love they may eventually be brought to the path of reconciliation, in little steps, and after many a compromise and much acqui- escence. All and reconciliation depends on the reconciler’s own ability to reconcile truth and love within one’s self.
Truth vs. Love—The reconciler’s relationships, the psychological aspects, the political involvement, the reconciler’s behavior, & dealing with the psychology of antagonistic parties overlap. It is a moral-spiritual dilemma between truth & love. Many Friends would say there can never be conflict between truth & love. The unity of truth & love is symbolized in Jesus’ person, the reconciler between God & humans, & one human to another. We must pay the price of inner conflict of anxiety & spiritual suffering if we wish to be Jesus’ disciple in this service.
In 1960, the Christian Peace Conference accepted a statement that “No Christian should have anything to do with nuclear war or the preparation of it.” 2 years later, after nuclear testing resumed, the motion was made to repeat the statement of 1960. I abstained from voting, [because] it was impossible for me to separate myself from them and their burdens, or to add one more to repeat a truth from 2 years earlier.
Truth vs. Love—The reconciler’s relationships, the psychological aspects, the political involvement, the reconciler’s behavior, & dealing with the psychology of antagonistic parties overlap. It is a moral-spiritual dilemma between truth & love. Many Friends would say there can never be conflict between truth & love. The unity of truth & love is symbolized in Jesus’ person, the reconciler between God & humans, & one human to another. We must pay the price of inner conflict of anxiety & spiritual suffering if we wish to be Jesus’ disciple in this service.
In 1960, the Christian Peace Conference accepted a statement that “No Christian should have anything to do with nuclear war or the preparation of it.” 2 years later, after nuclear testing resumed, the motion was made to repeat the statement of 1960. I abstained from voting, [because] it was impossible for me to separate myself from them and their burdens, or to add one more to repeat a truth from 2 years earlier.
Appeasement in the political sense implies a series of concessions made to an aggressor who won't be satisfied eventually with anything less than total victory. There have been very few peace settlements in history which were not impaired by appeasement of some sort. Appeasement by portioning Germany consists not in the acceptance of this solution, but to - accepting it without counting the sacrifices involved. People in East Germany feel deeply unhappy in their present situation for quite personal human reasons. People in East European nations surrounding Germany with [their fear of a rearmed Germany], see a separate East German state as the only guarantee of peace and the only way to reconciliation.
The more one enters into the conditions of the people concerned, quite apart from power politics & human suffering, the deeper grows one’s under- standing of their arguments' truth & their sincere feelings of fear, oppression & insecurity. Under the judgment of truth both sides are right & wrong. Only a free sacrifice of some of their own rights, only love could lead them out of the impasse. This is very difficult on the impersonal level.
What is love between groups & nations? With every increase in our understanding of their mutual entanglement, our desire grows to help them here and now, for their own sake as much as for the sake of peace. Under- standing both sides is something that brings little happiness [How is] the reconciler to help both sides to an understanding of each other, com- parable to his understanding of both of them? With every spoken or unspoken rejection of his friends on either side, he feels himself rejected together with them. Only faith can sustain one in one’s service of reconci- liation, beyond any consideration of success and failure.
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132. Obstacles to Mystical Experience (by Scott Crom 1963)
About the Author—Scott Crom's undergraduate work was math; his doctor's degree at Yale was philosophy. He is Associate Professor of Philo- sophy at Beloit College, & clerks Beloit Preparative Meeting. He participates in American Friends Service Committee work camps. This pamphlet was written at Pendle Hill on sabbatical.
[Introduction]—Dean Inge: "Everyone is naturally either a mystic or a legalist." This pamphlet concerns mystics who know religion as directly expe- rienced. The problem is acquisition of experience. Many people find it hard to be religious. It is sometimes very hard to practice religion in one's daily life. Many seekers encounter serious obstacles to inward searchings through intellect and will. The barriers to religious life rest in heart and will. We say "I can't believe"; the fact is usually "I won't follow & serve." Stubbornness of will often takes place below conscious understanding. Some stop short of belief because of the seeming sacrifice of intellectual honesty.
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132. Obstacles to Mystical Experience (by Scott Crom 1963)
About the Author—Scott Crom's undergraduate work was math; his doctor's degree at Yale was philosophy. He is Associate Professor of Philo- sophy at Beloit College, & clerks Beloit Preparative Meeting. He participates in American Friends Service Committee work camps. This pamphlet was written at Pendle Hill on sabbatical.
[Introduction]—Dean Inge: "Everyone is naturally either a mystic or a legalist." This pamphlet concerns mystics who know religion as directly expe- rienced. The problem is acquisition of experience. Many people find it hard to be religious. It is sometimes very hard to practice religion in one's daily life. Many seekers encounter serious obstacles to inward searchings through intellect and will. The barriers to religious life rest in heart and will. We say "I can't believe"; the fact is usually "I won't follow & serve." Stubbornness of will often takes place below conscious understanding. Some stop short of belief because of the seeming sacrifice of intellectual honesty.
Intellectual Obstacles—Psychology, sociology, anthropology, & com- parative religion [are used intellectually] to indicate that religion is only cul- tural conditioning, entirely relative, [& not a source] of objective truth. Religion is conceived of as legalism or institution. The religion of illumination, Qua- kerism among them, replies that this is a misconception; religion begins in an experiment, to end in an experience. How one lives & responds to one's own illumination and to the world around one matters more than doctrinal formu- lation of belief.
[One does not begin with an experiment from scratch], but rather with a framework of previous experience and theory to serve as a guidepost. Do I begin by reading someone's Holy Word or inspiring literature? How do I know I have found God and not some childhood trauma in disguised form? Do I seek heightened awareness of self or dissolution of self? Do I seek communion with: God-person; a Thou; the Brahman at Large (universal spirit), the Void? Some find it impossible to read the Bible or any Christian mystical literature, because the word "God" [conjures up] the lega- listic, institutional, doctrinal Christianity at which they balk. It may be impossible to set out on a search with no orientation or direction at all.
There Are Many Paths—Having several great ways of illumination would seem to make the religious pilgrimage easier; it hasn't for me. If one way yields knowledge of God, & another yields enlightenment with no God, with both claiming to be ultimate, ordinary reason says that someone is profoundly mistaken; perhaps both are untrustworthy. [Some need "one right way," some need alternatives] to increase the chance of success.
Dissolution or denial of the self seems to be the one great common factor in nearly all world religions, with a wide range in how it is used. [One Quaker compared Zen Buddhism with Quaker experience, speaking of] personal response and being picked up and set on his feet again after the demolition of himself; neither personal response or reconstitution of self is part of Zen Buddhism. Many non-Orthodox mystical scholars claim that the mystical consciousness is everywhere identical; apparent differences lie only in its interpretation.
Between Time and Eternity—The problem of the identity of mystical consciousness is connected with time & eternity, & with immanence & tran- scendence. W. T. Stace's description of "Emptiness, the Void, the One, absolute unity" has nearly identical descriptions in St. John of the Cross & Meister Eckhart. Only fairly recently did I begin to feel what "Because God 1st loved us" & the love & suffering of Christ could mean.
There Are Many Paths—Having several great ways of illumination would seem to make the religious pilgrimage easier; it hasn't for me. If one way yields knowledge of God, & another yields enlightenment with no God, with both claiming to be ultimate, ordinary reason says that someone is profoundly mistaken; perhaps both are untrustworthy. [Some need "one right way," some need alternatives] to increase the chance of success.
Dissolution or denial of the self seems to be the one great common factor in nearly all world religions, with a wide range in how it is used. [One Quaker compared Zen Buddhism with Quaker experience, speaking of] personal response and being picked up and set on his feet again after the demolition of himself; neither personal response or reconstitution of self is part of Zen Buddhism. Many non-Orthodox mystical scholars claim that the mystical consciousness is everywhere identical; apparent differences lie only in its interpretation.
Between Time and Eternity—The problem of the identity of mystical consciousness is connected with time & eternity, & with immanence & tran- scendence. W. T. Stace's description of "Emptiness, the Void, the One, absolute unity" has nearly identical descriptions in St. John of the Cross & Meister Eckhart. Only fairly recently did I begin to feel what "Because God 1st loved us" & the love & suffering of Christ could mean.
The suffering involved is that of the anguish of an infinitely loving & caring father who sees that One's children "know not the things that make for peace," & always take the wrong & selfish path. When the selfish will fears death, the intellect tries to relate the personal God who cares for every soul, to the God above history. If the God who cares is only the projection of my men- tal image, it is sheer self-hypnosis & without ground in [what is transcendent].
Several Possible Solutions—One possible response is saying, ["We can't possibly know the nature of God"]. Or we can say that the laws of logic do not apply to the mystical, so we can say that God cares and is completely untouched by human temporal events, and the mystical experience encounters a personal God and is enlightenment into a thoroughly impersonal Unitary Consciousness. Shankara, a 9th century Hindu, finds different truths at diffe- rent levels of the truth. I don't find multiple levels of truth at all satisfactory. Martin Buber suggested that though God cannot be regarded as a person, mutual response person-to-person is the only way intelligible to us.
Does God become a person, only take the temporary form of a person, or do we simply see God through personality-colored glasses? [All 3 avoid rather than address the paradox]. Meister Eckhart speaks of God in personal terms, [though he would deny God having any personality. Chris- tian, Hindu & Buddhist mystics have their ways of approaching the Root of their faith in personal ways]. If one cannot be content to remain a few steps back from the summit, one can oscillate back and forth between a personal relationship with a caring God, and recognition that the Godhead is formless and non-discriminatory.
Another Possibility/ Obstacles in the Will—There is still a point at which the personality of a living God may come together with the impersonal formlessness of the Unitary Consciousness. Only when the immediate consci- ousness of self is expanded to include [things normally] unconscious, & to pass beyond the limits of separate individuals, can we approach true personality. Human personality may express itself beyond the particular person to include the surrounding area the person influences. [How does God's pervasive influence over and unity with the world indicate or not indicate that per- sonality is at the core of the world]? It is doubtful that this can take place in the total absence of all consciousness of self.
Perhaps the problems discussed here are created by the will trying to exert a form of mastery or control, trying to somehow get on top of reality, rather than opening one's self to it. The intellectual problems then are only transitory. They are, like a chess problem, a fascinating, and challenging endeavor, but of no real significance. A straightforward discussion of the will is very difficult. It is much closer to the core of our being [than any other aspect]; it is the entity or activity with which we most closely identify ourselves.
Socrates or Augustine—For Socrates every person automatically and naturally desires the good, and the only problem therefore is one of education. We know those who, and ourselves have done wrong knowing it is wrong. In that case Socrates would say, it is not knowledge of wrongness, but knowledge of other people's opinion that it is wrong. We can say that in these circum- stances, the act is right, permissible or necessary to do. To paraphrase Socra- tes, all men naturally desire the best possible kind of life. He tried to help Athenians to understand the nature & condition of the soul, what made for its health, and what contributed to its decay. Information & book-learning wasn't knowledge but mere opinion. True knowledge or wisdom sinks deeply enough into the soul to strike into the springs of action.
Reason's clear light was so dazzling that Greeks couldn't see beyond it to the unconscious; the universe's moral order was impersonal. For Socrates & his Christianized followers, [the goal] is getting us to see [where the spiritual advantage lies], believing that if we only had enough knowledge of our souls' nature, of God, of divine order, then right action will be forthcoming. Yet Freud has shown us that the unconscious mind has powers & drives that can actually lead to a person's psychical or physical destruction against his conscious rea- son & will.
Socrates or Augustine—For Socrates every person automatically and naturally desires the good, and the only problem therefore is one of education. We know those who, and ourselves have done wrong knowing it is wrong. In that case Socrates would say, it is not knowledge of wrongness, but knowledge of other people's opinion that it is wrong. We can say that in these circum- stances, the act is right, permissible or necessary to do. To paraphrase Socra- tes, all men naturally desire the best possible kind of life. He tried to help Athenians to understand the nature & condition of the soul, what made for its health, and what contributed to its decay. Information & book-learning wasn't knowledge but mere opinion. True knowledge or wisdom sinks deeply enough into the soul to strike into the springs of action.
Reason's clear light was so dazzling that Greeks couldn't see beyond it to the unconscious; the universe's moral order was impersonal. For Socrates & his Christianized followers, [the goal] is getting us to see [where the spiritual advantage lies], believing that if we only had enough knowledge of our souls' nature, of God, of divine order, then right action will be forthcoming. Yet Freud has shown us that the unconscious mind has powers & drives that can actually lead to a person's psychical or physical destruction against his conscious rea- son & will.
In the case of a man who wants to stop smoking, reason & will are at odds. Perhaps this is a case of wishing rather than willing. In willing the end we will the means needed for the end. There needs to be insight, perspective, seeing connections in order to realize the means necessary for the end. There is a nearer known good or pleasure that outweighs a more distant speculative good. The problem isn't one of reason against will, but of desire against desire. Either different desires or different faculties [i.e. reason, will, emotion, etc., are in conflict].
In religion we also want discipline & pleasure at the same time. In see- king the unified personality & the peace that passeth all understanding we often seem to increase the splits within ourselves. The basic problem is that of understanding & unifying reason & will so that they become something which is simultaneously light and power.
Clearing the Way—The 1st & last lesson we learn in religion is that regard for self is the root of sin. It is a self-defeating paradox to take up one's cross, to deny one's self, to lose one's life, for the sake of one's self, & for the purpose of gaining one's life. Do I want to love God for God's own sake, or do I want just enough aura of holiness, to be seen as saintly? Dean Inge says, "He who tries to be holy in order to be happy will assuredly be neither." [The sticking point] in the Eastern tradition is that only one who gives up all desires, include that for supreme enlightenment & liberation, will be released. The final stages in all religions, are by far the hardest.
The 1st sacrifices in religion are usually our peripheral selves; we have only given up parts of the lower self in favor of the higher self to which we still cling. As we go further, the sacrifices become greater. When we must sacrifice all, we face a kind of cosmic suicide that is far more horrifying than anything we encounter elsewhere. The assurance of a church or a master may help the disciple go further; it also is one more thing the disciple clings to & will find difficult to abandon.
Clearing the Way—The 1st & last lesson we learn in religion is that regard for self is the root of sin. It is a self-defeating paradox to take up one's cross, to deny one's self, to lose one's life, for the sake of one's self, & for the purpose of gaining one's life. Do I want to love God for God's own sake, or do I want just enough aura of holiness, to be seen as saintly? Dean Inge says, "He who tries to be holy in order to be happy will assuredly be neither." [The sticking point] in the Eastern tradition is that only one who gives up all desires, include that for supreme enlightenment & liberation, will be released. The final stages in all religions, are by far the hardest.
The 1st sacrifices in religion are usually our peripheral selves; we have only given up parts of the lower self in favor of the higher self to which we still cling. As we go further, the sacrifices become greater. When we must sacrifice all, we face a kind of cosmic suicide that is far more horrifying than anything we encounter elsewhere. The assurance of a church or a master may help the disciple go further; it also is one more thing the disciple clings to & will find difficult to abandon.
Christians can begin to prepare the ground & achieve a partial union with God. God's spirit completes our purification and unites with us in a full beatific vision. Quakers ask: Is the Inward Light a "not I" who can respond and redeem and save? Or is it a deeper level of the self, with roots below our conscious personalities? Is one really only tapping one's own un- suspected strengths? Belief persists that we can by our own moral efforts obligate and bind God so that our will becomes God's will.
But Which is the Way?—I still want God to be a person who responds to me while I am "working out my own salvation with diligence." I have known and respected Hindus and Buddhists, and I cannot bring myself to say that there is nothing of truth or value in their way, or that their way [is only] partially true. I would like to incorporate 4 Eastern characteristics: Buddhist tranquility; developed & profound psychologies; universal availability of enlightenment & liberation; freedom from perceptual and intellectual attachment.
But Which is the Way?—I still want God to be a person who responds to me while I am "working out my own salvation with diligence." I have known and respected Hindus and Buddhists, and I cannot bring myself to say that there is nothing of truth or value in their way, or that their way [is only] partially true. I would like to incorporate 4 Eastern characteristics: Buddhist tranquility; developed & profound psychologies; universal availability of enlightenment & liberation; freedom from perceptual and intellectual attachment.
The last 2 of these characteristics can be found in Western Christianity, outside its main stream in the via negativa of Meister Eckhart and St. John of the Cross. The denial of self can be a genuine desire to become a thin place where God can shine through to this world. The great majority of Hindus and Buddhists do in fact worship a god conceived as personal. No trustworthy conclusion can be reached about the respective social values of Eastern and Western religions because there are too many variables.
The Personality of God—Is the religious consciousness one of encounter or illumination? If God can be thought of as a person, then the whole created universe as a manifestation of will & purpose is important to us because our own individualities thereby gain a reflected significance. Belief in a transubstantial entity which retains personality and individuality lends to a soul a dignity we could not otherwise envision it to have. Is God conscious of God's self? Our self-consciousness depends on a contrast with other selves. The mature adult's self no longer stops where the other self begins, but is expanded to include the other. As personality grows, self-conscious- ness diminishes; surely no less could be said of God, who then could hardly be conscious of us, could hardly love and respond to us as anything other than God's self.
The Personality of God—Is the religious consciousness one of encounter or illumination? If God can be thought of as a person, then the whole created universe as a manifestation of will & purpose is important to us because our own individualities thereby gain a reflected significance. Belief in a transubstantial entity which retains personality and individuality lends to a soul a dignity we could not otherwise envision it to have. Is God conscious of God's self? Our self-consciousness depends on a contrast with other selves. The mature adult's self no longer stops where the other self begins, but is expanded to include the other. As personality grows, self-conscious- ness diminishes; surely no less could be said of God, who then could hardly be conscious of us, could hardly love and respond to us as anything other than God's self.
The Final Breaking Point—Love which has an object, even though that object be conceived in the highest terms possible to us, is still a form of clinging and craving, still a projection of self. A God who is beyond self-consci- ousness cannot be said to be good or evil. The facts of religious experience remain. There is an experience of encounter which carries enlightenment, an experience of confrontation with a "not-I" to which we can respond. The spe- cific vocabulary used at this point depends on [our own spiritual language]. The notion of self can be tremendously useful in both inquiry and worship. At the highest stage of religious consciousness, it has outlived its usefulness. Is God in time or eternity? Is God personal or formless? Is our mysteri- ous moment encounter or enlightenment? ... How much does a rain- bow weigh?
133.
The Eclipse of the Historical Jesus: Haverford College
Library Lectures, April 1963 (by Henry J. Cadbury; ‘64)
Foreword—[This is from 2 Haverford College Library Lectures in
April 1963]. It was intended to
provide an untechnical audience with an untech- nical account of recent currents
and counter-currents in the studies [cen- tering around the “theological” and
“historical” Jesus]. 50 years ago on this campus some students approached me & said: “We believe something of importance happened
in Palestine
Albert
Schweitzer’s Quest and After—[Over] 50
years ago [1906], a young Alsatian theological student [named Albert
Schweitzer] wrote The Quest for the
Historical Jesus. He later became a
medical missionary for 50 years at Lambarene in Equatorial Africa. The term “historical Jesus” isn't a new or
unique one. What any man was actually
like may be ob- scured in several ways. 1st,
there is sheer lack of data. There is
almost no record of Jesus outside our 4 gospels; 3 overlap to such an extent as
to reduce their contents by half.
2nd, A historical person may become obscured
by unhistorical data growing up about him. 3rd, an almost unique
disturbing fact has been at work. He has
been believed to have become alive again & to be alive. [In the case of the fusion of a human being
with a supernatural figure, the historian wishes to separate out at least
temporarily the 2 elements fused in Jesus in the interest of doing justice to
each. A suitable terminology is hard to
come by. The single words “Jesus” & “Christ”
are often used [to distin- guish the 2 elements].
Schweitzer’s Quest
was a laborious, brilliant review of efforts [from 1778-1902, spanning
historical, aesthetic, literary, scientific, and philo- sophical approaches] to
write the life or interpret Jesus’ career & recover even his
self-consciousness. Schweitzer says: “The world had never seen before, and will
never see again, a struggle for truth so full of . . . renunci- ation as that of
which Jesus’ lives of the last 100 years contain the cryptic record.”
4 generalizations will be useful as we follow on from
Schweitzer’s time to our own day. 1st,
the quest has been marked by a progression from one phase to another,
[following] one another by an unconscious logic. 2nd, habits of thought in other
fields both religious and secular affected the ap- proach. 3rd, each scholar who attempts a
solution brings to the subject his own presuppositions or those of his
background or environment.
It shouldn't be supposed that Schweitzer escaped this
danger entire- ly. [After admitting that Jesus was mistaken about his
expectation about the Kingdom of God’s imminent advent, Schweitzer departs from
his own logic &] summons the reader to an orthodox type of Christian loyalty
in his con- clusion. 4th, men have started out with the [desire to
recover a Jesus that would have greater meaning in today’s world]. This adds a
motive other than pure historical inquiry. This kind of interest has
intensified rather than re- lieved the eclipse we are talking about.
[Schweitzer’s life after the Quest includes 50 years as medical mis- sionary in Africa ,
and concerns for ethics, civilization, and even for the world problem of a
suicidal cold war]. His views on the
historical Jesus are said to have changed, but there has been little published by
him on them. [Like an audit that
reveals] bankruptcy his book merely reports a condi- tion of affairs for which he
was not responsible. [Theological viewpoints like “realized eschatology” were
used to explain away Jesus’ “mistake.” [American scholars began another phase
known as “the social gospel,” which pictured Jesus as] a humanitarian and
reformer, prophet of an ideal social order.
In Germany
More important & durable & more widely
accepted even until today was the development of “Form Criticism.” [By
isolating] the uses to which the community put [the material] in its oral
stage, it hopes to recover Jesus’ original acts & sayings. Form criticism
concluded that the separate units even within a single gospel had had
independent transmission & use. Hence there are what I have called “Mixed
Motives in the Gospels,” which makes identifying and isolating early
Christian alteration of primitive memory ex- tremely difficult. Form criticism
hoped to recover the historical Jesus by identifying the early church’s interests.
[Instead of finding the historical layer we are looking for, we created another
one]. By allowing for it, we hope to arrive at what we are looking for.
Influences
of Recent Theology—[Form criticism
transferred interest from the Jesus of history to the Jesus in early Christian
thought]. What the early Church thought of Jesus is a matter of evaluation and
interpretation; its concern was increasingly less historical. Even if the central figure in theo- logy and
history is the same, they become in a sense rivals for intellectual attention. As long as the Jesus of
history was the goal, the pursuit was only unconsciously affected by the
considerations used in theology. [Whe- ther rejecting Jesus’ existence or
constructing a social gospel, scholars welcomed what seemed to be an objective
discovery as beneficial for the modern world.
Theology, however, thinks the historical determination
of Jesus’ own existence or character is relatively unimportant. The Jesus of theology be- gins at the point in
time where the Jesus of history leaves off.
The theolo- gical approach has an independent appeal, and it tends to
overshadow the other interests. The
purely literary study of the gospels emphasized the interpretive role of the
early Church in attempting to distinguish primitive Christianity from Jesus
himself. Form criticism rightly
recognized that the units of material had had each a separate history so that
they were de- tached from any possible reconstruction of chronological
order. In all 4 gospels there is a large
proportion of interpretation as compared with sheer history.
The primitive message [or kerygma] about Jesus was thus under- stood to have eclipsed Jesus’
life & teaching. [Isolating] the early Church’s message [only helps us if
taking it out] leaves us with a purer residue in which to find Jesus himself.
The interest in kerygma was
con- temporary with a significant early stage of the ecumenical movement. The kerygma could provide a common basis for
the modern sects in Chris- tendom. What
was Jesus thinking? What Jesus did & said are indeed reported; for what
he thought one can only read between the lines.
There has also been an increasing interest in recent
years in what is called biblical theology.
In biblical theology, the Bible is not treated as having theologies; it isn't treated as
development in the human sense, but as sharing a single viewpoint [in OT and
NT], that of “salvation history.” It excludes any books not considered canonical. Bending primitive theology to meet
our present needs or adjusting ourselves [to what the Early Church Early Church
Theology is a dramatic representation intended to
describe religious experience, a narrative play. The subject matter may be the supposed
pre- dicament of the human beings & the imagined intervention of the
super- natural beings. Humankind’s
predicament is one of being in danger of disaster; they are offenders in the
sight of God.
Much of the ideological
background is inherited from the OT thought, to which Judaism added angels late
in its development, while demons were a very real feature of contemporary
Gentile mythology or psycho- logy. What did the inclusion of a historical
character mean for the drama? What did it mean for the historical understanding
of Jesus? God intervened in events
in history, but Jesus was a more significant embodiment of that
intervention. Tying the drama to a historical figure prevented it from becoming complete mythology.
Already in the earliest Christianity theology showed a
tendency to use [a kind of historical fiction].
It wanted to have whatever advantage history could give its drama but
did not [worry much about] actual historical .details Modern biblical theology shows a continuation
of the desire to en- joy the assets of historical anchorage without too much
concern for [fin- ding the actual Jesus]. [Even
for Paul] Jesus is a partly a super-historical figure.
So in the whole early Christian kerygma, the dramatic rather over- shadows the historical. Christianity has often felt it necessary to
reassert the historicity of Jesus, his human actuality. The features of creeds and the human element
in the Synoptic Gospels appear to be a reaction against extreme
mythologizing. The Christological
discussions of subsequent centuries were not based on historical evidence but
on philosophical deductions for the mere premise of the incarnation.
Theology tends to deflect attention from the quest of
the historical Jesus; theologians regard their own approach as more important. They claim that the Jesus of history has
never been central in Christianity. [It
is more important that Jesus Christ confronts us in the kerygma than that we go back to the historical Jesus]. Yet the historians are not prepared to
surrender their position; it remains for them a respectable interest. A Christ who is merely a figure of history is
not more useless than is a figure in the imaginative drama of theology unless
that can be updated. For Quakers the
Christ was not a phenomenon of Jesus’ lifetime only. The Light of Christ had been at work in Jews
and even pagans before ever Jesus was born.
Biblical theology itself admits that without
interpretation it is unsuited to present needs. Why, if we understand what are our problems today, should we bother to
connect them with so arbitrary and fanciful a structure as traditional
theology? One suspects [that
adherence to biblical theology is] a carryover from typical Protestant emphasis
on the authority of the Bible and even from the dogmatic formulation of the
creeds. For modern use theology needs to
be purged of myth. Some persons fear
that theology will demythologize and dehistoricize the whole structure of
orthodox theology. [Both] the actual
denial of Jesus’ historic existence and extreme revamping of redemption history
obscures the Jesus of history.
The present debate is being shared
internationally. And there is change
taking place. [The theologians Barth,
Heidegger, and Bultmann have shifted their theological positions from what they
once were]. The biblical theologians
are reluctant to associate the kerygma of the church with the historical Jesus,
except as result & cause. The earliest
appraisal by Christians may have differed from what Jesus seemed like to
himself, or from what we would have found significant. The historian should strive to be more
objective in spite of the difficulty of being so. There is tension between two camps, but the
tension may not be unprofitable. I am
not unprepared to live with this tension, nor hopeless about the future course
of inquiry and analysis.
I find the
quest of the historical Jesus a challenge to curiosity and also to integrity as
a historian. I give it as my judgment
that Jesus was a histo- rical character.
The probability of his existence does not make probable all the gospels
record, nor does the improbability of some features throw doubt on his
existence. [The views presented in the
Bible on the end of this age] probably goes back to him. His ethical interest with his somewhat
radical insistence on it is I think another historical feature in the oldest
gospels. The area of most obscurity is
the self-awareness of Jesus. His
apparent sense of authority may not have been a prominent element in an
otherwise extrovert personality. But
after all I must admit how much we cannot know.
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134. From convincement to conversion (by Martin Cobin; 1964)
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134. From convincement to conversion (by Martin Cobin; 1964)
1—I grew up in a Jewish home. I tell you this so you may understand a
little better how I approach Christianity and Jesus quite differently from
most of you. I do not urge you to accept
it—merely to try to understand it. I had a Moslem friend who told me he respected Jesus as a great prophet, but that Jesus set goals so high they were beyond the reach of frail human beings. For me, the power, the hold, the intensity,
the meaning, the real impact of Jesus’ death on the cross grows out of and is
entirely dependent on my understanding of Jesus as a man, as a human
being.
I urge you to dwell on the
concept that it was “as a man” that Jesus gave himself up to the cross and died
on the cross. The value of the ex- ample
is in the awareness it gives you of your capacity, of your strength. The message of the cross is that if we frail
human beings will devote our- selves to God, we will find the desire & the strength
to take upon ourselves the sufferings of others, [and in doing so], find joy
and piece.
2—Why is a
prophet without honor in his own country?
We like to glamorize our
prophets; we like to make them [statues on pedestals]. That’s difficult to achieve when you see your
prophet up close. My human frailties are
all too obvious. [But] the way has been
opened for me to have rich and moving experiences and certain insights. There is a measure of God’s work in what I
bring you, so there will be something worth taking.
We speak of birthright Friends and convinced Friends,
but I don’t like the word “convinced”—it’s too intellectual. I would submit that some of our Monthly
Meetings throughout the country suffer from being too full of Friends who are
merely convinced, which is good, but not enough by itself. After Rufus Jones remarked in meeting: “I’ve been thinking this morning . . ., he
was admonished: “Rufus, during meeting
for worship thou shouldst not have been thinking.”
What do I
want beyond birthright and convincement?
I also want conversion. I was converted by my wife—& not by
anything she ever said, particularly, [but by the relationship itself]. This is conversion—when you come in touch
with God, not as a freak accident, but as an experience you can keep repeating. We recognize that the
interaction between people provides one of the most fruitful areas for coming
into contact with God. When we get
converted, we don’t all become saints; most of us simply have to make do as best we can.
3—In situations of tension converts take the pattern of
our spiritually centered living into the situation. There people who become entwined with us necessarily
become entwined with that-of-God in us; they discover that- of-God within
themselves. It is best to go into such
situations with a con- viction armed with conversion.
[It can be cultivated by joining in meeting for
worship; being surroun ded by like-minded people helps] you get in the mood,
center down. When you’ve learned how to worship, then go to your own personal
silence. Meeting for worship will
become a place to practice, perhaps later a source of irritation, &
eventually a joyous experience where it’s easier to feel at one with the
universe because there’s a greater sense of the universe’s immediacy.
4—Next you’ll go to meeting for business. Here we learn how to bring to the conduct of
business, & the resolution of conflicts, the habit of living in the
conscious presence of God. Friends of all ages need the training provided by a
good meeting for business, [so as to learn to apply spiritual values to
everyday life]. [The good habits you learn in business meeting will serve you well
as you apply them to situations of tensions where people are not aware of]
trying to do God’s work. Put aside your importance, your decision, your
action. When we can bring awareness of a larger totality into daily living, it
becomes difficult for us to be disturbed. You use the life of the Meeting to
help you to this awareness, [and even- tually] applying it to everyday situations
wherever you are.
5—Meditate in the morning on the totality of the
universe and then go to work. You’ll do what you can, what you’re led to—what
you can move into without leaving God behind. You can move properly in
situations of great tension and conflict if you are led to it and you have
grown into it. I came to an awareness of the personal value of the vigil. I
realized that I had grown in my ability to live in consciousness of the
presence of God. If a peace vigil helped
me achieve that growth, it was good for me; if it taught me bitterness or
self-esteem, that would be bad.
6—The application of the Quaker way of life to
situations of tension lies in the ability of Friends to move into such
situations without altering their lives, without losing the capacity for love
and calm and [confidence in] the power of God.
When our talents are those best suited to meeting the needs of men at a
particular point in their development, then we will offer leadership; at other
times we will not be greatly influential.
Let us move as quickly as we can, as slowly as we must.
I see no calamity in those who find the
Meeting no longer provides the necessary nourishment and who come to turn
elsewhere for it. What will happen if the entire Society of Friends embrace [a rushed
re- sponse (which is out of character)] to the imminent danger of nuclear
destruction, & we meet with large-scale nuclear destruction [anyway]? [Whether or not it comes] the world will
have need of us; [if nothing else, we can leave our influence behind].
7—Why did
Judas betray Jesus? I think he [expected] that Jesus, backed far enough
into the corner, would rise in anger.
[He judged Jesus by his own personal standards], and felt that no man
could sacrifice himself for other men. Many people today can't believe deep down within themselves that the real Jesus is anything more than a
legend. These people need faith in their
own potential as human being. They will
come to it only by finding in their midst people who demonstrate man’s capacity
for Godliness. While all good comes from
God, men help each other to partake of that gift. For such help we must be grateful to one
another. O Friends, I thank you for the
silent prayer, that places us in one another’s care.
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135. The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian (by Joseph Epes
Brown; 1964)
136. The Evolutionary Potential of
Quakerism (by Kenneth E.
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135. The Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian (by Joseph Epes
Brown; 1964)
About the Author—Born in September 1920, Joseph Epes Brown was an American scholar whose dedication to Native American traditions helped bring the study of American Indian religious traditions into higher education. His seminal work was a book entitled, The Sacred Pipe, an account of discussions with the Lakota holy man, Black Elk, regarding his people's religious rites. Since the writing of this pamphlet, the author has taught American Indian religious traditions at the Universities of Indiana & Montana. He died in September 2000.
This is my prayer: That Peace may come to those people who can understand; an understanding which must be of the heart and not of the head alone. Then they will realize that we Indians know the One True God, and that we pray to Him continually. Hehaka Sapa (Black Elk)
[INTRODUCTION: Tragedies and Misunderstandings]—For cen- turies American Indian peoples have been involved in a struggle which re- sembles a tragedy; it is our tragedy as well as theirs. They have great riches in human & spiritual resources, which have been swept aside or actively destroyed by our educational system. By ignoring or denying the spiritual legacy left by the Indian we have contributed to his impoverishment [& our own].
[INTRODUCTION: Tragedies and Misunderstandings]—For cen- turies American Indian peoples have been involved in a struggle which re- sembles a tragedy; it is our tragedy as well as theirs. They have great riches in human & spiritual resources, which have been swept aside or actively destroyed by our educational system. By ignoring or denying the spiritual legacy left by the Indian we have contributed to his impoverishment [& our own].
We talk of "progress," "manifest destiny," of the inevitability of our way over all others. It isn't inevitable that the American Indian give up the spiritual values & rituals of their ancient religions. Those who remain faithful should be given encouragement to keep alive a rich & truly American heri- tage. It is hoped this booklet may clarify misconceptions concerning real & profound spiritual values which exist in American Indian religions.
Early on the American aborigine was depicted as a brutal savage, without civilization & possibly no soul, or as an innocent child of nature. An objective description of religious rites, social customs, and ritual objects can not give an insight into their spirituality; much of this wisdom has been lost. We who have lived close to these peoples for some 400 years should [go beyond objectivity] in our search for the spirit of the people in its deepest aspect. Frithjof Schuon writes: "The ... combination of combative and stoical heroism and priestly bearing gave the Indian of the Plains and Forests something of the majesty of the eagle and the sun ... There must be some cause for our lively, lasting, [and serious] interest in the Indian himself, for 'where there is smoke there is fire."
With our own over-emphasis on mental activity we are apt to think the Indian lacks [the ability] to worship a Supreme Being. Their "lack" may have prevented us from understanding the completeness and depth of his wis- dom. [This "lack"] represents in the Indian a very effective type of spiritual participation in which the essential ideas and values, forms and symbols are spontaneously and integrally lived. St. Bernard wrote: "Trees and stones will teach thee more than thou canst acquire from the mouth of a magister."
Early on the American aborigine was depicted as a brutal savage, without civilization & possibly no soul, or as an innocent child of nature. An objective description of religious rites, social customs, and ritual objects can not give an insight into their spirituality; much of this wisdom has been lost. We who have lived close to these peoples for some 400 years should [go beyond objectivity] in our search for the spirit of the people in its deepest aspect. Frithjof Schuon writes: "The ... combination of combative and stoical heroism and priestly bearing gave the Indian of the Plains and Forests something of the majesty of the eagle and the sun ... There must be some cause for our lively, lasting, [and serious] interest in the Indian himself, for 'where there is smoke there is fire."
With our own over-emphasis on mental activity we are apt to think the Indian lacks [the ability] to worship a Supreme Being. Their "lack" may have prevented us from understanding the completeness and depth of his wis- dom. [This "lack"] represents in the Indian a very effective type of spiritual participation in which the essential ideas and values, forms and symbols are spontaneously and integrally lived. St. Bernard wrote: "Trees and stones will teach thee more than thou canst acquire from the mouth of a magister."
We have a prejudice against a nomadic life and do not realize that complex material achievements of the type which we possess, or rather by which we are often possessed, are usually at the expense of human and spiritual values. The contemporary industrial man is in danger of being crushed by the sheer weight of his civilization. A minimum of material possessions does not necessarily mean a poverty in mental and spiritual achievements.
[Great Plains Indian Traditions]—These traditions, with their intel- lectuality, great cultural beauty & dignity represent an especially rich deve- lopment among Amerindian peoples. A secondary reason for using these traditions is simply my familiarity with them. The new understanding I gained from living with Black Elk (He-haka Sapa) & listening to him & Little Warrior, made clear to me why these old men, & others [constantly had] a nobility, serenity, generosity, & kindness that we usually expect in the saints of better known religions.
I found Black Elk in 1948. After a time of smoking in silence, Black Elk, speaking in Lakota, told me through his son's translation that he had anticipated my coming, and asked if I would remain with him. Over nearly a year's time he would speak every day until a veil of silence fell in which one could sense that he was so absorbed within the realities of which he was speaking that words no longer had meaning. The greater part of what I learned from Black Elk was from his very being, which seemed to hover between this world of forms & the world of the spirit.
From the age of 9 he had received visions with an unusual frequency & intensity, & had the compulsion to bring back to life the "flower tree" of their religious heritage. Black Elk said: "I must say now that the tree has never bloomed ... I have fallen away & have done nothing ...It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then, that it may leaf & bloom & fill with singing birds ... Hear me that they may once more go back into the sacred hoop & find the good red road, the shielding tree." Aspects of his religion were recorded in Black Elk Speaks (John G. Nei- hardt, 1932) and The Sacred Pipe (John Epes Brown, 1953).
[Great Plains Indian Traditions]—These traditions, with their intel- lectuality, great cultural beauty & dignity represent an especially rich deve- lopment among Amerindian peoples. A secondary reason for using these traditions is simply my familiarity with them. The new understanding I gained from living with Black Elk (He-haka Sapa) & listening to him & Little Warrior, made clear to me why these old men, & others [constantly had] a nobility, serenity, generosity, & kindness that we usually expect in the saints of better known religions.
I found Black Elk in 1948. After a time of smoking in silence, Black Elk, speaking in Lakota, told me through his son's translation that he had anticipated my coming, and asked if I would remain with him. Over nearly a year's time he would speak every day until a veil of silence fell in which one could sense that he was so absorbed within the realities of which he was speaking that words no longer had meaning. The greater part of what I learned from Black Elk was from his very being, which seemed to hover between this world of forms & the world of the spirit.
From the age of 9 he had received visions with an unusual frequency & intensity, & had the compulsion to bring back to life the "flower tree" of their religious heritage. Black Elk said: "I must say now that the tree has never bloomed ... I have fallen away & have done nothing ...It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives. Nourish it then, that it may leaf & bloom & fill with singing birds ... Hear me that they may once more go back into the sacred hoop & find the good red road, the shielding tree." Aspects of his religion were recorded in Black Elk Speaks (John G. Nei- hardt, 1932) and The Sacred Pipe (John Epes Brown, 1953).
[ I: Circles, Crosses, Nature's Temple]—One of the symbols that expresses most completely the Plains Indian concept of the relationship between man and nature is a cross inscribed within a circle. Its form is found in the tipi, the Sun Dance & purification lodges, & many ritual movements.
Black Elk said: "That is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round ... All our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation ... The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, [and the 4 directions] nourished it. East gave peace and light, south gave warmth, west gave rain, north with its cold and wind gave strength and endurance ... Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle ... The life of a man is a circle from childhood to child- hood... Our tepees were like the nests of birds, set in a circle, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children."
Without the awareness that he bears within himself a sacred cen- ter a man is in fact less than a man. Indians have many rites to recall the virtual reality of this center. The concept of man as vertical axis explains the sacredness of the number 7. In adding vertical dimensions of sky & earth to the 4 horizontal ones, we have 6 dimensions, with the 7th being the center where all the directions meet. 3 horizontal circles, representing: sky, man, & earth; man's body, soul, & spirit; the gross, subtle, & pure. For the Indian the world of nature itself was his temple, & within this sanctuary he showed great respect to every form, function, & power. Each form in the world around him bears such a host of precise values & meanings that taken all together they constitute his "doctrine."
[II: "Gospel" Animals; Nature's Guardians]—[It took me a while to realize that when Black Elk spoke] in terms involving animals & natural phenomenon that he was explaining his religion. The Indian has been described as pantheistic, idolatrous, or savage. [The latter 2 deserve no reply]. The charge of pantheism needs clarification. Animals were created before man in their creation myths. In them the Indian sees actual reflection of the Great Spirit's qualities. [Animals] served the same function as revealed scriptures in other religions. They are intermediators or links between man & God. Religious devotions may be directed to the Deity through animals.
Black Elk received spiritual power from visions involving eagle, bison, Thunder beings, and horses; Crazy Horse received power from the rock & a vision of the shadow. Black Elk said: "We should know that He is within all things ... we should understand that He is also above all things & people." Ate is Father/Being in creation; Tunkashila is Essence beyond creation. "God" & "Godhead" serve the same distinctions in Christianity. Man as axis is put 1st as in the center of all things, bearing the Universe within himself. The Indian believes that such knowledge can't be realized unless there be perfect humility, unless man humbles himself before all of creation. Only in being nothing may man become everything. His center or Life, is the same center or Life of all that is.
Because of true man's totality & centrality he has the most divine function of guardianship over the world of nature. If this role is ignored or misused he is in danger of [being revealed as the conquered, not the conqueror]. Nothing is more tragic than the statements of Indians watching others ignore the role of guardianship. An old Omaha said: "Now the face of all the land is changed and sad. The living creatures are gone. I see the land desolate and I suffer unspeakable sadness ... I feel as though I should suffocate from ... this awful feeling of loneliness." Seeing the importance of nature to Indians, we realize we are involved witnesses to a great tragedy.
[Supernatural Rites & Symbols/ Sweat Lodge]—The Plain Indians' remarkable spiritual development derives from nature & through rigorous use of complex rites & symbols of supernatural origin. From them the Indian comes to know, understand & seek values reflected in nature's great mirror. Men such as Black Elk, Little Warrior, Standing Bear, Ohi- yesa received sacred power on religious, mountain-top retreats (hanble- cheyapi), alone for 4 days or more without food or water, & always praying that the Great Spirit might send a messenger with holy power &/or a message, that he made central to his life; perhaps it gave him a new name. This sacred retreat is still practiced. Without a vision one forgets the purpose for which one was given the gift of life.
[Supernatural Rites & Symbols/ Sweat Lodge]—The Plain Indians' remarkable spiritual development derives from nature & through rigorous use of complex rites & symbols of supernatural origin. From them the Indian comes to know, understand & seek values reflected in nature's great mirror. Men such as Black Elk, Little Warrior, Standing Bear, Ohi- yesa received sacred power on religious, mountain-top retreats (hanble- cheyapi), alone for 4 days or more without food or water, & always praying that the Great Spirit might send a messenger with holy power &/or a message, that he made central to his life; perhaps it gave him a new name. This sacred retreat is still practiced. Without a vision one forgets the purpose for which one was given the gift of life.
In the rites of the annual spring "Sun Dance" (Wiwanyag Wachipi), the entire tribe gathered to insure renewal of the individual, the tribe, world, and Universe. During the complete 3 or 4 day ceremony, one will be im- pressed & deeply moved by the other-worldly beauty of the sacred songs, by the powerful rhythm of great drum which is struck simultaneously by many men. Let us hope that the young Indian will realize that such "pat- terns of renewal" are more important today than they were, & that one won't give them up for the sake of "progress."
"Sweat Lodge" rites are carried out in preparation for all the other major rites. They are rites of renewal, or spiritual rebirth, in which all of the 4 elements—earth, air, fire, and water contribute to the physical and psychical purification of man. A small dome-shaped lodge is 1st made of bent willow saplings over which there are placed buffalo hides which make the little house tight and dark inside; aromatic sage is strewn on the floor. Each part of the sweat lodge has its symbolic value, as does the shape and the ritual. Black Elk says: "When we use water [here] we should think of Wakan-tanka who is always flowing and giving His power and life to everything.
In the real world of Wakan-tanka there is nothing but the spirits of all things; and this true life we may know here on earth if we purify our bodies and minds thus, coming closer to Wakan-tanka who is all-purity"; rocks re- presents earth. The Indian can be passive to the form, and is thus able to absorb, and become one with, its reflected power. During the 4 periods of sweating within the lodge, prayers are recited, sacred songs are sung and a pipe is ceremoniously smoked 4 times by the circle of men. [After that], the door is opened so that "the light enters into the darkness." In going forth from darkness [and our impurities] into the light, there is represented man's liberation from ignorance, from his ego, and from the cosmos.
In the real world of Wakan-tanka there is nothing but the spirits of all things; and this true life we may know here on earth if we purify our bodies and minds thus, coming closer to Wakan-tanka who is all-purity"; rocks re- presents earth. The Indian can be passive to the form, and is thus able to absorb, and become one with, its reflected power. During the 4 periods of sweating within the lodge, prayers are recited, sacred songs are sung and a pipe is ceremoniously smoked 4 times by the circle of men. [After that], the door is opened so that "the light enters into the darkness." In going forth from darkness [and our impurities] into the light, there is represented man's liberation from ignorance, from his ego, and from the cosmos.
[Sacred Pipe/ Spiritual Progress]—The sacred pipe is central to all Plains Indians ceremonies, a portable altar, and a means of grace. If one could understand all the possible meanings and values to be found in the pipe and its accompanying ritual, then one could understand Plains Indian religion in its full depth. For the [Lakota], a miraculous "Buffalo Cow Woman" brought the pipe to the people, and told them how to use it. Pipes are made of black or red stone, an ash stem, & ribbon decorations. These pipes re- present man in his totality, or the universe. The bowl is the heart or sacred center, each part of the pipe is identified with some part of man.
The myriad forms of creation are represented in the tobacco. when the fire of the Great Spirit is added a divine sacrifice is enacted. The man who smokes, with his own breath assists in the sacrifice of his own self, or ego. The smoke that rises is "visible prayer," at the sight and fragrance of which the entire creation rejoices. The rite of smoking for the Indian is something very near to the Holy Communion for Christians. In smoking the pipe together each man is aided in remembering his own center, which is understood to be the same center of every man, and of the universe itself; [all of creation comes together in a central bond].
Each of the 3 stages of spiritual progress are each in turn realized, then integrated within the next stage. [The 3 are sometimes referred to as Purification, Perfection, and Union. After being purified, man must cease to be a part, an imperfect fragment; he must realize all that he is and expand to include the universe within. Union is [forsaking] the error that his real self is nothing more than his own body or mind. It is evident that the Plains Indian possesses this 3-fold pattern of realization.
The myriad forms of creation are represented in the tobacco. when the fire of the Great Spirit is added a divine sacrifice is enacted. The man who smokes, with his own breath assists in the sacrifice of his own self, or ego. The smoke that rises is "visible prayer," at the sight and fragrance of which the entire creation rejoices. The rite of smoking for the Indian is something very near to the Holy Communion for Christians. In smoking the pipe together each man is aided in remembering his own center, which is understood to be the same center of every man, and of the universe itself; [all of creation comes together in a central bond].
Each of the 3 stages of spiritual progress are each in turn realized, then integrated within the next stage. [The 3 are sometimes referred to as Purification, Perfection, and Union. After being purified, man must cease to be a part, an imperfect fragment; he must realize all that he is and expand to include the universe within. Union is [forsaking] the error that his real self is nothing more than his own body or mind. It is evident that the Plains Indian possesses this 3-fold pattern of realization.
Our understanding of the Indians nature relationship, his truths and values, may enrich us, and we can recognize the American Indian heritage as belonging with the great spiritual traditions of humankind. If the Indian can be more aware of this valuable heritage, He may regain much of what has been lost, and will be able to face the world with the pride and dignity that should rightfully be his.
Boulding; 1964)
The great search of humans today is for a human
identity which will permit one to live in peace with all one’s fellows. Today
the national identity dominates all the others & it is strong even in the
Society of Friends. The [Society of Friends needs to] translate its religious &
ethical experience into an understanding of how the kind of love which we
treasure & covet can be produced, defended, and extended. I believe the next major task of the Society
of Friends is to mobilize the intellectual potential and to catch a vision of
the great intellectual [and spiritual]
task to which it is called. It is only
as knowledge is “sanctified” by love [and spirit] that it works without question for human good. Only as we are
gathered without either pride or envy, can knowledge be made perfect in
love.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR—Kenneth E. Boulding was born in England New College Oxford University of Chicago League of Nations . He is a
member of the Committee on Re- search for Peace of the Institute for
International Order, & full time Direc- tor of the Center for Research in
Conflict Resolution of the University of Michigan
The James Backhouse Lecture—This is the 1st in a new series of lectures
instituted by Australia YM, delivered in Melbourne January 5, 1964 . James Backhouse was an English Friend who visited Australia
[Introduction]—Equilibrium, entropy, & evolution [are the concepts that largely describe the universe].
[Equilibrium is the ability to maintain a balanced state]. All equilibrium states are temporary;
otherwise there would be no history. In
making history there's a “running down” process or increa sing entropy, & a
“building up” process or evolution. In
its loose sense entro py may be equated with a measure of chaos or probability.
Whenever anything happens it is because the
system had a potential for change but when something happens part of this
potential is used up. In an
organization’s history there is social potential which is gradually used up and
unless it can be renewed the organization matures, ages and dies. Within a closed system the law of increasing
entropy reigns supreme. The more complex a system is, the more likely it is to
run down. The law of increasing entropy
[reduces the universe] to a state of perfect equilibrium where nothing more can
happen, forever.
The Process of Evolution—Evolution is a process at work in the universe which is
creative rather than destructive. It
operates as far as we know through very simple machinery. Most of evolution’s
random changes produce states that will not survive. Sometimes however these changes will be large
enough to move the system to a new position of equilibrium. The process by which systems change is called
mutation. The process by which some survive and some do
not is called selection. The evolutionary process itself mutates.
Life itself in its genetic structure had an
apparatus for recreating po- tential in each generation and for enormously
increasing the rate of possi- ble mutation.
The advent of humans a mere half million years ago, repre- sents a break
& a change of gear in the evolutionary process at least equi- valent to the
invention of life itself. We now seem
about at the point at which humans can begin to intervene actively in the
process of biological evolution. What is
happening today is that civilization is passing away and a new state of human
arising which I call “post-civilized,” or “developed.”
The Quaker Mutation—What is the
role of the Society of Friends in this evolutionary process stretching from
creation to doomsday? The Society of
Friends can be seen as a mutation from the Christian phy- lum. Often it seems to
be some obscure bud off the main line of evolution which eventually turns out
to contain the greatest evolutionary potential. Each of the great religions can
be seen as a phylum stretching through time from its origins, growing or
declining & branching with some branches possessing more evolutionary
potential than others. The Quaker
mutation is purely a mutant from the Christian phylum.
Toward Perfection & Experience—The Quaker mutation included a surprisingly large
change from its Puritan, Protestant, Christian roots; this makes it of unusual
historical interest. The Quakers were perfectionists. They believed that life without sin could be
lived on earth. The inward light for
George Fox was no pale intellectual illumination, but a consuming holy fire
which not only revealed sin but brought you out of it. Their refusal to practice certain trivial and
widely accepted customs [got them into a lot of trouble].
A 2nd very important strand in the Quaker mutation
might be called “experimentalism” (i.e. experience is the only true source of
religion and perfection). Vitality and
freshness flowed into the stream of religious culture from this Quaker
insistence on experimental religion. I
incline to the view that Rufus Jones was mistaken in trying to identify the
stream of European mysticism as the source of Quaker mutation. Those who argue that its source came out of
English Puritanism are much closer to the truth. Any religion which lays stress on experience
will find mysticism congenial. The object of Quaker meditation is not so much
to achieve union with the divine as to receive practical instruction from the
divine.
Creating a Social Body—Out of motivational mutations comes: Meeting for
Worship; Meeting for Business; the Quaker’s social organiza- tion. Fox seized on
these Seekers’ meeting for worship as an ideal ex- pression [of experimentalism],
& these Seekers found in George Fox’s doctrine justification for their
practices. The Seekers were the “social egg,” & Fox was the fertilizing
sperm. George Fox’s genius created the Mee- ting for Business & the
organization of the new society into monthly, quar- terly, & yearly meetings.
This gave the society a “body, ”capable of main- taining itself and of mobilizing
individual resources into a common purpose.
By 1700 the original expansion had largely settled down into a self-repro- ducing religious subculture.
Subsequent mutations in some parts of the Society of
Friends have tended to move the pattern back towards its original sources, with
singing, a paid minister and a regular sermon. Even in meetings which retain
the unprogrammed meeting for worship there have been many mutations from the
original pattern, almost all in the direction of the “world” surrounding the
meeting. Many of the traditional interests of the society in social reform have
largely been taken over by others. I believe the evolutionary potential of the
Quaker mutation is far from exhaust-ted, has hardly begun to show its full effects,
& has a vital role to play in the future development of humankind.
Factors of Survival—A mutation can often survive and reproduce itself not
because it is in itself particularly favorable but because it happens to be associated
with other mutations which are favorable. A mutation which is intrinsically
favorable and which has a high evolutionary potential may have low survival
value because it is associated with other less favorable mutation, or because
the environment for which it is suited is yet to come.
The period of the Quaker mutation marks the beginning
of enormous expansion of the English-speaking world’s influence. Science &
technology would be unlikely to develop outside of a society in which
perfectionism & experimentalism were present. It isn’t only because of
Quakerism that there are Quakers in Australia
I think Quakerism is an example of a mutation which
was in a sense premature and before its time.
The religious experience and the resulting ethical conclusions and
culture characteristic of the Quaker mutation have more relevance in the world
to which we seem to be moving than in the world which we are leaving behind.
Religion in the Post-Civilized World—Has the
larger mutation involved in science & technology rendered any religious
interpre- tation of the world unlikely to survive into the future
post-civilization? The justification for religion as a set of practices
lies in the experience itself. It can be
magic and superstition or the loftiest experience attainable by the human
organism. It is precisely in religious
experience that one finds the evolutionary potential that looks forward to the
ultimate future of man. Pursuing good
for its own sake is what religion at its highest has al- ways meant by the search
for God.
Some want to disassociate Quakerism from its Christian
origins. I think this deprives Quakerism
of too much of its content to make it viable.
I suspect that Quakerism will have to remain Christian, constantly
holding up the standard of perfection before it and forcing it constantly to
consider what are the bare essential characteristics of the Christian phylum
which give it further evolutionary potential.
Building Human Identity—The Society of Friends is deeply com- mitted to love as
a major ethical principle & on building the human iden- tity around universal
love which knows no barriers of race, class, country or creed. The threat of violence is still an important
element in the modern world. Civilized
society works for money and goods and could not operate without this motivation
and without the corresponding institutions.
The ethic of love is the only one on which the world society which technology
has made necessary can be built.
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137. Revelation and Experience (by Carol R. Murphy; 1964)
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137. Revelation and Experience (by Carol R. Murphy; 1964)
[About
the Author]—Carol
Murphy has written 6
pamphlets for
Pendle Hill, including this one; they serve to document her own
spiritual progress. Beginning
in 1948, she
explored
religious
belief’s
philosophical
basis
in
The
Faith of an Ex-Agnostic (#46).
The
Ministry of Counseling
(#67)
&
Religion
&
Mental Illness (#82)
testified
to
the
religious
nature
of
love's
power
at
work
in
healing
minds.
Morality
and
religious
living
was
explored
in
The
Examined Life (#85).
Reading
Paul
Tillich
led
to
A
Deeper Faith (#99).
[Mysticism]—George Fox sought for one who could “speak to his
condition.” For many of us today old
symbols have lost their vitality, [and we have need of] religion relevant to this condition. The older theology, which began so
confidently in heaven rather than on earth, no longer carries conviction. If one turns to experience for a religious
answer, he may ask: What experience should I choose?
How should I interpret it? And
since religious assertions cannot be tested in the laboratory, do they have any meaning at all? Another way of relating religion to
experience is a commitment to what is seen as revelatory of the meaning of all
experience.
The glowing account of mystical experience seems to
point a way to another and better condition.
Religious mystics seem united through the accounts of a beautiful
Reality, but mystical consciousness is not attainable by everybody, and there
are spiritual dangers to the seeking of experience for its own sake; it is
better to take experience as it comes.
The poet and artist who deal in words and concrete images, must find
another path than the purely mystical. [God
seems most often to be absent, so] one must live as though seeing that which is invisible. It is the very ambiguity of the human
condition that demands the answer of faith.
Religion and theology must begin with this ambiguity and give it
meaning.
[Scientific
Empiricism]—There are many
philosophers today who assert that [many beliefs] must retreat into the
untestable. Modern empirical philosophy
pronounces anathema upon every theory that pretends to wrig- gle out of adverse
facts [e.g. Phlogistonists revising their theory so that Phlogiston had negative weight in the face of
experiments disproving its existence].
By the same token, scientists outlaw religion, saying: “Positing the existence of God doesn’t make
any practical difference to you or me.”
It must be asked whether science is so rigorously empirical
as is claimed. The great postulates of
science are themselves non-empirical foundations, [that are not provable]. The
body of scientific theory acts as a filter to further experience [by excluding
anything thought to be impossible]. The
body of science is built on a series of commitments made by scientists, who
create, & not merely discover, the web of scientific explanation. Some- thing
like a conversion [to a newly rebuilt structure] is required of the ortho- dox
scientist before the new can be accepted.
The
Religious Commitment—Science then
works through a per- ceptual framework which is brought to experience, not merely
found there. In the case of religion,
the sense of the holy can be found in any experience; but no one kind of
experience is necessarily religious, even the mystical. It is
important that religious significance not confined so nar- rowly to one type of
experience that it cannot comprehend other types. The religious system must be able to
comprehend all facts, no matter how awkward and doubt-inspiring.
[The difference between the allegorist and the imagist
is that] the allegorist thinks first of the general principle, then finds a
concrete illustration of it, while the imagist begins with a concrete symbol
in which he discovers the larger meaning.
The Biblical assertion that man is made in the image of God is the
poetical statement of an imagist vision.
The religious vision must be disciplined by the tension between the
Affirmative [seeing God in images] and the Negative [seeing God as greater than
finite things]. It might be said that
piety reminds us that everything is sacred, and humor reminds us that nothing
is sacred. Christian theology, truly seen,
is the highest poetry, full of illuminating images and brilliant paradoxes.
The Language
of Analogy—All thinking is based on
the use of ana- logy, which is the use of likeness or partial identity to
explore reality. Crea- tive metaphor is a
way of making the familiar seem strange, jolting the mind out of its customary
ruts into new ways of grasping a given problem. From the Negative point of
view, our analogies are based on finite qua- lities which have no counterpart in
God, [leaving God distant from us].
The Affirmative way can correct this by
conceiving the analogies to run in the other direction—from God to man, [bring
God closer]. The Bible is a record of humankind’s experience of the holy that
boldly begins with God. Revelation is the experience of receiving and
recognizing a symbo- lic event, [like the Jewish people did in the Bible]. It is only when read as great poetry and not
as a literal recital of facts, that the Biblical vision comes through to grasp
us.
The Analogy
of Personality—At one point the
vision of man as the image of God is turned into an allegory applied to man’s
Maker. The reli- gious thinker who
pictures the Ultimate as responsive, active and aware as persons are, can
believe that his model will continue to have a use in new ranges of his
experience. This concept is so subtle
and advanced that we have hardly devised a language adequate for its
expression.
An impersonal religion tends to become an aesthetic
plaything; a personal religion demands the whole self's dedication to a
personal, responsible relationship.
Persons are developed in response to each other, that the self becomes
an “I” only when addressed as “Thou” in dia- logue. In a true, religious community, there is the
experience of the one- ness and of the many, each enriching the other. Once another person enters the room the ethical question arises: How shall I treat them? Are they as important to me as I am to
myself?
To regard anything honestly as a thou means to value it intensely for its own sake, & to accept
an interchange of roles with it. Making
the other real involves besides a recognition of otherness, a kind of presence
in the other. Where love is present, duty is swallowed up in joy; where love is
im- perfect, a sense of justice supplies a will to extend to the other the same
respect one feels is due to one’s self.
The prevailing Oriental ethic is one of
tradition pertaining to caste or family systems; Taoism or Zen Buddhism is
needed as non-ethical supple- ments.
[While this ethic is used in small doses] as a stimulant to Western
seekers, it is not wise to use a full dosage of their medicine. The world of individuality is the world of time and history; [the mystic sees the eternal now, the individual sees
past, present and future responsibility].
Perso- nality extends along the historical dimension, and is imperceptible
on the dimension of the eternal now.
Trust—The first and major problem that revelation must
overcome is the problem of trust. Nothing a person does necessarily proves him trust- worthy. Everything seems sinister
to one who resolves to mistrust. Reli-
gions have been built on our fear of the Ultimate and hope of
propitiating it. Even some Christian
churches institutionalize fear, not remove it, where they teach a “Christian
religion and not the Christian faith.
Revelation must also surmount the problem of
evil. It is precisely the fact that we
are ambivalent towards reality that makes the ambiguity of reality a
problem. We must be reconciled to God by
God; God is not angry, we are. God becoming
one with Job is the most profound and only ade- quate answer to the problem of
evil. It is hard to know who has done more damage to the Christian faith—the skeptic who queries how God can suf- fer, or the apologist who tries to answer this query in the terms in which it was raised.
How does God
act in this ambiguous world? It is in terms of a personal relationship—that of
healer to the sick. As the healing power
of nature works in the body, so the Holy Spirit is at work in man, and the
beloved community is at work in the world.
The Healer sheds the glory of God upon every healing encounter between 2
persons. [As one psycho- therapy patient
said], “I then began to see, though not very clearly, that your love did not
control me and I could not control it [i.e. he trusted].
Finally, and most acutely, life’s ambiguity challenges
our trust at death’s gates. The anxiety aroused by this threat to our meaning
persists behind the purely instinctual panic in the face of death we
share with animals. Resurrection does justice to our growing awareness of the
unity of the mind-body organism, and it combines respect for the worth and
reality of incarnate existence and acknowledges a transcendent, spiritual
nature. Lastly, resurrection implies a
dynamic continuity as contrasted to static preservation. There is always spring
& re-birth. We are asked to recog- nize eternal goodness in a new
transformation, & to trust that we will par- take therein.
Revelation
Incarnate—We are ambivalent men in an
ambiguous world which does not interpret itself automatically. We need an initiative from the creator of our
world to tell us what the creator means by it.
In a time when Zen Buddhism and philosophies of the “absurd” are
popular, adventurous minds can again be challenged by Christianity. Many who have grown up in Christianity have
felt a need to emancipate them- selves from the tradition. Today, the Christian revelation may regain
its fresh, even subversive power over our spirits, just as it did for George Fox. Dare we now trust this revelatory image?
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138. An Apology for Perfection (by Cecil E. Hinshaw; 1964)
About the Author—Cecil Hinshaw attended Friends University, Kan sas, Denver University, Iliff Theological School, & Harvard. Cecil Hinshaw was professor of Bible, Religion at Friends University, & William Penn College, Iowa; he was dean & later college president. He resigned in 1949 after efforts to integrate college & supporting conscientious objection. He served the American Friends Service Committee & the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Cecil Hinshaw worked with Committees of Correspondence, an intellectual forum against nuclear proliferation. The author believes the Society of Friends owes more to ethical perfectionism than to mysticism.
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138. An Apology for Perfection (by Cecil E. Hinshaw; 1964)
About the Author—Cecil Hinshaw attended Friends University, Kan sas, Denver University, Iliff Theological School, & Harvard. Cecil Hinshaw was professor of Bible, Religion at Friends University, & William Penn College, Iowa; he was dean & later college president. He resigned in 1949 after efforts to integrate college & supporting conscientious objection. He served the American Friends Service Committee & the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Cecil Hinshaw worked with Committees of Correspondence, an intellectual forum against nuclear proliferation. The author believes the Society of Friends owes more to ethical perfectionism than to mysticism.
A religious movement, doubly viewed
through lenses of a past age and the present scene, offers a truer insight into
a religious faith’s meaning than can be obtained without such perspectives.
Every religious movement is a response to [& an attempt to withstand] the
problems & questions men struggle with at a certain time in history. Conflicts
of thought that marked the differences of Quakerism, Calvinism, &
materialism are repeated today.
Seed Bed of Quakerism—Our world is so different in many ways from England
Then as now, there was a religious
vacuum, with numerous sects trying to fill that vacuum; there was and is
restlessness and disquiet, hope and longing.
[The New Calvinism wants us to understand, as the Old Cal- vinism did],
that any attempt [or any belief in the ability] to avoid sin in- volves us in the
worse sin of pride. The way to salvation
appears to be the same. This salvation,
as for the Calvinists of the 1600s, is a relationship that means acceptance of
us by God in spite of our sin.
In contrast, an Episcopal Bishop said,
“This is the ignorant's and the profane's catechism.” A similar view of hopelessness about human
nature and about our world [existed in both periods]. Enjoyment of what is at hand for the time
available is a normal & natural attitude when hopelessness about the future
& the world dominates our thoughts. It
is reasonable to conclude that the basic religious problems now are the same as
they were then.
Mysticism, Quakerism, Ethical Purity,
and Spiritual Power—For George
Fox, only the term “perfection” was adequate to describe the life [of ethical
purity] he sought and believed he achieved. The ethical purity concept may seem
to conflict with the mystical religion concept. There is a mysticism in which
union with God is the final goal of religious endeavor.
This type of mysticism
sees the ethical struggle as a means to union with God rather than as an end in
itself; [St. Theresa, Fenelon, & Guyon, fit into this mysticism]. Another
type of mysticism reverses the emphasis. Holy obedience and ethical perfection
are seen as the goal; [mysticism provides the means]. St. Francis used this emphasis. The same
person in different periods of one’s development may represent both emphases. Quaker mys- ticism has been closer to Protestant pietistic groups (Mennonites, Bre- thren,
and Moravians).
The functional type of mysticism,
centered on the struggle for ethical purity, is evident in the spiritual pilgrimage
of George Fox. [A specific event on “the 9th day of the 12th
month, 1643,” highlighted the lack of moral inte- grity in his friends, and was a
watershed in his spiritual development. He was admonished] to accept and live
with human frailties, to give up the search for perfection. This Fox could not
do, and the result was despair & hopelessness for a period of some months.
He
came to understand that temptation was normal, for Jesus had been tempted. At
the climax of his conversion experience, Fox heard the words “There is one,
even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition.” Mysticism was, for Fox, a
practical, utilitarian, divine power that supple- mented his own will in the
struggle against sin. He wrote: “They who are in Christ, the 2nd
Adam, are in perfection, and in that which . . . makes free from sin . . . thou
that deny perfection, has denied the ministers of Christ’s work.
The Content of “Truth”; The Work of the
Light Within —A ques- tion
once used in some Monthly Meetings was: Is the Truth prospering among Friends? The content of Fox’s truth was
perfection, and a holy and sinless life. He was imprisoned for a year for claiming that “Christ, my Savi- or, has
taken away my sin; & in him there is no sin.”
Such a claim of purity can easily be misunderstood as a pretension of
divinity, which was punish- able as blasphemy.
George said: “If your faith be
true, it will give you victory over sin and the devil, purify your hearts and
consciences, and bring you to please God and give you access to God again. .
. There is a time for people to see that
they have sinned, and a time for them to confess their sin, & to forsake it,
& to know the blood of Christ to cleanse from all sin . . . Of all the sects in Christendom, I found none
that could bear to be told, that any should come to Adam’s perfection before he
fell; to be clear & pure without sin as he was.”
The 1st function of the
“light within” on the soul of one who is recep- tive is to show the nature of
evil [and bring awareness of sin]. The 2nd function is the
illumination of the content of the perfect life, to know how one ought to live.
The 3rd function of “light within” is to provide the power to live
according the divine standard. A 4th function was to bring all true
see- kers together into unity on their understanding of the content of the
perfect life.
Quaker Testimonies—Standards of Purity—A consideration of Quaker testimonies shows more
evidence that Quakerism historically has been essentially an ethical
struggle. [While not obeying the command
to kill men] is a valid reason for our position, that is a modern emphasis &
is not found to any significant degree in early Quaker thought. It was the violence, the hate, the
selfishness in fighting that bothered them.
Fox was perhaps more concerned with what violence did to the one who
used it, [the spiritual loss involved, than he was about the victims]. The origin of the testimony was in the
ethical struggle for lives without conscious sins. [The reason for not honoring men with titles
and removing hats] was their conviction that the desire to honor men arose from
the selfish motive to flatter others for personal gain and to be flattered in
return.
Pitfalls for Quakers—The essential differences between Ranters & Quakers
were: Ranters carried mysticism to a
pantheistic conclusion; Ranters didn't practice the Quakers’ stern discipline.
William Penn writes: “For they
interpreted Christ’s fulfilling of the law for us, to be a discharging of us
from any obligation and duty the law required, instead of condemnation of the
law for sins past. . . that now it was no sin to do [what was sin before].
One of the reasons for the continued
vitality of Quakerism has been its ability to transcend its beginnings. The larger truths implicit in their early
stand gradually became evident to them as the years passed. One of the more important limitations of
early Quakerism is to be found in its view of human nature. There were important gaps in their knowledge,
especially where the struggle for ethical perfection involved them in strains
& stresses beyond the capacity of the human mind and spirit.
[We shouldn't] say that expression of emotions
is necessarily desi- rable, but purity is not to be attained by denying what
exists in us, [or by taking on] more stress than we can deal with
constructively. Barclay (“per- fection
proportional and answerable to man’s measure”) and Pennington (“. . . a state
of perfection does not exclude degrees.”) both emphasize that the growth in
perfection was necessary and possible as a person lived up to that measure of
light he had received.
[With this lofty goal came the danger of
pride when Quakers thought they had achieved perfection]. In fields like economics & politics,
[Quaker perfectionism] led them into mistakes.
A country is often better off with an impure but experienced and wise
leader than with a foolish saint.
Helping other countries necessarily involves extraordinarily complex
problems, often not understood by well-intentioned people who are concentrating
on the purity of their desire to help needy people with a loving spirit.
[Quaker Ideals in Human Society]—No perfection of deed is pos- sible in human society
where actions & decisions involve millions of people. The greater danger
is in refusing to recognize the real nature of man & the society in which
he lives. But the fact remains, as it does in any similar sur- vey of early
Christianity, that Quakerism in its early years accomplished moral miracles.
While other more sophisticated & worldly-wise people stood on the
sidelines, the rash daring and unquestioning idealism of the Friends built a
tradition of service to humankind still honored today. Their succes- ses far
outweighed their failures & went beyond their theories & theology.
An important & basic contribution
that Quakerism makes today is a witness to experiencing immediate knowledge of
God. The divine life opera ting in humankind is the reason for our hope that the
world, pregnant with meaning & value, can be viewed without despair. Those
who have never had such knowledge, even those who question their existence, can
still know God in human experiences. The certainty of God’s presence among Quakers
has been a quiet one without emotional assurance or visions. The more sensitive
we become, the more life becomes a testimony to God’s presence sustaining the
world of God’s creation. In our despairing & materi- alistic world, there are
oases of hope and succor to those who can under- stand & know that God
lives & works with them.
A 2nd contribution is a
restatement of Quaker faith that human nature has potential for goodness far
beyond the evidence our world produces today. [But the very real tragedies,
poverty, racism, and religious pride that we choose to see and treat honestly]
must condition and affect whatever we think about human nature. Without
denying evil that is in man, we remem- ber the evidence of man’s ability to
share. We know by faith & experience that we are God’s children and our
destiny is the beloved community. We have our choice of having this faith,
believing & living as though it were true, or of living on the assumption
that human nature is basically evil.
A Religion of Integrity—A 3rd function of Quakerism is in the
search for integrity. Not merely honesty
in our relations with other people, but honesty with ourselves and honesty with
God in all of life. Failure of reform
has as much to do with the low standards of morality among business and
government that deal with corruption as the corruption itself. [Dishonesty is now often cloaked in
respectability and acceptance]. The
roots of deceit are deep in our society, imbedded in our methods of business
and advertising. [The increasing]
“preaching up of sin,” as early Quakers would call it, is the natural
accompaniment of the growing acceptance of immorality.
The time will come when society will be
ready for the prophetic word & exemplary deed pointing to a higher standard
of integrity, when more & more people “hunger and thirst after
righteousness.” [The high esteem in which Quakerism is held] may be evidence of
this hunger & need. We may lack vision of the future & confidence in
our destiny, but nothing can take away the integrity with which we face even
apparent meaninglessness.
The fact that the people who will be drawn to us by
this testimony of integrity will be a widely varied & curiously assorted
group should neither surprise nor dismay us, for it is inevitable that any
vital new movement will evidence such [diversity] in its adherents. Words &
profession are of little importance & sometimes more of a liability than an
asset. The reality of a life that refuses to accept & sanctify known evil
is the important & essential issue.
The Needs [& Call] of Modern
Quakerism—Any significant human
endeavor requires the acceptance and practice of a discipline. It is in the practice of “holy obedience,” as
contrasted with theories, where we are in- evitably tested. Contrary to the usual assumption of the
modern person, every act and every decision has some relation to morality. And those who attempt to attain the heights
of moral achievement need to climb with other pilgrims rather than try to scale
the peaks alone. We gain enormously in
help and encouragement from a close association with those who are sha- ring with us in the most difficult search one ever attempts.
For reasons perhaps beyond our
knowledge, & divine power is most often and fully revealed to the waiting,
prepared, and expectant group. Coming
together once a week for worship is hardly a sufficient basis upon which to
build this life together and with God.
[We need to be creative in finding] ways to study together as well as
worship together. Without belie- ving that
ultimate goals will be realized in human society, we can believe that God’s
power works, in cooperation with the efforts of all, to the pro- ximate realization of specific goals [e.g. the end of segregation and inter- national warfare].
This confidence must be
related to a conviction that God calls us to specific tasks meaningful in our
time. We must believe that God works now
with us to the realization of [what is best for society]. Our times require the accomplishment of goals
beyond our human strength. God’s
cooperation with us can make them possible.
We dare to believe we are called now to divine-human cooperation in
realizing the dreams which poets and prophets have pictured.
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139. Three letters from Africa (by Edgar H. Brookes; 1965)
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139. Three letters from Africa (by Edgar H. Brookes; 1965)
[About
the Author]—Edgar H. Brookes was
born in Smethwick , England University of South Africa Zululand in Parliament. He was the black
Adams College University of Natal
140. A Joint and Visible Fellowship (by Beatrice Saxon Snell;
Foreword—There's no man in South Africa
Introduction—There are still to be found in South Africa
The Afrikaner letter speaks the bleak
truth that African participation in government is inevitable. He depicts what
might happen if they make a Trek inward. The letter to the English South
African is devoted to challenging a decision to return to England
I. To the Afrikaner—My dear
Koos, we both sincerely love South Africa
Continued & obstinate refusal to treat the Africans
as fellow-citizens will ensure this ruin.
As Christians must we not believe
that God will look after all that is worthwhile in the Afrikaner achievement,
if we truly do what we feel to be right?
My quarrel with so many outside critics [is their] self-righteous
advice given without love. They do not
seem to understand the Afrikaner’s struggle, [what it has cost, what it will
cost]. My recognition of the beauty of
Afrikaans led me a hot resentment at the attitude of my many fellow South
Africans of English descent when they talked of “kit- chen Dutch.”
I soon realized that nationalism would not give the
Africans or even the English-speaking a fair deal unless they accepted all its
tenets, but it held me for a few impressionable years. I felt then, and I still feel, the tragedy of
the War of 1899-1902, the agony of surrender.
I understood then and still understand, the miracle of revival, the
flowering of Afrikaans literature of the ashes of defeat. By ways, some good, some bad Afrika- nerdom
triumphed. South Africa
For decades South
Africans have evaded the truth. Apartheid is such an evasion; ultimately it is
a supreme irrelevancy. The very heart of our Christian faith is death &
utter failure, leading to redemption & to new & abundant life. I
understand very well why you & others have supported “Bantustans ” & apartheid. We give freedom to
the Africans in their own areas without imperiling our own national
achievement. We give them the vote in their own areas for a legislature which
has really provincial status at most, & no hope for a vote, for the
sovereign Parliament. [Likewise] the Indians & people of mixed races have
no vote for Parliament & no areas of their own.
Morally it is
wrong to deny people fundamental rights in the land of their birth merely
because they are what their birth made them. Politically it is inconceivable
that we shall be allowed to go on indefinitely denying these rights against the
opinion of Africa and the outside world. Can we delude ourselves any longer with the argument that the
Africans are sub-human or not entitled to elementary rights?
[Politically], the
choice you have is between a country in which Afri- cans have equal rights or a
society in which African Nationalists have pre- dominant rights. The longer we persist
in refusing rights to the Africans, the more likely we are, when the inevitable
change comes, to be ruled by mili- tant African nationalists. I do not want to
see all [white African] things “gone with the wind.” How much we may receive,
and how many unexpected beauties may be discovered as we come in honesty and
faith to do our best with the facts as they are. Are you
not willing to make a try of it in your own country, however altered the
circumstances? If you can't dominate South Africa
There is a way out. It is to put your hand into God’s hand &
go into the dark with God. The truth must be faced, the facts of the situation
accep- ted, i.e. the inevitability of equal rights for Africans & non-whites.
In some ways I am more troubled about the white child than about the
black child. Our children must grow up terribly restricted, because freedom is so dangerous for the regime which will increasingly have to become a police
state to maintain itself; [facing the world outside of South Africa
Many think in terms of a little White African State Africa . The more I think of it, the more I am convinced
that we need to share our country, not balkanize it. [In an abundant country, people suffer from mal- nutrition, low wages and highly restrictive and unfair labor
practices]. But the biggest thing is the
insult to personality, the refusal to recognize a man as a man because he is
black.
You said that our critics overseas did
not understand us or our con- ditions, the high, heartbreaking cost of deciding
to move to equal rights. They do understand the principle that a man is a man
& can't be used as a mere means to the end of another man’s conscience.
Many Afrikaners are ill at ease or dissatisfied with the policies of our
government. Whatever your final judgment may be, do not stop ⅔ of the way
along, ending with yet an- other evasion, an improved version of apartheid.
Having decided, speak out boldly like a man and stand by what you yourself
honestly believe to be right. Such an
Afrikaner fears imprisonment, ostracism, hatred, and accusations of being a
traitor to one’s people. The African
intellectual who pleads for moderate courses & friendliness to the white is
subject to similar intimidation, or even worse.
[If we are to go down for this principle, let us go down as servants of
truth and love].
One of the worst aspects of our national policy during
recent years has been the increasing difficulty of meeting naturally people of
another color. [When they meet whites],
Africans take the chance of saying actu- ally more than all that they feel. Whites either take fright or try to show how
liberal they are. Real friendship forgets the race barrier instead of
be- ing obsessed by it. One’s heart is
happy where Europe , Asia , and Africa meet. God’s call is never to set us back or to make our
lives poorer or thin- ner. It is always a
call to greater riches, to more abundant life.
To believe this with all your heart is faith.
II. To the
English-speaking South African—I
still feel angry and almost baffled at the blind complacency of my fellow South
Africans of English speech. We cut a
most unheroic figure between the Africans and the Afrikaners, on the whole
contented to be a more or less grumbling ap- pendage to Afrikanerdom. [After] all our pioneer fathers had done for
our country, how comes it that their children are content with so inglorious a
role today.
We followed Botha and Smuts and became one
people. Botha died before the failure of
his policy became clear. Smuts lived to
see his best ideals shattered in his own country by his own people. A
giant in intellect, a world figure who served the British Commonwealth and the League of Na- tions , a
man whose mind was liberal and nobly liberal in all world issues; he signed
both the League of Nations and the UN charters.
Nonetheless he faltered and failed before the deepest issue of our
country’s life—the issue of color.
We English-speaking South Africans are too apt to feel
that we are not responsible for the color-bar and for apartheid. We are a part of it all, supporters of the
Nationalist color policies. Yet weak as we have been, and unheroic though our
position is, we are still of great potential value to South Africa South Africa
The very cream of our young manhood has been skimmed
off 3 times in half a century: WWI,
WWII, and now in this political emigration.
There is strength, wisdom & love among those who are left. It hurts to find ourselves expendable. England
Would to God that we, realizing we have passed our
point of no return, would not waste ourselves in unavailing sorrow for the
“good old days,” but would go forward, the only direction in which courage and
vir- tue can function. Anything must be
done rather than moaning & groa ning.
Complete despair is destructive of all action. There has always been an ineffective white man’s
boundary. Many people view the sane, common sense action of living with and working with human beings of race different from themselves as impossible idealism.
In English-medium Universities, the persistent barring
of challenging books and the systematic slanting of new has had its
effect. And what of your Church schools? How can a school be so untrue to the
ideals of the Church which founded it? We
have kept our fees high, and the result is that we have too many sons of rich
fathers; richness breeds cowardice. Surely there is a place in South Africa
Under the present set-up we have a vote indeed, but what value is our vote, seeing that
scales are so weighted that the friends of freedom must always remain in the
minority? Don't interpret this as
meaning that we must take sides for the African against the Afrikaner. The threefold obligation of love still rests
upon us. We must hold fast to all 3
loyalties, to both the other 2 as well as our own. This way of freedom & love is the only way
that leads to abundant life. Each of us
in South has our own call & our own responsibility, but our section of the
South African people must uphold this immense truth of freedom.
III. To the African—In most parts of Africa, Africans are lifting up
their heads as free men, with none to say them nay. This is God’s day. Who else has brought it about? In this great day I can understand, my dear
Jabula, impatience with the South African white. In your own and your only country, you are
being denied the freedom which your fellow Africans are enjoying elsewhere.
James Baldwin’s point in The Fire Next Time is that the black man
cannot integrate with the white on the basis of receiving only. He has something to give, and this must be
received with reverence. [When] the
“liberal” white man comes to give only, it is inevitably thought of as
patroni- zing, and despite all his enthusiasm and genuine self-sacrifice is still
justly resented, to his great perplexity.
You are what you are. What you are is an
African influenced by wes- tern knowledge & experience. The tremendous
[European] impact on the life of Africa brought harm & suffering. It greatly increased
the evil of slavery. It also brought you
new truths of science, easier material living, better agricul- ture; it brought
you Christian faith [through missionaries]. They were some- times selfish men &
sometimes mistaken men.
Many of them loved you & your people with a genuine
love, respect & liking which can only have come from God. They preserved
many of your oral traditions & your oral masterpieces of verse. If you
repudiate the western culture & Christian faith which are part of you, apartheid wins. Is the only way out that of force? Force
in South
Africa
I cannot decide these issues for
you. All that I can do as your old
teacher is to suggest certain lines of thought that may help you. Is
natio- nalism only wrong when it is Afrikaner nationalism? Nationalism that reacts aggressively to
others, that separates where there [ought to be] unity, that protects what is
no longer in need of protection, that is bitter in the moment of victory is
evil, whether African or Afrikaner.
I think that Africans are exploiting
Communists [to influence the Ame- ricans]. Everyone who is striving for
liberation is in danger of being influ- enced by Communist propaganda. We Christians have a call to do our ut- most
for a just society and no society with a color-bar is or can ever begin to be a
just society. One’s obsession with
politics is really a disloyalty, since the life of an emergent nation, if it is
to be a permanently victorious life, must include many things which completely
transcend the State & poli- tics generally.
One chooses for one’s self and one’s people a meager existence, an arid
home of rock and sand, who subjects family, Church, university to political
intrigue, to the preaching of hatred, to the lust for power.
What
will you do with the white man, your enemy, your fellow- citizen, your fellow
man? Can you hold out no better hope for him than to be allowed to live quietly
without any real political power? One African minister said to me after an orgy of
arson, rape and murder had brought substantial material gain for the
Africans: “Dutch Reformed mini- sters
preach nationalism from their pulpits, and see where their people have got to. Why shouldn’t we preach nationalism from
ours?” I quoted from Jesus’ 3rd temptation: “All these things will I
give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me … Thou shalt worship the Lord
the God and God only shalt thou serve.”
The African’s form of intimidation is
being called a “sell out,” a “good boy,” or an “Uncle Tom.” In the end the most extreme men, white or
black seem to triumph, & they have all the political prizes to offer. We cannot be happy shouting slogans with
which we disagree & following ways which we despise. We must be true to
ourselves. I feel that there is a very
consi- derable difference between some of the African States which take an in- terest in our affairs and ourselves.
To key the liberation movement to Pan- Africanism is to introduce an
element of vain hatred, doomed to frustra- tion because even in the most
favorable circumstances it can never wholly succeed.
I cannot bargain with you, for I have
nothing to offer except the al- most pathetic good-will of a small minority. I only ask you to be truly your- self. Acculturation isn't necessarily a bad
thing. You are more than a wes- ternized
man: you are a MAN—IN Christ. I long
passionately for the eman- cipation of your group & of the Indians and people
of mixed races. I long for the best for
them and for us all. My sorrow and love
for my country is constantly with me, and also my joy in being called to serve
God in such a difficult situation at such a time of grace. My love for you and
for Africa [is] very great.
God be with you.
http://www.pendlehill.org/product-category/pamphlets
1965)
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Foreword by Henry J. Cadbury/A Note from
the Author—My 1st personal
attraction to her writing was her skill in finding unusual &
appro- priate quotations. These little essays treat of worship. [While] the Quaker
manner of worship is in some ways distinctive, it is as likely as others to
become habitual, formal, self-centered, or without meaning. [It applies to any
group’s worship] that we enrich our worship by a more conscious sense of having
fellow worshipers to give it collective breadth & reality.
The following chapters are reprinted
from articles which appeared in the London
Worship is remembering & forgetting …
Remembering the Lord, hum ble & clothed in flesh,/ Walking the dusty roads
of Palestine,/ His glance judgment, his words life, his touch healing,/ His
feet shod with mercy…/ Re- membering thus our God we forget:
fear…grief…sin…weariness…hatred… Worship is both remembering & forgetting.
“Not long after I had sat down, a heavenly & watery cloud overshado wing my mind brake into a sweet shower of celestial rain; [most of us] were broken together, dissolved & comforted in the same divine & holy presence & influence of the true, holy, heavenly Lord … The meeting being ended, the Peace of God … remained as a holy canopy over my mind in a silence out of the reach of words; where no idea but the Word himself can be conceived.” Thomas Story
A Joint and Visible Fellowship—One
of the most remarkable things about the Society of Friends is the balance it always maintains between indi vidual & community. I am convinced that
to be a complete Christian is to learn to live both in isolation &
community. The group-minded must over- come one’s fear of solitude. [Those who
commune] in isolation don’t always realize that the Bread of Heaven must be
broken & passed on. Offering with & to my fellow human beings lest I
live only a half-life of worship is the mainspring of attending Meeting.
Robert Barclay said: “To meet together we think
necessary for God’s people. So long as we are clothed with the outward Tabernacle,
there is a necessity to the entertaining of a joint & visible fellowship, &
bearing of an outward Testimony for God … as Iron sharpeneth Iron, the seeing
of the faces one of another, when both are inward gathered, giveth occasion for
Life secretly to rise & pass from Vessel to Vessel.”
Those at meeting who are dry & empty
or in great need have weak- ness itself to lay before God in trust and love. Your very perseverance in group
worship in the face of flatness & dislike may be an offering of more value
than easy acceptance & enjoyment. [In a totally silent meeting it is highly
probable that at least one of the worshipers came to the meeting in spite of
not feeling particularly eager to come, helping by his faithfulness the faith
of the rest.
Group worship differs from private devotion as orchestra music
differs from solo music; it differs in kind. Ruth Fawell said: “We are all part
of the great family of God, & we can’t fully be our selves without the help
of other people… As the Meeting goes on, we may all be lifted together above
our ordinary lives into a wonderful sense of unity & peace… ‘It is not
scattered embers, but piled-up logs that send great leaping flames to heaven.”
“God
Be Our Speed in Our Beginning”—These
words have been engraved on an old bell in the little church of Lockinge Berkshire . A “few snatched words” are snatched in Meeting-House
lobbies as well as in church porches; all too often they snatch our thoughts
from the One to whom we come to make our offering of worship. [Take care of
your list of trivial dis- tracting tasks the night before & don’t let your
morning routine distract you either].
Prepare for these things as you would if
you were going to meet your dearest friend; that is exactly what you’re going
to do. George Fox wrote: “Friends, be watchful & careful in meetings ye
come into. When a man is come newly out of the world he cometh out of the dirt…
When he cometh into a silent meeting … he must come & feel his own spirit
how it is. The others are still & cool, & he may rather do them hurt if
he get them out of the cool state into the heating state.” If we look around
with angry curiosity, we aren’t helping either the latecomer’s fault or
misfortune.
Robert Barclay wrote: “Sometimes when
one hath come in, that hath been unwatchful and wandering in his mind [into]
outward business, and not inwardly gathered with the rest, [may] retire himself
inwardly, and this power being raised in the whole meeting, will suddenly lay
hold upon his spirit and wonderfully help to raise up the good in him, melting
and warming his heart.” [What if an effort is made to feel not an
interruption, but that another of our brothers and sisters has arrived to share
our worship of God]? [For] in the days of horse travel and
unmade roads the Meeting often took far longer to assemble in body, but was
more gathered in spirit.
[Thomas Story
tells of coming in late]: “Not long after
I had sat down, a heavenly & watery cloud overshadowing my mind brake into
a sweet sho- wer of celestial rain; [most of us] were broken together, dissolved &
comfor- ted in the same divine & holy presence & influence of the true,
holy, hea- venly Lord … The meeting being ended, the Peace of God … remained as a
holy canopy over my mind in a silence out of the reach of words; where no idea
but the Word himself can be conceived.” [Every meeting should end this way,
proceed this way & begin with the words]: “God be our speed in our
beginning.”
Centering
Down—[Too often] moments of
centering, that hush in which we attune ourselves to hear God’s voice, pass in
greedy waiting for an expected something to happen. To all those who experience
difficulty [in the silence], I would say: “Begin at the beginning.” 1st,
relax with the behind away from the
extreme back of the seat, & the middle
of the back supported by it. Let your chair hold you. If you feel sleepy,
change your posture.
Now, begin to fill your mind with
thoughts of God. Remember: God is
the source of all goodness. Recollect all that you have known of goodness,
truth and beauty in your life, especially the goodness of people. Praise God
for it if you can, but do not force a feeling of thankfulness. Make an act of loyalty instead. Resolve that you will keep on trying to be for this goodness and will not let it
down. If you persevere in this method,
you will find that you have unconsciously settled down into “waiting in the
Spirit.”
Alexander Parker wrote: “The 1st that enters into meeting
… turn in thy mind to the light and wait upon God singly, as if none were
present but the Lord. Let the next that
comes in, let them in simplicity of heart sit down and turn in the same
light. To all the rest, in fear of the
Lord sit down in pure stillness and silence of all flesh and wait in the light…
Say in your- selves, “it is good to be here.”
I would [also] let my eyes rest & my
mind gently dwell on each com- panion, thanking God for the good I know of each
one. [So far as “emp- tying the mind” is concerned], it is almost impossible to
lose a thing delibe- rately. If turning to the thought of God doesn’t keep
trivialities at bay, offer your weakness & instability to God, trusting God
to take them from you. I have found that God will always gather wandering
thoughts to God.
The
Ministry of Silence—There is a
ministry of silence as well as ministry of speech. Never think that your unspoken thoughts and
feelings have no effect on the Meeting. [In
vocal ministry], the Meeting should breathe at once to God that the speaker may
be guided and upheld. Faith- fulness in
obeying the call against one’s inclination, or in remaining silent when words
come all too readily, mean a real expense of spirit to those who minister.
Centering down in Meeting is as if a
hollow space filled gently with the water of life [and its calm surface]. Anything unhelpful is as if a stone were
thrown into the pool; both surface & reflection are broken. Isaac Penington said: “One who would understand the Words of Life,
must 1st have life [within].”
The headmaster of schoolboys would grasp the precious meaning of an
old-fashioned missionary’s jargon [and break] the very crusty bread so that it
was food for the whole Meeting.
Friends must never forget that every Meeting is
a sacrament, a bap- tismal receiving of the cleansing water of forgiveness, & a
communion. Our forefathers worshiped in
the faith which accepted the ministry of silence when God gave no ministry of
speech. John Rutty wrote: “A silent meeting, and not one minister, but
Jesus himself, was present.”
Breaking
the Bread of Life—The body &
blood, God’s life & love are transmitted to us that we in our turn may transmit
them to others. The mini- stry of words is to be put into the waiting hands with
the command to break & distribute it here & now. The Quaker minister’s
1st dilemma is: How shall I recognize the call to speak when it comes?
John Woolman said: Í stood up
& said some words in a meeting; but not keeping close to divine opening
I said more than was required… I was afflicted for some weeks… Being thus
humbled & disciplined under the Cross my understanding became more
strengthened to distinguish the pure Spirit which inwardly moves upon the
heart. I waited some times many weeks for that rise that prepares the creature
to stand like a trumpet through which the Lord speaks.”
For myself there is most often the sense
that if I don't rise & speak I shall not have been “faithful.” We shouldn't shrink unduly from offering love.
Sometimes broken words and thoughts may be sacramental to our selves and
others and lead on to a deeper experience of worship. To those who can honestly say they feel
called to their feet week after week, I would suggest that their ministry may
be intended for a wider circle.
Some friends argue: Shouldn't all ministry be entirely spontane- ous?
How can anyone know whether or not something which came to one’s mind
before Meeting is not destined to be a little loaf given him by God to break
& distribute? There are those who
do give a deeper ministry without conscious preparation and those whose hearts
are enlarged towards the meeting by the preparation they give to it. We should not label ministry that begins with
“I’ve been thinking,” or as “anecdotal” simply be- cause it deals with personal
experience.
Offer what you have to God and be
prepared to let it go. Offer your bread for a blessing, and just as you
sometimes feel the “renewed putting forth,” you ought also sometimes to feel
“the stop.” [Early Friends like James Nayler & Thomas Shillitoe paid careful
attention to these “stops].” [I myself experienced a “stop” which made it
possible] for a young, diffident Friend to rise and weave from his daily life a
parable to feed our souls. [On different occasions], working through different
temperaments, alike in nothing but dedication, Love finds out the way [to work
its ministry].
Children
of God—We think too readily of the
last stage of birth, & forget the long months of growth which change the
fetus to the babe, [whether we are talking literally, or are thinking of the
spiritual birth of Paul, George Fox, or our own]. Nor is birth the completion of growth. A 1775 Yearly Epistle reminds Friends that
“whoever would be truly a Disciple of Christ must know not only a beginning but
an abiding in the Spirit.” George Fox writes” “Wait … in the measure of the
Life of God, in it to grow in love, in virtue and in immortality, in that which
doth not fade, which joins and unites your hearts together.”
The growth of a child of God is growth
in worship, in recognition of & response to his Spirit, in learning to pass
on the good we have received from God, not only in our times of joy and strength,
but also in our times of sorrow and weakness. Isaac Penington wrote: “Our life
is love & peace, & tenderness, & bearing one with another, &
forgiving one another—& hel- ping one another up with a tender hand, if there
has been a slip or fall…O wait to feel this spirit, & to be guided to walk
in this spirit, that ye may enjoy the Lord in sweetness, and walk sweetly,
meekly, tenderly, peaceably, and lovingly one with another…
There is a kind of false humility that
will neither speak nor act at the right time for fear of making a mistake or
doing harm. It is only as we pray
throughout life that we become conscious “that our own deepest selves are
united with a deathless movement of loving action which flows through our
littleness, submerges it and carries it forward.” The tasks of the sons and
daughters of God is to draw all men into the family circle by giving them that
inextricable mingling of justice and mercy which is love.
Elizabeth Fry wrote: “I want less love of money, less judging
others, less tattling, less dependence upon external appearance. I want to see more fruit of the Spirit in all
things, more devotion of heart, more spirit of prayer, more real cultivation of
mind, more enlargement of heart towards all.”
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