PHP 41-60

            Foreword—I spent more than 1/2 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. 

  

41. Studies in Christian Enthusiasm: Illustrated from Early 

            Quakerism (by Geoffrey F. Nuttall; 1948)

             [About the Author]—Geoffrey Fillingham Nuttall (1911 – 2007) was a     Congregational minister & ecclesiastical historian. Nuttall was born in North     Wales, the general practitioner's son. He was educated at Bootham School,        a Quaker School in York, Balliol College & Mansfield College, Oxford. He      was ordained to Congregational ministry in 1938. In 1943, he started theolo-   gical training, 1st at the Quaker study center at Woodbrooke, Birmingham,    where he delivered 6 lectures covered in this pamphlet. His academic    interest was 17th-century ecclesiastical history. He married Mary Powley in    1944, having met her while he was at Woodbrooke.

            Foreword—Pendle Hill's interest in this publication is that Geoffrey     Nuttall's presentation is a valuable addition to the history of Society of     Friends, calling attention as it does to the wave of intense feeling upon which     Quakerism was launched. All great religious movements have been forged in     the white heat of fervor & passion. Fortunate is that religion or sect which     [necessarily] continues to exhibit some of its 1st warmth & enthusiasm.

            Enthusiasm's old usage was as possession by deity with prophetic or     poetic frenzy. In Puritan minds there was bound to gather about the Quaker     movement a fringe of eccentric prophets who justified their worst predictions.     [Opposite the Puritan's fears was the enthusiasm that] "was piercing & very     powerful so that earth shook before him ... the stout-hearted were made to     bow ... & bend before the Lord." In order to avoid apprehending the Inward     Light so as to remove all standards & control, church government was insti-    tuted which placed group vision of the Truth above individual views, but still    preserved individual rights.

            Too strict a discipline that crushes enthusiasm is more serious than     permitting too much toleration of unrestrained feeling. William Penn dis-    claimed "vain whimsies & idle intoxications, professing our revelation to be a     solid & necessary discovery from the Lord [for our daily spiritual health]."         The Society of Friends exists today because its more moderate element pre-     vailed without altogether extinguishing the flame of the Spirit.      HOWARD H.   BRINTON

            Preface—This little book represents the substance of 6 lectures deli-    vered in 1945 at Woodbrooke in Birmingham, which were based on conclu-    sions drawn from calendaring, annotating and indexing early Friends' letters.     There is a magnificent collection of Quaker and anti-Quaker tracts housed at     Woodbrooke. In William C. Braithwaite's The Beginnings of Quakerism,   instances of [extravagant enthusiasm] were minimized or disregarded. There     is still room for a study of [the place of] enthusiasm in early Quakerism.

           The period used for illustration is almost solely the very earliest period     (1652-1656), ending with Nayler's tragic "fall." The 4 chosen are representa-    tives of 4 aspects of enthusiasm were all gone before Fox married Margaret     Fell (1659). The evidence given here is contemporary letters written by men     who at the time shared leadership with Fox, [written in the heat of the event's     moment, as opposed to] Fox's writing after the events, recollected in tranqui-    lity. At present sensible men put Christian enthusiasm out favor. Many Protes-    tants would accept without a qualm that religious experience may be said to       be secondary, and controlled by orthodoxy & the test of virtue. I believe that      a recovery of personal religious experience as our faith's center is the main   thing needed at present in our theology, [as I have written in 2 of my books).

            Extravagances, exaggerations and abnormalities have accompanied     Christian enthusiasm, & brought it into disrepute. Enthusiasms shouldn't be     dismissed from serious consideration simply because extravagances have     often marred it. Not being a member of the Society of Friends, may have     made it easier for me to present Quaker illustrations with the desirable    detachment. Periodic revival of devotion results in Catholicism in establi-    shing new order; in Protestantism new sects result. There is urgent need for       summary to be made of such movements, of their problems and historical     circumstances which favored such revivals. Some knowledge of psychology     is needed, butthis interest needs to be kept subservient to the religious. I am    grateful to Henry Cadbury and the directors of Pendle Hill for making the pub-    lication of this pamphlet, and for Henry Brinton's Foreword.

           CHAPTER I Introduction—It is the 1st missionaries' experiences, like     Audland 's, Huberthorne's, Whitehead's, Holmes', in total 70 ministers "sent     abroade out of [the] north Countryes," which form our material. Quakerism     was very much a strongly missionary & proselytizing force in its beginnings.     Today there is a timidity, often an explicit disapproval of proselytizing, growing     out a sense of spiritual matters' delicate nature. In those 1st days Friends     were sure that they had been given something to say which concerned every      man. From 1654, there was a definite missionary campaign to cover the     whole of England and Wales. The campaign went on to Scotland, Ireland and     the Isle of Man, and further yet across the Atlantic.

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           Given the "70" figure, Fox likely had in mind the 70 who were sent out     by Jesus. It is a mistake to think of them as uneducated or even poor; at least     30 of them were yeomen, "statesmen" or husbandmen; 5 Ernest Taylor calls     gentlemen, 4 were schoolmasters; and 2 other professional men, as well as    8 women. At least 20 have received recognition as men national importance     [i.e. were included in the Dictionary of National Biography]. 2 areas stand out     as sources of the 70. West Central England and an area in the extreme south    of Yorkshire, especially around Balby. 3 of those featured here come from    near Balby; the 4th was from Kendal in West Central England.

            ["News Letters" to Margaret Fell]—All most all of the 70 wrote long     descriptive letters to Margaret Fell of Swarthmore Hall, [near the shore of the     Irish Sea and Morecambe Bay]. These letters were preserved & collected by     Margaret, and provide historians with an unusually good and extensive con-    temporary source. These letters are not in any order, by author or date. In the     1st 8 years, in the Swarthmore Collection, there are approximately 700 letters,  some very long, from 155 correspondents. The lecture material here comes     largely from the 1st half of those 8 years. Most were addressed to Margaret,     the wife of Judge Thomas Fell (also justice of the peace). Her home, Swarth-    more Hall was used as a kind of holiday home and intelligence center.

            Judge Fell, as a non-Quaker, was always ready to stand between     Friends & their persecutors. Margaret often copied & forwarded letters to other    Friends, thus providing them with news & support. Margaret was a personality     with initiative & endless courage. Her high social position gave her poise &     balance and breadth of outlook; it never stood in the way of fidelity to the     demands of unconventional truth. [Her 1st encounter with Fox led to her oft-    quoted words]: "We are all thieves; we have taken the Scriptures in words &     know nothing of them in ourselves." Sentencing led to her words: " Although     I'm out of the King's protection, yet I'm not out of the Protection of Almighty  God." When Friends withdrawing from the world wore only gray & sober     clothes, Margaret reminded Friends there was still a place in God's Provi-   dence for the changeable colors of the hills.

            Margaret Fell's most important contribution was the open hospitality         of her home & warm & continuing personal interest in all her guests. Miles     Halhead, responsible for Devon & Cornwall describes her home as a place     "where Lambs & Babes, & Children of Light will be gathered together to wait     upon my Name. [They will be well-fed & refreshed] ... that above all Families     of the Earth I may rejoice to do them good ... The Lord was very good to that       Family in feeding them the Dew of Heaven, and the sweet incomes of his        Love, according to his promise. The author was in an abnormal, highly     wrought condition; the passage breathes "enthusiasm."

            [Enthusiasm's Double Meaning]—This word has come to mean little     more than radiant eagerness & delight. Early Friends believed God's Spirit          through Christ was with them, & in them, just as much as with 1st Christians,     a present guide, blessing, & sustainer in their day. Others thought this absurd.     Henry More said: "Enthusiasm is nothing else but a misconceit of being in-    spired." He saw enthusiasm as a threat to Christianity. In response to such     assertions, George Whitehead wrote Enthusiasm above Atheism: Divine Inspi-    ration & Immediate Illumination Asserted. 

             This book argued that early Friends were enthusiasts in both senses     of the word, both radiant eagerness & immediate divine inspiration. Within     them wasn't only inner light shining, there was also inner flame burning. Spu-    rious enthusiasm was a danger in the absence of checks or touchstones.     They had a problem, & it is no surprise they didn't always solve it. In the end     they solved it; they avoided pitfalls which led the Ranters into disgrace. Al-    though it's their [success that] inspires, we may learn more from their failures.

            CHAPTER II  Moral Enthusiasm: Thomas Aldam—The force of the     word testimony in the Society of Friends' usage is that it is a witness because     it issues from conviction. From its beginnings it has been keenly concerned     to bear witness to the ethical demands of Christianity, and to bear witness     against the world's failure to accept them. There were also testimonies to     past Friends who had [born faithful, valiant witness, never shrank] "whatever    Storm or Tempest came, but followed Christ Jesus his Captain through      sufferings patiently."

           Witnessing, standing steadfast, and willingness to suffer, is highly     characteristic of early Friends, like the little children at Reading who went &    kept up the meeting when all the grown-ups had been imprisoned, or others     who would go and meet in the ruins of their meetinghouse. [This spirit stems     from] moral enthusiasm. Their conviction that God's Spirit was with them    enabled them to be sure of what was right and what was wrong, & to stand   by the right and cry out against the wrong whatever the consequences.

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            Thomas Aldam came from Warmsworth, near Doncaster, & was no     longer young when Fox came to that [country]; he was "convinced" in 1651.     His son writes: "Thomas Aldam ... had been a follower of Priests & Teachers     of the times; [they didn't have what] could satisfie his hungering, thirsting    Soul, [so he] became separate from them; not yet knowing where to [find     what] ... he had been seeking after. He was in a desolate land, till [the Lord    sent] his faithful Servant & Minister ... G.F. into our Country ... Many there     were which gladly received his Testimony, & were made living Witnesses of     God's Salvation, (amongst which my Father was one) ... It wrought powerfully    in them ... raising them up to bear a living Testimony, to what God had made       known unto them."

           Thomas Aldam's letters are full of his experiences & his concern for the     testimony that he is called to bear against the world's wickedness. Fox, who is     known for "answering that of God in everyone," also said, "Spare no deceit,     lay sword upon it, ... [God]: I arise, to trample & thunder deceit." Thomas was     on watch for wrong things, & was determined to cry out as soon as they were      discovered. In his ethical concern he may be called the James of the "1st     Publishers." His handwriting suggests a sort of invincibility; he left no margins     on the page.

            [Suffering Much for the Truth]—He suffered much imprisonment for     going to Steeplehouses, bearing witness against Preachers for Hire, and     lengthened his stay by condemning the Judge for partial Judgment. He was     being constantly sued and distrained upon for tithes he refused to pay; he     remained in prison 2½ years. [Excerpts from 3 of his letters follow]:

                1. "I was moved to follow [Thomas Harrison, Knight & Judge] to 

     the place where he came out of court, to speak to him, & warn him of 

     being partial in judgment, ...& spoke to the rest of the lawyers ...I was 

     made to tell him that their gifts ...was from law held up by the devil in 

     them, & all oppression by them was of the devil ... I was moved to go 

     to lawyers ... & to speak much out of judgment against them ... when 

     he had done his vain repetition, I was moved to declare against the 

     castle priest's hypocritical doctrine. ... I wrote gaolers about oppres-

     sions & vanity ... pride, tyranny, fullness of bread, abundance of idle-

     ness. [I offered to] clear it to them. I don't fear what man can do to me,

     but there do rest; I abide in the same place still."

                2. "2 justices would have had me go forth of prison [on my good

     behavior]. If the door was set open, I might be free to go forth; I couldn't

     stand bound to such a thing as they called good behavior. They did 

     make it a breach of the peace for speaking truth. Another said he 

     could prevail to get my freedom, If I would leave the priests alone. I 

     was moved to exhort him, to drive him to his inward teacher; he fell 

     into a rage and said I was mad."

                3. "The gaoler was free to let 2 women Friends rest in a place  

     in prison belonging to the town soldiers. I had the key, but the gaoler 

     wanted to make lodging and profit of the room. She could have a room

     if she would pay for it. Mary Fisher said she wasn't chargeable to any 

     and she had not where with to pay for a room. 

                "Wherefore art thou in this room, & thy life trampling upon 

     in the street? ... Cast out thy money, cast out thy purse, & what thou     

     hast laid up in thy chest, and get thee hence; [I was to give away my 

     money.] I was commanded to deliver the key to the gaoler, and to trust

     the Lord. I was called to go into [the general prison population]. I was 

     with them till night. We were kept by the mighty power of God in the 

     [general prison area] amongst the raging heathen. Rooms were [soon]

     provided, so we were placed and set free, & in our freedom we stand."

            [Cromwell and Aldam's Visions]—To Fox Aldam wrote: "I'm often in     spirit waiting at London at Oliver Cromwell's house... as if... in sackcloth &     weeping over a seed ... in bonds in [Cromwell]. Aldam had faith in the Protec-    tor, & tenderness toward "that of God" in him, a faith that was probably streng-    thened when Cromwell ordered his release. This illustrates how visions came     to early Friends. The passage foreshadows Aldam's actual behavior & visit,     though he didn't wear sackcloth. Edward Burroughs & Francis Howgill wrote:     Thomas Aldam hath been with Cromwell, & cleared his conscience to him.    Cromwell's heart has hardened, & he can't believe."

           Early Friends read in the Old Testament of strange behavior which pro-    phets sometimes adopted as signs of the people's wickedness. In their     literalness & I naïveté they modeled their behavior on the prophets, & felt     called on to seek to persuade others by this method, even if they weren't     understood & didn't succeed. 

            Richard Sale of Chester writes: "My mouth was opened in much     power, & my mourning habit was exceeding dreadful, ... [the well-dressed]     were ashamed & those nearby were made to blush. I was made to take a     leathern girdle, & sackcloth, sweet flowers in my right hand, & stinking         weeds in my left, & be barefooted & bare-legged ... The heathen did set     their dogs at me, but the creatures were subjected to thy power." Some     Friends even went naked. Aldam seems never to have gone to such         extremes; [but he acted with moral enthusiasm], a determination to show     forth in picturesque fashion the condemnation of evil with which he felt     himself burdened by the Lord.

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            [Dangers of Pharisaism, "Speaking Sharply," and Excess Moral     Enthusiasm]—Those with keen moral concern may fall into Pharisaism, &     become prejudiced against opponents, unwilling to understand & to appeal to     the best in them. It is hard to see how language used towards hireling prea-    chers, bad judges, & lawyers against whom they bore testimony, was likely to     appeal to "that of God" in them. It is likely that Fox & others believed that the     only way they could appeal to "that of God" in some people was to speak     sharply, to give them a jolt. 

             After asking Thomas Everden some questions, George Harrison     "Looking wistly [intently at] him & said, 'Thou art a Dog,' & left him. Which     Words confounded him ... he never got clear of them, Till he received &        lived in Truth, & became a Preacher." [George Harrison heard John Liburne,     & although], "The Words & sound of the Truth, he liked well," [he felt the     need to] "run after him ... with these Words, 'Thou art too high for the Truth.'    [Lilburne felt] "a box on the Eare ... that he could never get from under, but     lived & died in profession of the Truth." It may be tenderness won't always ex-    press itself most effectually in gentleness.

           Aldam's son writes: "At an Assizes at York, one Philip Prince, a Lawyer,     took [Aldam's] Hat from his Head, & kept it contrary to justice." [Aldam insisted  that Prince be brought before the bar & condemned as well as returning his     hat]. "I can receive it in the way of Righteousness [&] Justice, or I can't receive  it. (My father) went 7 Months without a Hat, in obedience to God 's Command     ... [he] was a sign & wonder to all who were covered." [There is seeking for      self-justification going on here]. Justice is more than justification. [Some             learned forgiveness in suffering injustice; some, in an excess of hardness &    moral  enthusiasm, learned only more hardness.

            CHAPTER III Didactic Enthusiasm: Richard Farnworth—As early     as 1659, George Fox answers as many as 110 anti-Quaker works in 1 book.     Both sides spent a lot of time & energy in writing pamphlets in which they     defended, sometimes briefly, 1 set of principles & attacked another. Their      sometimes overpowerful enthusiasm, by the 17^th century's end, had come to   seem strange and sometimes undesirable to Quakers. Alexander Gordon    writes: "Admitting no weapon but the tongue, they used that unsparingly [as    well as pen]." Friends'  burning conviction of God's spiritual presence, along     with their desire to [witness] may be called didactic enthusiasm.

            This enthusiasm is effectively shown by Richard Farnworth. From     1653-1665, Farnworth wrote more than 40 separate works, besides con-    tributions to other Friends' writings, [cut short] by death in 1666 of fever.             His letters to other Friends, perhaps more than most, are overflowing with   exultant enthusiasm of language. Farnworth's birthplace & early home was   Tickhill, little more than 11 km south from Thomas Aldam's home. In relating   "convincement" he doesn't mention Fox. 

            Farnworth writes: "I was made to deny the priests & their way of wor-    ship, & deny all that which I had gathered under them, & wait upon God for     teaching, counsel, & direction ... according to his promise. I found inward     peace, joy, comfort, righteous law, & satisfaction to my soul. Farnworth         writes usually on large sheets in large handwriting, well expressive of his    fluent, uncritical outpourings, lengthy exhortations which run on & on. If        Aldam is the James of  "1st Publishers," Farnworth is the Paul.

           [Farnworth's Style and Spirit]—He wrote a letter to Nayler from Balby     in 1652: "Sink down into the love and mercies of the Lord ... Mind that which     keeps in humbleness and lowliness of mind ... Being guided by that which is     of the Lord in every condition, will keep you in the fear of him who is pure ...     which keeps you in the obedience ... There will be a growing up and an     establishment [in] truth, and in righteousness and purity of action, and hum-    bleness." The repetition of the word pure is something carried over from the     Puritans.

            In 1653 he writes to Friends: "Put in practice what you know... Be not     professors but possessors; take heed of getting above the cross & so you run     astray from the Lord, speaking beyond your line or measure ... Let your mode-    ration be known to all ..." [For Quakers], what goes against their own desires     & will was valuable discipline for keeping submissive to Divine will. Farnworth     writes to Fox: "In light & darkness I am kept laboring ... I complain of loiterers;     now they are agrieved at me, & cry out against me & say I break both fairs &     markets."

          He writes in another letter: "Happy, Happy, days are coming, the sun     begins to shine & the little lambs begin to skip; the Lord is our shepherd." He     writes of depression: "I am as Noah's dove turned out of all, & hath none to fly    to but the Lord alone ... I have no life nor comfort [nor friends] in anything        whatsoever but in doing of his will ... I readeth in the book of Revelation much,  & often that is the book I preach out of. I am as a white paper book without     line or sentence. As it is revealed & written by the Spirit, revealer of secrets,    so I administer." Much of their written imagery would be found to come, not     always consciously from Revelation.

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           [Absence of Reason in "Proper Quaker Worship"]—John Locke's     conception of the mind being tabula rasa, a blank slate, was there ready to be     taken over by Friends, with disastrous results. 18^th century Quakers believed     that the Spirit of God would write upon their hearts, as of old, in independence     of, and even in opposition to, their reason; the freer they could be of reason,        the more likely they were to be inspired. This conception strengthened the irra-    tional element in early Quakerism and made it difficult to use reason as a     God-given check on the running to extremes against which Farnworth had     urged. 

            It encouraged an uncritical acceptance of what were believed to be     God's messages & commands as always true & right, by [ignoring the effect     of] the earthen vessels containing the treasure [on the message]. Difficulties     of this kind were likely in light of the general assumption of Scripture's infal-   libility. Rarely did early Quaker writers admit that they were wrong.

           This negative attitude to reason wasn't confined to reason; it was stri-    kingly illustrated in a dispute between Quakers & an East Anglican sect, & in     the challenge Farnworth issued that they "preach the word, for 2 weeks     together ... You & I will eat no [outward] food ... except a little spring water; &    that neither you, nor I look upon any book ... seen with a visible eye." Here         is expressed all too clearly the unwillingness to accept the normal limitations   of life which God has set in our lives. Farnworth was "as a white paper book    without line or sentence but as it was revealed"; it was not necessary or   desirable to "look upon any book ... seen with a visible eye."

            [Over-magnifying of Spiritual Leaders]—Over-magnifying spiritual     leaders was also a danger; the danger of idolatry is just as great if persons     are treated as God's image as if any metal or mental images are used. It     must have been easy for newly "convinced" Friends of [average spiritual in-    sight] to think of their leaders & fathers-in-God, to whom they owed their very     souls, as if they were virtual incarnations. James Naylor was treated as such     by his adherents, [who performed a "Palm Sunday" procession into Bristol,     with Naylor as centerpiece]. 
            A letter to George Fox from Richard Sale contains phrases addressed     to Fox like: "Glory, glory to thy name for evermore ... O thou God of life and     power ... dreadful & terrible thou art to all flesh ... it was my meat & drink to     do thy will, & thy doctrine was made manifest to me ... [you] who is god over    all ... " Such blasphemous language was evidently not approved; for some-    one, probably Margaret Fell, has made alterations throughout. Clearly Sale    thought of Fox in a way which can only be termed messianic. While perhaps   an extreme example, it does not stand alone. Sale was not disowned or    treated as one of those who had "run out" into Ranterism; he gave his life       not long afterwards, undergoing terrible sufferings for his convictions.

            Farnworth wrote to Fox as: "My heart, my life, my oneness ... thou art     as a father unto me." He wrote to Margaret Fell: "Thou art the Sara that bears     good seed ...thou art with me; I am with thee ...Thou art nursing mother, a     queen ... The son is in thy bosom, thou art blessed for evermore ..." Wait all     dear babes & lambs, that you may feed upon the milk of the word at the     breasts of consolation." It is evidently only an extreme example of affection          & admiration in language of which the writer has no fear; he knows it won't      be misunderstood. The experience which writer & recipient share is bound to     affect their phraseology; & result in didactic enthusiasm.

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            CHAPTER IV Emotional Enthusiasm: Thomas Holme—Moral &     didactic enthusiasm were possible only by being sustained with emotional     enthusiasm. Divine inspiration would operate by taking possession of minds     & wills but also & most of all, of emotions. The infant Society would tend     to stress, & even exaggerate sensation & emotion in their new overwhelming     experience, [& be condemned as fanatics]. Those caught up in the new     experience's rapture may be blissfully unaware of the dangers of exaggera-    tion and abnormality.

            Thomas Holme is one of many who might be taken as representative     of the [writings done while emotional enthusiasm was at its height, as op-    posed to those] recollecting the emotions in comparative tranquility. He was a     weaver of Kendal, "greatly loved for faithfulness in doeing & Suffering [hard-    ships & Imprisonmt] for truths & Testemony"; he was "the chief labourer in     South Wales." He writes to Margaret Fell: "Upon the 16 day of the 8 month,     being the same day we were set free [in Chester], ... I was immediately com-    manded ... to take [Elizabeth Leavens] to wife ... having had a vision of it,    [which I did] contrary to my will." [In our examples, if Aldam is the James, and   Farnworth the Paul, Holme is certainly the Peter, making quick decisions &        sometimes quickly repenting of them; Holme's letters are mostly rhapsodies.

            [Holme writes to Margaret Fell of an episode strongly reminiscent of     Paul's imprisonment in Acts 16: 25-28, complete with singing and astonishing     light]: "And I was afraid, and trembled at the appearance of the light; my legs     shook under me ... I was brought to shed many tears, to see the unspeakable     love of God, the height, the depth, the breadth and length of [God's Love].

            [Emotional Enthusiasm in Singing, Trembling, and Weeping]—    Margaret Newby writes of sufferings at Evesham: "[The mayor did violently  charge her and put her into a pair of stocks ... And I cleared my conscience &      I was moved to sing ... The mayor at length found me out & took hold on me     ... and carried me to her, & put both my feet in the same stocks ... & said we     should sit there till the morrow ... and be whipped ... & charged us we should     not sing ... We did not forbear, being moved eternally by the Lord to sing."

            Humphrey Norton writes: "I was one 1st day at Swarth More; in that     meatinge there is many speakers & prayers & such a singing as ... I haven't     heard & likewise a leightness." Thomas Wilan writes: "Thomas Holme and     Elizabeth is gone ... We are much refreshed by the voice & sound which the     power of God did utter through them ... They were much exercised by the     power of the Lord in songs and hymns and prayer ..." Margaret Newby writes      again at Hutton: "There was one [convinced] soldier that hath been often in     our meetings; this day he was the terriblest shaken, and the power of the Lord     wrought so mightily upon him ... he confessed that he never knew the terrors     of the Lord against the man of sin afore ... This ministry and the eternal power    proceeded from Elizabeth Holme, yea truly the most glorious power is most     manifest in her."

            "The Lord's power was over all" meant much more than conviction     that God was on their side and would give them the final triumph. It actually     meant something very concrete and personal, & something which was visibly     manifest in its effects. Tremblings, singing, & weeping, physical expressions     of emotional enthusiasm, were particularly marked in meetings for worship,    where the influence of the group was at its height. Early Quakers believed    that emotional behavior had its value as unmistakable evidence of  "the     power." William Penn "wept much and it seemed to him as if a Voice sayd,     'stand on thy feet. How dost know but somebody may be reach'd by thy     tears? So he stood up that he might be seen."

            [The Power of the Lord]—Throughout these letters are statements     [that include references to "the power." Abnormal behavior was welcomed as     evidence of divine influence, quite apart from ethical criterion. This led to re-    grettable absurdities & to cases of hysteria & fanaticism. [An Anti-Quaker     story describing "great & dreadful shaking, trembling, swellings, [noises] af-   frighting spectaters & [nearby animals], & also "something buzzing about the    Quakers head like an humble bee, had some basis in fact. John Lawson       writes: "[William Spencer] rose up ... went about half a mile ... & told them he     heard a humble bee about his head, & said it was the devil, & made many   who were weak to stumble." Spencer wasn't alone in his strange association    with bees. 

            There is a letter about a strange disruption of a steeple-house service     by 5 Quakers. The "power rose" in one of them; they took that one out, but he    followed them back in. The letter's author wandered about the church and     walked out the back door. "Presently I heard them all of an uproar beating and    haling my Friend out of steeple-house; for he had the power very fiercely as     ever I saw any." In both early Quakerism and early Methodism, there was     abnormal emotional behavior, shading off into hysteria.

            [Emotional Enthusiasm & Sexual Morality]—When tight-laced legal-    ism gives way to the experience of coming into the Spirit of Christ's liberty, be-     yond mere obedience to the old law, there are great dangers; the sexual life      gets out of hand. The evidence of the Swarthmore manuscripts is that ten-    dencies of this kind were not uncommon. These are lamented & condemned;     but they are there. A more frequent line to take was to treat the sexual instinct     as something beneath the consideration of those enjoying a fully spiritual life.

           Thomas Holme married Elizabeth "... contrary to my will." The married     couple continued labouring as "1st Publishers." They were sometimes apart;     sometimes together. January 1656, Holme wrote to Margaret Fell that a child     was expected. Who was to care for the child? Who was to bear expense?     Holme writes to Margaret: "If our going together be the ground of what is         against us, the ground shall be removed; the occasion of offense shall be        taken away. We had both of us determined long [ago] ... to keep asunder; not    to use the power ... Seeing the thing, I am willing to part with all, & to give up     all, to the death of the cross. I [won't] continue in the evil."

            Fox writes: "Walter Newton was an auncient puritan, askt mee the     reason I was marryd. I tolde him as a testimony that all might come uppe Into     the marriage as was in the beginning; as a testimony that all might come     uppe out the wildernesse to the marriage of the lamb ... I never thought     marriage was only for the procreation of children, but onely in obediens to   the power of the Lord; I judged such things as below me." 

            The last phrase of the above quote is another emotional example of     the refusal to accept the normal human conditions of life, which is the danger     of enthusiasm in all its aspect. "Let they that have wives be as those that     have none" cannot ever be right, or even possible, for most men. When     Elizabeth Holme died before her husband, she left 3 children "2 of wch     attained years of discression but walked not in the steps of their honorable     parents."

           CHAPTER V Spiritual Enthusiasm: James Nayler—The 3 aspects         of enthusiasm so far discussed become more definite and more clearly inter-    related, if we study one of the finest and best exponents of enthusiasm. For     James Naylor, spiritual enthusiasm was being "afire with something [radically]     all-inclusive." Fox attributes Naylor's "convincement" to himself; there is no     mention of Fox in Naylor's own account. After "publishing truth in the North of     England and imprisonment at Appleby, he became an eminent Quaker prota-    gonist in London. 

             He was the ablest speaker and one of the most trusted leaders of the     movement, until in 1656 he allowed himself to treated like a [Palm Sunday]     Messiah [while entering Bristol], resulting in scandal, trial, cruel punishment,     and 3 years imprisonment. The scandal made it imperative that Nayler should     be virtually disowned. He was reinstated, but died shortly after beginning to     publish truth again.

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            Contemporaries outside the Society sometimes refer to him and not to     Fox as the head of the Quakers. Treating the Bristol affair in isolation is nei-    ther fair to Nayler, nor a wholly honest treatment of history. His behaviors may     be seen as the natural outcome of a certain mistaken line of thought and     feeling, in which a widespread but regrettable tendency came to a head. De-    spite his reconciliation, for a long time after his death Nayler was treated with    studied neglect; they had no wish to be associated with his name.

            Nayler's handwriting is small, neat & regular, quite different from most     early Quaker hands, including Fox. [Judging personalities from their hand-    writing], the 2 men wouldn't easily understand each other. Nayler's letters     were more like real letters. Adding him to our group of writers: Aldam as     James; Farnworth as Paul, Holme as Peter; Nayler becomes John. Nay-            ler had a deeply tender, loving, missionary spirit, concerned to seek & to save     them that were lost. He also had an attitude of utter, immediate dependence     upon God, without recognition of the need for any human medium or instru-    mentality. The answers he gave at his blasphemy trial [reflect this innocent,         if not naive, attitude]. They indicate the simplicity with which Nayler regarded     himself & his mission.

            In early letters, Nayler writes: "There is presumption got up amongst     you, & boasting; in the meantime the pure seed lies under ... Mind that which      is pure [& binding] in you ... Richard Myers, thou gets above thy condition,     and are run up into the air. Mind the babe in thee, and it will tell thee so. Gro-    wing up as babes, you may be kept from error, and ... [with] the sincere milk     of the word, ye may grow thereby in all meekness and tenderness, waiting for     the kingdom of God in you ..."

            [From gaol]: "I am here in peace & joy within, & at rest, though in the     midst of the fire ... [My wife] was sent of my father, & fitted by him not to be        in the least a hinderer, but a furtherer of his work ... It is my joy to do or suffer     the will of my father; for therefore came I into the world ... Bread & water ... is     not any bondage to me within or without, for it is my liberty & freedom ... I see     that to be taken out of all created things is perfect freedom, but no freedom     until then ... God fits the creature for that condition he calls them to, and all is     to hearken to his call and obey it ... If he seem to smile, follow him in fear and    love; and if he seems to frown, follow him, and fall into his will, and you shall    see he is yours still."

            With his phrase, "the Lord hath set me above all created things,"     Nayler  is taking the 1st step along the wrong road [of blasphemous entry in]     to Bristol.  He uses this phrase in writing about fasting [i.e.] being "taken out     of all created  things." A Swarthmore manuscript in 1659 mentions 7 people      in 1 household  fasting from 5 to over 20 days. An early Quaker tract challen-    ges Papists to "go  30 dayes without Bread or Water, or ... 30 days with [only]    bread & Water, & try  & see if his belly be not his God." Opponents sometime     replied that: "our  Saviour bids his Disciples ... eat & drink such things as     [are] set before them  among whom they went preaching."

            Nayler's letter to Margaret Fell tells of a young man, newly convinced,     "made very bold," who withstood the torment and threats of 12 priests, who     "went away in great rage ... Running before, [the young man] lost his guide     [Note: Nayler used this phrase later in recanting his own behavior at Bristol]     ... At length [the young man] grew so high, that [temptation] prevailed with him     to put his hand into a kettle full of boiling liquor ... they reported that he held         it in a quarter of an hour." John Toldervy writes: "I was possessed with a com-    mand  from that Spirit in me, upon the account of Salvation, that I should put     my right  hand in the pan of hot water; (giving me to know, that the heat there-    of should not seize upon me.)"

            [Chapter Conclusion]—Identification with Christ, however well inten-    tioned spiritually, was both highly dangerous for Nayler's own religious life &     almost bound to lead to further charges of blasphemy if not actual blasphe-    mous behavior such as that at Bristol. Opponents object to Nayler urging on    us his own revelation over that "testimony of the other J.N. Jesus of Naza-    reth." It was just because his was such a tender, delicate, etheral nature that     he was carried further than others along a mistaken path. 

            It was a tragedy that he did not prove strong enough to follow the     advice he had given to others, to "to mind the babe in thee," to keep lowly &     meek, & to follow his guide." He deliberately neglected the divinely set limi-   tations & conditions of our common humanity; disaster was inevitable. Fox     wrote: "Jam. Nayler runn out and a company with him Into Imaginations. And     they raised uppe a great darknesse in the nation; he came to Bristol and      made a disturbans there."

            Not only did Nayler "run in" again, but his sufferings only purified his         fine & noble spirit. Perhaps in 1658, Nayler wrote: "Truly for the hardness &     unreconcileableness which is in some I am astonished & shaken ... [The spirit     of Christ Jesus] naturally inclines to mercy and forgiveness, not to bind one     under a trespass till the uttermost farthing ... By a spirit which delights more in     forgiving debts ... I have been able to bear all things while it is with me. One     lesson to be learned from his life, as indeed from these studies as a whole, is     the way in which penetrating spiritual insight and mistaken exaggeration can     exist side by side in the same person.

            CHAPTER VI Enthusiasm "Run Out": The Ranters—In James     Nayler we saw an example of spiritual enthusiasm at its best & at its worst.      Other early Friends were misled along the same road, but didn't go as far as     Nayler. Scattered throughout the country in the Quaker's early years, was a     group of people more or less permanently "run out": the Ranters. Never offici-    ally organized, they may be found in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Warwickshire &     Leicestershire, Norfolk, Suffolk, London, Sussex, Hampshire, Bristol, Dorset,     Cornwall. There was an occasion in Leicestershire, 1654, when Baptists,     Quakers, and Ranters gathered and caused civil authorities some alarm.     "Truth sprange uppe 1st in Leistersheere" (Fox).

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            The Quaker-Ranter relationship is complicated. There is confusion 1st     from [contemporaries lumping Quakers & Ranters together], & later from Qua-    ker historians repudiating any connection with them. The "Quaker" who "drew     his sword & hurt divers at the parliment door, answered, that he was inspired     by the Holy Spirit to kill every man that sat in the house." The man was actual-    ly a well-known Ranter, John Tany. Some see Quakers as Ranters who [took     a sharp turn away] "from profaneness & blasphemy to a life of extream auste-    rity." Thomas Lawson writes: "The Ranters had cast out among them, that     there was nothing stood between them & Quakers."

            A Yorkshire Justice of the Peace told Fox "if God hadn't raised uppe     this principle of light & life ... the nation had beene overspread with rantisme."     Hostility to Ranters & disapproval of their principles were regularly expressed     by the Quakers whenever the occasion arose, [disparaging behavior & accu-    sing them of hypocrisy]. In their written response to Ranters' claims, Friends     used language more tender than in controversies with others, [acknowled-    ging tender & simple hearts, being zealous for the truth, practising what was     made known, pure convincement, & that they had tasted the power of God].      

            It would appear as if Friends recognized that they & Ranters had come     together on their spiritual pilgrimage, but had diverged. [There seemed to be   longing] for the Ranters to be brought back from their wandering; the Ranters    had a common spiritual ancestry with the Quakers.

           [Ranters and Quakers: Common Roots and Divergence]—William     Penn writes: "These people were called Seekers by some, & the Family of     Love by others ... they sometimes ... waited together in silence, & as anything     rose in any one of their minds, so they sometimes spoke... Some, for want of     staying their minds in an humble dependence upon Him that opened their     understandings to see great things in His law, they ran out in their own imagi-    nations, and mixing them with those divine openings, brought forth a mon-    strous birth, to the scandal of those that feared God ..." 

            The point of divergence was recent. Thomas Story writes that Ameri-    can Ranters: " held absurd and blasphemous Opinions; that GOD had taken     their Souls out of their Bodies into himself, and he occupied the Place in the      Bodies where their souls had been; so that it was no more they that acted or     said any Thing, how ridiculous or absurd soever, but GOD in their Bodies."

            It will be seen that Ranterism was enthusiasm "run out" into blasphe-    mous identification of soul with God & freedom of spirit that was pure license.     This is the meaning of the Ranters' cry, "All is ours." In modern language, the     Ranters had jumped a stage. No wonder that Friends were sensitive to any     association with Ranters. Pharisaism & remorseless ethical judgment; exal-    ting  others as though they are divine &/or Messiah; emotional fanaticism &     amoral  use of "the power"; immorality; seeking the power to life "above all     created  things." All such tendencies noted in earlier chapters are tenden-    cies which lead to Ranterism. Each involves "running out" beyond the limits    to human life which God in his wisdom has set, rather than soul keeping     "within its measure."

            [Ranters and Quakers: Moral Differences/ Conclusion]—The stron-    gest & clearest differentiation between Quaker & Ranter movements was            with morals. Also, Nayler's fall made Friends draw up sharply. Henceforth         they walked more carefully, with awareness of spiritual enthusiasm's tempta-    tions; Fox especially, was more careful. [There were those who wanted to do    to Fox what they did to Nayler]. William Penn wrote: "[Fox] pressed by his    presence or epistle, a ready, zealous compliance with such good & whole-    some things as tended to an orderly conversation about the affairs of the    church, & ... walking before men." "A grown Friend" or "a stayed Friend"         was often invited to visit ministry groups where there was "a pretty convince-    ment" but where Friends were only beginning "to war with the world in the    stirring life."

            Early Quakers were in danger of [having] their new spiritual experience     carry them, through faulty psychology, into notions & actions which were fana-    tical & extravagant. We are now in danger of treating their fanatical & extra-    vagant tendencies as invalidating their enthusiasm. If we do so, our psy-    chology is as faulty as was theirs ... "Imperfect conception of human nature         is no valid ground for denying the reality of the spiritual experience which pos-    sessed them" [Braithwaite] ... The spiritual experience behind the abnorma-    lity is the greater thing; this [is] something we should admire & seek to share        ... Our task is to prove this experience's reality, while acknowledging the          conditions, limitations & uncertainties of common humanity ...

            We will not accept the fact that in the religious sphere, as in the aes-    thetic, there is no final, infallible rule. [But there are "unprovable" things, there     is unavoidable uncertainty] ... If we go on [anyway] with as clear a conscience    as we may, we shall have more light given us as we go, [as we] walk by faith,    not sight ... Neither reason nor intuitions may be [absolutely trusted] or put     aside; ... [such an action would be] trying to "live above them" or "out of   them," & is a kind of atheism or insult to God; a doubt, a lack of faith in  Christ's power to redeem what is ...

            We are to use all God's gifts to the full, & at the same time not to sup-    pose that ... we shall not make mistakes ... [making mistakes is better than]     dismissing the way of Christian enthusiasm as altogether too dangerous. We     may set forth on a life of adventure with courage if: we believe in God's Active     Spiritual Presence; if we seek to remain "in our measure," humbly conscious     of our humanity with all its limitations, happy to live in the conditions in which     in His wisdom He has set us.  

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42. The Discipline of Prayer (by Fredrick J. Tritton; 1948)          

            About the Author—Frederick Tritton (1887-1968) was born in Twyford in Great Britain. His father worked in the railways. He put himself through school. In 1914, he began working for Friends Service Counsel, a British orga- nization that provided the model for the AFSC. Friends remember him for his modesty, simplicity & quiet sincerity. He was remembered as the British Friend with the deepest understanding of Quakerism in Europe. His own reli- gious life led him to help organize the first prayer & meditation retreats among British Friends.

            Foreword—This pamphlet comes from Howard Brinton's suggestion     that I revise my 1947 Pendle Hill Retreat addresses for publications. Chapter     V on prayer in daily life was added, where the subject is covered in greater     detail than at the Retreat. Together we discovered several truths that alone     we might have missed. They have become a part of what each of us as an     individual has give. This pamphlet is for those looking for practical guidance     in prayer, not for the sake of self, but for God and the service of God's family.             F. J. Tritton

            I. The Preliminary Discipline—[This Retreat is like] a prolonged Mee-    ting for Worship, and [time is spent here] in the hope that when we get back         to our normal life, the influence of the quiet time, the spiritual blessings will         continue. In Retreat you will find it well to suspend for the time being the exer-    cise of critical faculties. [As valuable an instrument as it is], it's also a power         that has been over-exercised; we all suffer from over-intellectualization. Our     scientists are so fascinated by the works of their minds that one achievement     follows another without being coordinated into a general human pattern; all     sense of direction has been lost. The opening of the atomic era and the power     to destroy humankind is another aspect of losing God's vision.
            In this retreat, we shall put restless intellect aside, [& seek not] repress     our deeper layer, & allow it to be revealed. Cultivate reverence in your rela-    tionships with people & things during these days. When Jesus told his disci-    ples to consider the flowers of the field & birds of the air, he must have meant     something like this. Contemplate them like the poet for their own sake & for     sheer joy in them. They are more than divine beauty. They are manifestations,     living sacraments of the life, love, [& concern] of the [Creator] for all creation.     In this increasingly mechanized world, an attitude of deep respect & apprecia-    tion of the value of others is even more important.
            "Know one another in that which is eternal, which was before the world     was." Refuse to attempt in any way to manipulate other people for your own     ends. At this retreat, you will initiate or maybe accelerate a process which will     enable you to keep your mind always alert and supple & disencumbered, so  that you will gain a new zest for life and an increasing delight in even ordinary  people. You will become a channel for the divine life, and God's power in you  will  redeem you from futility and enable you to act redemptively & creatively     with God.
            II. Some Aspects of Prayer—Catholic writers agree on 5 divisions of     prayer: 1. Vocal prayer, intercession      2. Mental Prayer, meditation                  3. Affective Prayer      4. Prayer of Simplicity, applied contemplation                      5. Prayer of Quiet, infused contemplation. It is a mistake to think of them as     stages you advance through; don't imagine that you will ever grow out of the     need or get beyond any of them. It is important that we learn to ask right. In     time we learn to ask for spiritual gifts; God doesn't give them without us wan-    ting & asking for them. Jesus said as much.

            With or without words we are all the while practicing the prayer of peti-     tion. What will you pursue until your objective is satisfied? [Ask this ques-    tion &] search your hearts during this Retreat [for the answer]. [Be careful what  you ask for, or] the Psalmist's saying may be fulfilled in you—"He gave them     their request, but sent leanness into their soul." Mental prayer is true medita-    tion. Take time to fill your mind with spiritual truth. To beginners, not being pre-    occupied with trivial things, & the effort to steady the mind's outgoing activity  sufficiently to enable it to vibrate in tune with deeper realities, is a task that     often disheartens. Eventually, our desires & petitions become less self-cen-    tered, & the thoughts of our hearts are cleansed by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

            Almost anything [can be used as a focal point] to start with, for every-    thing is full of significance once we take time to look. (Using a personal     problem should be avoided until one has gained some skill in mind control).     One of Jesus' sayings or teachings is best [e.g. Take the Beatitudes, or the     Gospel of John's 7 affirmations one by one]. Wordsworth, Whittier, Whitman,     Browning, Shelley, & later T. S. Elliot poems contain valuable material; note     striking passages to use as meditation material. This must remain a prayer,    a testing of our lives by the Life we have been thinking about, and not a fas-   cinating mental exercise.

            If we tend to be discouraged, we must direct thoughts away from our-    selves to God. No devotion should be considered complete unless at some         time we leave our reflections & open ourselves fully to God's presence with     us, yet beyond us. We pass from thinking about spiritual things to offering our-    selves to the divine Person, from I—He (past tense), to I—Thou [beloved 2nd     person]. In Affective Prayer we don't so much exercise intelligence in thinking     about divine things, as our feelings in love toward the author of all things. [In     the absence of energy] for mental exertion, one can still offer affection to God;    sentimental, emotional indulgence, or fervor needs to be avoided. [Make it]      just a simple, sincere expression of whole-hearted love to God, Father,         [Creator], or Christ.

            III. Contemplation of the Prayer of Presence—As we meditate regu-    larly, we gradually pass into a "form" which is mostly without form, imageless,     & an unemotional offering ourselves to God. It roughly corresponds to prayers     of simplicity or applied contemplation, which could lead to prayer of quiet or     infused contemplation; many attaining the simplicity prayer never reach any     sustained experience of infused contemplation. If we can't meditate, we     should take it as a leading that prayer should consist less of words & forms.     John of the Cross, Cloud of Unknowing author, John Chapman, George Fox,    Robert Barclay, Quaker & Catholic, meet on common ground [of a formless    prayer space]. Lady Claypole, Oliver Cromwell's daughter received a letter         from George Fox, advocating the prayer of contemplation: [excerpt follows]:    

            "Be still & cool in thy own mind & spirit from thy own thoughts; then     thou wilt feel the principle of God ... from whom life comes ... be still ... from     thy own thoughts, searchings, seekings, desires, & imaginations ... Look at     the light which discovers temptations, distractions, confusions; feel over         them to receive power to stand against them ... That ye may feel the power    of an endless life, [by being brought] up to the immortal God ..."

           Loving contemplations brings freedom from: ... restless mind ... perso-    nal cravings ... concepts & fantasies. The will sustains attention. No thoughts,     whatsoever, are to draw us away from this occupation; we are to persevere     until minds are raised up to God & stay there. Robert Barclay points out that     the Quaker form of worship, although it might seem strange to many, has     been practiced in all ages, by certain mystics, & by English Benedictines in     1657. 

            [The Quaker difference is that] God was "revealing & establishing this     worship [with a wider base of practitioners]; "poor tradesmen, yea young boys     & girls [are] witnesses." [It is] as the servant's eyes looking unto the hand of     their master." With personal thoughts & desires set aside, one's whole atten-    tion is focused on the Lord, until we know [beyond a doubt] that the Master is     addressing us. Steady practice & constant watchfulness against self-deceit     bring the assurance that one isn't alone, but communing with the Lord of life.

            It was practicing this prayer that gave early Quakers assurance that     God spoke to them & was supporting them. Group worship, with its natural     check upon extravagances & its encouragement of what was pure & heal-        thy, played an important part in keeping [the practice of this prayer on track].   It might be good if Friends paid more attention to this prayer form & encou-   raged a more diligent practice of it for individuals & the group. If we could      but unlearn our clever intellectual ways, we too should be able to pray this     prayer of simple regard & enter upon a whole new range of experience.

           In my own experience of this prayer, I generally use petition & medita-    tion as preparation. I turn to contemplation with words like, "O God thou art     here, near to me. [I give the rest of this time & myself to thee]. Do what thou     wilt." Or I use the opening clauses of the Lord's Prayer. I turn away from all     else, to the Beyond that is Within, and is approached from within. I repeat     John Chapman's: "O God, I want thee, and I do not want anything else; or     just "God." The will comes into operation as quiet watchfulness.

            If it seems that nothing is happening in the phenomenal world, I have     no doubt that God is at work. I seem to have come close to my spiritual cen-   ter. One's knowledge about God doesn't increase as in meditation;  one's    direct knowledge of God as an inescapable reality grows steadily & surely.    [There is a blessed absence of]: imagination; emotion; aridity; desolation;   discomfort; conflict; misunderstanding; exaltation of spirit; depression.     Nothing at all can separate you from God's love revealed in Christ. [We have    of late concentrated on practical application rather than deeply mystical     prayer], and worship has been meditation rather than contemplation. This     generation will find its inspiration in a fresh discovery of God through the    practice of the Prayer of the Presence.

            IV. Intercessory Prayer—We can't believe that God needing to be     urged to do good gives a true picture of God. In using this image, Jesus was     urging persistence in prayer. [The Greek word] for intercession denotes     approaching somebody on behalf of another. We are poor things, and our     prayers are very feeble, but God through Christ and God's Spirit helps make     them effective. We have a spontaneous impulse to call in a higher power, but     the impulse needs disciplining; intercession needs to be made according to     the will of God.
            [For interceding in another's desperate situation], I must seek to under-    stand the circumstances. [In answer to my prayer offering myself for the         other], I may be shown something I can do. I can suggest something to some-    one else, if I am sure there's nothing more for me to do. If no direction comes,   I may still be sure that God is at work. Maybe my offering provided the linking  up or channel needed for spiritual forces to flow more freely for the one in     need. I can pray for causes in the same way, or for spiritual movements [when     called to do so]. In all intercession I must continually remind myself that it isn't     the words that matter but the offering of myself.
            Intercession is a process that brings our scattered forces into a focus     and links us with the powers of the spiritual world. [In a meeting where     intercession has taken place, participants] come away with a sense of quiet     strength and renewed vitality, receiving in proportion to what they offered. In    making a total offering of themselves, they may become "filled with all the     fullness of God." How am I to fulfill my responsibility to intercede for    others? How might I make use of a list of those needing help? Have a     time each day for this service, bringing to God those persons and things that     are uppermost. 

            Do not let your intercession become mechanical. It is good practice to     draw in all [those sharing the condition of the one you are praying for]. How     can we practice intercession when we are greatly in need of the     "streams of refreshing" and feel useless? Evelyn Underhill writes: "You     can also offer your prayers, obedience, and endurance of dryness to our Lord,   for the good  of other souls ... The less you get out of it, the nearer it approa-   ches something worth offering." The power of God is quite as often demon-   strated in this way as when our prayers come easily and confidently.

            V. Prayer in Daily Life—Prayer expresses a constant impulse of          human nature to reach out towards that which is greater than itself, seeking a     Reality [which at first is barely perceptible to the spiritual self], which longs to    know it more fully. As the impulse to grow is in the plant/self, the real cause       is in the sun/ God. One's reaching out results in physical, intellectual, moral,       & spiritual growth. Growth [is side effect, not the ultimate end], which is the       kind & quality of relationship that one achieves with that which stimulated        one's response. Growth increases the area of one's receptivity.  [The ultimate    end] has no end, for this relationship [which seems to take place over time]    belongs not to time but to eternity.

           If one fixes attention on God, all achievements, regardless of field will     tend towards that end. Fascination with worldly things, seeing them as the     main end of one's existence, become the end of one's better striving. Emer-    son said, "Things are in the saddle, & ride humankind." [How can a religi-   ous society resist being transformed by the world according to a     worldly pattern]? [Those few who truly confess a failure to resist in] an     encounter with the Supreme Reality release fresh forces for action. [They   serve as leaven which] spreads until large communities are regenerated &    God's will is once more being done on earth. There is no reason why a new    outpouring of God's Spirit should not take place in these latter days.

            To take part in this new Pentecost, we must become men & women of     prayer. Why is it our meetings don't throb with spiritual life more often?     [How can we learn as individuals to cultivate a deep impulse that seeks     out heavenly Presence]? The group experience is dependent upon that     personal spiritual quality which is given to us in our private devotions, & which     binds us together in the process of transforming the world.
            Meditating on the Lord's Prayer—The model prayer Jesus taught in     response to "Lord, teach us to pray," is so familiar through frequent recital as     to have almost become degraded to a "vain repetition." It would be good prac-    tice to take it for a period as a theme for daily meditation leading to contempla-    tion, in order to assimilate its meaning and implications, to pray with under-   standing, and to have its spirit pervade all our prayers all the time.

           "The heart of prayer is adoration," emptying the self in contemplating     God's wonder & glory." [Adoration is more prayer's starting point than it's goal].  At the start, the Light has revealed evil. Once evil is recognized, we turn away  from it to God. By calling God Father, [Mother, Parent], we are by implication  denying & renouncing self which obeys selfish, egocentric impulses. In "hal-    lowed be thy name," we pray that all may come to knowledge of God, & glorify  God by using their powers as holy gifts. Thus all may become 1 holy family in  God, & God's kingdom may come. "Thy will be done," implies we want to be     "fellow workers with God," [& to become] so deeply in love with God that we     are ready to do what God wants, whatever the cost. If we understand these     opening clauses right, identify ourselves with them, we shall be in the right         spirit to utter the remaining petitions.

            Going through the whole prayer quietly & thoughtfully, we shall find     times of healthy self-examination & sober reflection, as well as strengthening     & confirming our spiritual base. Or suppose we take the complete prayer daily     for a time, trying to see & realize it afresh as a whole, perhaps by using a new     translation or a new language. Then recite the prayer slowly, uniting our being     with it but without tension, in an attitude of loving attention to God. We are     to go from thinking about God to meeting God in personal intercourse &     communion.

            Expectation and Preparation—We mustn't expect anything magical.     In the course of time we shall come to realize that, whether or not we were     directly conscious of it at the time, a sharing in a larger life is taking place.     Whom have I in Heaven but thee? Who is there on earth beside thee? As     non-ritualists make use of the Church's ancient prayers & hymns for medita-    tion, they will come to understand that in most cases, hymns, responses,     collects and litanies had their origin in someone else's [spiritual] experience;     they enshrine a vision, insight, deep meditation, or encounter with God. They     could serve to [give our wandering minds and spirit pause] and prepare us     for contemplation.
            The daily turning of our minds & emotions from terrifying demands of     the world to reflect upon things that belong to our peace is a vital necessity.     Turning ourselves to God in loving attention, contemplation, is devotions'    central act, & corresponds to receiving Christ in Holy Communion. A daily     program is invaluable, [& might include] lifting our hearts up to God immedi-   ately upon waking, 10-30 minutes of prayer, odd times spent thinking on the      subject of your morning meditation. The evening is a good time to reflect   quietly on events of the day. Commit those you love, dislike, and fear, the    events of the day to God. Then commit yourself to God.

           Prepare yourself for weekly worship with a ½-hour of special prayer &     meditative reading. If you can't be at worship try to be present in spirit during       at least part of the hour's worship. 2 or 3 times a year, try to make a retreat     with like-minded people. Friends have found that longer time together makes     them more sensitive to things of the Spirit & [spiritual] growth results. There is     likewise an increase in power for service. Human nature's natural impulse to     reach out towards that which is greater than itself can be cultivated, & lead to     growth in the knowledge and love of the Father and Christ, [and actual exper-    ience of God's presence], that will transform one's outlook & indeed one's     basic character, & bring a deep sense of power and peace & joy everlasting.

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43.  Standards of Success (by Teresina Rowell Havens; 1948)

      [About the Author]—Teresina Rowell was born in 1909.  She gradu-    ated from Smith College in 1929.  After extensive travel & studies abroad in     comparative religions, she returned to the US, studied & received a Ph.D in     comparative religion from Yale.  She taught the subject at many different col-    leges throughout the country.  She began her association with Pendle Hill in     1940, and became a Quaker the same year.  In 1942 they set up a work and     prayer commune in nearby Chester, PA., where she met and married Joseph     Havens in 1947.  In 1972 they started Temenos, a spiritual retreat in Shutes-     bury, MA.  She died in 1992.]

       INTRODUCTION—The dominant system of the culture-pattern's        values as a whole dictates [who is] considered a success; [anyone outside     that pattern] is regarded as a failure. In our society, most people try to suc-   ceed according to the conventional pattern. Some have begun to suspect      the hollowness & unsatisfying nature of the goals they have pursued. Others     of our generation, [seeing] other cultures, have been forced to recognize that    the contemporary industrial world’s standards aren't the only ones by which        to judge the worth of a man’s life; young people no longer know what stan-    dard to follow. [This study is] undertaken in the hope that understanding     other religions’and cultures’ standards of success may stimulate us to re-   assess & reformulate our own. 

 PART ONE—CHALLENGE:

      1. HISTORY CHALLENGES THE WEALTHY: ISRAEL AND CHINA—    The prophets of both ancient Palestine and ancient China proclaimed fear-    lessly their conviction that God’s standards are the opposite of man's. They        declared forthrightly that God will bring to naught those who achieve worldly    success. Are there many modern prophets who tell businessmen in an     attractive suburb that God despises their mansions and will destroy     them?  

      The worldly success of the few, likely at the expense of the many, is     likely to mean failure as judged by the welfare of the many.  [Jer. 22:13;     Amos 6:1-6; Is. 29:10-11 and Tao Te Ching cited].  Besides being a sin     against brotherhood, the amassing of wealth at the expense of the poor        blinds even the religionists so that they can no longer see the truth.  Equally     disastrous is the pride which almost inevitably infects the outwardly success-   ful. [Is.2:12, 17; Is 23:9 and Tao Te Ching cited]. 

       Chinese & Hebrew thinkers came to almost identical conclusion as to     what true success is: it is precisely the opposite of what the world admires. As     the Hebrew people experienced suffering & defeat, it was only this view     which enabled them to face & transfigure their fate. It was a realization that     redemption can come through the despised, the rejected, that worldly “failure”     may be more creative than apparent “success.” [Is. 53: 3,5,12 cited]

       The identification of this “redemptive failure” with the criminal class is     particularly significant. The one who suffers & bears punishment may make    the greatest contribution in a spiritual sense. The respectable man at the top     of society shares in the criminal’s guilt. The vitality of this principle, [also to be      found in the Cross], has been discovered afresh now by conscientious objec-    tors who went to prison rather than acquiesce in conscription. They see with     new clarity how we all share the guilt of each one of us; they issue to our con-    ventional society a challenge.     

       2. DEATH’S CHALLENGE TO WEALTH: INDIA & THE BUDDHA—    In Vedic times the people of India, like their fellow human beings elsewhere,     [& including religious teachers], desired long life, offspring, & cattle; [success     was measured by these things].  By 500 B.C. some of India’s thinkers began      to realize that these goods do not last.  There is a Death dialog in the Katha     Upanishad and the Brihad Aranyaha Upanishad.  The immemorial question of   India is:  “What should I do with that by which I do not become death-        less?”  Poverty, asceticism, celibacy, pilgrimage mark the road, but the test     of success is: Have you found God and realized the oneness of your soul     with Cosmic Reality?

       Gotama, later known as the Buddha inherited this ultimate aim, and     made it more dynamic and psychological.  [After admitting that extreme asceti-    cism was working], he remembered how once he had transcended sense-    pleasures and wrong states of mind; an experience of rapt contemplation had     come to him spontaneously.  Only if it leads to inward growth may a brother     judge that his outward manner of living is successful.  

       Wealth isn't thought of as evil in itself, simply a hindrance, a distraction.   It is no “sacrifice” for the monk to renounce possessions, but a privilege, a     way to freedom.  The criterion is in terms of attitudes, not garments:  “The     Almsman who … has put greed from him … who …has put malice from him     … who … has put wrong outlooks from him—of such an Almsman I say that     he succeeds in treading the recluse’s path of duty.”

       The true test comes when the brother is attacked.  The Buddha wasn't     afraid to use the language of success & failure. He was careful to warn the     brothers against premature self-satisfaction. This wise spiritual counselor     warns his disciples against the temptation to think themselves superior be-   cause of apparent success in their pilgrimage, [and perhaps fail because he        stops  growing].  In the little dialog entitled “In Gosinga Wood,” the Buddha     poses “queries” to 3 brothers like: “Do you live together in concord & amity    harmony and unison, viewing one another with eyes of affection?  

       The dialog concludes with a statement of how the achievement of the     3 young men will benefit their family and clan and indeed the whole world, by     showing men what they should aim at in life.  This became the Buddha’s own     greatest contribution to humankind.  Thus the Buddha, like the Christ,     becomes for his devotees the supreme Standard of success.  [Luke 12:16-21;     Matt. 19:24; Luke 9:24-25 cited].

       3.  HOLY POVERTY AS CHALLENGE & CRITERION OF SUCCESS    From time to time there have arisen dynamic bands of men & women who     have felt solidarity with the poor & exploited as keenly as the Hebrew prophets,  & have at the same time renounced the world in their quest for God. They     challenge sharply the common notions of success as consisting in rising     “above” other men. The Franciscans called themselves  “Minores” to express    their identification with artisans & peasants. Gandhi wore homespun & did         the scavenger work of untouchables. Japanese Itto-en members wear the     workmen’s rough uniforms. With their rejection of everything which doesn’t     lead to the “World of Light,” they lead others to question the value of secon-    dary goods.   

       Most saints of both East and West have regarded the intellect with     suspicion.  Tenko San of Itto-en wrote: “I happened to be an uneducated man,     and could conceive nothing for the way but to count my own errors & defects,     so I came to establish this life of resolute repentance, prostrated before “The     Light.”  These challengers exemplify at its highest the power of religion to     change man’s desires.  They free others from the desires, the pride and the     fear which usually drive men to pile up wealth.  By their own inner peace and     freedom from harassing fear, these blithe apostles of poverty exemplify a      fulfillment of life which the ordinary man longs for but does not believe     possible.  [Luke 18:22; Matt. 6:19-21; 31-33; Luke 22:26-27 cited].

PART TWO:  NORMS FOR THE LAYMAN

       4.  EVEN-MINDED IN SUCCESS AND FAILURE: HINDUISM—What     is to be the standard of success for most men & women?  The wise old   religions have provided a clear and explicit answer.  [Success for layfolk] lies     in performing ones function as conscientiously as possible, in a spirit of     detachment and a composed mind.  The Hindu layperson was faced with 2     contradictory ideals:  withdrawal from action in the outer world; obligations of     his inherited caste duty.  

       [For the Hindu peasant], the social system is not a ladder but a web,     within which each finds his interdependent part.  [They ask questions like]:     “Have I fulfilled the potential of my particular state?  Have I dedicated all     my work to God?  To those who think in terms of inward realization, one’s     position in the web is not the crucial matter.  Perform the caste-duty to which     you were born, but offer it to God with the detachment and devotion of the     monk, unperturbed by failure or success. 

    Early in her religious quest India’s God-seekers began to realize the     transiency of worldly aims.  True success lay in detachment from all desire for     attaining them.  Time and history are but projections and “progress” a child’s     dream.  Hindus regard joy and sorrow, praise and blame, beauty and squalor,     as revelations of one ultimate Reality.  The absolute is beyond all duality, be-    yond all distinctions, embracing everything without exception. 

       Why then, should one work at all, if all things, even seeming “good” &     “evil,” are the same?  Man should work as God works, not to gain any particu-    lar end, but to hold the world together [Bhagavad Gita cited].  The Hindu ima-   gination has created the symbol of the Dance of Shiva.  Shiva, personifying   the cosmic divine energy under its destructive aspect, dances the evolution     and decay of countless worlds through immeasurable aeons.  But his inmost     essence remains unshaken [Bhagvad Gita cited].  True success from this     superhuman standpoint is to act as God does in his cosmic dance. 

       5. WHAT IS TRUE MAN?: CONFUCIANISM—Confucianism is pre-    eminent among the world’s religions as the lay religion par excellence; it has     no place for monks. Your 1^st aim in life is to be the best possible in your cho-    sen role, more important than money, fame, [or power]. This standard of suc-    cess was so high that Confucius felt he hadn't been able to live up to it him-   self. The Confucian principle approximates the Golden Rule as a standard         of behavior [which has widespread effect from one man & his family, exten-    ding to the whole country]. 

       Only if government leaders lead the people to inner self-government     [as in the ideal family] can they be successful.  Confidence in the basic good-    ness of the cosmic order, & of man’s nature as a reflection thereof, is another     assumption which leads Chinese thinkers to emphasize immediate relation-    ships.  A good Confucianist could never consider himself as “successful” if he     achieved large-scale “results”  at the expense of his family or neighborhood     relationships.  

       Both Hindu & Chinese agree that a person’s essential integrity of spirit      is a more important criterion of the ultimate success of his life than what he     accomplishes outwardly.  The Hindu principle is stated in mystical and theistic     terms; the Chinese is more humanistic and social.  By the integrity of his own     life & character Confucius exemplified for all later ages a compelling standard      of what a “true man” can be.    

       6. BEAUTY & EVANESCENCE (fading away): JAPAN—From India    and China the standards we have just considered found their way across     mountain and ocean to the Land of the Rising Sun, where they have helped     mold the lives & ideals of countless generations of Japanese children. Before     Indian & Chinese influences, the primitive Nipponese as artists probably had     no conscious standard of achievement, but intuitively found their lives most     worth living, when they felt themselves one with the cherry-blossoms and red     maples. 

       [Rather than being supplanted by outside influence, their intuitive lives]     were given deeper meaning.  Love of form & politeness was given a cosmic     rationale by the Confucian philosophy of ceremony and propriety.  The poign-    ancy of quickly-passing things was given a metaphysical foundation by Bud-    dhist teaching (Nō play Kantan cited].  The Buddhist ideal of inner awake-    ning came to Japan in the form of lay-Buddhism known as Mahayana.  The      ideal of enlightenment in the midst of the world rather than in separation from     it, has governed the lives of [all classes & walks of life in Japan]. The feudal    and Buddhist standards of success coalesced in Bushido.

       Through the “Tea Ceremony,” the “Sacrament of Tea,” even factory    girls in contemporary Japan are trained in a standard of frugality, cleanliness,     order and appreciation of beauty in plain and natural things.  Figures like the     wandering poet Basho (1644-1694) exemplify for successive generations of     Japanese a standard of success which cares nothing for money and is able     to find Enlightenment through communion with the smallest revelation in     nature.  During this same period Confucian ideals came more to the fore,     fostered by the Tokugawa officials as a means of keeping the various social       classes satisfied with their static position in the social scale.  

       In the latter years of Tokugawa rule a somewhat different type of Con-    fucian popular teacher developed, exemplified by Ninomaya Sontoku.  His life     of frugality and complete sincerity enabled him to revive both the people’s         and their economic life in many villages which he reformed.  Speeches like         the following were made about his life: 

       “… The job which was given me was charcoal-making.  When I     thought of 50 years of doing this, I began to hate my job.  My 68 year-old    grandmother said to me:  ‘…What will be the fate of Nagano Prefecture if all     the people become Prefectural Governor?’ What a fool I had been to think   like this and neglect my valuable work. When I thus found my real self, I     abandoned my mistaken ideas, and began to work hard making charcoal.  [I]     am a useful member of the State as long as [I] am earnest in doing my work.”

            For hundreds of years ordinary Japanese have been trained to fulfill     traditional patterns rather than “express himself.” Typical Japanese were     trained how to behave in prescribed circumstances; it failed to help them     develop dynamic standards for new situations. The Japanese will have to     learn to think for themselves, [to synthesize a new civilization standard; they     aren’t alone in having to adjust to conflicting values of a competitive age]. 

       7. PROTESTANTISM AND AMERICAN STANDARDS OF SUCCESS    In India, China, and Japan, the standard of success even for the layman has     been essentially an inward one, based on the same ultimate assumptions of     value as those held up for saint, monk, or sage.  In Medieval Europe, the    other-worldly aims of monk and friar were expected to be the ultimate aims         of the layman, though realized through sacraments, pilgrimage & minor      penance. When monasticism was abolished, the layman would no longer     know what his own aim in life should be; he would more easily turn to this-    worldly goals. 

       Luther and Calvin tried to avoid this development, by sanctifying the     ordinary man’s calling, expecting him to be as fully, daily devoted to God in       his work as the monk was at his meditations.  But forces stronger Luther’s &       Calvin’s doctrines were at work in the western world, undermining the whole     religious framework of daily life and with it the Middle Ages standards of     success. As Lewis Mumbord put it: “The 7 deadly sins became the 7 cardinal     virtues”; it was a completely reversed standard.  Calvinism contributed to the     dishonoring of poverty by its doctrine that worldly success in one’s calling     was a proof of election. 

       The dominant “makers” of the New World were heirs to this world view,     which was supplemented by several factors: absence of alternative standards;  apparently limitless physical potentialities; the necessities of mass-produc-    tion. There was no established church or the prestige of birth to base a stan-    dard on. The frontier produced a new kind of [“rags- to-riches”] hero, the oppo-    site of religion’s rich man voluntarily becoming poor. The price of this new     hero’s “successes” came high, & is still being paid by the American people in     forest depletion, soil, & subsoil resources. 

       Success was judged in terms of size & number; without realizing it, the     salesman [applies the same size & number standard to the church minister’s     success or failure]. How are we to free ourselves from the subtle influence  of this [size/number] standard, which continues to affect our unconsci-    ous judgment of our own worth? And the mechanistic science of the 19th       century continues to influence us more than we realize, & probably contri-   butes to our faith in statistical surveys & numerical criteria of achievement,     even in education.

       PART THREE: NEW CRITERIA OF SUCCESS—[Can our modern     culture find mental or physical health, creativity, and holiness without     some criterion of success deeper than outward action alone?  Those     seeking a solution to this problem approach it] from different angles.  All imply     the need to measure success in terms of understanding, sensitivity, & inward     growth. [Seeking only outward achievement leaves one with repressed sides    of one’s nature, which exact revenge for repression with heart disease, sto-    mach ulcers, & neurosis]. 

       Depth psychologists are convinced that we must learn to release the     undeveloped sides of our nature into creative expression, if we would avoid     mental catastrophe. Lewis Mumford maintains that the “deliberate amateur”     is more successful as a person than the efficient executive or one-sided pro-    fessional who has no leisure. Many artists and writers are contributing to our     search for new criteria. Artists are driven by inner necessity to resist any pres-    sure to “succeed” in terms of financial security. The path to creative expres-    sion can't open until one stops “doing” long enough to pay attention to what     is happening within.

       [Our meager American culture] reflects our failure to believe in the     reality & importance of the life of imagination and feeling. For those who can     no long act, action cannot be criterion of their success. Failure may be more     important for one’s spiritual growth than “success,” provided one learns     through it. If crises and failure force us to re-examine our norms of success    they will not have been wasted. The despised things may come indeed to       confound the things which have been mighty, both in our civilization and     within ourselves.

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44. Quaker Doctrine of Inward Peace (by Howard H. Brinton; 1948)

     About the Author—Howard & Anna Brinton arrived at Pendle Hill in the     summer of 1936 with a solid background of academic achievement at the     colleges of Mills & Earlham, & became co-directors of a new sort of education     enterprise, a Quaker fusion of school & community. They retired in the 1950s     & lived on campus as Directors Emeriti.  Anna died in 1969; Howard continues  to serve by lecturing, writing, and simply being.  

        Pressures of Past Years and the Quaker Way of Meeting Them—    We  are all suffering from a sense of pressure. It is an astonishing fact that     most of our labor-saving devices have not saved us any labor; they have     merely increased the number of things we do.  [Yearly Meetings are busier].    For some reason we desire to be more active.  In former Yearly Meeting far   more time was given to spiritual admonitions and silent waiting.  

       We sometimes hear a psychological explanation [that] . . . we are    trying to escape from ourselves.  This explanation does not take us very far.      [Part of the answer] is that our interests are spread out over a number of     fields  in which the standards of behavior are inconsistent with one another.     While in a given group we suppress the other groups’ standards, but we    don't eliminate them.  Perhaps the more fundamental difficulty is our inward      world. As long as there is inward chaos, all outward actions will be contami-         nated by this chaos.

           Such inward references are typical of the teachings of Jesus.  For the     Quaker, outward and inward combine in an intimate organic relation; the     inward is primary.  A person in danger of being overwhelmed by outside pres-    sures can meet them best by increasing one’s inner dimensions.  The Quaker     way is so to order the inner life that outer pressures can be adequately met     and dealt with.  In one sense we become independent of outer tumults, but in     another sense . . . we must seek to reproduce in the world around us the     inner peace created within ourselves.

            The Attainability of Inner Peace—Is inner peace, free from all     sense of pressure attainable?  [The Quakers answered “yes”; the Puritans     answered “no”]; humankind can never be free from sin. It would be interes-   ting to speculate as to how much of our modern restlessness is due to our     Puritan inheritance which demands a perpetual tension between the real and    the ideal.  By removing peace and perfectability from all things this side of     the grave, the Puritans have doomed themselves to continual dissatisfaction     and frustration.  [As George Fox wrote]: “it is a sad and comfortless sort of     striving, to strive with a belief we should never overcome.”

            For the Quaker, perfection and its consequent inner peace can be     reached when all of God’s immediate requirements as understood are faith-    fully met.  Robert Barclay calls this “a perfection proportionable and answer-    able to man’s measure whereby we are kept from transgressing God’s law &      enabled to answer what God requires of us.”  Inner peace comes through    obedience to the Divine Voice . . . as a friend complies with the wishes of   one’s friend because the two are one in spirit.

            Perfection and Pacifism— The only person who can secure inner     peace is at peace with the world around them even though the world may     not be at peace with them. Love removes inner conflict which seeks satis-   faction in outer conflict.  Only when the pacifist attains inner peace do they    truly live up to their name.

            Inner Conflict & its Solution as Portrayed in the Quaker Journals    Job Scott writes of his 4 year struggle:  “I [often] returned home from my     many meetings grievously condemned, distressed and ashamed, wishing          I had not gone into such company.  But soon my resolutions failed me and     away I went again.  My days I spent in vanity and rebellion; my nights fre-    quently in horror and distress.”  There was no sudden change to a state of     peace.  He came gradually to realize that “whenever [the true and living spirit     and power of . . . God] is received and in all things thoroughly submitted to, a     reconciliation takes place. . .  The one thing needful is real union with God, an     actual joining with God in one spirit.  Nothing else can ever satisfy his soul or     abidingly stay his mind.”

           Job Scott became aware of new requirements, which he must meet if         he was to retain inward peace [e.g. vocal ministry; refusal to use the paper     currency issued to support the Revolutionary War; a long religious journey]     Job Scott frequently underwent periods of aridity, but the search for inward     peace was a clearly defined process.  

            Conversion is the beginning not the end of a process.  When inward     peace disappears it is a sign that the next stage of growth is at hand; peace     can only be reached if that growth takes place.  [The call for] curtailment of     business when the business has grown [so much] that it interferes with religi-    ous duties [is common to] almost every Journal writer.  Rebecca Jones,    Catherine Phillips, Edward Hicks, John Rutty, and William Allen [gave up one     of their creative passions in order to] attain integration of personality around     a central, [religious] interest by reducing competing interests.    

            The Philosophical Basis—Inward peace is the result of inward unity,     not just of ideas but of the whole person.  We are speaking of a unity of will,     not of substance.  The Light in its wholeness shines into every individual,     though that individual’s comprehension of it may be imperfect. The process     of attaining unity is definitely a religious method requiring willingness to sub-    merge individual desires and prejudices and to obey God’s will wherever it    may lead. Conflict in the soul arises from refusal to accept the truth [and     attempts to “reason” it away].

            Place of Self-Surrender—“Self-surrender” is often misunderstood         [as implying] a attitude of Passivity which is out of tune with our present age’s     extreme activism.  In Quakerism . . . if the lower is quieted it is only that the     higher may have opportunity to assert itself.  Thomas Shillitoe writes [that in     the face of the overwhelming task before him]:  “Divine goodness appeared     for my help with the animating assurance, that if I remained willing to become     like a cork on the mighty ocean of service . . . willing to be wafted hither and     thither . . . he would care for me every day and every way.”  In so far as Quie-    tism means the surrender of the human or self-centered will in order that the     divine may become active in and through the human, it is a universal Quaker      doctrine.  George Fox lived a life of tireless activity, but this activity was    rooted in inward peace and stillness.

           The Habitation of Peace—Quaker writers sometimes speak as if there     were a calm area in the soul to which one might retire as to a quiet room.      George Fox, John Woolman, John Pemberton, and John Barclay write of this     place, [which is] in Quaker philosophy, that area of perfect unity and peace     that existed before all . . . strife.

           Getting Atop of Things—When Fox describes an encounter with an     obstruction of any kind . . . he often ends with the phrase “but I got atop it”         [i.e.] many problems are not soluble on their own level).  We can get above     the problem, look down on it, & find that it ceases to be a problem.  George         Fox writes: “Whatever temptations, distractions, confusion the light doth make    manifest and discover, do not look at [them] . . . but look at the light which    discovers them . . . That will give victory; and ye will find strength; there is the    first step to peace.  Allowing the light to shine and so permitting higher forces    in the background to emerge and operate, there will  arise . . . a new life . . .        that will surround and overcome the darkness & center the soul in that which     is above it.

            Inward Peace as a Test of Guidance—[The presence of] inward     peace . . . becomes an evidence of divine approval while lack of it is an evi-    dence that some divine requirement [some concern] isn't being fulfilled.  The     pacifist knows that one’s feelings are just as truly organs of knowledge for     certain aspects of experience as is reason.  If inward peace is to be used    as a test of guidance,  feelings must be sensitized through prayer, worship    meditation or other spiritual exercises . . . and the guidance of the individual     must be checked with the guidance of others.  

            Only a very clear and strong feeling should lead the individual to carry     out a leading [contrary to the sense of the meeting].  David Ferris writes     regarding slaves:  “If the Lord requires thee to set thy slaves free, obey God     promptly and leave the result to God, and peace shall be within thy borders.”

           The Return to Inwardness—The unique part of the Quaker method is     that their meetings expose the soul to the Light from God so that peace is     removed if it ought to be removed [signaling a new requirement], or attained        if it can be attained [signaling satisfaction of a requirement].  Modern Quaker-    ism has lost much of this inwardness.  Modern scientific skill has brought     neither outer nor inner peace.  In recent years scientific skill has been largely     used for [promoting] conflict.  Inner life is evaporating out of our culture . . .     leaving outer force as a means of providing security and unity.  All men every-    where must come to realize that outer conflict results from inner conflict, that    inner conflict can be healed only by that Power Divine that descends from on      high.

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46. The Faith of an Ex-agnostic (by Carol R. Murphy; 1948)
             [About the Author]---She was born in Boston, Mass., Dec. 1916 (died 1994). After a childhood of home schooling in rural Massachusetts, the family     moved to the Philadelphia area; Carol attended Quaker schools. In 1928 the     family became convinced Friends. She graduated Swarthmore Class of 1937     & earned an M.A. in International Affairs at American University in 1941. She     began her association with Pendle Hill in 1947. This pamphlet is the 1st of 17      that she was to write, & is the results of a search for a meaningful philosophy      of religion, involving the failure of science, the nature of God, commitment, &     redemption.

            FOREWORD—My philosophy is not so much the record as the result     & rationalization of an inward change which touched depths of personality un-    plumbed by conscious reasoning. [I needed a credible philosophy for a belief     in God]. I had to restate religious ideas before I could return to traditional   Christian  language. I hope this philosophical essay may help troubled     seekers to a view of the nature of things that will encourage their seeking.

            It was not logic that carried me on … It was the concrete being that     reasons; pass a number of years & I find my mind in a new place. The whole     man moves; paper logic is but the record of it. John H. Newman

            "… In its most characteristic embodiments religious happiness is no … escape. It cares no longer for escape. It consents to the evil outwardly as a     form of sacrifice—inwardly it knows it to be permanently overcome.”          William Blake

            CHAPTER I: Failure of Science as Saviour—[When we read of     technology trying to outdo the German war machine, we know] all’s not      right with the world. We are frightened [of overwhelming mass-produc-    tion, psychologists’ revelation of our darker side, and the genie of     nuclear energy. In this sad morning-after of our civilization, what shall     we do? What are the characteristics, vital or lethal of our Western     culture? 

            Lewis Mumford says that the dogma of the religion of utilitarianism “is     the dogma of increasing wants.” Thus science served appetite under the     guidance of reason. Science, in conquering Nature for reason has imposed     too great a burden of power on reason. We [once] thought that nature could   do us no harm when tamed to our purposes. But nature is, Emily Dickinson    said, “docile & omnipotent,”—and dangerous as well. Henry Adams saw that     “our power is always running ahead of our mind.” We have pursued know-    ledge so hotly that we have almost forgotten that knowledge has its moral   requirements, that knowing depends upon being. 

             How long will scientific integrity last in this struggle for power     fought with armies of ex-Nazi scientists? The bent of our minds is away     from those ultimate values which men must serve, which are ends rather than     means, & their own excuse for being, [like Truth]. Science as a whole does not  contemplate Reality as does the artist or the lover or the worshiper, for its    own  sake. We feel we have to do something with our knowledge. Here again     the world has forgotten the importance of being. Being itself is a kind of doing:     a beautiful personality has a radiant energy cast on all who are around. How     shall we persuade humankind to concentrate on inner growth? The motive         for self-improvement must be something more than self. Altruism is the        principle that will save us; perhaps morality can save us.

            CHAPTER II: Failure of Simple Morality as Saviour—There are a     number of ways of explaining—or explaining away—human morality and the      moral consciousness. It is obvious that human conceptions of moral conduct  have evolved, but this doesn't mean that there is no eternal truth which men     increasingly perceive. The commands of logical, mathematical, and moral     necessity come to us with the same magisterial grandeur, and none are the     invention of a society at times morally more obtuse than its best members. 

             Can an unexamined morality long remain the motive power of human     effort? To make certain of the ultimate consequences of one’s act is to be-    come paralyzed with conscientiousness. If non-resistance means the victory    of a military conqueror, how far away will eventual deliverance be, and how     responsible is the non-resister for the intervening years of rapine? All     morality needs some further supplement, some more fundamental ground  than anxious calculation to give men the courage for action. 

             Another failing of secular morality is that it looks to the outward act     rather than the inward man, from whom the impulse to act must proceed.          Lawrence Hyde wrote: [The reformer] alternates between the dangerous     excitement of working for an abstract aim, and the depression awakened in     him through contemplating the features of a world which appears more ugly      and sordid to him than it does to others.

            While sense-of-duty has some motive-power, it is notorious that to the     average man joy is divorced from duty; sin is fun, and morality is usually     drudgery. How are we going to put some pep into virtue? The reasons why     secular morality fails as a motive-power are that such morality is not clearly     integrated with cosmic reality; there is no assurance of cosmic backing.          Humans, being rational animals, want to know the meaning of the cosmos of     which they are a part, so they can work with the grain and not against it.

             Our enthusiasm for others beyond our immediate circle of friends     must be reinforced by a common bond of likeness, or a common task which     draws us together. Why should we love humankind? Are we worth it? What     are we, anyway? We need faith in our ideals, in the universe, and in our-    selves; to obtain that we must look beyond morality itself. 

            CHAPTER III: Beyond Morality—There are 2 ways of looking at the     cosmos in which we live, move, and have our being. One is naturalistic & the     other religious. Naturalism’s goal of moral effort is human happiness; what-        ever ministers to this is of value. Happiness, once discovered & analyzed,        might still be the goal of rational morality. It is fairly obvious that what is         sought is a quality of happiness; it is the quality, not the happiness, which is    the distinguishing factor. Naturalism is in a dilemma. As long as it conceives     values to be the products of natural desires, it can explain them naturally    but this conception of values is inadequate. 

            The naturalistic view of humans wavers between cynical materialism &     starry-eyed humanism. The true view of humans will be one in which mercy &     truth are met together; a view expressed in terms of present conditions &     growth, actuality & potentiality, humility and hope. Religion seems to provide      the life & power that makes moral perfection possible. Thomas Kelly says: “It      is the beginning of spiritual maturity, which comes after the awkward age of     religious busyness for the Kingdom of God … 

            The mark of the simplified life is radiant joy. Knowing fully the com-    plexity of men’s problems it cuts through to the Love of God & ever cleaves     to God.” Religion can and does bring powerful aid to the moral struggle. Its     answer to the moral difficulties is that the motive power behind the categori-    cal imperative is love; the supreme objective of devotion is Perfect Love. The     moving principle of the cosmos is also redemptive in nature. Love is its own     reward; it brings altruism naturally.

            To submit one’s moral independence to another is to bow down before     an idol. Nor is a good cause adequate for devotion, [for a cause is concern for     the welfare of human beings; it is hard to become devoted to humans en     masse]. The religious person gives devotion to the divine reality which is     conceived to be an end in itself; unlike a human personality, it is worthy of     moral obedience. The love given it enriches rather than displaces love for     humanity. All love adds meaning to life; it is not surprising that the religious         life becomes totally meaningful. 

            The great religions have had faith in a creative element, a redemptive     principle, a Way, Truth and Life which releases humans from the wheel of life,     or forgives their trespasses, giving humans the assurance that they need not     be limited by their past misdeeds, but can grow into blessedness. The Bud-    dhist Suttas declare “the truth [to be] lovely in its origin, lovely in its progress,     and lovely in its consummation.”

            CHAPTER IV: Basic Philosophical Considerations—We must ask:     Is religion true as well as well as useful? Is the universe basically good, bad,     or indifferent? Is it a divine creation or not? We cannot prove any final conclu-    sion we may reach. From [our] partial experience of the universe we try to     draw conclusions as to the nature of the whole. Meaning differs in the light of     different presuppositions. We must beware not only of bias, but of hasty theo-    rizing. A waiting attitude is especially important in studying the many aspects     of humans’ dim perceptions of cosmic & religious realities. It is best to accept      all the diverse aspects in their variety, no matter how paradoxical they may    seem, as functions of an organic whole. 

           We cannot be resigned to imprisonment in our own minds. [So we     have] the common sense, if paradoxical, feeling we have both mental acti-    vity and direct contact with reality. Mind and things interpenetrate, interact, in     functional, organic relationship. It has often been supposed that rational con-    cepts and universal qualities belong to an eternal “realm of essence,” inde-    pendent both of mind & temporal existence. Surely qualities are not invented     or imagined, but found in functional relation to existing things. 

            Until our ideals are realized, they appear to be only in our minds, &     a gulf again threatens to open between mind and world. Are ideals separated     from reality, or are they real and acting on reality? The ideal must be a possibi-    lity in the material; the purposer must be able to say, “It can be done.” Bea-    ring in mind both the norm and the need for change is the creative attitude &  when applied to all it is creative love. We ask, What growth or purpose is     responsible for all this? How was it possible? What is the meaning of     meaning?

            CHAPTER V: Freedom & Self—Humans find it hard to believe in or     understand their own marvelous existence; they waver [between being “All-    Creator” & being a helpless puppet]. The selves we know have a mind/ body     union; research shows many effects that mental states have on the body.     There are reactions in the self determined by physical causes & there are     bodily events determined in part at least by laws of thinking. Does the self     have any independent determining power of its own? What is its relation to its     constituent parts & to its environment? The self both has & is its experiences;     the thinker is more than the sum of the thinker’s thoughts. 

            A self is a psychic organism, to some extent self-determining, whose     unifying principle is immanent in and transcendent of its members. The self     has a power of self-government. The self has the basic freedom to choose         freedom, & sometimes the power to achieve freedom. The Dialogs of Buddha     say that we can have our hearts in our power & not be in the power of our     hearts. [Sometimes will resists itself]. How can fractured will pull itself         together? 

            Religion claims that there is a beloved Reality, such that service to it is     the way to obtain perfect freedom. Human selves can achieve a certain     originality of response, can act purposively, & can build systems of rational     meaning or of value. How shall we realize that we do belong to a whole? Let     us, like the mystics, look into ourselves, not to see ourselves as isolated mira-    cles in a dead universe, but to find the Beyond that is also within. Study of     the self reveals some power not ourselves but partially revealed in us in our     most creative moments. 

            CHAPTER VI: The Divine Activity—The universe appears to have a     value-producing activity which can act through people or upon them. It ap-    pears in evolution, history, and in the moral effects of prayer. Life has been     growing more adaptive, more sensitive, more fragile, more aware of values     not instrumental to its survival. Religious people call it Providence; non-    theistic     thinkers often conceive it more vaguely as a “dialectic” or dialog.     Marxism has a certain religious sense, a metaphysical insight, but it is not     metaphysical enough. It does not link up with William James’ “vast, slow-    breathing Kosmos with its dread abysses and unknown tides.” 

            Beauty, truth & goodness are heightened & life's worth increased by a     creative synthesis which purely human efforts can't bring about. Worship &     prayer provide another channel for creative cosmic action. A certain attitude     on the part of the worshiper, when sincere, always bring a certain result.         Prayer brings the illumination of self-knowledge, it purifies the heart, & brings     moral and strength. Selves are channels for a larger creative activity. Is this     creative activity only one of many forces, or an expression of the principle by     which the universe exists & functions? We can no longer assume that the     activity is cosmic but purpose only human. God is both life-force and eternal   ideal; God is the push from below and the pull from above.

            CHAPTER VII: The Nature of God—If will is the unity of the self, then     God must be a Self; but to what extent can the Law of the Universe of which     we persons are a part be said to be a Person? Religious consciousness gives     valuable insights which must not be ignored. It insists that God is real, an     insight that has received different emphases, from only Brahman is real (Hin-   du) to only God has perfect being (Scholastic teaching). Religious intuition     also insists on the paradoxical ultimacy and intimacy of Divine Reality. Many     who have lost faith are those who imagined God as a distant, thundering   Jehovah, a finite being moving around in the universe.

            Because of these reactions, from a personal Jehovah to the Cosmic     Law, the modern mind has great difficulty in thinking of God as at all personal.     The greater the personality, the less pettily “personal” & the more steadfast it      is. Though not a human, God has a conscious purpose and will; God is self-    determining and so in the highest degree a self. God has moral value, & only      a person capable of possessing a good will is a locus of moral value. God     may be thought of as supremely real, both immanent & transcendent, a Self     that differs from our Selves in being more integrated & in being entirely     creative.

            Creative insight into persons is creative love, which when communi-    cated [by God] to its objects, brings a sense of hope & humility which gives     persons strength to become their better selves. Prayer is when a person is     most sensitized to God’s action, & when one receives God’s criticism & encou-    ragement. God’s judgment is God’s mercy; moral law’s obligation is the drive    of  God’s creative love. The universal search, from meaning to the Creator of meaning, has ended in the God of religion, a Divine Reality of creative,     redemptive love. 

            CHAPTER VIII: The Redemption of Evil—The vivid realization of evil     has prevented many from being able to believe in either a benevolent or a     powerful deity. The fact of evil, when faced, makes us search not only our         hearts and our world-view, [but also the value and meaning of life]. Religion     affirms that there is such a meaning, [though some call it wishful thinking].     The truest religion is a way of doing God’s will not human will. The truly     religious person sees that every act can be a sacrament, every thought a    practice of the  Presence of God. This person thinks reality worthwhile     enough to accept fully without protests or daydreams.

            The 1st step is to make only reasonable demands on the universe.     The next step is to wonder whether our demands on the universe are just &,     indeed, whether we should make any. Perhaps suffering is not always an evil,     or perhaps it can be redeemed. It is crippling only if men have no freedom to     make the redemptive rather than the natural & instinctive response to suf-    fering. J.S. Bixler says: “[The mysterious] hints that certain things must be    accepted on their own terms as contrasted with ours.” We & all creation are     under the imperative to grow.

            The 3rd step is creative cooperation with the universe, & seeing evil     as an impediment to growth, not a frustration of our desires. With humankind     rests the greatest responsibility for that refusal to grow which is sin. [Perhaps     not all responsibility or freedom may be ours; small allotments of freedom     may belong to animals]. Evil may now be defined as that which takes us    away from God. It is God who triumphs over evil by giving life all its meaning,     the only meaning it can have. Without belief in a Divine Reality, the problem    of evil is insoluble. Given such a belief, one can face evil and be more than     conqueror of it. 

            This search for ultimate meaning has now come as far as words can     carry it. Our human minds are unable to supply all the connections, answer all     the questions, or make sense, even of humankind; yet there is real value and     order in the world. There is a Creator of value who is not ourselves; whose     existence endows everything with meaning. You who wish to find the ultimate     assurance of worth must seek your own contact with the Source of all     meaning, and trust to the eternally patient strength of redemptive Love. 

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47. The Nature of Quakerism (by Howard H. Brinton; 1949)           
            About the Author—Howard & Anna Brinton arrived at Pendle Hill in the     summer of 1936 with a solid background of academic achievement at the     colleges of Mills & Earlham, & became co-directors of a new sort of education     enterprise, a Quaker fusion of school and community. They retired in the     1950s & lived on campus as Directors Emeriti. Anna died in 1969; Howard     continues to serve by lecturing, writing, and simply being.

           The Society of Friend’s primary doctrine declares that God’s Presence     is felt at the apex of the human soul; humans can know & heed God directly     without church, priest, sacrament or sacred book. God is for humans imma-    nent and transcendent. The Divine Presence is “Light,” “Power,” “Word,”     “Seed of the Kingdom,” “Christ Within,” “That of God in every man.” Human     endeavor should be to merge one’s will [and actions] with the Divine Will, as     far as they can comprehend; all human beings have experienced this. The     Society of Friends is a Christian society. The Bible is considered a necessary     but secondary source of religious truth since it must be interpreted by the Di-    vine Spirit in people through which it was written. Quakerism holds that pre-    sent experience must be checked and tested by the experience of those who     lived in the past.

            Quakerism’s secondary doctrine is meeting for worship & meeting for     business. In the meeting, a person aspires upward toward God & horizontally toward fellow worshipers; the divine-human relationship & the inter-human relationship blend & reinforce each other. Worshipers wait in silence, making themselves as open as possible to the Divine Life & the still, small voice. [Any     message] is a simple, brief statement of insight born in the silence. In the     meeting for business, matters before the meeting are discussed in a spirit of     submission to the Divine ordering until unity reached; there is no voting, no     coercion of minority by a majority. The search for truth and unity is sometimes     long and difficult, requiring much love and tolerance. The Quaker school     endeavors to represent the world as it ought to be rather than the world as it is.

           All the Society of Friend’s social doctrines can be derived from the     primary doctrines of Inward Light and the teachings of Jesus, which act as a     check on revelation partly obscured by wrong thoughts and actions; social      testimonies may evolve slowly. Actions seeming right today may seem wrong     tomorrow in the light of further insight. 

             Community—Community is present in the meeting’s attempt to     become a unified, closely integrated group of persons, a living whole which is     more than the sum of its parts. Monthly meetings join to form Quarterly Mee-    tings; Quarterly Meetings join to form Yearly Meetings. Community becomes     a testimony which aims to increase people's interdependence everywhere.     Friends have been engaged in some form of relief work for the past 3 centu-    ries; in the last century it was the Friends Service Committee (England) and     the American Friends Ser-vice Committee. Today they seek by experimental     measures to right this or that wrong as the way opens.

            Harmony—Peaceableness, harmony exists as a positive power by     which an inner appeal is made to the best that is in humans, rather than as     an external pressure by forces from outside them. Harmony appeared at an     early date in the refusal of Friends to take any part in war, and in finding non-    violent and sympathetic ways of dealing with the insane and criminals. They    believe that civil disobedience may sometimes be a Christian duty, as the will   of God revealed in the conscience must take precedence over the law of the     state.

            Equality—Equality is represented in the meeting by the equal oppor-    tunity for all to take part in the worship or business. Every opinion expressed     must be taken into account according to its truth & not according to status of     the person who utters it. Equality as applied to sex, race, and class, was a     doctrine which developed early. Friends were fined, imprisoned, and died for     religious liberty, and were prosecuted for not showing “proper” respect to the     “upper” classes. Equality doesn't mean that all men are essentially uniform. It     does mean equality of respect and that rights & opportunities of all should be     equalized. 

            Simplicity—Simplicity can mean the absence of superfluity, or the     use of simple direct statements unadorned with figures of rhetoric. Judicial     oaths, implying two standards of truth-telling, were not in accordance with     “the simplicity of truth.” Friends succeeded in altering the law to allow for an     affirmation to be substituted. Quaker merchants initiated the one price system.   Music, painting, drama, and fiction are no longer considered inconsistent         with the simplicity of truth. Simplicity is still needed in the attempt to less the     increasing busyness and complexity of life.

            To what extent can a type of behavior, developed within a small com-    munity become a standard for action outside that community? Before the 20th     century it was comparatively easy in isolation to draw the line at taking part in     war or preparation for war for that limit could be clearly defined. If we can't be  [as] consistent [as early Quakers] we can at least take an unconventional     stand on some issues. Each individual must answer this problem of consis-       tency  according to their own light and leading.

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48. The Society of Friends (by Howard H. Brinton; 1949)

            About the Author—Howard & Anna Brinton arrived at Pendle Hill in     the summer of 1936 with a solid background of academic achievement at         the Mills & Earlham colleges, & became co-directors of a new sort of educa-    tion enterprise, a Quaker fusion of school and community. They retired in the     1950s & lived on campus as Directors Emeriti. Anna died in 1969; Howard     continues to serve by lecturing, writing, and simply being.

           Distinguishing Principles—The Society of Friends formed the English  Reformation’s extreme left wing in the mid-17th century; it was neither     Protestant nor Catholic. [They believed with the early Christians that] Spirit     would be poured out upon the congregation ready to receive it, uniting the     worshiping group into the Body of Christ. This silent communion with God is     perhaps the only distinctive contribution of the Society of Friends to Christian     practice; individual inspiration is second in importance to group inspiration.          The Light Within, when unresisted, can permeate & transform human reason      and conscience, bringing inner peace and serenity.

             Anyone may become a vehicle of vocal ministry, [which provides]     spiritual guidance in prayer, meditation, and worship. Because this Light is     continually capable of revealing new and living truth, Friends use no written     statement of belief which has the authority of a creed. All, including ancients     & heathens could be saved if they lived up to their own measure of the Light.       In the Meeting for Business votes are not taken, because decisions are     reached on the basis of unanimity.

            Membership in the Society of Friends is obtained through application for membership in some particular monthly meeting. For the consistent Quaker war is wrong because of the spiritual damage done to those who participate in it. [Quaker] doctrine does not eliminate the use of force in law enforcement, provided that force is used impartially. Their equalitarian doctrines brought upon the Quakers severe persecution by persons who wished to safeguard their status as superiors. 

            The doctrine of simplicity called for avoidance of all superfluity “in        dress, speech, & behavior.” The oath was objected to as recognizing a double     standard of truth-telling and because it was an externally imposed religious     exercise. The arts are no longer considered superfluous and untruthful. The     Quaker-controlled colonies of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island, New     Jersey and North Carolina supported religious liberty.

             History—The History of the Society of Friends falls into: the apostolic     age (1650-1700); conservation & cultural creativity age (1700-1800); conflict     and decline age (1800-1900); modern age (1900- ). In the apostolic age, the     first Quakers set out to bring all Christendom back to its primitive state. The     Puritans tried to keep them out of New England, and between 1662-1689 the     severest persecution took place in England. At the end of the persecution,     Quakers emerged as a respectable sect.

            In the 18th century, some of the early fervor disappeared, but there     continued to be a powerful non-professional itinerant ministry. Before the     Declaration of Independence, members of the Society of Friends freed their     slaves. At the beginning of the 19th century, the evangelical elements were     accentuated by the influence of the Weslayan revival. American Quakerism in     this century was torn by divisions. Elias Hicks, a mystic who attracted follow-    ers from the country separated over the issues of elders’ authority & the     divinity of Christ. 

            John Wilbur and Joseph John Gurney became focal points of a sepa-    ration over the authority of the Spirit vs. the authority of the Bible. A majority     of the meetings throughout the West, New England, & the South changed     their way of worship to a programmed Protestant–like service. Friends were    slow in creating colleges because they did not feel the need for a trained and     scholarly ministry. Almost every meeting had an elementary school.

            The chief “Friends” are: Friends General Conference is made up of 7     yearly meetings (Philadelphia, Baltimore, Canada, Illinois, Indiana, New     England, New York). The Conservative (Wilburite) group is made up of 4     yearly meetings (Ohio, Iowa, Western, North Carolina) along with some     Canadians. There was also the spontaneous growth of 200 Independent     Meetings all over the US. The above meetings are unprogrammed. 

           Programmed, pastoral meetings from 11 yearly meetings have formed     the Five Years Meeting (Baltimore, California, Canada, Indiana, Iowa, Nebra-    ska, New England, New York, North Carolina, Western, Wilmington). Five     independent pastoral yearly meetings (Ohio, Kansas, Oregon, Central in     Indiana, Rocky Mountain). Old distinctions are ceasing to have their former     importance. The London Yearly Meeting makes up The Society of Friends in     England. Groups of Friends also exist in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France,     Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, China, India, Japan,     Korea,  Lebanon, [Kenya,] Costa Rica, [Cuba, El Salvador, Bolivia], Mexico.

             American Friends Service Committee was organized in 1917 and has     headquarters in Philadelphia. The Friends World Committee for Consultation     represents all branches of Friends. Under it is the Wider Quaker Fellowship,     a group of several thousands persons who wish some affiliation with the     Society of Friends, but who don't desire to join it. Adult education institutions     at Woodbrooke in England and Pendle Hill in America have increased aware-    ness of Quaker history among Friends. The old tension between mystic and     Evangelical still persists. The mystic tends to see some truth in all religions,     and the evangelical tends to emphasize belief in the historical events with     which Christian began; each has something of the other.

             Modern science has directed its attention to gaining power over the     external world; this brings neither peace nor happiness. Quakerism offers a     means for obtaining inward peace and order, producing the only kind of     peace which can propagate itself in the outer world. 

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48b. Kasturba: Wife of Gandhi (By Sushila Nayyar; 1948)

           About the Author/ Author's Foreword—Sushila Nayyar also spelled     'Nayar' (1914 – 2001), was an Indian physician, veteran Gandhian & politician.  She played a leading role in several programs for public health, medical     education & social & rural reconstruction in her country. Her brother, Pyarelal     Nayyar, was personal secretary to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. She her-    self acted as Gandhi's personal physician & became an important member of     his inner circle; she was with Gandhi & Kasturba during Kasturba's final     detention & her death.

       [Nayyar]—Soon after Kasturba's death in detention at Aga Khan's     palace (8/8/42-2/22/44) , Gandhi asked me to write down reminiscences of     her. The original was in Hindi & appeared as part of Kasturba's biography of     which this pamphlet is a free translation. [Gandhi was released from Aga     Khan's palace 5/6/44].

       M. K. Gandhi's Introduction—The root cause attracting the public to     Kasturba was her ability to lose herself in me. I never insisted on abnegation;     I didn't know she had it. In my early experience she was obstinate, which led     to estrangement periods. As time passed, I & my service of the people be-    came one. She slowly merged herself with my activities. Perhaps Indian soil     loves this quality in a wife. Self-abnegation was developed by our Brahma-    charya—self-control in thought, word, & deed. I made a resolve & Ba accep-    ted it as her own. As a woman & wife, she considered it her duty to lose her-      self in me ever after. She looked after me till her last breath.

     Publisher's Introduction—This book[let] is an actual exhibit of Indian     life & thought, & is not aimed at an American audience. It records a young     woman doctor's recollection of Mrs. M. K. Gandhi, an intimate account of a     man and woman whom Indians loved and admired. It ask the reader for an     unusual amount of sympathy for a foreign climate, but will reward one with a       very interesting and authentic picture of the simple, homely, domestic life of      the man mainly responsible for the most successful major transfer of politi-         cal power in our age. 

    The Kasturba Fund was established to commemorate her life. The     Friends' Service Unit in India, with connections to Pendle Hill, has worked in     close touch with trustees of this fund. Madeline Slade [Miraben], who worked     with Gandhi, visited Pendle Hill in 1934. Horace Alexander visited Gandhi in     detention at Aga Khan's palace, gave lectures at Pendle Hill, and wrote the     pamphlet Quakerism and India (#31). Gandhi wrote an introduction to the     Indian edition of A Discipline for Nonviolence (#11) by Richard Gregg.

     Mr. & Mrs. Gandhi are referred to as "Bapu" & "Ba," Gujrati words for     "father" & "mother." The 2 were married for 62 years. Mr. & Mrs. Gandhi lived     at Sevagram Ashram in the Central Provinces. Chief among the aides living     there was Mahadev Desai, Mr. Gandhi's secretary for many years. After     Desai's death the author's older brother, Pyarelal Sushila acted as his secre-   tary. Part of  the background to this account is the Indian Congress Party's     movement for  "Swaraj," national self-rule. "Satyagraha" (insistence on truth)     took the form of  public non-violent breaches of legislation or administrative     action seen as wrong. 

      "Non-cooperation" aimed to reduce to a minimum cooperation given         by the population to its foreign rulers. "Khadi" is cloth hand-woven from hand-    spun Indian cotton yarn as a matter of principle to foster self-reliant village life.  Religious terms aren't always translated; there often isn't a good English     equivalent. The Gita, Ramayana, Bhagwat, Balakanda, & Ayodhya are  reli-        gious writings. Explanations marked "Ed." were inserted by the publishers.    

       The Ashram: [Mother's Visit and Impression of Ba]—I saw Shrimati     Kasturba for the 1st time in about December 1920. Mother went to Gandhi to     request he send her son Pyarelal back to her. She ended up spending the day  talking to Ba. She was deeply impressed by what Ba had told her, and said:  "Gandhiji, you can keep my son for 4 or 5 years ... but send him back after         that." 

      My mother had simply fallen in love with her. Gandhi had spoken to her     & chided her for vanity. The air around him was too rarified for her. Ba spoke  to  her as one woman to another. Everybody was passing through an era of      unhappiness & one had to bear one's burden. She was impressed by Ba's     wonderful loyalty to her husband and her readiness to face any amount of     sacrifice and suffering. A day with Ba had shown her that her son would at     least have a mother's care in his new surroundings.

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       [My 1st Visit]—In 1929, I came into closer contact with Ba. My mother     did not like the idea. I had never been away from my mother. At last my mother  agreed to let me go with my brother on a short visit. I felt both miserable at     being away from home, and excited & happy to be seeing something new. My     brother told me wonderful tales of the achievements of the children of my age     there. I worked hard throughout the journey and learned the shlokas of the     evening prayer. 

       The morning prayer bell rang at 4 am. My brother took me to Ba's and     Bapu's verandah. Bapu told my brother that hereafter I should sleep  near Ba   on his verandah. Throughout my stay in the ashram I had breakfast with Ba        and she was so loving and motherly that I always looked forward to breakfast     I felt terribly homesick. Everybody talked in Gujrati or Marathi which were    foreign tongues to me.

       I was educated at home and ahead of others in education. But I didn't     know how to make friends and dreaded meeting strangers. Ba spoke to me     sweetly in her broken Hindustani and looked after my needs. I went to the     kitchen with Ba and did what little I could. Ba sat there, radiant & smiling, &     finished more than her quota of work with amazing agility and neatness; she     retained this trait till the very end. Her watchful eye followed Bapu all the time.     She saw to it that those who provided personal service did so punctually, [but     the mother in her did not like interrupting a young man's meal. 

       Ba taught me how to wash my own clothes. I found that somebody or     other always drew the water for me when I went there. A group of visitors     came to the ashram & needed a guide. I was asked by Bapu, but I hadn't seen  all the ashram myself. Bapu rebuked me for not acquainting myself with my  surroundings long ago. I was thoroughly ashamed of myself. Ba told Bapu &     my brother to arrange to show me around the ashram & the neighboring city.

     [My 2nd Ashram Visit]—My holiday was coming to an end. Bapu took     me with him to Agra. I went to Delhi & after a day or 2 my mother & I left for     Lahore & home. I made up my mind to wear Khadi (homespun). I couldn't use     mill-made cloth after visiting the ashram. My mother was annoyed at first &     resisted my wearing Khadi for a month. At last my mother gave in & got some     more Khadi, so that I could send them to be washed.

       In 1930, I again went to the ashram during summer vacation. My bro-    ther & Bapu were at that time in jail as a result of the salt [tax] satygraha. Ba     was touring from village to village, seeing workers, visiting police excess     victims, and encouraging people. The Ba I saw this time was worn out with    incessant touring on foot. The loving older mother was now a soldier of     satygraha engaged in a grim fight. She did not understand politics, but she    knew Bapu, and that he was leading the fight. That was enough for her to    throw herself into it heart and soul.

            I went with Ba to Sabarmati Jail. I had never been before & felt suffo-    cated. Ba saw the worn-out faces of her sons with perfect calm & inquired     about their companions with them in jail. Suffering for the sake of the country's  freedom became so natural to her that she thought nothing of imprisonment   for herself, her husband or her children. Gandhiji was rearrested & sent back   to jail in 1932. Bapu invited Sushila's mother to see them off to jail & then join     them, which she did. She has often told us how cheerfully Ba put up with    prison life's hardships. Leaving aside physical hardships, mere incarce-       ration frays nerves. In December 1937 Gandhiji fell ill in Calcutta. [In order         to look after  him, I took a month off from studying medicine], which turned         into over 2 years.

       [Ba's Routine]—At Sevagram, I slept near Ba at night. [At first], I got     up in the morning & went away leaving my bedding as it was; Ba collected it &     put it inside without saying anything; I felt ashamed. I don't think I ever gave     her a chance to do so again. I wanted to fold [hers & mine but never managed     to]. She hated taking service from others if she could help it. She didn't shirk     from picking up heavy mattresses & bedding just to fold an untidy blanket or     sheet. Dirt, untidiness, irregularity, and forgetfulness she simply could not     bear. 

       She got up for morning prayers at 4 am, & fixed Bapuji breakfast while    he napped afterwards. [Others wanted the privilege to serve Gandhiji] and          she was too kind to disappoint the girls. Her watchful eye followed them      everywhere and she saw that thing were done neatly & properly, [including       cleanup afterwards.] 

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       Ba had her bath while Gandhiji walked. She supervised preparation of   Gandhiji's midday meal. She rubbed his feet after the meal, and rested while   he slept. After resting, she hand spun at least 400 to 500 rounds every day.     How can success of a national movement hinge on widespread per-   formance of a simple daily task? In the evening she prepared Gandhiji's    meal & served him; she took only coffee in the evening. 

            Often she would go for a short walk with other elderly ladies and meet     Gandhiji at the end of his walk. Next it was time for evening prayer, which     included singing part of the Ramayana. She studied that day's verses  in the    morning. She prayed and chatted with the ashram's ladies after that. She    finished the day by preparing Gandhiji's, Kanu's and her own bed for the    night. She took care of her grandson with the vigilance and enthusiasm of a    young mother. Gandhiji discovered that he couldn't take the place of "Motiba"    and had to turn the boy over to his mother.

       [Gandhiji's Health/ Disciplining Others]—After falling ill in Calcutta,     Gandhiji's blood pressure was erratic. Doctors advised him to avoid cold and     overwork. Miraben vacated her hut for his use, but he refused to use it. Ba     said, "Bapu will sleep in my hut," and that settled it. Gandhiji once noted that     "This hut I had constructed for Ba's use and I supervised all the details. As it        is, Ba hasn't been the sole occupant of this hut ... I can take away from her    whatever I like, I can impose on her ... she always bears with me cheerfully    and willingly" ... Well, that is as it should be ... Here the husband has only to     say a thing and the wife is ready to do it." He went to go to the Western     seaside for a change. She accompanied him to Juhu in Mumbai; he came    back well rested. In early 1939, he had to go to Calcutta. Ba never insisted        on accompanying him when he was in good health.

       Ba was a deeply religious woman, and she had a living faith in the     temples' deities. Gandhji was furious on hearing that Ba & Durgaben had         visited a temple off-limits to low-caste Hindus. Ba meekly asked Gandhiji's         forgiveness. [Talking to Mahadevbhai, Bapu said], "... I feel responsibility lies     with you & me.  [I neglected Ba's education], why have you neglected [Bur-    ga's]?"  [Mahadevbhai was so upset that he wanted to withdraw from      Gandhi's company. [Causing] pain to Gandhi was unbearable for him. A small       mistake on the part of one who had been near to Gandhi for years couldn't     sever the bonds. Mahadevbhai wrote a confession in the ashram's popular,     national periodical. 

       There was a cholera outbreak at Sevagram in 1938 or '39. I recom-   mended all of Ashram be immunized. Several Ashramites [& most notably     Ba] didn't believe in injections of any sort. We had inoculated practically     everybody in the village, which was soon free from cholera. The Ashram    escaped completely.

            Journeys & Arrests—The Rajkot Satyagraha was started during     Gandhi's stay there. Rajkot's Thakore Saheb agreed to give rights to his     people, & then went back on his word; the people offered satyagraha as     protest. Rajkot was Ba's family home, so she went there & got arrested &     imprisoned. She believed that a soldier should never be shy of facing hard-    ships, [even though her health was questionable]. The Government detained    her in an old palace 10 or 15 miles away from Rajkot city; she had 2 com-   panions including Mariben Patel. She was quite happy, but a little worried      about Bapu's health. 

            Bapu decided to fast because of Rajkot; he left no room for argument.     Ba said, "So long as Gandhiji's fast continues, I will eat one meal a day of     fruits & milk." The Government sent her word that she could go to see her     husband if she wanted, thus releasing her indirectly. Gandhi said, "If they wish     to release her, they must do so in the proper manner & release her 2 compa-    nions ... as well. He sent Ba back, to spend the night on the roadside, if neces-    sary. She was taken back and the next day she and her two companions     were formally released. Ba, forgetting her frail health, lost herself in mini-    stering to him.

       Ba arrived in Delhi by herself. Bapu was wrong in sending her alone, I     said. Ba rebuked me. Her illness took a serious turn, with patches of pneu-    monia & an old urinary infection. Bapu sent [many telegrams] inquiring about  her condition; he wrote love letters every day. Ba had them read to her and         read them several times herself. Those letters played an important part in     promoting her recover

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       [Quit India Resolution, 6 Arrests]—In 1942, Gandhiji returned to     Sevagram after the All-India Congress Committee meeting in Bombay passed     the "Quit India Resolution," which stated that it was "anxious not to jeopardize     the defensive capacity of the United Nations, [but we are] no longer justified in     holding back the nation from ... asserting its will against an Imperialist and     authoritarian Government which dominates ... & prevents it from ... [pursuing]     its own interests and the interest of humanity ...  For the vindication of India's     inalienable right to freedom and independence, [we sanction] the starting of a     mass struggle on nonviolent lines." 

       I heard that he would be arrested before he returned, so I went to     Bombay to see him and my brother. Gandhiji gave his famous August 8^th     speech, after which he said, "The government are not so foolish as to arrest       the man who is their best friend in India today." At 5:30 the next morning,     Bapu, Mahadevbhai, and Miraben were arrested.

            Bapu asked Ba & my brother to stay behind & carry on his work.     Gandhiji's arrest had been a sudden shock, for which Ba hadn't been at all     prepared. Ba announced that she would address the meeting instead of him.     News came that she would be arrested on the way to the meeting. I, as a     medical person, was considered to be the best companion that Ba could     have; I would address the meeting if Ba couldn't. Ba's message to the women     of India was "... The women of India have to prove their mettle. They should     all join in this struggle irrespective of caste & creed. Our watchword must     remain 'truth & nonviolence." In the evening Ba & I came out to go in the    meeting. The police arrested us and later arrested my brother also. The     police also did not let them hold the meeting.

       [Arthur Road Prison]—On the way to Arthur Road Prison, Ba said,     "Don't you see this Government is the very incarnation of evil." I said, "Yes,     Ba, they are evil, but their evil will be the cause of their downfall & Bapu will     come out victorious." We were told, "Our orders are that you are to have no     contact with the outside world." They gave us frames, wood planks, and thin     mattresses to sleep on. I put her to bed with a degree of fever. On finding that    I was also a doctor, the jail doctor softened a bit & promised to send me the  medicines and some apples. The apples were sent but no medicine. 

       Ba was becoming exhausted & I felt terribly worried. High walls raised   in the verandah as an air-raid precaution measure prevented [good ventila-    tion]. The prison Matron let us come & sit near her on her verandah. A mother     of 3 or 4 small children came to be our roommate. Looking at her, Ba forgot    her own worries, & showed great interest in her. We discovered that we had     been locked in at night. So we brought our beds out on the verandah, deter-    mined not to be locked in.

       At 9 pm, the Matron came and told me that Ba and I were to be taken     away at 11 pm. Our roommate lent me money to pay for Ba's diet, and much     later refused repayment. We were informed by the Superintendent that we     were being taken to Bapuji. We were taken to the station and made to sit in the  train station's waiting room. Ba asked me, "How will Bapuji win Swaraj? I     answered, "Ba, God will help Bapuji. All will be well."

       The Aga Khan's Palace—Ba was weak from diarrhea she had during     the night. [We arrived at Pune Station] at about 7 am. In another ½ an hour     we were at the gates of the Aga Khan's palace. Barbed wire fencing had been     newly put up in honor of their illustrious prisoner [Gandhi]. [They took us to     Bapu & Mahadevbhai; the latter seemed] happy to welcome us, but Bapu     frowned. He asked, "Did you request the Government send you here, or have     they sent you on their own? [We assured him] we had been arrested & sent     here. Ba's diarrhea had been of the nervous type; it stopped with one "dose"   of being with Bapu. Ba took over fanning Bapu to keep the insects off while     he napped.

       Bapu's 1st letter from this detention was to the Governor of Bombay,     regarding police behavior, sending daily papers, and also asking that Sardar     Patel, one of Gandhi's Nature Cure patients, be allowed to come and stay.     Mahadevbhai was pleased to have the Sardar with us, as someone who    might dissuade Bapu from going on a fast. [The rest of us were pleased to     have the Sardar and Maniben with us]. The Sardar's humor would make the      detention camp much more lively. Gandhiji worked on a letter to the viceroy      [for over 2 days, asking for input from all of us, and especially Mahadevbhai].     Ba peeped into the kitchen and spent a good deal of her time in worship and     in the reading of prayer books.

                                              4

            [Mahadevbhai's Death, Ba's Studies]—On August 15, 1942 Bapu &     Mahadevbhai walked in the garden. Later that morning, I was called to Maha-    dev's room for an urgent medical problem; [At 50 years of age], Mahadev-    bhai was ready to start the final journey. [It came as a great shock. Bapu     called out to Mahdev; he didn't answer]. Ba tried to be brave & joined in     prayers; her stream of tears continued. Ba seemed too weak to climb stairs;     there was no holding her back from witnessing the cremation. Ba repeated,     "Mahadev, may God bless you wherever you are. May He keep you always     happy, my boy. Your service to Bapu has been unique." She asked, Why     should [young] Mahdev have gone & not I? Is this God's justice? Who     was to console whom?

       Mahadevbhai was Brahmin by birth. Ba felt a Brahmin's death in this     fashion was an evil omen. Bapu replied, " Yes, for the Government." I said,     "How can Mahadev's noble death be a sin of his colleagues? If there is     any sin, it must rest with the Government, because they arrested him without     cause. This Government is evil-minded. It did not let him negotiate with the     Government." Gandhiji found a way of combating idle thoughts & depression.     "We should all account for every minute of our time. We should keep our-    selves so busy that there is no time for idle, depressed thoughts.

       He always set a timetable for himself; now he made a timetable for all     of us. He gave Ba lessons in Gujrati, Gita, geography, & history. Ba studied     with the enthusiasm & eagerness of a young student; she found it hard   to learn new things at her age; [she couldn't memorize]. She learned about    longitude & latitude & the equator. Ba even corrected my brother when he    confused latitude & longitude. Bapu taught Ba 2 songs from the Gujrati 5^th     grade reader; every day the couple sat down & sang songs together. 

       Ba couldn't memorize the names of India's provinces & big cities. She     never gave up studying altogether. She read Gitjali with Bapu at midday, &     recited it with me at night. Ba walked with Bapu for a month, after which she     needed to take shorter, slower walks, & watch Bapu take his while she read.     Her way of reading & writing was childlike. [Bapu thought her writing needed     improvement], which hurt Ba deeply. To the end, her writing notebook lay un-    used among Bapu's papers.

       During 1931-33 Ba went to jail thrice & every time in her imprisonment,     She had the Bhagwat and the Ramayana read to her regularly. Ba used to sit     down with the Ramayan in the afternoon and read with explanatory notes, the     verses to be recited in the evening, like she did in Sevagram. With all her     reverence for Ramayan, she had not lost her critical faculty, and questioned     exaggerated accounts. Gandhiji decided that it would be a good thing to     translate selections into simple Gujrati and write down every morning, in bold     characters, the translation of the verses to be recited in the evening. With     Gandhiji's fast, his voluminous correspondence with the Government, and     looking after Ba as her health went further down hill, we were kept fully     occupied. The work of making selections & translations remained unfinished.

       The duty of explaining the evening prayer verses' meaning came to  me. I tried to explain them in Gujrati as best I could; sometimes she would     comment. This routine was followed regularly almost right up to her death. 2     or 3  days before the end I asked her, "Ba, would you like the Ramayana     explained tonight?" She responded, "Why do you ask, instead of sitting down     with the Ramayana as usual?" I said, "You were looking tired, that is why I     asked." She said calmly, "Listening to Ramayana while lying in bed isn't     going to tax me. Go on, begin."

            [Ba: Religious Fasting, Bias & Tolerance]—Ba asked, "When is     Ekadashi?" Bapu asked for an Indian calendar, & while we waited, he & I     worked out the calendar for the rest of the year, marking full-moon days & no-    moon days. Ba used to observe a fast on Ekadashi. I don't think that she     missed a single Ekadeshi. She fasted every Monday, Krishna's birthday, con-    summation of Shiva's marriage. She also fasted on Independence Day,     National Week, Quit India Day. On Makar Sankranti, [near Christmas &     Western New Year], she wanted til (sesamum) to make a sweet & from the         kitchen she distributed them to convicts who came from Yeravada Prison.

                                                  5

       Ba was not a highly educated lady, but had mature wisdom. She was     an ideal Hindu wife, who placed her duty towards her husband above every-    thing else. I encouraged Bapu to tell his own story. To hear  his story from        his own lips was far more interesting than to read it in his autobiography.         Ba & Bapu played together as children. 

       The women of Ba's family said, "We might [be] orthodox & not allow untouchables into our houses or not drink water touched by a Muslim; these     things aren't for you. The higher ideal is to follow your husband, for which no     sin will attach to you. The result can't be anything but good." Whatever she     did, she did out of faith. Ba was a regular spinner, spinning 300-500 rounds     every day. We 1st had her give up spinning for her health, and then tried to     get her started again to distract her mind, but she never took to it regularly   again.

     I never saw any "untouchability" about Ba. At the Ashram I met a girl     called Lakshmi; I later discovered "Mahatmaji" had adopted "a sweeper's girl"     as his daughter. Ba treated Harajan servants like family members. She said,     "God made us all. How can there be any high & low?" Ba wasn't able to         shed her old ideas completely. She had deep reverence for Brahmins & gave      them preferential treatment; it caused bad feelings among sepoys. She     expected a particular Brahmin to know when they were going home. She trea-    ted Muslims around her kindly, & couldn't understand stories of Muslim atroci-    ties, when she would think of all the Muslims that were as dear to her as her     close Hindu friends. She wouldn't accept service from those who did it to     please Bapu.

       Never had imprisonment oppressed Ba so much as this time, [and she     developed fatalistic thinking about her own life & the possibility of winning     against a mighty government]. Bapu said, "You must dismiss all gloomy     thoughts from your mind ... make up your mind to get well. She asked, Why     should Bapuji have pitted himself against such a mighty government?"     I replied, "God is there. Bapuji depends on none but Him & He will see him  through." Ba said, "Even God seems to be against us now." [She picked a    quarrel with Bapu about picking a quarrel with this mighty Government]. She  finally said, "There is nothing to do now, but to put up with the result of your     own doings. We will suffer with you ... Next it will be my turn"; Ba remained     silent. Ba would sometimes report the news she had heard to the rest of    those detained.

       The Fast—As the time passed, the people's suffering, the news of the     famine & Government repression, made him restless. How could he be a     silent witness to all that was happening? How could he share the suf-    ferings of his countrymen from behind the bars? How could he make         the Government see the wrong they were heaping on dumb millions?         He  mentioned fasting in his letter to the Viceroy. We all pleaded with him to     delete it. "They shouldn't have a chance of saying that they couldn't listen      under the threat of a fast." Bapu said, "The quiet I need is something differ-       ent from the ordinary. I can't keep Ba away from me. I do not wish to."

            The very idea of a fast was upsetting for all of us. My brother asked     me, "How many days fast do you think Bapu can stand in the present state     of his health?" I said, "Judging from this he won't be able to stand a long fast."     Mrs. Naidu said, "Do not worry Ba. Bapu has said he won't fast unless there     is a clear call from God to do so. God will never tell him to go on a fast." She     later said, "Bapu, your fast will kill Ba. Bapu laughed & thought that Ba would     "handle it better than any of you." He managed to talk Ba into supporting his     fast.

     On the 10^th of February, Gandhi began his fast. Ba gave up having full     meals & went on a diet of fruits & milk as she usually did. During Gandhiji's     fast, she spent most of her time by his bedside. On the 3rd day of the fast,     Gandhiji started having nausea, so that he could not drink water. He vomited,     his blood became thick, his kidneys began to fail. As the fast progressed, Ba     spent more and more time in sitting and praying before the Tulsi plant or be-    fore Balkrisha. On February 22, Bapu's life hung in the balance; Ba was lost    in meditation before the Tulsi plant. [It took great effort to drink even a ½-    ounce if water; it exhausted him; with a silent nod Bapu agreed to fruit juice     in his water. As soon as the system received some fluid, the lifeless face      began to show signs of life.

                                                   6

       During Gandhiji's 21-day fast, Aga Khan's palace gates were thrown     open; there was a constant stream of visitors coming to see him. He was too     weak to talk to most of them. Ba was amazingly brave and never had a     moment's rest. Gandhiji had instructed them that no visitor was to be of-   fered any refreshment; it was hard for Ba to observe this rule, especially for     her own family. At last the 21 days were over. The Government would allow    only sons to be present at the breaking of the fast, not friends. Since Gandhiji     had ceased to make that distinction, he decided that the sons shouldn't come     either. The last day of the fast was the last day for visitors. Ba said to her     Ashram "sisters, "This is my final good bye, friends." [When I disagreed, she     said], "Yes you will all go."

            Conclusion: [After Fast]—Because Gandhi was out of danger, & was     convalescing nicely, the Government reinforced the original restrictions. [Ba's     condition worsened with no visits from her sons to look forward to]. She tired     easily. She had an attack of acute, rapid & arrhythmic heartbeat twice a little     over a week apart. Gandhiji began to say that he would have to spend at     least 7 years in prison. This gave a shock to Ba, who said, "I can't expect to     live for 7 years more & go out with the rest. & yet her childlike simplicity &     innocent faith would not let her give up hope altogether; she still prayed to     Balkrishna. 

            Ba found out that Manu, daughter of a distant relative was in Nagpur     Jail, & was having eye trouble. Ba started having frequent heart attacks. She     wanted Gandhi to write a letter requesting Manu as a nurse, but Gandhi     didn't want to give the Government an opportunity to say "no." Manu, arrived     at  Aga Khan's palace on March 23rd. Gandhiji began spending more time in    correspondence with the Government; [Ba's education dwindled]. She took     up watching us play Badminton or Tennicoit and [being unofficial referee].         She began to play Karrom, a cue-sport based table game of Indian origin,         & would practice in the afternoon; she used to lose herself enough in playing   Karrom to forget about her illness.

       [Ba's Cooking & Medication/ Communication Blackout]—Now &     then she would prepare something nice. She wanted Puran Puri (Sweet     bread) which could cause indigestion & a heart attack. Bapuji said he would     eat it if she didn't. She was very angry with me [for not letting her have egg-    plant] & for almost 15 days refused to eat any cooked food; during that time         Ba kept very good health. 2 days before her death, Ba was convinced that     castor oil would help; it most likely wouldn't help. When I refused to give it to     her, or let anyone else, she refused to take any medication. We ended up     giving her a little bit of castor oil mixed with liquid paraffin.

       At the time of the August arrests in 1942, Government orders were that     the prisoners were to get no newspapers, give no interviews, write or receive     no letters. At the end of August, the Inspector General of Prisons told us that     we could write to our relatives about domestic matters if we wished; no men-    tion of our whereabouts could be made. Miraben needed permission to write     her friends in India, as her family was overseas. Gandhi responded, "For me     there is no distinction between relatives & friends ...I have no domestic mat-    ters to write about ... If I cannot even write about non-political constructive     activities, the permission is of no use to me." 

      To us he said, "I think none of us can agree to letters under Govern-    ment's conditions." Some of our companions thought it was wrong for my     brother and I not to write, [implying that we were equating ourselves with the     Mahatma in doing so]. Gandhi said, "You are part of me ... here because of    me. Therefore you cannot write when I can not. If you have not strength to    follow my advice, or if ... you think your duty is different you can withdraw         your letter to the Government and begin writing home like everyone else." I    did not feel the need to do so.

       After a few days Ba started writing letters, & pressured me to write my     mother. When I refused she wrote her son that lived near my mother, giving     him detailed news about me and my brother, who also didn't write. My sister-    in-law died after giving birth to a baby girl. She loved me like her own sister.     My brother and mother had applied to the Government for my release on    parole, but the Government had refused. Ba pres-sured Bapuji to persuade     me to write home. He suggested that I write at least once to my mother and     brother for their peace of mind. My brother at home replied that mother's   health was indifferent. We requested that the baby be sent to us or that I be     paroled to go care for the baby; both requests were denied.

                                                   7

            [Ba's Health Worsens]—Breathlessness began to interfere with slee-    ping. A table was placed across her legs. She would rest her arms on the     table, put her head on her arms & go to sleep. Gandhi kept & used this table     after her death. She was put on oxygen, and we consulted other doctors.     Nursing became more & more taxing. As a result of lengthy correspondence     & several weeks after the 1st request, the Government sent Prabhavati &     Kanu Gandhi on February 1, 3 weeks before the end. The Government took     no notice of a request for family visits for a long time; when Ba's illness took a     serious turn they sent for her sons; Ba was very happy to see them.

       The chief aggravating cause of her illness was confinement, the inde-    finite length of the detention, & the [monotony of being with the same, small     group of people for over a year. The government put strict conditions as who     could be present during the visits of relatives, or of the practitioner of the     Indian system of medicine (vaidya). Gandiji had to carry on lengthy correspon-    dence with officials in order to have the unreasonable conditions that were     imposed on such visits lifted. The officials claimed that their conditions had       been misunderstood. The authority to call a vaidya went through a bureaucra-    tic maze before it rested with our jail's doctor. Ba grew impatient with the     Ayurvedic treatment, and had to be pleaded with to give the new treatment a     fair trial].

       On the following day she felt so much better that in the evening [she     was up & about in her wheelchair, & meditating in the little Balkrishna temple    in Miraben's room. Our excitement didn't last long; the restlessness returned.  Ba's condition was so serious that treatment required [round-the-clock] care.  The Government would not let the doctor to stay in the Aga Khan's palace at   night. [It took 3 nights of the doctor sleeping in his car outside the palace] &     a letter from Gandhiji threatening to stop the treatment, or any treatment,     before permission was given for the vaidyaraj to sleep on Ba's verandah.

       On the 17^th Gandhiji said to me: "If there is no improvement in the     patient's condition by tomorrow, the vaidya will probably go away, If the case     comes under your care next, my advice will be to stop all medicines. But that     can only happen if you and Dr. Gilder can digest what I say and accept it     wholeheartedly." There was difficulty getting permission for Harilal, Ba's     eldest  son, to see Ba more than once; Ba asked for him every day. On the     19^th Ba's condition was serious. The Government telegraphed for Shri Ram-        das and Devadas Gandhi and search for Harilal Gandhi.

                                                    8

       [Ba's Final Days]—On the 19^th, Ba had continuous oxygen through-    out the night; she slept fairly well. [We sometimes played the gramophone;     Ba liked] "Shri Ram Bhajo dukh men sukh men" (Call on the name of God in     happiness and sorrow). Gandhiji sat on her bed almost throughout the day;     his proximity gave her peace of mind. Gandhi said: "Please stop all medi-    cines now. Ramnam is the sovereign remedy ... If she asks for food, we         shall see what to do ... I do not believe in medicines ... but I have not forced   this rule on Ba. I have heard nothing but Ramnam come from her lips since     this morning ... I would certainly stop all medicines while she is in this frame     of mind ... God will pull her through, else I would let her go."

            For days Gandhiji had lived on liquid diet; a meal took 10 minutes.     Ba's illness was putting such a strain on his mind that he couldn't have main-    tained health without cutting down his food drastically. When Ba lay down flat     [for the 1st time in a long time], Bapu asked us to recite Gitaji in the next room    so that Ba could hear it. Ba asked for castor oil again. She asked for Harilal-    bhia every day. When he was found he said he had overslept in the afternoon;     we knew what that meant & it upset Ba. She said to her youngest son Dev-    das, "The burden of looking after the family will have to be borne by you.     Bapuji is a saint. He has to think of the whole world."

       Day and night Gandhiji came to sit with Ba several times. When     Gandhi sat on her bed, she leaned against him; he would sometimes miss his     midday rest if she was asleep on his shoulder. What did it matter if Gand-    hiji sacrificed his rest for a few days?      Why should anybody stand in      the way of a thing that gives him peace of mind?      How can he keep     away from her and how can we ask him to do so? At one point Ba         needed handkerchiefs; Bapu chose to wash the dirty ones. Gandhiji spent an     hour every afternoon giving Ba cold and warm hip baths and sitz baths. He          said: God has given me this rare opportunity to serve in the evening of my    life. I consider it invaluable. So long as Ba will accept my services, I will         gladly spare the time for her."

       [Final Day: 2/22/44]—The Government's reasoning for not releasing     Ba was that if her condition became serious after release, they would have to     release Gandhi or be called heartless brutes." Devedasbhai had brought     Gangajal (Ganges water). Bapu pour a spoonful in Ba's mouth, & she said,     "Ram Hei Ram." The drink gave her great peace of mind. Gandhi gave others     a chance to sit by her. She derived great satisfaction from Devadasbhai's pre-    sence near her. She said, "Don't sorrow after my death. It should be an occa-    sion for rejoicing. O, Lord. I have filled my belly like an animal. Forgive me.         I pray for your grace. I want to be your devotee & love you with all my heart. I    want nothing else."

            After much discussion, & learning that giving pencillin meant injections     every 3 hours, Gandhiji didn't want her to have them. At 7:15 pm Ba called         out "Bapuji" He came & sat by her on the bed. No photograph was taken of     Ba & Bapuji then, so as not to mar the sanctity of Bapuji's & Ba's last mo-    ments together. She put her head on his lap & lay back. She open her mouth,     3 or 4  gasps & all was still. She was at last free from all bondage.

       [Funeral and Release]—Bapuji , Manu, Santokben and I bathed the     dead body, washed and combed her hair and wrapped her in the sari made of     Gandhiji's yarn, using a 2nd sari washed in the Gangajal as a winding sheet.     Gandhiji's yarn was put on her arms as bangles. Ba's room was cleaned.     Miraben arranged flowers in her hair and round the head. There was a gentle     smile and peace on the face. The wrinkles were less marked. The whole of     the Gita was recited. The prayer took 1½ hours. 

       Because Gandhiji was a poor man, he would not bring sandalwood for     cremation himself. He allowed the Government to provide it. Gandhiji's 3 choi-    ces for the cremation were: public, open, outside, no Government interfer-    ence; inside Aga Khan's palace with friends and relatives; no outsiders at         all if friends are not allowed. Gandhi wouldn't go outside for the public funeral.    The Government wasn't prepared to allow a public funeral; they accepted the     2nd alternative.

       On February 23, Friends & relatives started coming in from 7 am, a     total of about 150 people. Friends of every community—Hindu, Muslim, Par-        sis, Christians, and Englishmen—were present. Devdasbhai was selected by     the Brahmin to perform the last rites for his mother. Gandhiji offered a short     prayer that contained bits of Hindu, Muslims, Christian, and Parsi prayers.     The firewood arranged under the funeral pyre wasn't enough. It was difficult     to add more while the pyre was ablaze. Kanu's hair and eyelashes were     scorched in the process. The cremation took a long time and Gandhiji and     many of the friends stayed on the cremation until 4 pm.

       He was experiencing great pain at the parting. He is a sage & a great     man, but with all that he is most human. "I cannot imagine life without Ba. I     had always wished her to go in my hands so that I won't have to worry what     will become of her when I am no more. But she was an indivisible part of me.     Her passing away has left a vacuum which never will be filled ... She passed     away in my lap! Could it be better?" I am happy beyond measure." Davdas-    bhi and Ramdasbhai stayed for 3 days and then left with the bones & ashes    of their mother.

       We took our floral offerings to Mahadevbhai's & Ba's samadhis [fune-    rary monuments] both morning and evening; morning prayers were the 12^th    chapter of Gita. At the foot of Ba's samadhi we decided to make a swastika     with flowers. Our pilgrimage to the samadhis was an appreciation of the great     qualities of the 2 departed souls. It was our prayer to God to enable us to       follow in their footsteps. Ba's illness had put tremendous strain on Gandhiji    and as a result he went down with a severe attack of malaria. The Govern-     ment was not prepared to take the responsibility of a 3rd death in jail. On      May 6, 1944, the gates of the detention camp were thrown open & Gandhiji     and his party were released. 

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49. Christ in Catastrophe: an inward record (by Emil Fuchs who 

              found serenity through suffering; 1949) 

            Foreword—Emil Fuchs, a man who has passed through great suffer-    ing, has walked among us & lived among us. He spoke to us as one who has     seen Truth and heard it and felt it; even when he spoke of disasters his face     was serene. Always the stamp of Truth was on him, and some part of what         came to him spilled over . . . to those around him. Emil Fuchs was born in     Germany in the town of Beerfelden in 1874. He was a minister in various     places including Eisenach. He became a Society of Friends member in 1925. 

           He was dismissed from his teaching job at Kiel and imprisoned. He     helped refugees escape; his sons and son-in-law fled Germany. His daughter     stayed behind and eventually killed herself [leaving behind a 4 year-old son].     Emil Fuchs did not talk of these things much. When the past would come into     his thoughts he would sit in silence for some hours & in the morning he would     be smiling and serene. This writing is the witness of a man who is both saint     and prophet.

            Winter of 1932—During the winter of 1932, the last hard struggle went     on in Germany against Hitler's rising power, against the worship of nation and    the religion of arms. The great question was put to us: Will our nation [Ger-     many in 1932] become a stronghold of peace in Europe's center, or          would she open the doors of violence and war again? In that year I was    dismissed from my professorship in Kiel and imprisoned. 

            I dreamed my children were killed and a voice asked: What do you     want? Shall they save their lives by losing their conscience? And then     Christ was in my cell in prison, saying [the Beatitudes]. One terrible question     torments us when we see the mighty success of [the wrong]: Are you alone     right and all others wrong? Are you mad or are they? [People excused     Hitler’s methods because of his success]. How high must the tower be     from which we have to fall? [Even] in the hour of [his daughter’s] burial the   presence of God surged around us.

              [My seeing Christ] might have been imagination. But no imagination     can overcome the darkness in which you live when a person you love is han-    dled with cruelty & forced into fits of fear and despair. Only the overpowering     awareness of an eternal love whose ways you do not understand, but whose     reality you know [can do this]. So strong was this reality that [Jesus’ disciples]     could cry out his message. . . without fear hindering them . . . [and] with a     power that told other people of the same reality. I wrote of Christ’s gospel and     of seeing in it our own suffering. Why did so very many, very clever, ortho-   dox theological thinkers, scholars, pastors and leaders not recognize     evil? They were worshipers of nation and lovers of armies first, and Christians  afterwards.

              2,000 years ago and today—The gospels are only the reflection of     Jesus in the minds of unlettered people, but some of it begins to speak to our     mind, to our condition and they challenge our inward being. He challenges us,     poor, finite persons that we are, that we may be men, perfect, pure in heart,     hungry for goodness, yearning for peace, denying of violence. The kingdom of     God shall be built by those who can suffer and forgive and love, & overcome     evil with good. In every generation, the challenge comes to those who struggle  to grasp a meaning of love, even amid the ugly, greedy, acquisitive world     around them. He stands before humankind, asking Will you destroy your-    selves, or give yourselves to the grip of God’s power and find thereby a     new life in which love, not greed or lust for power is the new dynamic?
             The Iron Yoke—[On the train home from Switzerland in 1947, I saw     the faces of a bewildered Germany: offended faces; empty faces; blank faces;     faces seeking to forget]. But where is there strength, where real life in    forgetting? I would like to say: “Quite near is a man, a woman, a child, a    human being  suffering as you suffer; . . . be a comrade to them; if you can't,     be sympathetic. In that helpful love you will experience the eternal God’s     changing power.” [And also:] “We don't have the right to forget the disaster to     which we brought the whole world and to which we brought ourselves. We     have to bear the iron yoke and . . . bear it with our nation. Out of suffering and     scarcity we create fellowship and peace and happiness for our children and     grandchildren.”

            Despair—[I met with] young soldiers on leave, civilians and women,     once] enthusiastic followers of Hitler [who] no longer have faith in Hitler. [They     asked] Can you say anything to us that will give us hope? [I spoke of     coming] back from the war. You will find a broken down country. Do you be-    long  to those who in their egotism lament their misery and poverty &     seek to  find a way out only for themselves, or do you belong to those     who see a  way of help for others [not involving] outward power and     armies? If you do you will have great work to do and your life will have     strength and meaning.
             Can there be happiness?—I say that we must find again the     strength to enjoy, but not by forgetting what we or others have lost. [From]          the experience of Christ’s presence . . . it came to me that all joy and happi-    ness are great gifts of God, his greetings, showing us something of the goal    which will be achieved when love and truth are victorious on earth; all joy is         holy. [Take] the sufferings of your neighbors into your life. The real happiness      of family, of art and song, of nature and friendship and devotion will grow and   become more real  until they become that holiness in which they are a part  of God’s presence in our lives.

             Love’s great help—[I was left alone with my daughter’s 4 year-old     son]. [In] a time of helpless darkness . . . God gave me love for this boy, & I     could be happy with him . . . & through him alive to the joy of other people. If  we can share other people’s joys and happiness, we find an important link     uniting us with them. If we can't we will be separated from them—even if we     do mighty works to help them. When people have to go through really deep     sorrow . . . they seem separated from other people by an intense pain that    others cannot feel. If love works its great miracle, it reaches through the     invisible wall, & sometimes you feel the innermost reality and beauty of joy,    the creative power that comes to you out of it. Suffering & joy are in a miracu-    lous way connected with each other in this world of God.

             Can these things be?—How can God be love, when all still hap-    pens that has happened in the human world—& will go on happening in  time to come? It is not because God is far away, but because man in his     hatred & selfishness does not reach out to him. God asks us to be strong up-    right people who dare to give happiness and life for him and for his kingdom.     God’s love is in this, that God gave us a great goal.
           Christ re-crucified—[The great men of Jesus’ time weren't impressed     by his life and death]. Christ’s challenge is: How much of God may there     have been in this your brother, your sister, whom you killed, starved,     denied education and constructive living, or drowned in luxury? We are     fighting against our brothers insofar as we hinder them from finding their own     constructive life. We stand for them insofar as we stand for the rights of     others, for understanding and peace and truth and justice, and insofar as we     are prepared to sacrifice our comfort and our privilege for the lives and rights    of our brothers.

            Experience & authority—God is too great a mystery for us compre-    hend. We read the Bible to experience with men & women before us the way  God spoke to them. [We do not have to argue about which church or religion     is right]. What matters is that people heard the word and tried to live obedi-    ent to the light of truth, hope and love in which the living God showed God’s     self.
            Very often people say to me, “How can you dare to stand entirely     alone? I had to go through many struggles against church authority, tradition     & prejudice. No words of the church, no explanations of theologians made     my way clear; Christ himself spoke to me [that] his goal is the truth. For many     good Christians, faith is so bound up with tradition that they never realize the     deep sinfulness of custom. Again and again the churches have been the last     to see the injustices of tradition. There are those who see this fact, this need,    and are called to seek a new foundation for humankind’s life and work. God     gives them new visions, new thoughts, new outlooks—& perhaps the power     by which eternal truth overwhelms the inward being of the millions.

            [There are] millions who cannot hear the message. From both sides,     [religious & political] the same gospel of despair: in this world you must fight,     fight even for the highest purposes; [both those in power and the oppressed     accept this gospel]. Both are so strongly dominated by unhappy experiences     with other men, so involved in distrust, that they cannot see the human being     [or that of God] in their opponent. Jesus did not ask his followers to fight for     him. He went to the cross & suffered, certain that suffering love would over-    come the world. 

            When will we be ashamed to call Christian those who trust in the     sword?      Is God real? Are we real?—If God is reality, then I know that I     will never find a good way in the future, not happiness, not strength, until I     find God’s forgiveness & God’s spirit to begin anew. While God is an [inner]     belief of the mind, whilst in real life our chief aim is earning money and win-   ning influence and power, we will never overcome the inward weakness that    is servility [people-pleasing].

            What does it mean, this trusting in God? I think it means that we     are certain that spiritual power is life’s precious foundation. We look back to     those whom catastrophe destroyed, who could not live out their lives, & who  gave them because they couldn't submit to that which was against their con-    sciences. They gave their lives because they had heard Christ’s challenge.     The living Christ’s challenge is behind catastrophe; it's in it, beside it, through     it. By hearing his voice—thus we become real. Eternity is in our lives overco-    ming fear and hatred, & giving us this great vision: that we are Christ’s fellow  workers on earth, united with him in his eternal being.

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50. Self-deceit: [A Comedy on Lies; a Way of Overcoming them] (by 

            Frederick William Faber (1858); edited by Gilbert Kilpack;

            1949)
            About the Author—Frederick William Faber, (born 1814, Calverly, Eng.    —died 1863, London); British theologian, & noted hymnist. He studied at Uni-    versity College, Oxford (1837). He became a John H. Newman disciple, &     served the Episcopal Church for 2 years. He converted to Roman Catholi-    cism in 1845 & founded the Wilfridians, a community at Birmingham, which     merged into the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, with Newman as superior. In 1849     a London branch was established; Faber presided over it until his death. 

            Spiritual Conferences (1858) contains Fr. Faber's most famous essays:     "Kindness," "Death," & "Self-Deceit." It includes also: Wounded Feelings;     Monotony of Piety; Spiritual Reading; Weariness in Well-Doing; All Men have     Special Vocation.
           About the Editor—Gilbert Kilpack was born & raised in Portland, OR.     He attended OR University, & received his M.A. degree at Oberlin College in    the Philosophy of Christianity. He was executive secretary of Stoney Run     Friends Meeting in Baltimore. He joined the Pendle Hill staff in 1948, & was    appointed Director of Studies in 1954. He wrote PHP #32 , Our Hearts Are     Restless (1946), #63 , Ninth Hour (1951), and #349. The Radiance & Risks   of Mythmaking (2000). Gilbert Kilpack died in the fall of 1999.

            Introduction: [Faber's Humor, Influences, Psychology]—You have     in your hands a disturbing piece of writing. Read it only when you feel inward     adventure rising in you. Hardly anything like it was seen before its publication     (1858). The author chose to laugh his way through the writing process. Divine     humor, is his true nature. Faber's humor is a true sense of proportion [in     pointing out the absurdity of human presumption]. One who is essentially a     spirit may spend a lifetime pampering one's body, or reserve everything for     one's self and leave nothing for The One who made everything. [While] refu-    sing to face interconnection of spirit & body, most of us settle down to self-    deceit. His writings are like great cartoons of us in our self-important serious-    ness. The people who find his wit impious are mostly folk holding on to them-    selves, and dare not be merry.

            At Oxford he came under John Henry Newman's influence. After a long     mental struggle & a term of service in the Anglican church, he joined Rome's     church. He preached & wrote extensively. He is best known for many [mainly     Protestant] hymns (e.g. "Faith of Our Fathers"; "There's a Wideness in God's     Mercy"). Faber is of the lineage of psychologists who are also religious & lite-    rary men. He matches wisdom about interior growth with the power to inspire      it. Faber's guardian angel was Philip of Neri. [He's credited with being caught  up in rapture] & floating in mid-air before the altar. [He remedied this spectacu-    lar distraction from piety] by reading a joke so he could laugh himself down to     earth; [Faber used this approach to piety as well]. He preached on St. Ignatius  Loyola's [strict regimen, & closed with]: "This ... is St. Ignatius' way to heaven;    & thank God, it isn't the only way."

            [Spiritual Conferences; Self-Examination]—These essays on self-    deceit come from the Spiritual Conferences volume, [which are somewhere     between lecture & sermon]. I have chosen these essays in the conviction that     our world's failure is worship's failure, which must have a place for self-    examination. Faber's point is that most of the world's darkness comes from     self-deceit [& delusion]. Self-examination must give way to adoration. In sim-    ply feeling God's presence the poor little self is in large measure lost sight of    & purified. Without self-examination & confession, common morality, charity,    & worship itself will turn sour within us.

             Read this as you would a mystery story; life is a mystery story, [with a     very happy ending]. If you find yourself distraught over these pages, make     sure you know why. [Concern about self-deceit] comes straight from the Gos-    pel's heart, from Jesus with his call to deny self & take up the cross. The     Bible is frightening, withering in its picture of unregenerate human nature.     The way to [& of] simple Truth is complex, [deep] and hard. Faber's writings     are of this deep, hard order; they will continue to work secretly in us long     after [the last word is read].      Gilbert Kilpack

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            Monkeys can look grave when they scratch one another. But they are     monkeys ... [and] we are monkeys; we only grow into men by knowing we     are not men yet. Frederick Faber
            [4 Fountains of Self-Deceit]—Thorough truthfulness is undoubtedly     the most infrequent of graces. Love of suffering & martyrdom are commoner     graces than truthfulness. We are all thoroughly untruthful; those of us most     so who think themselves least so, those of us least so who think themselves     most so. The 1st step toward being truthful is the knowledge that we are far     from it. We must not be content with a general admission of guilt; we must go    in and ferret out all the misery and corruption. It is worthwhile trying to be less     of liars than we are.

            It is of little use to plunge into [examining] self-deceit, unless there is     determination to be thorough. There is a [lot] of promiscuous physicking of     ourselves, after our neighbor's prescriptions, in the spiritual life. What is said     here is meant only for honest people. There are 4 fountains of self-deceit:     rarity of reliable self-knowledge; power of self-deception; letting oneself be     deceived by others; Satan's deception. Few take pains to acquire reliable        self-knowledge. There is little honesty even among religious people in religi-    ous matters. There is rather a mass of unwholesome delusion, a quackery of    spiritual direction to keep things comfortable & respectable.

            [Tendency toward Worldliness and Self-Ignorance]—Much of what     people think is grace, is simply the providential accident of circumstances.     One may have a very right horror of worldliness. When one's circumstances     change and improve, behold, one finds oneself worldly, not gradually and     under temptation, but worldly without any change at all; worldliness [has     been there] all the while. Hundreds of people are thoroughly worldly, to the    backbone, who flatter themselves they have no taste for the world at all.        How is life at every turn making unpleasant revelations of self? A spir-    itual life without a lot of disqui-etude in it, is no spiritual life at all.

           People are or become worldly from want of self-knowledge. There is a     strange medley of devotion & worldliness, [a contradiction of personal impul-    ses]: alms & luxurious extravagance; humility & exclusiveness; communions     & cheap theatricals; works of mercy & [social climbing]; interior life & fine    furniture—all mingled in close union & [hopelessly entangled] confusion.    Worldliness is an immense number of allowable details claiming our affec-   tions, & accumulating into an unallowable end. Things become wrong when    they stand between us and God. In the analysis of worldliness, we have to         answer questions of kind and degree. Safe judgment and answers, super-    natural principles, religious courage and bravery, depend on reliable, truthful     self-knowledge.

            [Self-Deception]—Vanity is one of the most universal forms of self-    deception. Even when we have too much sense to speak, we are always     inwardly commenting upon our own actions, often with ingenious and far-    fetched partiality. We cherish our own plans, [and allow little room for God's     influences]. We should all make open fools of ourselves save for: knowledge     of how the world works; a keen sense of humor and the ridiculous; self-    prevention of self-importance rising to the level of drawing the contempt of     others.
           Self by its own nature must see itself erroneously. Self nursing self &     seeing no imperfection—the fondest mothers are no match for it in this re-    spect. Brooding on self is like spiritual opium-eating; nothing but phantasms     come of it. Nobody, not even self shall be able to discern between [what is &     what ought to be]. There is almost always a running commentary of secret    self-excuse passing through our minds. While we admit to obvious wrongs,     we consider our "special circumstances" make them "less wrong" in us than     they would be in others. Sometimes we pardon ourselves by thinking of our     opposite good points, by way of comfort and compensation.

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            [Being Deceived by Others]—When we lay ourselves out for praise,     we let ourselves be deceived by others, often without fault of theirs. We pray     & yet itch for praise. Who ever saw anyone who didn't long for praise?     We with praise are almost regardless of its quality. No matter how absurd,     how unmerited, how exaggerated, [otherwise sober &] grave men drink it    down. There are rules of good taste to be observed by those who [spoon-       feed praise] to grown-up babies. [Different nationalities must be praised    differently]; praised we must be, or we sulk. Why are people who boast of    independence of others' judgment servile, fawning, & deceitful?

            We compel others to deceive us by the way in which we talk to them     about ourselves, especially in religious conversation. We ought to either keep     our inward life very secret, or we ought to let it be unreservedly known. The     middle course is practically to tell lies. Self shouldn't be spoken of at all. Yet         it would be difficult to name a Christian perfection practice harder than avoi-        ding speaking of it. [If we speak of our self's positive attributes, we should         give a balanced amount of time to citing our shortcomings]. Otherwise we are    practically telling an untruth, making people believe that we are more noble-    minded than we really are, & so causing them to praise, respect, & admire us     more than is appropriate, [thus reinforcing our] self-deceit.

            It is a 1st principle of spiritual life that each should perceive one's self     as one is in the sight of God & nothing more. Yet most will base self-percep-    tion on their family's perception. God's view & the family's view are very far     from identical in most cases. If we are forever reading of pure and disinteres-    ted love of God, we readily come to think that our love for God is such as we    read. Heroic thoughts are infectious, but they won't do duty for heroic deeds.     When a spiritual book doesn't mortify us & keep us down, it is sure to puff us    up & make us untruthful. How am I seeking confirmation of what I already    half-believe, rather than true guidance? I suspect that we ["reshape "our]        statements to our spiritual guide [in order to get the answer we want].

            [The Devil's Deception]—One of his wiles is to fill us with indiscreet     and unseasonable aspirations, out of proportion to our grace, unbefitting our     present condition. Certain forms of holiness come almost natural to one, suit     one's disposition, elicit the excellences of one's [unique] character, & trans-    form one's nature. Other forms of holiness are meant for other souls, [and  serve only as temptation to the wrong soul]. Set an active soul to [exclu-    sively] contemplate, and you will have hypochondria or worldliness. Immerse     a contemplative soul only in business, and you will have either melancholy or    delusion.

            Our spiritual enemy is urging us to speed. To be slow is what St.         Francis of Sales & Fenelon teach. Speed in spiritual matters, is followed by     darkness. You need unsettling. I wish you had the grace to be unsettled.   Many souls are stiff, concentrated, dull, & self-satisfied. Many people like to       be ill, especially ill in mind. It shows how little God-thought is in them. [Such       choose] to live a sickly spiritual life, always anxious about their spiritual     health, rather than having headlong love of God, a robust, out-of-doors kind       of religious existence. Simple child-like love of Jesus always goes safely     through dangers of self-deceit, almost unaware of their existence.

            Varieties of Self-Deceit: [Extreme Reactions to Advice]—There are     7 species of self deceit, that which: mistakes endless deliberation & never     sharing plans with wisdom; takes no advice or takes advice indiscriminately;     has unjustified, unshakeable faith in itself; applies self-confidence as a stan-    dard for censoring others; ambition and impatience to obtain saintly habits;      misguided concern for fixing unimportant things; settles for false not genuine      humility.
            [In taking no advice outside of one's self], one neglects the duties     which God has given one to do, & all one's time is spent in church, while one    imagines oneself God's special favorite. In a great number of cases, all     worlds of delusion are created by self-deceit which takes no advice. They   make plans, which grow into them, & length of time is mistaken for maturity   of deliberation; & yet they hold their tongue. Their plans seem to have the   light of a quasi-divine sanction. 

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            [On the other end of the spectrum], there are those who take advice     from everybody. The persuasions on the right hand are so neutralized by the     dissuasions on the left hand, that one's mind becomes almost blank. These     people are always undertaking things, & never succeed in anything. One who     is always asking advice, suspects oneself of being in the wrong even if one     doesn't go further than suspicion. Every additional counselor makes one less    able to discern the truth. Every step one takes brings one nearer to the doing    of one's own will. Some people are snares to others; this person is a snare     to oneself.

            [Invincible Faith in One's Self]—Some people have strong faith in     themselves, which no number of mistakes or misfortunes can shake; experi-    ence is unpersuasive, [doubt is impossible]. There is external reason for     every failure, [having nothing to do with the self & utterly unavoidable. Every     good fortune is providential, every intervention miraculous]. They naturally     have a ruinous tendency for everything to have supernatural origin. Dreams     become motives of action; they are wayward & changeable. They receive     inspiration every moment. When they get advice, they do so with self-righte-        ousness & pathetic patience. Their position, their name should guarantee     them from the impertinence of advice. They aren't very likely to be canonized,    yet perhaps most of them expect their lives to be written.

            [Standards of Judgment/ Ambitious/ Scrupulous People]—Those     who are sure they are right assume they are a standard by which to judge     others. To not share that judgment with others would be false humility. Jud-    ging is their sole, express purpose in life; the wonder would be if they didn't     judge. It is astonishing how accurate their unfavorable judgments are. Prac-    tice  seems to have conferred skill, indeed an unerring science, upon being     uncharitable. There is reputation to be had from prophesying doom, & influ-    ence can be gotten from scaring others with sarcasm & detraction. The few  crumbs of success from accurate judgment is enough for souls that can       swallow a sea of flattery.

             Censorious people are calm, & have great dislike for enthusiasm &     liberty of spirit. They live outside of their heart & can't understand a spiritual     person acting from love. [Such people to them seem to make a shallow]     examination of conscience, & have an inadequate sorrow for sin. [Their own     sorrow is kept secret] as a reality of interior life. This is a very common form     of self-deceit, & is hard to cure, because its heart is inaccessible. It seems to     need to suffer a great sin, which shatters self-respect, & lets into the soul [a     need for spiritual change].

            Ambition in self-deceit aims at a distant, slowly obtained object. It is by     no means a patient quality; it perpetually overreaches itself in calculations, &     mistakes the means for the ends. It also mistakes a one-time generosity for     God with having firmly acquired a saintly habit. One would serve God with dis-   interested love, but is not half sorry enough for one's sins. One passes        through the earlier stages of spiritual life at a bound, leaped into high things &    starved one's soul upon mysticism, [rather than feasting on common piety].   [This person ends up] being discouraged by religion, and finding faith's      common exercises too difficult.

           [Scrupulous, Falsely Humble People]—There is self-deceit which is     scrupulous. It perversely fixes its attention on wrong, [unimportant] things, &     ignores the important moments of temptations to be resisted. [Treating others     appropriately is largely ignored, making them seem] snappish, sour, and     uncongenial; it has the fidgets in religion. We must not be surprised at finding     apparently strong and clear characters, which are nevertheless victims of self-    deceit resulting from false humility. Humility is [universally] and preeminently a     saintly virtue; everyone one aims at mastering it. ["Humility is not thinking less     of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less." (C.S. Lewis)]. [Based on the above     definition], it is difficult to continually think of oneself little enough to be truly     humble. Something must be done to shorten the process of its acquisition.

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             Every "humble" person has a circle of flatterers who are foolish or    insincere enough to be pleased with that person's suffering. This self-abuse  produces a cheap heroism & admiration from flatterers, & spiritual blindness.     This one's false humility never allows one to attempt anything more than      what false humility says one can do. It doesn't see at all its peculiarly odious     form of ungenerosity.
            Characteristics of Self-Deceit—Self-Deceit seems to have bound-    less power. It something more than a temptation; apparently a law of our     soul's infirmity. It seems inevitable to a present condition, something which     grace itself can't altogether repeal. Self deceit is everywhere; it is a sort of     caricature of grace. It underlies our actions, or over-arches them like the sky;    it walks beside them. It is forever invisibly mocking & mimicking our beloved     Guardian's gait, entrapping us into blind plots to baffle the Spirit's intelligent    kindness. Self-deceit is always triumphant, always making game of us. It         almost grows with our grace.

           It has a deep-seated persistence. Repeated victories over it [give us no     sense of closing on an overall victory]. It baffles pursuit. Vigilance does little to     help us. We never become expert in dealing with it. It is only active the way     other corrosive agents are active. [Strangely], it brings peace, seeking to     quietly live our lives for us, & be a kind of soul to us. Appearing as virtue is its     normal state; if it looked evil we wouldn't be deceived by it. Self-deceit makes     us do the devil's work, believing, though not always with an entirely honest   faith, that it is God's. Self-deceit's endless, mostly successful disguises, is         the grand characteristic of its inauspicious genius.

            Self-deceit is sensitive to touch, [& is revealed when we are called out     on certain of our ways, practices, habits, tricks of conduct]; it puts us out of     temper when a secret & false part of our self is exposed. Self-deceit's sensi-    tiveness is a fortunate ingenuity of providence, the rattle in the snakes tail, &      one to be fearlessly followed up on. Self-deceit has a genius for alliances; its   power of combination is incredible. A moderate quantity of this evil is able to    neutralize an enormously disproportionate amount of good. 

            Self-deceit purposely abides in the neighborhood of good, in order to     be fostered & kept warm. While other weeds of the soul die out or barely sur-    vive, self-deceit is an inevitable growth. The broadening of life is the widening     of our [capacity] for deceiving ourselves. [Perfect] simplicity is the only thing     which is fatal to self-deceit. But life multiplies, entangles, distracts, compli-    cates, bewilders. The self-deceit fountain flows more copiously each year,    with grace evaporating the waters as they spring. Life is a [struggle] between   grace and self-deceit; most often, deceit wins.

            [Self-deceit's Involvement in Spiritual Growth]—The higher one     rises in spiritual life, the more subject they become to self-deceit's insidious     operations. The higher graces [which come right before] the soul's highest     grace of uttermost union with God, aren't high enough to avoid delusions [of     being at the highest level]. Prayer is beset by self-deceit. It leads to new     worlds, language, & objects. Being unfamiliar, we misinterpret, misjudge    distance & size; [mistake pure fantasy for reality] & are dazzled by spiritual     splendor. 

            Habit is the only safety with supernatural things; [by the time we per-    fectly understand 1 level of grace, we are lifted to another]. Self-deceit has    timeliness that seizes on fresh graces, & diverts them to its own ends. [We     revel in a new level of grace & are delayed in rising further]. Self-deceit levies     a tax, paid insensibly as each new grace comes. Careful management &     [modest enjoyment of each new level of grace] is 1 of the most difficult sub-   jects in spiritual life.

            Self-deceit infests nature & grace. It is a growth of natural character, in     a subject weakened, unhinged, & overbalanced by sin. [Self-deceit is not the     same as natural character]. It attaches itself to our weak moments & points, [&  blends so effectively with our character], that we may be unable to recognize  our [true] selves. Every-one concedes to one's disposition a limited right to lay  down the law to oneself. One assumes, sometimes falsely, that certain limita-    tions are immutable. We cannot discern between want of trust in nature, and     want of trust in the grace of God. Self-deceit insinuates itself into the privi-    leged parts of our character, into the disposition we have made up our minds     to humor, and so becomes our law of life; we lie to our self, and make that lie     our law.

           [The mostly rare awareness of] self-deceit is humiliating. There are no     men who shrink more instinctively from self-knowledge than those who [newly     discover their self-deceit; the shame is unbearable]. Beginners in spiritual life     are especially affected. They fall into spiritual gluttony. They ought to be sent     out with [some restrictions, to take in only as much revelation & grace as can     be effectively digested]. [Otherwise they are overwhelmed] & give up the     whole matter in disgust, take to [unchallenging] comfort & lead unsatisfactory     lives.
            The Remedies of Self-Deceit—How is there anything substantial     in creation?       Who in the world is real?      Where is spiritual life in the     world? Self-deceit has undisguised pettiness when our minds are too intro-    verted upon it; [it dulls the satisfaction of worship and devout practice]. It isn't  easy to keep the line always clearly drawn between habitual examination of     conscience and the misery of [ingrown] self-contemplation. A soul turned in-    ward is mostly mildewed. People are vain & conceited and can't be patient     with themselves.

           What will the result be of breaking away from the undignified bon-    dage of a pious life, or of avoiding the cultivation of an interior spirit         in the hope of not being fooled?      How will one's exceedingly petty     concerns and conceits then be one's masters?      How much worse will     those concerns and conceits be made without allowing grace to encou-    rage the natural sweetness of one's natural character?

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            For remedies of self-deceit, there is nothing as specific as we would     want it to be. Half-a-dozen times self-deceit has driven me to believe that self-    deceit's effect on spiritual life is irreparable. Reparation of self-deceit is possi-   ble and indispensable to spiritual life. As we sink deeper and deeper into     the knowledge of our own falsehood, we come nearer to the grand truthful-    ness of God; somehow self-abasement gives us heart.

            Knowledge of our self-deceit is the nearest approach to its cure. Mere     knowledge of our self-deceit enables us to direct our aim at it, & renders it a     much less formidable enemy. Every additional degree of simplicity we have in     our conduct, weakens the influence & force of self-deceit, & limits its occa-    sions. Just as light changes anything exposed to it, so too simplicity has qua-   lity peculiarly uncongenial to that disease. When someone makes a series of     discoveries regarding continual self-deceit, & that a principal basis of one's     inward life is 1st seen to be a delusion, it will be wisest to remold one's spiri-    tual system. 

            The best practice will be that of matching pure, pious intention with     pure, pious action. The remedy of concentrating the soul's power on purity of    intention won't be helpful to the scrupulous. Those for whom it works will be  made happy. Those whom it makes unhappy, it doesn't suit; there's no serving  God in unhappiness, when the unhappiness is of our own making. If seeking      to make our intentions for God's glory always actual, entangles our conduct     instead of simplifying it, and darkens our spirit, we may be sure it is not the     right road for us, though it may be right for others.

            We must not seek to combat self-deceit by excessively examining con-    science & perpetual probing of motives. Like a diver in the deep sea, we     must not stay long in the depths of our own motives. If we can't find what we     want quickly, it is better to come up quickly, without having found it; looking     up to heaven, [offering defective motives up to heaven], rather than looking     down, can be more effective.
            The cure of self-deceit is lifelong work. Success in this process is pecu-    liarly susceptible to discouragement. The nature of our warfare with self-    deceit invests discouragement with a particular danger. Hope keeps faith's     eye clear and steady; self-deceit harasses our hope, with entanglement, com-    plication, indistinctness, multiple stratagems, and neglect of "respectable"     laws of war. We must not be proud, [& insist on "victory at all cost]." We shall     never march into any of the moral cities we may conquer, with shining armor,     clean scarlet, unsoiled banner, and triumphant, braying trumpets. We shall   always go home bedraggled. We must show patience, good-humored con-        tentment with small victories, and willingness to accept a drawn battle as a   victory.

            Meditation on God's attributes is another defense against self-deceit.     When we reverently put God before us in detail for a long time, there is sym-    pathy in our soul which draws out, defines, & sharpens, God's image in us.     [Being in God's] neighborhood is [being in] truth's native land. Everything that     leads us to throw ourselves out of ourselves, & upon the objects of faith, is in      itself a remedy against self-deceit. Reverence towards God makes all natural  & simple towards each other.

            We shall generally find that devotion of such people is marked by forci-    ble attraction towards God's Attributes. Habitual reverence is the high bree-      ding of spiritual life. We must endeavor to walk purely by faith. We mustn't        spend time looking for outward providential tokens. All excess talking, even     when it isn't about our own spiritual life or the characters of others, may be     regarded as a power of self-deceit.

            Let us be aware & believe God never wishes to entrap us, or take us at     a disadvantage, regardless of how much a complication in spiritual life looks     like the end of the world, & hopeless. We must have confidence in God as a     special remedy. What then will make us real? God's Face will do it. The 1st     touch of eternity will wake us & heal us of self-deceit. The nearest approach     to seeking God's Face on earth is serving God out of personal love. We catch    simplicity as part of Jesus' likeness. 

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            Then, when we look out of ourselves in loving faith, our inward proces-    ses are fewer in number, & amazingly simplified; their majesty is enhanced by     simplicity. We must look out to God, pass over to God, lean upon God, learn     to be one with God, & let God's love burn love of self away, [to make way for     our union]. Untruthfulness is this creature's condition. How painful it feels, that     when we are at our best, we are helplessly pretentious, indeliberate unreali-   ties, unintentional hypocrisies. The time will come to all of us when we shall     play  parts no more, not with others, ourselves, nor yet with God.

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51. Worship (by John Woolman; 1950)

            John Woolman, American saint. Born 1720 at Northhampton, New     Jersey. A  merchandiser, tailor, schoolmaster and lawyer, who cut down his     business that he might see more clearly the simplicity of Truth. He held him-    self responsible for the world’s evil and he sought to clear his whole life of it.     He went to England to labor against the traffic in slaves and there died of    small-pox in 1772.

            Here [in this pamphlet] such parts of his writings are collected as bear     on the problem, “What is worship? How shall we have faith? This is a     record of that constant state of being wherein one can find “the simplicity of     Truth.” Hating evil, John Woolman loved evil men and spoke to them without     bitterness. Loving the exaltation of Truth, he hid himself in humility. He found    that to love God is the mightiest of social weapons. Worship to John Wool-   man was [more than] First-Day meditation & deportment; it was a matter of     everyday speaking and thinking and living; it was a way, a condition, a means    to Pure Wisdom. This collection tries in brief to catch the kernel of it. John    Woolman is not to be studied as history. He is to be read and read again.    From him it is impossible to stop learning.   

            We have a prospect of one common interest [with God] from which our     own is inseparable: to turn all the treasures we possess into the channel of     universal love becomes business of our lives. The call goes forth to the     church that she gather to the place of pure inward prayer; & her habitation is     safe. It is confined to no forms of religion nor excluded from any where the     heart stands in perfect sincerity.     

            John Woolman is brought low—I humbly prayed to the Lord for his     help, that I might be delivered from vanities which so ensnared me, and [the     Lord] helped me as I learned to bear the cross. [But] I still found myself in     great dangers, having many weaknesses attending me & strong temptations      to wrestle with. We may see ourselves crippled and [desiring] pleasant and     easy things, find it impossible to move forward. But things impossible with   men are possible with God. 

            God is sometimes pleased, through outward distress, to bring us near the gates of death: [there] all earthly bonds may be loosened and the mind prepared for that deep and sacred instruction which otherwise would not be received. In [keeping] “as near to Truth's purity as business will admit of—      here the mind remains entangled and the shining of the Light of Life into the       soul is obstructed.

           In an entire subjection of our wills the Lord opens a way for his people,     where all their wants are bounded by his wisdom. As new life forms in us, the     heart is purified and prepared to understand clearly. Retiring into private     places, I have asked my gracious Father to give me a heart resigned to the     direction of his wisdom. I must in all things attend to God’s wisdom and be     teachable, and so cease from all customs contrary thereto.
             He does away with obstacles—My mind hath often been affected     with sorrow [from the] spirit which leads to pursuing ways of living attended     with unnecessary labor. A query at times hath arisen: Do I in all my proceed-    ings keep to that use of things which is agreeable to Universal Righte-    ousness? My mind, through the power of Truth, was in a good degree     weaned from the desire of outward greatness, and I was learning to be con    tent with real conve-niences that were not costly. The increase of business      became my burden, for I believed Truth required me to live more free from     outward cumbers. [And] may we look upon our treasures, and [ask]: Do the     seeds of war have any nourishment in these our possessions?

            He pushes aside the wisdom of the world—The worldly part in any     is the changeable part. But they who are “single to the truth, waiting daily to     feel the life and virtue of it in their hearts, these shall rejoice in the midst of     adversity.” The sense I had of the state of the churches brought a weight of     distress upon me. Through the prevailing of the spirit of this world the minds     of many were brought into an inward desolation, and a spirit of fierceness     and the love of dominion too generally prevailed. 

            He who professeth to believe in [the Creator and Christ] & yet [loves]     honors, profits and friendships of the world more, is in the channel of idolatry.     If I was honest to declare that which Truth opened in me I could not please all     men, and labored to be content in the way of my duty. Deep-rooted customs,     though wrong, are not easily altered, but it is the duty of every man to be firm     in that which he certainly knows is right for him.
           Doth pride lead to vanity?      Doth vanity form imaginary wants,         [which in the end spreads desolation in the world]?      Doth Christ     condescend to bless thee with his presence, to move and influence to     action? Dwell in humility and take heed that no views of outward gain get too     deep hold of you, that so your eyes being single to the Lord, you may be     preserved in the way of safety. [Sincere followers of Christ have a weighti-    ness in] their spirits that secretly works on the minds of others.
            John Woolman sees Truth—At a Friend’s house in Burlington, I saw     a light in the chamber at a distance of 5 feet, about 9 inches diameter, of a     clear, easy brightness and near the center most radiant. [A voice in my mind     said]: CERTAIN EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH. True religion consists in an    inward life, wherein the heart doth love and reverence God the Creator and    learns to exercise true justice & goodness toward all. I found no narrowness   respecting sects & opinions, but believe that sincere upright- hearted people      . . . who truly love God were accepted of God. My heart was tender & contrite    and a universal love to fellow creatures increased in me.

            In a time of sickness with the pleurisy I was brought so near the gates     of death that I forgot my name. I was mixed [and merged] with a mass of     human beings. A melodious [angelic] voice said: “JOHN WOOLMAN IS     DEAD.” I was carried to poor people, oppressed [by Christians]; they blas-    phemed the name of Christ. [I was led to say:] “I am crucified with Christ.    Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me. . . I now live in the   flesh by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” The    language, JOHN WOOLMAN IS DEAD, meant no more than my own will’s     death. I felt the depth and misery of my fellow creatures, separated from   the divine harmony; and I was crushed down under it. Thou hadst pity on   me when no man could help me.

             We do not know what to pray for as we ought. But as the Holy Spirit     doth open and direct our minds & as we faithfully yield to it, our prayers unite     with the will of our heavenly Father, who fails not to grant that which God’s     own spirit asketh. The necessity of inward stillness hath under these exerci-    ses appeared clear to my mind. In the desire of outward gain the mind is pre-   vented from a perfect attention to the voice of Christ. While aught remains in     us different from a perfect resignation of our wills, it is like a seal to a book    wherein is written ... that will of God concerning us.

            To be active in the visible gathered church without the leadings of the     Holy Spirit is not only unprofitable but tends to increase dimness. In entering     into that life which is hid with Christ in God, we behold the peaceable govern-    ment of Christ, where the whole family are governed by the same spirit and,     doing to others as we would they should do unto us. A care attends me that         a young generation may feel the nature of this worship. [For] in real silent     worship the soul feeds on that which is divine.
            He is again brought low—Though our way may be difficult & require     close attention to keep in it, and though the manner in which we are led may     tend to our own abasement, yet if we continue in patience and meekness,     heavenly peace is the reward of our labors. I was made watchful and attentive     to the deep moving of the spirit of Truth on my heart, and here some duties     were opened to me which in times of fullness I believed I should have been in     danger of omitting.
            He strives not to speak too much—I was afflicted in mind some     weeks [for saying too much]. I was thus humbled and disciplined under the     cross, which taught me to wait in silence sometimes many weeks together     until I felt that rise which prepares the creature to stand like a trumpet,     through which the Lord speaks to his flock. Wasting one minute of time     among 300 people [in excess talk] does an injury like that of imprisoning one   man 5 hours without cause. It was my concern from day to day to say no    more nor less than what the spirit of Truth opened in me. To attempt to do     the Lord’s work in our own will, and to speak to that which is the burden of the    Word in a way easy to the natural part [of myself or pleasing to others], does     not reach the bottom of the disorder.

             In the heat of zeal I once made reply to what an ancient Friend said. I     [later] stood up and acquainted Friends that I was uneasy with the manner of     my speaking, as believing milder language would have been better. Here         luxury and covetousness appeared very afflicting to me, & I felt in that which   is immutable that the seeds of great calamity and desolation are sown and     growing fast on this continent.

           He foresees great troubles—I have seen in the Light of the Lord that     the day is approaching when the man that is the most wise in human policies     shall be the greatest fool. Thus the inspired prophet saith: “Thine own wicked-    ness shall correct thee . . . [for] thou has forsaken the Lord thy God, & fear of     me isn't in thee.” Let us then in awe regard these beginnings of his sore judg-    ments, and with abasement & humiliation turn to him whom we have offended.   The gloom grows thicker and darker, till error gets established by general     opinion, so that whoever attends to perfect goodness and remains under the     melting influence of it, finds a path unknown to many.

             John Woolman describes true worship—Wheresoever men are true  ministers of Jesus Christ, it is from the operation of his spirit upon their hearts,  first purifying them and thus giving them a feeling of the condition of others.     Deep answers to deep in the hearts of sincere & upright men, though in their  different growths they may not all have attained the same clearness. Though     there are different ways of thinking amongst us, yet if we kept to that spirit & po   wer which crucifies to the world, true Unity may still be preserved amongst us.
            I have frequently felt a necessity to stand up when the spring of the     ministry was low, and to speak from necessity in that which subjecteth the will     of the creature; herein I was united with the suffering seed and found inward     sweetness in these mortifying labors. The work of the ministry being a work of     Divine Love, I feel that the openings thereof are to be waited for in all our     appointments. I have sometimes felt a necessity to stand up; but that spirit     which is of the world hath so much prevailed in many, & the pure life of Truth  been so pressed down, that I have gone forth [feeling the need to carefully     consider] where to step next.
            The gift is pure; while the eye is single in attending thereto, the under-    standing is preserved clear; self is kept out. Natural man loveth eloquence,    and many love to hear eloquent orations. If there is not a careful attention to      the gift, men who have once labored in the pure gospel ministry, [seek elo-   quence] that hearers may speak highly of these labors. In this journey a labor     hath attended my mind, that the ministers amongst us may be preserved in     the meek feeling life of Truth, where we have no desire but to follow Christ &   be with him.

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52. Search: A Personal Journey Through Chaos (by Ruth Tassoni;

           1950)

            About the Author—Ruth Domino (later Domino Tassoni) was born in     Berlin in 1908 (died 1994). When she fled Nazis in 1940, her ship came to the     United States, & she ended up at Pendle Hill. She taught German to relief     workers on campus during her time as an instructor at Pendle Hill. In 1950,     she returned to Europe. In addition to this pamphlet, she wrote several books,     including A Play of Mirrors, a collection of poetry in Italian. Daniel Hoffman     recently re-translated that work. She also published 3 volumes of short stories     in German, her native language.
           

            There is a faith which is of a man's self, and a faith which is the gift of     God; or, a power of believing which is found in the nature of the fallen man, &     a power of believing which is given from above. As there are 2 births, the 1st     and the 2nd, so they have each their faith ... & seem to lay hold on the same  thing for life. But some may desire to know what I have at least met with, I     answer, I have met with the seed.      Isaac Penington
            Foreword (by Anna Brinton)—Search: A Personal Journey Through     Chaos is a 1st-hand experience-narrative of discernment memories of events     connected by thread of eternal validity. In it, positive action expressing human     sympathy appears in the "hurricane of universal grief" to soften anguish &     kindle hope. We have here a glimpse of relationship between relief worker &     persons presenting occasion for their ministrations. Such ministrations don't     yet stem global conflict's tide, but they witness to the fact that humankind     doesn't all assent to belligerence & hate. This pamphlet will be a welcome     reminder to those to whom Ruth Domino's teaching proved a safeguard & a    blessing. To other readers it will bear witness to the "power of believing that     given from above."

            [Introduction]—My life has had to be lived in many places. I write of     various circumstances under which I met spiritual problems in several coun-    tries. I had brief contacts with Quakers during this time, until I came to live at     Pendle Hill. In episodes involving Quaker work, I see a bright thread string-    ing together periods of overwhelming distress and giving them special signifi-    cance as challenges for those of religious faith and life.
            The Christian State Church of Germany, failed to influence the youth in     any decisive manner. Many searching souls turned away and left its message     to lukewarm people and warlike patriots. Skeptics were more honest in not     seeing Christ's message to the poor & suffering as a living, daily experience;     such an experience is possible. I can only sketch a picture from which this     conviction evolved. 

            My picture is of a German girl growing up during WWI, the Revolution,     disintegration of the middle-class, and the transition from Republic to Hitler's     rise to power. This girl's fate was shared in common with her generation, who    aligned themselves with Nazism, faced and survived the danger of Nazism,       faced it and did not survive, or chose to flee. There is a new generation im-    bued with Nazism who are in confusion & disillusionment. [Despite this] there      is alive the same longing for a peaceful faith that justifies existence and hard-    ship, and gives something worth looking forward to.

            Fatherland and God—In WWI's beginning, God seemed to bless     German weapons; so said the director of our Berlin girls' school. We celebra-    ted victories with hymns, speeches, & early dismissal. The Kaiser received     special telephone messages from God. Toward 1917-18, children wore    wooden sandals in the summer without stockings, & in the winter cloth shoes    with wooden soles; I thought it strange fun, but I minded chilblains & unheated    rooms in our big house. The downstairs rooms began to smell like turnips,     which were put in bread, coffee, & marmalade. My father, with Lutheran pas-   tors as grandfathers, wasn't an openly religious man, but would mention God    occasionally, with anger in his voice. He didn't like the idea of God combined   with mad patriotism.

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            Religion was my favorite subject, not because it demands faith, but be-    cause it stirred imagination. In the winter of '17 I fainted over the story of Solo-    mon & the 2 quarreling mothers, for all of a sudden I couldn't believe in this     story's happy outcome. [In a time when signs of death was everywhere], God     was willing to permit anything, we thought; suffering was a dark menacing     power. It was a strict code of honor among officers and civil servants to not     accept black market offerings. Only merchants & profiteers could afford regu-    lar meat sandwiches, not people who lived for their country's honor. 

            I pictured God as the peak of a difficult pyramid of officialdom with     many irritating minor officials between the top & the base, handing out ration     cards. I swallowed the turnips & dry slices of bread with the vague conviction     that this was right, while [those who ate well were wrong].

            When the war was over, I stood with Father & watched soldiers coming  home; some officers & all the soldiers looked wretched. My father had taken     his hat off. "Peace, my child," he murmured. In '19, I was chosen with other  children in school to receive extra feeding during school, with food provided by  Quakers. I formed the idea that Quakers were our relatives, some kind of       uncles. What I cared about was that this "uncle," although he never visited us,    was concerned about our well-being. This led me to sense vaguely the mea-   ning of compassion & sympathy for suffering, [but not so much its connection      & motivation by Christian faith].

            I groped eagerly for illumination, for the world seemed dark in those     years, although the war had ended, even to a child of a protected home such     as mine. After 1918, strikes & fanatical patriots swept through the impove    rished country; there was shooting heard in the workers' section. We children     stayed home for days because of grippe epidemics or lack of coal; the streets     were often unlit. I huddled in the corner of my unlit nursery, my younger sister     sick with the grippe. The Justice & Mercy of religion class once held promise;     now they contained menace. [Applied to the present] life of unrest, they now     grew to a challenging enigma. [I feared looting & that the workers would     come to occupy the better-off people's houses. Why shouldn't they come &     dispossess us?
            Times of uncertainty and crumbling values contain a lesson, even for     children, that all events have many sides, many faces; so must God, I conclu-    ded. I was no longer able to see the existence of God clearly and without trou-    ble. Father brought home many leaflets & pamphlets; some of them Christian     pamphlets, accusing generals & cannon producers of crucifying Christ, should     he come back now; some of them blaming pacifists & socialists for betraying     Germany. We sold our house when our savings were lost. I was relieved,     feeling that privileges were obstacles in the search for truth. Much later I rea-    lized the irony the poor who never chose poverty must have felt, and how     embittered they likely were about the message of voluntary poverty.
            I was sad when we moved from the house in which I had spent early     childhood. The furniture was heaped crudely on the street. Our cook was     allowed to pick out whatever she liked, since we could not keep her. We had     holy pictures, to which the cook's working-class fiance said, "They have never     been with us, really." In another town, in another school of patriotic middle-    class teachers, people & their children. We would write compositions [on the     awful Versailles treaty and the socialist traitors]. On May 1st a huge proces-    sion of workers marched behind a red flag. I remembered the words of the     worker from 2 years before. They were addressed to and condemning the reli-    gion that had never meant any commitment to life [or those in need of help].
            Kingdom of God—When I was 16, my sister & I prepared for con-    firmation. Our parish pastor was a mild man with a white pointed beard; he     seemed tired & unconvincing. There were no soul-searching questions;     answers were formalized through the catechism's responses. Confirmation     was a pleasant holiday with visits & presents from relatives; there was no reli-   gious fervor. We went to confirmation in order to do what others did. Times     were bad for expensive purchases; most of us wore what could be afforded;   there was no external conformity. I recited Holy Trinity passages, & wondered   about them. I wished I had my own prayer to approach the miracle of man-    kind's Savior in its 3-fold revelation. I hoped for golden cloud or roaring wind;     this did not occur.

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            It is said in times of excitement & unsettlement, the minds of people     are awakened to [queries] which the religion's existing system doesn't satisfy.     The Society of Friends' George Fox & I had such an experience. When I     talked to Father, he shook his head & told me it wasn't wise to leave the     church, which was necessary to regulate the relations between men & some-    thing higher than themselves. Without the church there would be nothing but     rebellions & uphea-vals & being an outcast. He wanted me to have an easy     life, & it was hard to live lonely.
            [Being an Outcast; Being with an Outcast]—I researched strong     idealism's effect on being an outcast. I found a strange company of "outcasts,"  early Christians, mystical sects through centuries like the Quakers, & rebel-    lious atheists, all fervent & self-denying for the sake of a kind, calm utopia. It     was God's Kingdom for some, a just state for others, a [time of struggle],    sacrificing, & dying. I entered Confirmation with expectations & uneasiness; I     still hoped for a vision. I felt something that I thought might be spurious &    momentary. Each of us recited a Psalm, received a scroll with Christ & a     Sermon on the Mount passage; I felt disappointed. The road from doubt to     conviction is long, traversed step by step, sometimes through shocks; some-   times through utter despair.

            [In my struggles], I discovered first a tiny fragment of a new reality     which I had missed in solitary & comfortable brooding. A Jewish girl, Gerda,     joined my high school class. She was avoided by my classmates; she looked     different and belonged to a different type of the human race, & probably be-    trayed the Fatherland. I wasn't used to her relationship to her mother; it was    more like a friendship between equals, more tender & confidential. I began to    ask mother and father about the rumors of being from Jewish stock & found    out that mother was. I told Gerda. Nothing much happened afterwards. I lost    some friends & gained some better ones. And yet a little window had opened    in the dark space of doubts pushed up by my conscience, a window with a   new vista.

            A New School—The life for which German school children were pre-    pared in the 20's was a chaos of insecurity. Millions of people were plunged     into despair, and although its extent was vague, I sensed its burden. Mother     had no time to care for our house & no maid to help her. She ran errands &     bought food before prices went up further. Even my father receiving his salary     daily was not fast enough for coping with the race of devaluation. I had a     sense of the futility of school, even though I was much more insulated from      the country-wide cynicism. Girls & boys a few years older than I were already  engaged in all kinds of bartering and speculating with foreign money. Profi-    teers, including young bank clerks gained and lost their money overnight.

            Inflation stopped by the time I began preparing for university studies.     The older people were filled with helpless depression, the younger ones with     impatience for a better start. I chose Hamburg, a modern school that would     give me a survey of old & new values, in order to form a more complete pic-    ture of the world. In Hamburg, I met a cross-section of pupils from various    backgrounds: older children of workers; & children of wealthy people. I found     that our general standard of knowledge was lifted by the presence of the     worker's children.

           There were socialists, pacifists, & communists, all tied up in youth     movements groups, but very few religious minds. None of them wanted to be     cynical; all longed for a worthy cause. Christian faith for them had become a     tool of selfish or narrow-minded powers; most of us turned away from it, &     looked for supporting groups amid the chaos. There was an officer's son who     was brought up in absolute loyalty to country. He began to realize his out-    look's narrow human basis, but he couldn't live in a vacuum with his strong     emotions, & needed a firmer tie to shift them to; this involved great problems,   soul-searching & concentration on a new cause. He best depicts [his con-   temporaries'] ferverish plight, & the yearning for an ideology [claiming total      commitment].

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            Visit to England & the Quakers—Journeys into foreign countries were  part of our school program. At year's end, papers were written on topics in-    spired by the journeys; the marks were part of [the students' grade]. Our form     went to England. English Quakers & peace organizations helped with collec-    tions being arranged for needy pupils. We all received the same amount of     pocket money for the journey. We were met in London by a delegation of     English pacifists, & were housed in an East End Friends' Meeting House.     Weekends we were invited to visit rural Friends, & we attended silent mee-        tings for worship; my mind was seeking. In the quiet barn where I was seated,    all external distractions seemed banned. I was surrounded by other human    beings, radiating strength in a silent common search. The promises & slogans   of others weren't forced on me; others felt similarly.

            I visited slum projects, where young people were gathered and enter-    tained in a simple, feast-like manner. My more socialistic friends and I recog-    nized the attitude of simple helpfulness & the lack of self-righteousness in this     work. I felt that the effectiveness of limited relief depends strongly on the indi-   viduals administering it, & their radiant, honest kindness. Among the English  Friends, I found sympathetic, even-minded people, blessed with a lack of na-     tional & group prejudices. Our English guide [was unremarkable], save for an      untiring enthusiasm about him. He had lost wife & child, & was happy around  young people. He might have been pathetic if hadn't been for the expression     of gentle joy on his thin face. He was one of those marginal figures who bring   out the deeper meaning of a large picture, & imprint it better & more lastingly   on our minds.

            About Faces, Suffering & Pity—[Shocks to the mind around] the     meaning of life & death began for me with Hitler's rise to power & the persecu-    tion & intolerance that followed. I moved to Austria as a student, where I wit-    nessed the bloody end of the Socialist government in Vienna, saw idealists     departing for Spain to support the loyalists & a new freedom, & saw German     refugees. I decided to voice my attitude toward Hitlerism.
             Being anti-Hitler was for me a human credo rather than a political     opinion. It led to my exile in France after Austria's occupation by Hitler. This     flight, partly chosen, partly imposed, brought a great change into my life. In a     strange country with a new language, a foreigner scarcely tolerated, I looked     at life and people with new eyes. The less people have, the more they get to     know without words; I had to learn all over again. I had come again of age,     and memories of childhood mingled with the problems of a world at war.

             [Neighbors in Exile]—France had many exiles who had left their     countries for racial, political, or religious reasons. All their beliefs were tied up     with the conception of freedom from oppression. The deeper sources that fed     the spirit of brave endurance weren't so easily recognized as the words &     reasons given for it. More refugees went to political meetings than to places     of worship. 

            Faith in brotherhood was interspersed with petty sorrows & problems      of daily life; I wrote & tutored to get by. On the whole, the misery we encoun-    tered in Paris was still of a frozen & subdued kind. Tragic defeat wasn't yet in     the open. Our laundry man & his often sick wife made their living by scrub-    bing linen. There was a gentle Jewish philosopher & a poet famous for his     rebellious songs. These 2 committed suicide when Germany overran France,     while the [laundry] couple went on enduring life in fear.

            Then there were 2 Germans refugee women, with surprisingly poignant     memories. The father of the younger, a trade-union man, has been murdered     by the Nazis, and his mutilated body leaned against the door of his daughter's     house; the older woman's husband, a Communist, was decapitated after a     cruel trial. I should have liked to have asked: What is your ultimate source    of conviction? I learned that words, whether religious or political, don't really     answer the question which arises from the thin edge where death & faith     meet.

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             One force that bound fighters & dreamers in exile sprang from com-   passion, as compassion springs from [das Mitleid (pity, sympathy, compas-        sion, mercy)] Das Mitleid is as many-faced as freedom, bringing peace or     revenge. The last words of 7 students executed in Munich were from the 1st     Corinthian letters. Others died with freedom words on their lips. I came close     to death in a solitary, unheroic way. My flesh seemed to strip away. Around          the corner a silent neighbor was waiting with me; he guarded words & visions   of those who died in faith.

             Panic & Fear—I was fleeing south from Paris in the summer after Ger-    mans had broken into France (1940). Mass fear & panic mingled with unex-   pected consolation; solitary fear gave way to compassion & unity. Dust arose     from thousands of feet tramping the roads. I was with a young woman & her     3-year old son on bikes. We crept into tall wheat fields when a German air-    plane strafed the road. We rode in a truck of French soldiers, who took turns     holding the boy. We passed desperate mothers who had lost their children &     asked about them. We were helped by people sharing their food. For a short      while we were all one, engulfed together in the stream of fleeing people.   Some villages were almost empty, except for a few dead people, live dogs,    chickens, & vagrants.

           We took refuge in a barn, slept there until we were harshly awakened     by roaring planes with swastikas and detonations. [I saw various displays of     desperate piety, resignation & despair]; I never found out how many people     were killed that night; we slept in the wheat fields. We awoke to red poppies     bending down to us in the morning breeze, and the golden wheat shafts were     lighting up under the rising sun; a glorious morning.
            There Might be a House/ An Interlude—We reached Toulouse by     many detours. Toulouse was a student & tourist city with memories of     troubadors & mystical heretics; [instead we saw refugees from the Spanish     Civil War caught up in a defeat in a strange country]. They gathered at a     house that Spainards knew was the Quaker's place. A little girl told us there     might be a Quakers house in Marseille for all strangers. It was as if she had     made up a fairy tale of Quakers helping everywhere; I was not to find this     house until the end of my story in Europe.
            My young friend & her son settled down temporarily in a small moun-    tain town near where her husband was interned; I stayed with her. We ate in     a communal kitchen, helped with domestic tasks & picked grapes for the pea-   sants. It was a quiet time, almost a idyl, [with beautiful autumn days in the]       blue shadows of mountains. 2 worlds met here, 2 different times in France's    history: [the enlightened helpfulness of French Revolution Days; the Catholic    Church's comforting ritual & institution]. There was a bibliotheque populaire     (public library). Many religious peasants felt pity for the Spaniards & gave    them all kinds of support without asking after their creeds.

            Our landlady provided hot bricks for our beds, [& didn't hold our Ger-    man origins against us]. She regarded war as a catastrophe for which great     lords were responsible. Her son worked as a prisoner for German peasants,     & sought chocolate bars for the peasants' children; with whom he was good     friends. Each morning she would go to early Mass & pray for him. Then she     would work as a hospital charwoman & go to her field in the afternoons. We     were told that all refugees might be sent to internment camps; it would be     better for us to go to Marseille. I remembered the Quaker house that might     be in Marseille.

            Prayer/ The House/ The Farewell—[I thought] any power beyond     man's reach was too great for personal prayer. In Marseille, I learned to    understand prayer better than before. I learned to know Leocadia, a young    Spanish refugee woman who was one of my dearest friends in those days.      Leocadia was a gentle person, filled despite her great despair, with deep yet     troubled faith. She was married right before she fled to France; her honey-    moon was [a series of] endless roads, dying people, bombed-out houses &     nights of fear. 

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            In France they were interned separately. Her husband tried to escape     to see her and was sentenced to prison. Leocadia's sadness was great, & in-    creased with each visit to prison. She told me she did not pray for his libera-    tion, saying, "I pray for him; I do not seek fulfillment of my wishes, but it gives     me peace ... I am not good any longer. I have learned to hate; they are so     cruel to my husband ... [Prayer] is the only thing left to me. It is like being     home again."
            I look at our Quaker hostel as a symbol and as a relief station. Led     astray by the turmoils of a shaken world, we came to it as in the prodigal     son's parable. It requires of the hostel's administrator tact, efficiency, & deep     affection. [In the midst of] rundown house and deserted lots, it stood as a    friendly 3-story brick house with great windows; new comers needed to    arrive before 9. Once this house had been a Norwegian sailors' rest home.     After a big bowl of lentil or bean soup, the guests would go down into the   great-windowed dormitory always filled with chatter in the daytime, and rest-   less sleepers at night.

            One was interviewed before admission in another part of town. The     interviewers' understanding questions, conveyed a warmth that would stay    with one in the cold streets. The hostel's directress was an elderly American,    a strict Christian, not a Quaker. She believed in Christian obedience rather     than in love. The hostel had disciplinary order, rather than a cooperative spirit,     the chill of charity done with an unloving spirit. Breaking rules for cleanliness    was considered sinful. For Christmas we had a special brew made out of    orange peel, knitting happily around the Christmas tree, & a strange sermon,   in which dirt was equal with sin. When offering relief, what will you do to   other people seeking help under stress? What spiritual resources will     you be able to convey?

            I had to leave the hostel after 2 months. In the hostel all helpers wore     the stern expression of the administrator. [At the office where I processed out],  everybody was kind & committed to the sorrows they listened to but often     couldn't fix. Whenever I drink tea now, I have a peaceful vision of [the office] &     the warmth I found there. I had a final farewell visit to share the news that I     had gotten a Mexican visa & was able to leave. I received a small card with        the address of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in Philadel-    phia.  I treasured the card & the quiet words I [heard from] the Friend who     spoke with  me. The words & their sincerity led me beyond the temporary     anxiety of those  days, & [reminded] me I wasn't a hunted animal living on     charity & chance. I carried only a small bundle aboard the ship, that & memo-    ries of friends, dead, far away or struggling.

            Epilogue—It took 5 years after leaving Europe to go to the Friends'     study center in America. A new world war started & with it events that shunted     me to the US instead of Mexico. I was safe, but freed from the burden of per-   secution, I didn't know what I should look forward to. The fortress I saw from     the boat [seemed to] lock up tears & desperate courage, the unquiet graves     of friends and parents, and a meaning I could no longer decipher.

           I had a teaching fellowship in an eastern college, & again experienced the security and continuity of intellectual pursuits. In all my activity, I couldn't forget that there were stronger & deeper values than those of scholarship.       The amiable and slightly stale life of the well-ordered campus seemed to en-   hance my uneasiness. The offer of a teaching position at Pendle Hill felt like    an answer to a prayer. [I rediscovered] the little card from Marseille; it had    pointed like a compass to the place I had just reached. It seemed an assu-   rance that I should find again what I had lost. People were there to learn better   understanding and tolerance among men.

            My assignment was to give language instruction to AFSC relief wor-    kers being sent to Europe. Now I was given the chance to fill words like faith,    justice, & mercy with life & experience that could be passed on. [Something     beyond the translation itself] shone through the network of grammar: urgent     visions, deep, silent pauses, sorrows & daily tasks of the early Friends     around the suffering & iniquities of this world & a faith in things beyond them. 

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            In morning worship, on wooden benches, sit the Friends I heard of in     my childhood, whom I had forgotten & met again, waiting in this morning hour     for the Inner Light & Voice. [There is search for meaning here]. This meaning  rises & falls with the tide of memories, inconsistencies, bruises, blanks & year-    nings. It is the texture from which prayers are made & through which some-   times the sharp knock of recognition can be heard.

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53. The Power of Truth (by Herrymon Maurer; 1950)
            [About the Author]—In 1914 Herrymon Maurer was born in Sewickly,     outside of Pittsburgh, PA. He completed his B.A. in English at the University of  Pittsburgh. He married Helen Singleton in 1937. He wrote advertising copy     before moving to Nanking, western China, to teach English. He eventually     wrote several books on China. He worked for a year in publications at Pendle     Hill. In this pamphlet, he grapples with the question of the "end of the world"     from nuclear holocaust. For him, Truth is universal.
            It is now mid-century of a time of violence, and there is no certainty that  the torment of men has more than begun. [The military advocates, statesmen  covet and debate, scientists facilitate, intellectuals prevaricate, and publicists  glamorize & elaborate, all in support of violent means to achieve “just” ends.]  There is still empty laboring after money and empty dreaming of fame. Yet this  surface activity fails to hide a secret unrest, [which arises] from an awareness  of new weapons of destruction and of a general discord among persons and     among nations. At few times have men longed so desperately to be brothers;     at few times have they found themselves to be such uneasy strangers. Lan-    guage has become so inflated as to lose currency. Gibberish passes for    sense. Where is the simplicity of Truth?

            The end of the world—What may have been a symbol to the pro-    phets of Israel and to the saints of early Christendom has now the force of     sober fact. Today we are cut off from the solace of the prophets; we are cut     off from belief in the survival of a remnant of righteous people. We compare    ourselves not with what we are called to be but with what others have been        in the past or with what others are now. . . we judge our own lives not by the     Truth that stirs in us but by the behavior of people around us.

            When persons or peoples cut themselves off from the source of life,     they cease to be alive. It is essential to grasp the nature of destruction that     we may bring upon ourselves; a destruction of all places, all people. For the     torment of our times, for the evil in them, for our wars, for our fears, we are all     responsible. There is no remnant. If we do not seek to be joined in Truth with     every living human person, we shall all be damned separately.
            Inward and outward—Conceiving high-minded plans or endorsing     them or even working to bring them about, unless it springs from an inward     reordering, only adds fresh confusion. The thought persists that there must     be some great [government program, organized philanthropy, global policy]—    some brilliant ideas in the mind of man—that is bound to save everybody.
            The trouble is not that the plans are outward. The trouble is that they     are simply outward. We cannot be [truly] responsible as long as our futile out-    ward schemes hide our own inward condition & the inward condition of those     around us. It is the great heresy of our times to believe that inward evil can     be overcome simply by outward action. The heresy maintains that man is a    robot, that he can be played upon by external controls and made to do what     he should. The responsibility that all persons bear for their confused and     twisted life is a responsibility to know what is inward [Truth] and to make out-    ward works mesh intimately with it. There is nothing more real and powerful     and compelling, nothing more primary to all life than Truth—the Truth which        is of God, which is God—inwardly and sensitively felt.

            The Power of Truth—[In Truth there is] liberation from our own lies,     fears & egotisms, & thus liberation from the outward pestilences provoked         by inward ills. Gandhi gave [this liberation] a new name, Satyagraha, the        Power of Truth; it issues from the convictions that:

           Every living person can know God as [well] as he can know a person                       in the same room with him.
           Deity and Truth can be experienced as directly & as certainly as one                       can experience a table or chair upon which one can lay a hand.

           Men and women and children have in them some part of Light,                               some part, so to speak, of Deity, and that they can actually dare to                       love God.
            All persons have only to reach out toward Light to touch the divine                           source of energy and to be filled by it.
           The Light, the Truth as it exists with all, is the only possible weapon                       against the evil with everyone.
            Truth is the exact opposite of the world’s force, the antithesis of         armies and schemes and great outward plans. Jesus preached no outward     salvation, put himself at the head of no organization, offered no outward lea-    dership, no panaceas. As his life was love and inward following of God, so     was his death.
            The weapon of the Power of Truth is an inward weapon. It is the wea-    pon of self-suffering, of voluntarily accepting injury upon oneself. That which     is of Truth in all is moved in some degree by voluntary suffering. [The early     Quaker’s England & India in the 1940s saw self-suffering put into practice].     This suffering isn't long-faced; it isn't a judgment of the righteous upon the    wicked. Truth is a weapon that can be used only by person who love Truth     better than any results. It demands a total allegiance; it demands a free gift         of all outward attachments; it demands a person’s whole life and a sharp     sensitivity to evil, [much like the 18th century American Quaker John Wool-    man had]. Truth's way is a hard way, but it is the way of liberation, the way     toward affection not simply for people who do good but for those who do evil.    

            The Utility of Truth—Gandhi made his life one continuing experiment     in the uses of non-violence. [He] showed that the Power of Truth can be used     by men and women, children or adults against the tyranny of fathers or of     nations. Required is that state of selfless mind which engenders no irritations     and takes no offense at the slurs or odd humors of persons nearby.

            The method of silence is available, wherein one seeks for the power     that will help heal others of evil by healing oneself. Loving tears accomplish     more than whips. The thief is less likely to steal if he is given the cloak in ad-    dition to the coat than if the coat he has stolen is forcibly taken from him. We     all set the example of theft by seeking after more things than are really need-    ful. We can possess things rightly only to the extent that our neighbors let us     possess them; forcefully preserving what we own is to compound evil.
            In strikes what is needed is a genuine concern for the person who     does evil, for such a concern must lead to a will to relieve him of evil. Personal  inconvenience may result from [a boycott], but the Power of Truth cannot be     effective unless he who uses it is more genuinely concerned for the plight of    the persons who do evil than he is for his own comfort. It is evident that there   can be no true release from the evil of race prejudice until change is effected   in the hearts of the persons who are prejudiced. Laws by themselves have    proved of little help. In India the Power of Truth erased in many places racial    issues as involved as any that existed in America. [The untouchables protes-   ted non-violently the restrictions placed on them by the high castes.] At the    end of the year the high castes broke down and “received the untouchables.”    

            The Cold War & Truth—In India Gandhi went to jail [rather than being     executed. He said:] “Non-violent technique doesn't depend on the good will         of a dictator, for a non-violent resister depends on God’s unfailing assistance,    which sustains throughout difficulties which would otherwise be irresistible.”     This answer rests on the conviction that extreme evil & ruthlessness can be    overcome by an extreme of loving self-suffering.

            Either there is that of God in Russia’s rulers or there is nothing of God     in anyone. Either these men can respond to Truth or no one can. It is neces-    sary now, as it has always been, to gamble one’s whole being on the faith that    life does have meaning, that Truth is alive and will act. Unless it is possible to     penetrate the dogmatic encrustation with which some surround themselves,     there's no way of arresting the spread of a totalitarian system, short of waging     total war. [Such a penetration] is possible only by the Power of Truth, [which   brings a transformation] from yearning for rank and position to yearning for   equality and inward unity with others.

            Seen in Truth's light, the main problem of relations with Russia may be         not so much Russia’s rulers as our own selves. Looking more closely into        our own evil, we would be more capable of discerning the Russian system's   evil & the manner by which it can be fought. The Russian system does   away with any talk of Truth & embraces the technique of the lie. Force [is a          first-resort], not a last resort. The Russian system uses the heresy of the plan,     systems of outward organization that try to change man through changing his     economic life.  

             That these facts contain a partial description of our own heresies, how-    ever less extreme our own may be, should suggest that Russia’s rulers are in     need of the same sort of inward regeneration that we are. It is as necessary     to fight with the loving weapons of Truth against the lie and the plan of the     Russian system as it is to fight with weapons against race prejudice in the     United States as it is to fight against Mammonism in one’s own heart.
           Truth is in fact liberation. Violence, while it may overthrow the rulers of     Russia, will not overthrow the deeply rooted heresies of the lie & the plan. The     force of Truth now gives one final chance to break the endless chain of evil     bred by evil, war bred by war, the cycle of enslavement forged by our ancestors  and by ourselves.
            Obstacles—We have been unable to choose between the unchange-    able and the world; sometimes we have even become unable to distinguish     between them; we find it difficult to seek the Truth completely. Our inward     being  has become clogged with dust and cluttered with debris; it has become     inhospitable to the inward visitor of Light. 

             We may not [seek the extremes of great wealth, great power, great     fame, great pleasure, but we seek distraction in the moderate forms of these     vices,] anything that doesn't charge us with Truth. There is nothing that can't     be used to hide Truth, or twist inward awareness of it. Immersion in hard     work can be as great an escape as immersion in drink. Prayer can become     a talking to oneself, a noisy monologue instead of a silent readiness to hear     the whispering of Truth. It is impossible to lose oneself in worldly things & still     lose oneself in Truth.

            We know we must grow in Truth, but we are worldly even when we     decry the world. We know that Truth demands that we take responsibility and     suffering upon ourselves, but we are reluctant to face discomfort and death. If     Truth be banished to some place, [some time] else, there is no responsibility     to fight with its demanding weapons, and thus no need to battle against evil in     the one’s own heart. [Or evil may be overlooked and] rationalized into the    appearance of good.

            What matters primarily is that men and women attend to the whole     business of their lives: loving God and their neighbors. They have to take the     gamble that there is God, that God's Truth is in fact the Truth of life. At the     root of all faith is a gamble against the world, a divine guess that there are    hands of God ready to catch us if we throw ourselves into them. [For] the   power of  God is greater than any of the powers of this world.  

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54. Prophetic Ministry (Text of Dudleian Lecture at Harvard, 

              April 26, 1949; by Howard Brinton; 1950)
            About the Author—Howard & Anna Brinton arrived at Pendle Hill in     the summer of 1936 with a solid background of academic achievement at the     colleges of Mills and Earlham, & became co-directors of a new sort of educa-    tion enterprise, a Quaker fusion of school and community. They retired in the     1950s & lived on campus as Directors Emeriti. Anna died in 1969; Howard     continues to serve by lecturing, writing, and simply being.

            Foreword—The term prophetic indicates in a single word the basic         theory of Quaker ministry. One who appears in the ministry in a Quaker     meeting is at least theoretically a prophet. The most satisfactory ministry in     the Quaker meeting of today arises out of a flash of insight, felt in the silence     & delivered with brevity and a deep sense of concern. We aren't called to imi-    tate our forefathers. We are called to seek with consecration humility and     patience the same Source of inspiration that was manifest in them.

            In the Christian Church [worship] there is ritual ministry, teaching mini-    stry, & vocal ministry, expression of the Divine Word spoken in one’s heart.     The ministry of priest, seer, and prophet occur in some degree in every Chris-    tian group. [Priesthood is emphasized in Catholic worship; preaching is em-    phasized in Protestant worship]. Prophetic ministry, to which the Society of     Friends aspires, not always or generally with success, isn't validated by     priestly consecration, but solely by inward requirement, “the mighty ordina-    tion of the pierced hands.”
            Demonstration, lecture, laboratory—[Teaching science may in-   volve the lecture-demonstration, the lecture, and the laboratory. These me-        thods correspond to ritual, preaching, and Quaker meeting, respectively]. To    say that prophetic ministry is characteristic of the Society of Friends speaks        of the goal, of making it possible and encouraging this ministry, not necessa-     rily of achievement. Out of the depths of the worshiper’s soul arise thoughts    & feelings of widely varying value; some may be recognized as having divine    origin. Some of those divinely sent may be intended for others. Guilt comes        if one does not share; God’s peace comes if one speaks].

            Primitive Christianity Revived—Quakerism, like most other Christian     movements, initially claimed to be a revival of primitive Christianity. They     extend from conservative to radical, proceeding from Catholic, to Anglican, to     Presbyterian, to Independent, to Baptist, and finally to Quakers, who intro-    duced the new element of prophetic ministry. [Despite strong Puritan objec-    tion to the claim], the Society of Friends [held that] no true revival [of Primi-    tive Christianity] could be without prophets and apostles.
             These Quakers didn't claim to be as good as or as great instruments     of the Spirit as Isaiah or Paul, but there was no difference in kind. There were     Seekers who arrived at the conclusion that a church was impossible without     prophets. When Quaker prophets appeared & spoke, they accepted the man    or woman as ordained of God. [Even with their direct enlightenment], Qua-    kers were powerfully influenced by the Bible. Early Quakers also had tea-    ching, “public friends,” men & women whose [spiritual gifts] enabled them to    expound the faith to multitudes and convince some of them. But convince-    ment was not conversion; that happened gradually from within.

            Early Quakerism—The Society of Friends has not always held the     same view of prophecy’s nature and of the prophetic call. The 1st age (1650-    1700) was characterized by a fiery zeal to spread the message. Preachers    left  behind themselves cell-like groups which met together to wait upon the     Lord and to experience the Spirit. In the 2nd age (1700-1800) there was no     change in theory regarding the nature of inspiration & ministry; there was     more waiting in the silence for the Spirit's moving. Gradually the priestly type     took precedence over the prophetic; the creator gave way to the conservator.     The “priest” performs an essential function [by] transforming the prophet’s     oracles into a cultural pattern. The priest becomes dangerous when he sup-    presses prophecy's voice. The prophetic type lasted longer in Quakerism     than in the primitive Church.

            Priest and Prophet—Early Christian documents indicate the waning     power of the prophet and the growing ascendancy of the priest. Someone in     full charge of the 2nd century church was needed to control prophets & their     unpredictable & sometimes upsetting utterances. By the end of the century     the prophetic office had ceased to exist. The Quakers [dispensed with visible     sacraments and] held to the primacy of inspired utterance over Scripture,     which led to the persistence of Quaker prophecy.
             The Quakers took seriously Paul’s injunction to make the prophets    subject to the prophets. Friends who were more accustomed than others to    speak in meeting where called ministers. Permission to attend minister’s         meetings was a form of recognition of ministry. These meetings frequently         issued written advices, frank counsel, but little or no stress on doctrine. 

            The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting agreed to have “two or more Friends     out of each Monthly Meeting to sit with the ministers.” These Friends came to     be called elders. On the whole our records show that more repression was     exerted by the elders than encourage-ment. Most inner calls to the ministry     were resisted, sometimes for many years. This phase of the development of     Quaker ministry gradually came to an end in the latter part of the 19th cen-    tury. When growing business interfered with religious duties it was the busi-    ness which was curtailed.
              Later Quakerism—The 3rd age in Quaker history (1800-1900) was     a time of conflict. The elders’ attempt to regulate the ministers’ belief led to a     breakdown of the mystical-evangelical synthesis which had lasted nearly 200     years. It resulted in 3 bodies of Friends: 1.) liberal, non-authoritarian, nondoc-    trinal; 2.) evangelical, authoritarian, doctrinal; & 3.) “moderates,” conservators   of early Friends’ traditions and called Conservatives between the first 2     groups. The first group joined in the evangelical revival in the 19th century's     latter part; its services became a pre-arranged form of preaching, prayer, and    singing; there is little room for prophetic utterance beyond the professional    minsters. 2/3 of Friends in America have now programmed their meetings.     

            The 4th age (1900- ) has seen the rise of higher education and the     social gospel influencing the character of earlier prophetic ministry. The early     Quakers’ fears that ideas about religion might take the place of religious expe-   rience itself were overcome. A new philosophy of the divine-human relation-     ship has developed which is more akin to the Hellenic ancestor of Christian-    ity than  to the Hebraic ancestor [early Quakers used as a model]. Spirit has    given place to intellect, prophecy to teaching. The authentic voice of prophe-    cy is occasionally heard. The change is one of degree.

             The social gospel’s predominance [has affected how a particular     social service is chosen]. The older social activity resulted from individual con-    cerns which generally originated in periods of worship, when some quite un-    expected sense of responsibility might arise. The process at present is less     conducive to originality, [and is likely to arise out of meeting for business as a     result of a concern brought to and processed by a committee, which pre-    sents it to the whole meeting]. Rather than directing the worshipper to the     divine Source of all solutions, modern ministry tends to be set in a secular,     pragmatic frame of reference.

            Prophecy & secularism—This secularization is a product of modern     life & has affected all forms of ministry throughout the Christian world. Urbani-    zation, science, and general busyness have contributed to the elimination of a     truly prophetic ministry either in the Quaker meeting or the pulpit. A new phi-    losophy was needed to bridge the chasm between flesh and spirit so as to     render religion acceptable to modern minds; but such a philosophy can go          too far. What then can we learn from these 3 centuries of experiment     with an unordained ministry exercised by self-trained men & women?

             Prophecy & Christianity—Prophetic ministry serves a different pur-    pose than pulpit ministry. Spiritual direction in a Quaker meeting tends to     [result from] a brief message which seems to grow out of the life of the     meeting & which harmonizes with the silence. Wandering thoughts may then     become focused on the Way, the Truth, & the Life. Fox said: “. . . it is not a     customary preaching but to bring people to the end of all preaching.”

           There are Seekers today as there were in the 17th century. Souls         need help which will go beyond the mind to reach the springs of the will,     [where] the meaning & purpose of life can be realized when [the Spirit is pre-     sent &] the deep in one soul calls to the deep in another. For such service     there is no training save that of the Spirit.

           The experience of the Society of Friends would indicate that there are     spiritual gifts in the laity which are lost through neglect. The fear of weak,     uninspired ministry, is denying us the freedom and opportunity to develop a     powerful lay ministry. A truly inspired prophet delivering his message speaks     with freedom & self-surrender, aware only of the truth welling up from within.     It is on intuition rather than on deliberation that the prophet depends, on fee-    ling rather than on thought. Higher education may save the prophet from    fanaticism, from errors of fact, from isolation from the currents of thought of    his time. But modern education does not develop religious insight and intu-    ition. There is no reason why prophet and scholar could not be integrated         so that each would strengthen and supplement the other.

            Inward and Outward Authority—Optimum conditions for prophetic     ministry are realized when there an appropriate balance between outward     authority and inward inspiration; too much regulation quenches the spirit and     too little leaves open the door for unedifying utterance. But outward & inward     are not of equal value in religion; the Spirit is primary. I think it can be shown     that prophetic ministry has had the greatest driving power when it has been     of a Christ-centered type. 

            Jesus called himself a prophet and prophetic religion is the religion of     Jesus rather rather than the religion about Jesus. Christianity was itself a     revival of prophetic religion after a long period of priestly domination in Israel.     In the cultural barrenness of declining Greco-Roman culture it was a crea-    tive outburst of spiritual power among ordinary men and women engaged in     humble tasks. The present age presents many resemblances to that epoch         in the declining Greco-Roman world when Christianity began. Can we look       for a similar outpouring of the Spirit?       
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55. The Pendle Hill Idea (by Howard Haines Brinton; 1950)
            About the Author (1970 ed.)—Howard & Anna Brinton arrived at     Pendle Hill (PH) in the summer of 1936 with a solid background of academic     achievement at the colleges of Mills & Earlham, & became co-directors of a     new sort of education enterprise, a Quaker fusion of school & community.     They retired in the 50's & lived on campus as Directors Emeriti. Anna died in     1969; Howard continues to lecture, write, & simply live.

            Introduction (1970 ed.)—40 years of failure & success have demon-    strated, at least to some extent, what is possible and what is impossible in an     institution like PH. No 2 years of PH experience have been the same; the     character of each depends on the personalities of those in residence. PH’s     future will be different than PH’s past, but there are certain fundamental prin-    ciples which will remain unchanged. This pamphlet describes those princi-       ples. [It is because of all those who participated at PH that these principles      found expression].

             [Pre-historic & early education]—PH, [among others] makes use of     2 basic Quaker principles involving the importance of: the small integrated,     religiously centered community as a starting point for a social order higher    than that of the world in general; immediate experience as a necessary sup-    plement to beliefs & theories.

             The community is the oldest instrument of education, as old as the     human race & older. Long before instruction through words began, primitive     society’s youth watched their elders engaged in hunting, gardening, tool-    making, & religious exercises. Humans have [most often] lived in small,     closely integrated groups united by kinship, economy, moral code, & 1    religion. Communities most likely varied in size from 50-100 persons. Now,     the family is too small, & the state too large to meet our needs, so we cre-        ate groups such as church & club.    

            The community small enough to permit every one in it to know every-    one else intimately is by its very nature an educational instrument. From birth    to death the individual is moulded by the group, not so much through words     as through shared actions. Such an education pierces below the surface of    conscious thought to the springs of the will in the hidden depths of the soul.     Religion is taught by participation in religious exercises.

            Such education may be too successful, resulting in conservatism &     little change from 1 generation to the next. With words came conscious     thought; with thought came rebellion against tribal patterns. Myth & legend,     recited or sung, became an early form of teaching. They conveyed through    symbolic elements a complete philosophy of life. Humans began to question     old legends & traditions, beginning a long process [where education became]     very verbal in character & affected only the surface of the mind, ignoring the    [will’s inner depths & springs].

            The 3 Arts—[Education in Europe’s middle ages began with proto-    universities, which focused 1st on theology, with philosophy as ancilla]. The     instruments of instruction were the Bible & Aristotle. There was also training     in reason. The instruments of this instruction were the Trivium (Logic, Gram-    mar, and Rhetoric), & the Quadrivium (Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, & Astro-    nomy). In the Monastery there was also training with the Hall and the Farm.     The 3 levels were Chapel (Divine Arts), Library (Liberal Arts), & Hall (Useful     Arts). Eventually Theology faded from the general curriculum.
            Today we find that Human (Liberal) Arts are giving way to the Useful     Arts. In all but seminary the Divine Arts have either vanished or greatly dimi-    nished, & now concern only a few. The universe is becoming a mechanistic     one, where there is no moral order, no ultimate purpose, no absolute truth.     This stage in education is leading us to destruction by the very science which     we have created to assure survival. [Humankind is becoming] a homeless,     frightened wanderer, going nowhere.

            The 4th Art—The early Christian groups were small communities,     [similar to tribal communities in being educational], but they taught a universal     religion independent of kinship. A tribal character fused with the universal     [message], but the [original] primitive Christianity couldn’t be suppressed. The     Quaker movement of the 17th century was evidence of this. The sense of the     Spirit’s presence inspiring & uniting the group [was the central focus [in their     efforts to educate]. To seek for & be inspired by the Spirit might be called a     4th art different from, but not excluding or limiting the other 3. There is no     community more powerful in its educational effect than the God-indwelt   society.  This 4th art is in evidence in silent, expectant waiting for a sense of     Divine Presence & Guidance.

           A complete, well-rounded education includes all the arts: the Divine,         the Liberal, the Useful, & the Spiritual. The University of Kamazawa in Tokyo,     Japan, belongs to Zen Buddhism. The university has a meditation hall;    instruction is given in the use of silence. In Zen Buddhism education on its     highest level has to do not with books, lectures or scientific apparatus but    with silence & the immediate experience of Life. Zen won’t fit into our wes-       tern culture, but it isn’t completely alien to scientific method or Catholic or   Quaker meditative practices.

             Pendle Hill, an Educational Community—Now in its 40th year, PH     endeavors to supply a small intimate, integrated community and an education     based on the 3 ancient arts, Divine, Liberal, and Useful, and the Spiritual as     understood & interpreted by the Society of Friends. Other institutions outside      the conventional educational system are Iona in Scotland, Sigtuna in Sweden,     Cluny and Essertines in France, Dreibergen in Holland, Bad Boll in Germany,     and Chateau de Bossey in Switzerland.
              PH is a small community; it numbers about 60 persons. Each person     must have full opportunity to develop one’s unique personality and one’s com-    munal personality. PH is a community of the family type. [Some students bring     their children; a few have brought their parents; we relate to & care for one     another as in a family]. PH is an integrated community; there is no formal dis-    tinction between staff & students. Decisions are on the basis of unanimity     without voting. PH is a representative community, including a variety of races     and nationalities; it is not isolated from the world around it. Members are     encouraged to undertake regular field work. Each year more than 100 persons     besides the teaching staff have lectured and led discussions.

            In seeking to heal the inward confusion that is so much a part of the     world’s disturbances, PH pamphlets & bulletins further emphasize the ideals     of PH. The social studies are directed toward the present need for peace,     industrial and racial as well as international. In an atmosphere of peaceful    searching the road to truth, to justice, & perhaps even to love may be disco-    vered. Psychiatrists agree to [the neurotic effects of] one-sided develop-    ment, often of the intellectual at the expense of the spiritual. The normal    length of stay at PH is from October to mid-June. Hints for their lifelong self-    education are what the seeker receives at PH. Spiritual Arts= spiritual exer-        cises toward union with God; Divine Arts= study of a religious philosophy of   life; Liberal Arts=study of the human; Useful Arts=[creative] work & play in     the physical world around us.

            Spiritual Life/Useful Arts & Recreation—The resident group at PH     gathers daily for period of meditation & worship each morning after breakfast     [after the manner of Friends]. It is assumed that there is a Divine Life within &     beyond, from which strength & guidance will come to the soul willing & open      to receive it. Sometimes a thought will come with peculiar force which marks        it as intended for the group. True worship enables the members to center    down to that area of the soul [which is] that divine Spring of Eternal Life.

            The Physical activity in cooperative work & recreation is an important     supplement to [PH's other aspects of life]. Each member takes part in the     common tasks in the household, garden, grounds, office, or library. Work itself     may be sacramental, & outward evidence of inward grace; work & meditation  may go happily together, each aiding the other. Deliberate, self-conscious     intention isn't always as creative as an attitude of mind which permits the     new to emerge unexpectedly & uninvited. Co-operative work is subordinate to     study.

            Divinities & Humanities—These subjects are so inter-related that it     is difficult to separate them. It is important to consider the courses at PH in     relation to the whole pattern of community life. [Ideas are important, but] the     inward life which deals with human relation to their selves & to God is equal-    ly important. Education may be a 2-dimensional undertaking, concerned only     with the mind's surface, or it may have a third dimension of depth through  which life acquires meaning and significance. [People come to PH for many     different reasons: personal problems; a satisfying religion; re-directing a life;    renewal.

            Courses at PH present a balance between the inward & the outward     aspects of religion & society. Some of the most valuable projects have arisen     out of apparently aimless browsing in the library. Term papers often develop     into publications as books, pamphlets, or less ambitious articles in periodicals.  Some of these papers pass all the tests of scholarship. Others present a few  simple but fundamental ideas of vital importance to the writer, thoughts some-    times arrived at after a struggle and accepted as a guide to life.
            Characteristics of Pendle Hill—The advantages of grades, credits,     and examinations, however useful in the case of immature students can't be     supported in the case of adults. Students sometimes leave PH wondering    what  they have gained, & have to wait for more life experience to evaluate     their time at PH. Time spent at PH should be evaluated as a segment of life        lived for its own sake, independent of results.

             The difference between organisms & mechanisms is often disregar-        ded in education. High pressure production may succeed in industry; accele-    ration in education may prove disastrous. A healthy mind must grow at it own    [individual], appropriate rate. Minds do not grow on facts; there must be         meaning as well. PH endeavors to afford each student an opportunity to         spend the time they need in reading a book or writing a paper, [allowing more    time for] a growing insight into fundamental values. The only requirement is     that the time not be wasted.

            PH [has a] minimum of procedures to free up the mind from attention     to what might more properly be relegated to routine, [freeing up time for the     creative faculties]. PH endeavors to stimulate self-discipline by facilitating  recognizable achievement. The Quaker position appeals to the good in one     but doesn't assume that such an appeal will necessarily be successful. At PH     many details of living are worked out by common consent in the weekly com-    munity meeting. Others are assumed as a result of experience. In intellectual     & spiritual experiment, right result can only be achieved when right conditions     are created & maintained.

             The religious doctrine of the Society of Friends tends to make those     who are convinced of it somewhat independent of external teachers. For this     we wait together in corporate silence. Each student is assigned a staff adviser     with whom he or she consults at least once a week. Pendle Hill may some-    times be the right setting in which to find resolution of minor complications        or to find the way out of a quandary.

             The Integrating Idea—[An integrating idea] operates as a field which     produces in the group a certain pattern of behavior. It isn't necessary that the concept be sharply defined. The power of the idea should reside in its poten-    tiality rather than in its actuality. PH's integrating idea is that aspect of the     faith of the Society of Friends which created PH. Quakerism might be charac-    terized as a type of Christianity based primarily on experience & secondarily   on historical events. The temporal comes to full meaning through the Eternal,  a living, moving Reality which cannot be caught and contained in a verbal     formula or an intellectual concept. The curve of the spiritual life [is such that]     human relations with God reinforces their relationship to one another.

            Equality in an educational group means equality of respect, opportu-    nity, sex, race, & economic status. Wisdom is a joint search in which all take  part in proportion to their ability, experience, & dedication. Simplicity in edu-   cation means absence of superfluity. Knowledge is sought for its practical    contribution to a good life. Simplicity guards from excess of words, from exal-    tation of [speech-making] regardless of its value.

            Harmony results from absence of pressure, psychological or physical.     Life at PH is largely concerned with discovery of the means for developing   peace among individuals, nations, race & classes.
            Community refers to all the ways & means by which human beings     recognize & realize their interdependence. PH is seeking to make possible     within itself a lifestyle which should prevail throughout the world. It tries to         be a minority which has withdrawn for the purpose of returning with grea-        ter power & knowledge.   There are other educational communities like PH,  “watch towers,” where one can step aside, take bearings, & become aware    of  directions and goals. They afford time & opportunity to draw strength    for one’s soul from the Inner Source of Divine Life.      

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56. Toward Pacifism: [Convincement & Commitment of a Young 

        European] (by Gunnar Sundberg; 1950)

            [About the Author]—Gunnar Sundberg (1922-after 1998 (?)) was the     son of a pacifist. He joined the Swedish work camp movement during World     War 2 (WWII). He became Clerk of FWCC’s re-named ‘European & Near     East’ Section (1971). This pamphlet describes the development of his own     pacifism during and after WWII. His article, Divine Humility (1998) will be    included as an appendix.]

           This pamphlet should be looked upon as a plea for pacifism. I don't     think pacifism is on the way out; apparently some people do. To those people     these pages should be an attempt to stop pacifism on its way out, and have         it turn back again to live among us.—G.S.

            Preface—My paper will be from the convinced pacifist's point of view.      The narrative is personal & [in the order] of my development. It must seem     presumptuous for a [neutral Swede to write this], rather than one who expe-    rienced the pacifist position's difficulties. The most startling experience I had    involving pacifism, was as part of a young Friends' seminar in Philadelphia.-     [There they asked the question]: [How] is pacifism on the way out? To    European peace workers it would be a hard blow to see Friends give up, or      question their renowned testimony against war. I had a European approach     to pacifism, & I knew the ethical motives for pacifism. Perhaps I could give          American Young Friends some additional points of view, & strengthen them     in their pacifism.

            [Introduction]—I hadn't left school when WWII started. I attended the     Viggbyholmsskolan co-ed boarding-school, which father founded near     Stockholm. [With] political persecutions, many boarding-schools in sheltered     countries were meeting-places for young people of various countries. Our     class was proud about contact with Mahatmas Gandhi & our [sister] Hindu     School. Some of us joined the International Friendship League. We got visits      from foreign students. I saw advantages to military training & refusing to sub-   mit to it; I was in favor of national defense. Except for the state church, birth-       right membership in other organizations was uncommon.

           My parents had joined the Society of Friends by the time I left school.     Religion was no concern of mine & religious pacifism was far from me. Qua-    kers & the few pacifists I knew seemed to be odd & unusual. Father knew     that faith & personal commitments such as pacifism must have time to grow     from within; [father] lived his faith. [I received military training when I was 20;     [I still remember lessons about twisting the bayonet in bayonet drills]. 

            I led an attack drill on a small coastal town. I got carried away with the     fighting during the drill & was completely out of my mind. I hadn't noticed being    hit & bleeding above the eye. What on earth had been going on inside of        me [in the  midst of a "mock" fighting frenzy]?      Why had my emotions     been frightfully stirred?     What did I have inside of me? What a thin layer   there is between man & beast, an instinct, something dark & horrifying. I feel     my present conscious pacifism may be weak, compared with unconscious     instincts.

            FROM BEWILDERMENT TO DETERMINATION—After military service  & during the war, I joined the Swedish work camp movement; the Friendship  League was no longer enough. The world would expect Sweden to take upon  ourselves a large part of post-war reconstruction. Many young people trained  themselves during the last war years to be able to work in Europe, as soon as  the arms were laid down; Funds were raised. For some years there was a     strong movement for international relief that faded away too soon.

            The 1946 work camp in Finland opened my eyes to the pacifist brother-    hood in the cause of peace. It was as if a curtain had been lifted, revealing a    whole new world. The world was full of human beings just as seeking [of        peace] as myself. I realized how old & how manifold is the cause of peace.     I realized how broad the scope was of related areas of human activities gover-    ning human relations, from forms of government, to economics, to religion, to     social reforms. I said over & over, that I could never feel so close to non-    pacifist  Swedes as I would feel to pacifist Hindus or Chinese. [The 1st 4 paci-    fist  principles I will look at represent the common sense level].

             [1] Atomic Warfare; [2] Nobody Considers themselves Aggres-    sive; [3]; Diplomatic Instability [4] Nation-State—We must all change our     minds & adapt our standards & practices to the new world which [nuclear] sci-    ence has discovered. We must realize what is invested in the old military sys-    tem. If new standards are introduced [1,000's will be displaced]. In earlier     wars, soldiers had gone out to meet the enemy & defend their country. Gui-    ded missiles have done away with what was left of romantic, sentimental     feelings. Soldiers on the front lines may be comparatively well off, when we    consider the fate of big cities with their women & children.

            Aggressive wars have been rejected completely, but wars of defense     are still praised. If we pacifists can prove to the soldier that he can never be     sure whether his war is aggressive or defensive, eventually he may be less     willing to jump to the conclusion his government expects him to adopt. De-    fense is impossible with atomic bombs. You can only send them, not stop      them. Our government will not inform us about the character of our wars. Nor    shall we be able to find out the truth for ourselves. We had better make our     own stand, once & forever.

           If we agree to fight and to kill, we would like to see a sensible principle     for the selection of who we are defending ourselves against. How can we     see the point of fighting a country which was our ally & friend 10 years       ago? Governments & public opinion egg each other on, time & again, to   define a fresh enemy. The policy of "Let us fight nobody who attacks us," is    extremely difficult for a government to stick to, even though it allows for non-    violent resistance. 

            In Early 1940, The British sent a note to the Swedish government de-    manding that the export of iron ore to Germany be stopped. If necessary, the     British would take the necessary steps to have it stopped. They mined the     waters west of Norway and British troops left from England the day before     Germany invaded Norway and Denmark. [With the new information], we     might even picture England & Germany as lions, leaping for the same piece     of juicy meat.

            The Swedish majority felt that they belonged to the Western allies. But    neutrality plus ideological sympathy is just as inconsistent as pacifism plus  ideological sympathy. If we had given up our principle, we might have helped  the British fight the Germans; [in so doing], the neutrality platform would have  been lost. We would then have been used as tools by the great powers. To     [react] according to the moves of someone else, [rather than act according to    the strict requirements of peace] is not the way to build peace. [This is why]     pacifists make a definite stand and refuse to be tossed about by arbitrary      public opinion and helpless governments.

            Borderlines are artificial & arbitrary. What huge amounts of emotion &     sentiment are invested on either side. Wars are easier to start if leaders have     a nation-state sentiment to build on. Family, community, home town, your     home's countryside trigger a strong affection naturally. The next natural unit     is the world. Everything in between is more or less fictitious. How is natio-    nalism the inexplicable anachronism of our time? A nation's economy     shouldn't mould its people's minds; the reverse should be true. We can insist     that our fellow citizen are not so enormously better than our neighbors across     the border. The similarities are greater than the differences.

            From Humanistic to Christian Pacifism/ Accepting Society as it         is; or Trying to Change it—At Hirvasvaara work camp in 1946, the sear-    ching & penetrating attitude of our souls, which grew in proportion to our     friendship, helped to develop my religious faith. My own belief, confronted     with other beliefs had to be clarified and articulated. In my new world of idea-   listic commitment, I saw my course, direction, and goal. There is some kind     of Great Power, and if I am right in this, the Great Power will approve my     new course. 

           My pacifism was essentially humanistic, rationalistic, ethical and based     on international sympathy. A year later I stop resisting explicitly Christian con-    victions within me. I joined the Christian pacifist organization, Fellowship of     Reconciliation. I picture pacifism as a pyramid with a wide base. The base be-    comes narrower as it rises, the commitments more sharp and more exclu-    sive. Moving beyond the common sense level, we require a certain degree of     idealism & willingness to follow. [I hope the following sections will help young  Christians decide to include pacifism as part of their faith]. Perhaps a more     powerful ethical support of pacifism would be helpful.

            How is our goal to educate good citizens for democracy as it     exists at the present time? [In the democracy of the ideal Utopia], society     would have to conform to our students, when they have grown up; not they         to it. To look ahead, to get one's bearings in relation to the future, in relation        to a better world, may seem unrealistic & naive. It's this effort that lies behind     progress. People who refuse to accept contemporary society aren't always     successful reformers. They may play an important role, as the bad consci-    ence of an imperfect order.

           To Kill the Evil-Doer isn't to Kill the Evil/ Double Standards/ Hu-    man Brotherhood—Individual soldiers must be convinced that the cause is     just. Every war can be made out to be just, or a war of defense against evil. In     a soldier's conscious mind, one is always certain one is fighting a just war, a     war against evil. Evil isn't done away with by bullets, a bayonet sting, an     atomic explosion, or the electric chair. Evil may infect victors after victory. Evil    can't be extinguished by wars. Evil must be overcome by good. To love our     enemies.

           Peace, education for internationalism, and creation become part of a     person devoting themselves to peace. If one then accepts war, one must     modify one's ideals. A double standard will split one's inner consistency and     disrupt one's calm. A good life must be a consistent life, with one set of     standards. I cannot permit myself to be turned around and work in the         opposite direction.

           Feeling, intuition, faith, all play their role in pacifism. A person who sees     others as statistics or separate, quarrelsome creatures, as less than real     people, has a long way to go before one is ready to become a pacifist. True     internationalism and the average public opinion of our day seem to operate on  different wavelengths. World citizens in the deepest sense of the word have a  different [take] on contemporary history in which prejudices, moral "superiority,   and selfishness appear to be corner stones of society.

            A real international outlook is a matter of education. Far-off human     beings are promoted from statistical figures to likeable brother, or at least to     next-door neighbors. Various international organizations take on the respon-    sibility of kindling and strengthening the feeling of human brotherhood all     over the world. Faith in human brotherhood and loyalty to humankind touch     the essentials of religion, and grow into an all-compelling conviction. Killing         1 human being would break that loyalty, and betray one's deepest faith.

            Responsibility to Posterity—[Hunger is a basic reason people kill     each other]. What are other reasons besides hunger for people to kill    each other? The ideal of peace must be estimated in reference to the history    of ages past and the distant future. Recent fighters took and still take the    slogan "making the world safe for democracy" as their watchword on which to     base their policies. The ideal of not killing must also be made safe for poste-    rity. I could visualize a time when pacifism would be dead as Latin is dead.

           A quick succession of wars may lead to the conclusions that either    humans are bad or wars are useless. It seems to me that the time has come     when the opposite set of values should be tried, to overcome evil by good.     The pacifist principle must be carried on in the hearts of a few living & brea-    thing human beings, [even if it goes largely unused], passed on from gene-    ration to generation for centuries or a millennia. [I belong to those few. We    have  committed ourselves to a mission, [along with all who have lived and     have made the commitment and all who shall live and make the commitment;     we have a responsibility to posterity.

           That of God in Every Man/ Accepting the Cross—The Quaker "that      of God in every one" doctrine is generally considered to be the basis for the     Society of Friends' pacifism. It gives specific emphasis to Christianity, as inter-    preted by George Fox, & fellow Quakers. The step between the human bro-   therhood concept & the religious "that of God in every man" doctrine must         be fairly easy to take. "God as supreme power to be revered & worshiped,"         mingled with my earlier international feeling, caused my pacifism to be identi-    fied  with the "that of God in every man" doctrine. Quaker tolerance seems to   result from that doctrine. The freedom to believe in [universal] brotherhood     must be a great asset to those who want to move from ethical idealism to reli-    gious faith.

            Religious pacifism based on acceptance of the Cross in its extreme     form may appear more authoritarian. A pacifism founded just on authority of     what is recorded in the Bible accepts limitations, like less universality than     some other living religions, & a sense of hopelessness [that goes along with     the authority]. The relationship of Man—Bible—God may be too focused on     one's own particular relationship to God, rather than a brotherly relationship   among men. 

            The Bible-centered pacifists feel a certain assurance that they will be      richly rewarded. A pacifist conviction based on "that of God in every one," is     anchored better in human brotherhood, more international & universal. Paci-    fism must be an instrument for every human being's benefit, & for improving   human relations. The danger of pacifist isolationism exists. Under extreme    duress, a religious loyalty might be of greater support to you than a human    loyalty. I have 2 foundations for my pacifism; one human, & one religious.    

            FROM ONE-TIME COMMITMENT TO CONTINUOUS INVOLVE-    MENT—[I had a dream of American & Russian soldiers fighting on India's    plains].  Bodies were torn apart by stones & bayonets. A war correspondent     reported everything that happened; I was only a spectator. Pacifism must     beware of isolationism. Life should include a combination of pacifism and     engagement in world affairs. How much of one's energy should pacifism     take? [The vast majority of people] should not specialize in pacifism. They     should just make the commitment, & then turn again to their individual, nor-    mal  activities. If all pacifists were only pacifists, the whole movement would     soon become impossible. One's normal activity should be as well integrated     with the positive and constructive elements of one's pacifism as is possible,     and at the same time earn one's living.

            Lately, I have encountered the argument that a one-time commitment     followed by normal activity is no longer enough. 2 British Quakers strongly     emphasized that view at Pendle Hill in the US. The concrete prevention of     impending war seemed to weigh much more heavily on them than abstract     rejection of wars did. Today's system of total warfare called for a basic         change in pacifist policy. 

            In earlier days, [soldiers withdrawing from the armed forces would     have a greater impact on the ability to fight wars]. Now, even if 99% of armed     forces were withdrawn, a present-day "push-button" war could easily do     many times as much damage as the last war. The threat of total war compels     the pacifist to take the risk of continuous involvement on the highest level, the     only level where total wars can be prevented. [Peace workers will have to get     over their reluctance to go into politics, and find a difficult balance between     their ideals and compromise].

            What Would you do, if Somebody Broke into your House to Kill     your Family? /How much Should we Refuse to do Because of our Paci-    fist Convictions?—I wanted to be very sure that it was right to join without    having a complete command of one's instincts. If we should wait for that, we     would have no pacifists at all. It is misleading to concentrate too much on the     ultimate choice of killing or not killing a would-be murderer. 

            Life has more to do with the factors that make such an ultimate choice      impossible—or possible. George Fox said that one should live in a spirit that     takes away the occasion of war. The ultimate choice [would result as a logical     outcome of a constructive and positive attitude]. There will be choices in          which both alternatives are utterly tragic, but life as a whole will not consist     exclusively of such hopeless situations.

             My brother holds that it's impossible to do anything at in our day with-    out helping the war machinery. How does one live as a pacifist in a world     where it is impossible to do anything without helping war machinery?      What responsibility does a pacifist have to inform those around him of     his decision to not kill?       How does one deal with others' expecta-   tions that one will resort to violence to defend one's self & those     around one? 

            A pacifist must tell people the decision not to kill has been made. Not     telling may lead to betrayal of one's countrymen; that is also contrary to     human brotherhood. Refusing to register seems to me to be more a testimony     against government power than against killing other human beings. Refusing     to register is probably more natural to Americans with their devotion to indivi-   dualism. Europeans find American youth's refusal to register puzzling.

           How can one be a Pacifist & yet not sanction evil in some form or     other?—How is trying to stop an enemy intruder with friendliness     cooperation with evil? The problem becomes even more difficult when it is     carried over from the individual to nations. [The difficult of this] conflict is the     main reason I have partly abandoned my reliance upon my own judgment, &     have laid my unsolvable problems in the hands of God. 

            When I stayed in Germany; the young Germans argued: "You criticize     us for not having revolted against Hitler and not having put an end to that     inhuman state of things ... We should have done it, but what about you? ...     You knew what happened in Germany ... We saw what you did ... the Olympic     games in 1936 with all the countries accepting Nazi Germany ... your diplo-    mats still in Berlin ... your products being exported to our country. How could     we revolt against Hitler, when you all sat back and did nothing?" 

            How can the arguments of the young Germans be applied to the young people of Russia, [with their slave labor camps]? We must risk war, stop trade, break diplomatic relations, [broadcast] rejection and non-cooperation. We must show the Russian people what we feel, so that eventually they can act with our opinion as a standard of righteousness.

           Involvement in world affairs is the only answer to the threat of total         war. A pacifist isolationist may have little difficulty in remaining faithful to his     ideals, but can he can do little to prevent a war. The more a person is willing     & eager to involve one's self in world affairs & preventing wars, the more    unsolvable he will find conflict between non-cooperation on an ethical level &    cooperation on a basis of love. This cooperation on the individual level     means we no longer hate a criminal, we hate his action. 

            As a teacher, we love children, but strongly dislike their stealing, lying,     & cheating. When conflict appears on the international level, it seems to me to     be a superhuman task to find the right solution. It seems more important than     anything else that our descendants shall see pacifism alive, that kind of paci-    fism that lies at the core religions. [I close with a legend]:

               A sinful man traveled to Jerusalem seeking forgiveness. He had to 

    light a torch from the holy flame of the Temple and travel all the way back 

    to his native town with the fire still burning. He started home well-equipped, 

    but was stripped of everything except the torch and an old donkey on the 

    way home. During the nights he made big fires out of his flame, so that it 

    would be sure to be burning when he awoke from sleep. He was cold and 

    hungry and pitied. People thought he was out of his mind. The flame had    

    become so dear to him, his only friend, the only thing that meant some-

    thing to him. He cherished it and watched over it. The poor man safely 

    reached his native town, with the flame still burning. 

    How shall we succeed?      How will humankind succeed?

           [Appendix]: Divine Humility (Gunnar Sundberg; 1998) The Quaker     Universalist Reader: UNIVERSALISM AND SPIRITUALITY (Patricia A.    Williams Ed.; 2007 Quaker Universalist Fellowship)

Divine Humility:

           One of the problems that any Quaker must face in our days is what     kind of picture we have of God. Maybe we have no picture at all. And if so,     [How] is it better for us, all round, not to have any picture? How do we         concentrate seriously on the energy-flow as a divine Spirit, and play     down the ideas of the will of God and the love of God? But we—or at     least our children—so far have found it necessary to have some idea about         the origin of the love. Human beings need pictures.

           It seems to me that for a few generations, at least, it is unrealistic to     discard all images. They will turn up subconsciously, anyway. But what we     can do—and what seems to fit the universalist thinking—is to diversify the     image of God. It is impossible to go on imagining God as a fearful judge or     as a majestic grandfather. If we, as universalist Quakers, wish to empha-    size our closeness to other religions, we should open our hearts for many     different pictures of God. And I am confident that this is possible. In 1951 I     acquired my copy of "The Eternal Smile" by the Swedish Nobel Prize win-        ner Par Lagerkvist (Chatto and Windus, UK 1971) and since that year a very     special image of God has been uppermost in my mind.

           Here follows a summary of that cosmic saga where all the dead people     of this planet have been sitting together in the darkness talking to one another.     After a very long time, however, they make up their minds to visit God. [The     saga is called]:

           An Old Man Sawing Wood (by Par Lagerkvist) 

            They went on & on; they didn't arrive. They went on & on, 100's 

    of years, 1,000's of years; they didn't arrive. Then they thought how    

    tremendous this was that they were doing. At last they saw far off a     

    feeble light. It shone steadily, but ... it could scarcely be distinguished

    amid all the darkness. It was a little lantern with dusty glasses, cas-

    ting a quiet light around it. Under it stood an old man sawing wood ...

    it was God. They said,“You stand there sawing wood.”

     [God] made no reply. God wiped God's mouth with the back of         God's rough hand, looking about timidly. “I am a simple man”, he           began at last in a submissive voice. “We can see that”, said the lea-       ders. “Yes, we can see that”, said all the others, all the 1,000,000's,         as far away as you could imagine them.

  “You have vouchsafed us the intimation that in suffering our life            became great and precious, precious to eternity and God. You have        let us languish, despair, perish. Why, why? All you have wanted is        life, nothing more, only life over and over again to no purpose. Why,        why?”

           God answered quietly, “I have done the best I could. I only inten-       ded that you need never be content with nothing.” Gradually, the               weeping ceased. Gentleness and peace came over them, as it does          after a shower in summer, when the earth lies damp in the sun,                 clearer and as if nearer than before. And they understood that their           visit to God was fulfilled.

           Apart from the peculiarities of God as Par Lagerkvist pictured him,  and apart from the opening up to other religions of the stereotyped     Christian God, it is important to show that the idea of humility can exist in  a culture that for centuries continued to despise humility. If ever we    shall be able to abandon the colonial attitude, it seems necessary to         foster a different image of the divine. Thus, indirectly, universalism          may help to put a stop to the global terrorism of unrestricted western        economy. Also, to an old work-camper, it is inspiring to picture God as an  individual who works with his hands rather than pointing a finger at that  which should be done. 

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57. Atomic Peace: The Reaction of Good (by Harold C. 

             Goddard; 1950)
           [About the Authors]—MARGARET GODDARD HOLT (1911-       2004) Painter, writer, educator, community activist, leaflet-maker/ distri-   butor, prolific letter-writer, decades-long peace & justice vigiler. Born in  Swarthmore, PA to Harold & Fanny Goddard, she absorbed the values of  the Quaker Society of Friends, though never became a member.  The    passionate painter became the passionate activist, organizing, & mar-    ching with 1000's in the 1960s' social movements; she marched in the     Poor People's Campaign of 1963 in Washington DC. Margaret was in-    tensely engaged, present, fully conscious of both the beauty and the   suffering of this world.

             HAROLD C. GODDARD (1878-1950) He taught math for 2 years.  At Columbia Univ. he received a PhD in English and comparative litera-    ture in 1909. He taught at Northwestern Univ. 1904-1909. From 1909-    1946, he was head of the English Department at Swarthmore College.     "Dr. Goddard [could lay a] book before us, & it presently became appa-    rent that we were in fact studying and expanding all our range of possi-    ble understanding. Through ... literature he taught philosophy, psycho-    logy, and always the pursuit of meaning and the zest for life that great     art is." Although often believed to be a Quaker, Goddard was never a     full member.

           Foreword—[There was] a time when the atom was considered the  indivisible unit of matter; chain reactions were not part of everyday lan-    guage. Rufus Jones' "Way of Contagion," the chain reaction of good, has  always been a central principle of the Society of Friends. This pamphlet  follows that tradition with Dr. Goddard's life sketch by his daughter Mar-   garet, followed by his essay, "Atomic Peace."

            [Life Sketch] of Harold C. Goddard (1878-1950)—I 1st think of  my father quoting Blake: "I give the end of a golden string;/ Only wind it     into a ball,/ It will lead you in at Heaven's gate,/ Built in Jerusalem's wall."  He would play ["Fill in the Blank] with lines of poetry; gleefully we would  fill in the missing words. His love of and devotion to children must have  stemmed from his own happy childhood. Picking a daisy, he would say:  "See its bright [sun-like] eye. But how did it happen, how did it decide,   to be a daisy and not a buttercup? Is it the dirt? 

           Finally, we came together to the mystery of the seed; the flower's     secret was as safe as ever. Father would quote Blake: "Enthusiastic ad-   miration is the 1st principle of knowledge, & the last." Father was a tho-    rough New Englander & happy to be one. To have come from the tradi-    tion that produced Emerson, Thoreau, & Dickinson was a joy to him; he     also had strong affection for Russian writers, & admiration for the Chi-    nese. He would read Chekhov over & over, noticing points he had not     noticed before.

           Father was born in Worcester, MA. His father lived by very strict &  narrow Puritanical morals & ideas, & yet was the gentlest & lovable of  men. His wrath and excitement [was reserved for] politics and religion.  Father's mother was many years younger than his father; she had a gay  & lively disposition. She was the ideal grandmother. She believed that  children are only children once & they should have a wonderful time     while they can. It seemed father lived for 2 or 3 people; he got intense     joy out of many different things, both large & small.

            Harold also turned much of his natural supply of fire & storm into     non-personal channels. As a boy he drew intricate, [intense] drawings of  burning buildings, ranks of marching soldiers, & furious battles with ex-    ploding cannons; he had an early interest in Hell. He was busy with    playing, carpentry, baseball, walking in the woods with his father. He was  read to from classics and the Bible, but never went in for long hours of  reading, & felt ignorant of great literature even after college graduation. 

           [From early on], he had an interest in politics, government, in world  affairs, & particularly in justice. Father & Mother [were passionate] about  problems of justice & government. His happiest memories of childhood   were of visits to his grandfather's farm. Years later, at Swarthmore, he     took perhaps 1,000s of walks in the Crum Woods, often before break-   fast. The happiest memories of my childhood were walks in the woods    with him; we both have a Golden Age to remember.

            [Harold & Fanny met] when Harold was in 2nd grade. Mother's    devotion to Father, began later than his for her, but wasn't exceeded     by his. How slow & dull his 25 year courtship would sound to those     who didn't realize its inner excitement or know his belief in self-disci-    pline's power & anticipation's joy. No one could think of one without the    other. A former student said that, as much as she learned about     Shakespeare, in his seminar at our house, she learned even more   about happy marriage. The most amazing thing about him was his     understanding.

           His essential quality was the ability to experience imaginatively, deeply, & fully without being swallowed up by experience. People at his bedside for his last illness said they were strangely comforted, as though it were they who were in need of encouragement. He was able to finish his book on Shakespeare after 12 years, just in time. He always main-tained that true humor, as distinguished from mere wit and fancy, is closely allied to imagination. [He took pleasure] in puns, Falstaffian repar-tee, and stories with his intimate friends.
            He had very little time for sociability in later years. His teaching, writing, & family kept him so busy that he learned that every minute is a pearl of great price. [He fell in love with literature while he studied & taught math during the day &] listened to Browning on Sunday evenings. At Swarthmore, he started the idea of small evening classes which became a Goddard tradition. Father acquired a deep mistrust of acade-mic scholarship, of "pure intellect" research, which was a strong influence on his teaching. His students' essays about him reflected the theme that he never taught memorized and soon-forgotten "facts"; he always taught life itself. One student said: "I can't think of Dr. Goddard's teaching as over. I don't remember his classes for I'm in them now."
           A man of such strong loves and deep convictions must necessarily have hatreds strong enough to balance them. Tyranny, I think, sums up, in one word, the essence of what he hated, tyranny with the fear and lack of freedom which it brings. As head of a department, he wanted an atmo-sphere of absolute freedom for each member to teach according to his convictions; he never forced an idea; he used authority as sparingly as possible. His Shakespeare book had as a theme the conflict between freedom and authority.
            The last of "The River Duddon" sonnets by Wordsworth brings together Father's essential belief as well as anything so brief can: 

    "I thought of Thee, my partner and guide,/     As being past away.

    —Vain sympathies! ... as I cast my eyes,/  I see what was, and is, 

    and will abide;/     Still glides the Stream, and shall forever glide;/     

    The Form remains, the Function never dies;/   While we, the brave, 

    the mighty, & the wise,/   We Men, who in our morn of youth defied/     

    The elements, must vanish—be it so!/     

    ... If something from our hands have power/     To live, and act, and

    serve the future hour;/     ... If as toward the silent tomb we go,/     

    Through love, through hope, and faith's transcendent dower,/     

    We feel that we are greater than we know.//         

            MARGARET GODDARD HOLT

 Atomic Peace: Here was this atom in full breath,/ Hurling defiance at      vast death.//

           Foreword—The older we grow, the more we value experience     above all knowledge-sources. I draw illustration & quotations ⅓ each     from: the wisest men; my former students; children (the younger the bet      -ter). [These 3 are in singular agreement].
            [Introduction]—The atomic bomb is our time's outstanding fact  —not just as a scientific triumph & military weapon but as a symbol of     what     "civilization" has brought us to, the ugly fact of the bomb's exis-    tence. How shall we meet the menace of modern scientific war? The  many innocent scientists who contributed to it, a step here, a step there,   weren't contemplating the end they were moving toward in an uncon-    scious chain reaction. Our world hasn't enough honesty & goodness to    be ready for atomic fusion. 

           The answer to this menace is: a rejuvenated UN or world govern-    ment; the spread of freedom & better living conditions for all; religion.     World government may bring order, the opportunity for peace & yet not     actual peace; likewise better economic & living conditions. The atomic     bomb, can be a diabolic device; nothing purely human ever defeated         the diabolic. Jesus was always pointing out that evil men are more effi-    cient in evil than good men with good. Jesus advised us to study evil,       and then turn it inside out. How does this advice fit the present     situation?

            [A Force for Good]—WANTED: A force for good as potent as the  atom bomb is for evil, creating a vast result out of a chain reaction of little  forces, leading not to disintegration & destruction, but integration &        creation. Life itself as revealed in the process of organic growth is such     a force. It is only the difference in tempo between nuclear reaction &   organic growth that conceals the likeness. Organic growth is a sort of     slow explosion, not into ruin and chaos but into form and beauty. Men     were intended to be as lovely as trees; but look at us.

             This chain reaction may be seen on a smaller scale in the mental  and spiritual life of man even more convincingly. What name do we give  the force we find inside us? The words now used [have a confusion of   meaning], as they do when you use the Word God. [Shakespeare is    evidence of creative genius' great] force. A former Swarthmore student   said: "King Lear," is a miracle. There's nothing in the world that's not in     this play. It says everything, & if this is the last & final judgment on this     world we live in, then it is a miraculous world." It is made up of little    things a special sequence of syllables, sounds, words & images, bind-     ing them together into a harmonious explosion of catastrophic power.     

           [Imagination]—Imagination is creative thinking that is triggered by  things like a moving experience of a Beethoven symphony, one that     leaves you aware deep down of the contrast between your life's banality,   & the world into which Beethoven gave us a glimpse. It could provide    motivation to turn your whole life upside down. It is revealed in great     poetry and music, in a saint's life, in the unconscious wisdom of a child,    or one living a simple, unworldly life. Imagination is the highest form of     truth; it is the synthetic as opposed to the analytic power." The truth of     imagination is part of holiness.

           God bestows love as a rehearsal & pattern for the rest of life. The  test of love's genuineness is that its glow extends beyond its central     object & touches everything around him or her. Rupert Brooke wrote that  imagination's secret "consists in just looking at people & things as them     selves—neither as useful, moral, ugly, nor anything else; but just as be-    ing...  I feel the  extraordinary value, importance, & beauty of everybody  I meet, & almost everything I see ... It's feeling, not belief ... I supposed  my occupation is being in love with the universe." Imagination is power to  see that beauty. It is vision to the point of seeing the invisible; it is the po   wer to dream & to make the dream come true. Genius & childhood see    the latent essence of life within [an object or person].

           [Imagination's Attributes]—Imagination is not only love & vision     —it is power. [Imagine a] child dancing a poem. [As a real or imaginary  "witness," you will see] a miniature atomic explosion. [Imagine a bell,      from motionless, dead silence, to wildly swinging up to the sky, ringing   out a "frantic melody]." Every one is a ringing or unrung bell. Imagina-   tion has to do with the things that do not change for 1,000's of years       yet are remade every morning. 

            How is it that war breeds war, but an old story about war     breeds peace? Imagination is love, vision, power, and wisdom. [The     images of angels, bells, & Trojan horses are symbols]; symbols are the     imagination's alphabet. Symbols transform the life energy into spirit. It is  a bridge, a mediator between this world & another world that is real    and yet not realized. The effects of symbols on the mind can be         revolutionary.

             [Setting up Chain Reactions]—Symbols and images are above  all things capable of convincing and overwhelming the critical minds of  American college students, and setting up chain reactions among them.  There is a line from Anton Chekhov's Note Book: "A conversation on     another planet about the earth 1,000 years from now. 'Do you remember  that white tree?" One day a student I did not know and I were exchan-    ging words about the campus' beauty. Suddenly she looked at me and     asked, "Do you remember that white tree?" A chain reaction had been    set up; from a white tree to Chekhov, to some friend of this girl, to her,   to me, and back to a white tree. The power of imagination [is univer-    sal and] brings men together.

            Jesus too spoke in images & the Kingdom of Heaven is simply his  name for what the poets mean by imagination. The old-fashioned word  for imagination was heaven. The word got so entangled with a crudely  literal idea of a future life that it lost its power. Dostoevsky uses "hea-    ven" in the sense of "imagination." Leaven, the image of millions of little  bubbles, all acting in concert, [is a powerful image] of a creative kind of  chain reaction. Tolstoy has a Russian peasant say in War & Peace,        "Let me lie down like a stone & rise up like new bread."

            [Bigness, Leaders, and Leaveners—The US believes in Big-    ness, the bigness of the publicity agent, the big advertiser. There is     another kind of bigness that has grown out of [a connectedness of] a     million small things, like an oak. William Penn, Jefferson, Emerson, Tho-   reau, & William James speak of this kind of bigness. Emerson writes:  "I   think no virtue goes with size;/ The reason of all cowardice/ Is that men     are overgrown,/ And, to be valiant, must come down/ To the titmouse    dimension."

             William James writes: "I am against bigness & greatness in all     their forms; I am with the invisible molecular moral forces that work from  individual to individual, [seeping in] through rootlets & capillaries, rending  the hardest monuments of man's pride, if you give them time. I am    against all big organizations ... national ones first & foremost; against all   big successes & big results. [I'm] in favor of truth's eternal forces which    always work in the individual & immediately unsuccessful ways ... till     history comes [long] after.. and puts them on top."

            We are often told that this country needs leaders [to provide or-    der]. When it is a question peace, not order, what we need is not so     much leaders as leaveners, who are a secret conspiracy of goodness     against existing society. A lone spiritual saboteur working secretly may     bring our salvation. Emily Dickinson writes, "Valor in the dark is my     Maker's Code. Everyone, anyone, can enlist in this conspiracy, this spi-   ritual war, and do one's fighting in the odd moments of his life in service  to the state. If enough enlist, the war will be won.

            [Nature, the World and the Soul]—Every year nature holds up     an allegory of [millions of tiny victories leading to the conquest of mighty  winter by spring. Who would guess when the 1st timid grass blades    show green that Nature would have the power to overthrow Winter. The    miracle is accomplished because every leaf and flower does its share;     each is just busy being itself. Each one who is true to oneself is by that     face true to the whole. The result is a great collaboration we call spring.     It could be the same in the inner human world, if we only remember     that [our inner world's] sun—the imagination—is on our side and all we     have to do is to live out with its help the unique image in which we were    created.

            But the world is bent on not letting us do just that. It doesn't want  us to ring our bell, [find our hidden angel, or fully live our lives]. Life be-    comes a battle to keep our inner selves alive, to guard our soul's inner     citadel from the world's intrusions and [keep it whole]. Only the higher     warfare of the soul—the old word for imagination—will end it, a warfare     which Matthew Arnold described in Palladium [Excerpt]:

        "... Backward & forward roll'd waves of fight/ Round Troy—but 

    while [Palladium] stood, Troy would not fall.//        

        In its lovely  moonlight, lives the soul./ Mountains surround it,           

    & sweet virgin  air; Cold splashing past it, crystal waters roll;/ We 

    visit it by moments, ah, too rare!//         

        We shall renew the battle in the plain/ ... We shall rust in shade, 

    or shine in strife,/ & fluctuate 'twixt blind hope & blind despairs,/  

    & fancy that we put forth all our life,/ & never know how with the  

    soul it fares.//         

        Still doth the soul, from its lone fastness high,/ Upon our life a 

    ruling effluence send./ & when it fails, fight as we will, we die;/ & 

    while it lasts, we can't wholly end."

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 58. Ten Questions on Prayer (by Gerald Heard; 1951)
            About the Author—Born in 1889 in London, Gerald Heard, was a     British-born American historian, science writer, public lecturer, educator, &     philosopher. He wrote many articles & over 35 books. Heard studied history     & theology at the University of Cambridge, graduating with honours in history.     Heard became well known as an advocate for pacifism, arguing for the trans-    formation of behaviour through meditation & "disciplined nonviolence." In     1942 he founded Trabuco College as a facility where comparative religion     studies & practices could be pursued. It was a cooperative training center for     the spiritual life. He died in 1971.

            Prayer is a problem. If we obtained exactly what we asked, I suppose it wouldn’t be; prayer is education.

              1. Is it valid for us to pray for others?—This is a question of expe-   rienced pray-ers. Why is it an unavoidable & essential step to pray for     others? When people have practiced prayer seriously for a long time, they     make distinctions between prayer stages. To recover from a state of atrophy        is impossible without sustained and exacting effort. As prayer is growth of         spirit, growth of consciousness, it represents mental conflict.

             Prayer that doesn't raise as many questions as it answers, is a         prayer which will be driven deeper by God’s challenging silence to its easy,     obvious appeals for help; God wants first to question us. We must confess      both our ignorance & our very mixed motives. Have our keenest prayers,    perhaps the first we ever offered with whole-hearted intensity, been to        know God better and to love Him more?

           Our wish to pray for others certainly assures a degree of selflessness,     but not necessarily enough make our prayer fully efficacious. The more we     would understand others, the more we must learn of God; the more we would     love and serve others the more we must serve God. Catherine of Genoa said     [to a maid asking for help for her dying husband]: “The first thing you must    know is  that at this moment God is not alienated from him, & therefore cares     for him more than it is possible for you or me at our very best to care for him.    [Asking only] “Thy will be done” is a greater service to the soul [than asking    for] anything specific; sufferers are raised out of their accepted suffering,&     attains to a new level of consciousness.

             How can God endure for God’s creature to be in this pass? I don't     think it is possible for us to grow in spirituality, in prayer in the life of the com-    panionship of God without such crises & the necessary pain [that comes from    them]. Isn't it  then an essential step in our knowledge of God & our    trust in God to pray for others, & then watch God? God will at times give     the very reverse, give what we feared. [And we may] finally admit “That was    the best thing which could have happened, but it was superhumanly brilliant     and cunning.

             2. Will praying for others be productive of constructive results in     securing peace?—The Gospel of John says: “Peace I leave with you, my     peace, I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. “Without     prayer there can be no “producing constructive results in securing peace.”      What is peace? There are 3 levels of peace: peace in our hearts; [peace with     & of God]; peace toward our fellows. Below the mind's critical, contriving level     is a great depth of those absolute assurances where the basic will  resides.    God has made this [physical] world for us. God has made us to come to God.    I don’t think God gives us to know what peace toward our fellows will look like   politically or economically.

           God, because God is Presence and is always entirely present, is unaf-    fected by the “fact” that there is a past which is irrevocably finished & done         with, fixed and settled forever, and a future which is wholly unknown & non-    existent. If anyone wants to be free to do good, the first thing is for one to         come close to God. [Because] it never takes God any time to do anything,         we are making [with our prayer], the deepest, most constructive and most     instant  results in securing [God’s] peace. [People] of God know 3 things:     God exists, infinitely wise, loving, powerful, & concerned; God wishes to be     known; we do not know God.

              The great spiritual master Ruysbroek, said, “There are 3 stages of     being: servant of God; friend of God; sons of God. Servants of God do great     good in home and business, but have no message to offer. Friends of God     produce a tremendous effect in their own society. Sons of God change history.  A new epoch, a new age, a new civilization follows after their appearance.
            3. How serious is the barrier presented by secular minds in the     United Nations to our efforts to reach God through these men?      Does     prayer have any effect on the wills of men indifferent to spiritual     values?—What has God created this world for?
            God has told us that people can come to God; has told us that they     are free, that free will is an essential part of their contribution of God’s plan.     So secular minds in the United Nation are able to be a barrier. But by ap-    parent failure [of Jesus’ ministry,] which ended in “defeat,” a new epoch     opened not for Palestine but for all of western humankind. If God has given     us freewill, men may fight God to the end of time.

             Materialism is dying. What we are witnessing in this decade is a battle     between apt force (spirituality) & apt violence (to retain possessions). The     Roman Church says some people pray for humankind. They pray with con-    stant intensity & yet for nothing & no one in particular; it builds up a capital of     prayer, an enormous force. The less we pray in particular, the more God can     direct the place in time through which prayer force comes.
             God sometimes tears away the veil of what we thought was the good,     the obvious, visible way of helping people, and then there is released this invi-    sible radiation, out from the very heart of God’s Being. The moment we can     really attend to God, the moment we feel this terrible longing for him, distrac-    tions cease. God says: “You are not fit to pray efficiently and well, you shall     pray at the level at which I choose you to pray.” The Cloud of Unknowing     says, go on repeating some simple word, such as God or Love, over and over     again on your heart beat. It costs a tremendous amount to pray for somebody     who, one feels, is utterly wrong, but that prayer when it is prayed is forever to     the credit of the soul waiting for it.
            4. What can one do to stimulate the will to pray for others, in per-    sons who ordinarily pray only for themselves?—The real truth is, as we     know, there is no private salvation. To the degree that you can love [God and     others], you are saved. You must be able to pray for others. To answer the     [above question], we must impress upon them the fact that God is totally pre-    sent. In response to those who pray and get “results” we may question them     by eventually asking: Do you feel happy about it? Do you find your peace     of mind has increased? Do you get on better with others? You may find     that their “results” are not lasting ones. I think that it is very important that     people know to whom they are praying, and the nature of that Being to whom     they pray.

            5. Must we love someone before we can pray effectively for them?    —[I make 2 lists]: the people from whom I have had great blessings; the      people to whom I have been a stumbling block and frustration. I alternate be-    tween them. [For the latter list], the 2 of us go into the presence of God toge-    ther, & eventually one will cease to be an obstacle to the other person. 

            [In praying for the great evildoers of our age,] Can we despise [them]     or what they do, & still pray successfully for them? If I were in their posi-    tion, could I have done better? We [usually] have only enough spiritual re-    sources to keep evil in some check. The evil in me, to a certain extent, made       it possible for that person to perish. [And that] evil in me would drive me to    the same place. The ego hates God & everybody but itself. It is held in some     control by God’s grace and our religious exercises.

             6. Is it to be expected that our prayer life will force us into an     active program in the political and economic field? There are in this life     people who: serve God through social service to others; have the intellectual     love of God and learning/understanding; have a tremendous devotion to     God's person. My word to you is to beg that prayer be made an expert study     and that there be a center where study and research can go on.

           7. What is the relation in effectiveness between intensity over a     prolonged prayer time and repeated short prayers? I have been able to     study prayer's great masters; [the repeated short prayer] was their prayer.      That is what they did the whole time; it shot through all their actions. This     practice does not disturb one’s occupation. [But] you can't push people [into     prayer]. It is the hunger for God that leads them to do it.

           People, when they reach my age, suffer insomnia. What are they to     do with their hours of rest? [They may not be able] to spend hours of the    day in prayer, but there is not the slightest reason why they should not spend    hours of the night in prayer. [For me] the terrific sense that God is sustaining     the world, that God is conscious thought through whom alone all thought is        at all possible, becomes completely dominating only at night. 

            It is because at a deep powerful level we are cowards & disloyal that     we can't for so long command, when waking, the attention in prayer we would     like to have. You can lie in bed and quietly repeat the name of God & think of     God. And gradually you realize that God’s peace has come into your heart. A     man who prays very deeply at night will not have any difficulty praying in the     day, & you [now] become distracted towards God away from the incoherence     of the world.
             Other questions are these: Are the emotions involved in prayer?     What should the pray-er’s personal feeling be? Is there too great an     intensity of feeling? I feel it important that people should be aware with their     minds, as well as with their heart that God is Present, [even] when they feel     nothing at all. [And] the mind turns toward God, & offers life’s events. Every-    thing takes on meaning in that light. Nothing is truly comprehensible seen     otherwise.

           8. Is prayer more effective when the person for whom you pray     knows that you are praying for them?—Prayer is a form of high attention.     If you are praying for someone at night, when your attention is high, you will     probably very quickly get results, [&] the person may be aware of you in their     mind. But prayer is much more than attending to some other human being.         [In order that our ego not presume too much, we need to remember that] no     person has ever helped somebody with prayer. One stands aside, & asks          God; God has done the helping.

             9.  Are many individual prayers more effective than smaller num-    bers of groups meeting for intercessory prayer?—Both methods must be     used. The one whose prayer life isn't deep is unlikely to be able to stand the     austere strain of prayer in the presence of others. And someone who lives an     exclusively private life & never prays with others has an incomplete life. [The     words one uses in] prayer help to a certain point, & then, the moment style &      phrase take the place of spirit & self-forgetfulness, then prayer stops though     sound goes on. Slow down until each clause, each phrase, is only introduced   to bring back the mind as it begins to wander. [Focus on the spirit, and do not   be distracted by the prayer itself.]

            10. What bearing does the quality of one’s own life have on the     effectiveness of one’s prayers for others?—We shall not know God unless     we are pure of heart. Without an Act of Contrition, who can go into God’s     Presence? And what are we doing as evidence of our contrition? God’s     grace will keep us from the mortal, [planned and proposed] sins. But we are     continually committing little sins of passion, dishonesty, arrogance, impati-    ence,  & [gossip]; those must be erased, because neglected they spread.
           What shall we ask of those who respond to a call to prayer? They     must be quite certain that God exists. [Once they know this], all else will follow.  [Those who know God have been timid.] God, the Holy Ghost, speaks to us     through intelligence, love, purity of living, & understanding the knowledge God    is ready to give us. [Mental health professionals will dismiss all prayer as     autosuggestion]. This is nonsense; they don't know their stuff. Low prayer is     autosuggestion. High prayer has nothing to do with to autosuggestion.
              What helps can be offered? There are 3 things for which you must     [give thanks for]: 1st for a human body; 2nd for a wish to know God; 3rd for         a company of fellow-seekers. We must keep together. If we aren't doing that,     we are not taking the benefits we were meant to have and we are not giving     them either. We help others, and they help us. We cannot be saved without     others.

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59. Quaker Strongholds (by Caroline Stephens; abridged by Mary 

             Gould Ogilvie; 1951)
            Foreword—Caroline F. Stephens (1834-1909), a Friend by convince-    ment, was a member of the prominent Stephen family; Virginia Woolf was her     niece. Both Caroline & Virginia made an independent pursuit of knowledge     according to their tastes. In Quaker Strongholds (1890), Caroline Stephen     seems to always keep in mind the points of view of both old & new Quakers,     & makes a bridge between early & modern Quaker thought. Her writings re-    ceive major consideration in the Pendle Hill Quakerism course. This abridge-    ment is confined to Caroline Stephen’s explanation of particular tenets she    sees as cornerstone & foundation of Quakerism. 

            Many people probably suppose that the Society is fast dying out, and     the “silent worship” of tradition [to be] impracticable & hardly to be seriously     menioned in these days of talk & breathless activity. On that never-to-be-for-    gotten Sunday morning, I found myself one of a small company of silent wor-    shipers. To sit down in silence could at the least pledge me to nothing; it might    open to me (as it did that morning) the very gate of heaven. It is in hope of     making more widely known the true source and nature of such spiritual help     that I attempt to describe what I have called our strongholds . . . which can't     fail whatever may be the future of the Society.
            The Inner Light—A cornerstone of belief is that God does indeed com-    municate with each one of the spirits he has made, in a direct & living inbrea-   thing of some measure of God’s own Life-breath. In order clearly to hear the      Divine voice speaking with us we need to be still; be alone with God, in the     secret place of God’s Presence. The Society’s founders weren't philosophers,  but spoke of these things from intense & abundant personal experience.     Early Friends were accustomed to ask questioners whether they didn't some-    times feel something within them that showed them their sins; & to assure     them that this same power would also lead them out of sin. To “turn people to    the light within,” to “direct them to Christ, their free Teacher,” was a Quaker’s     daily business.

            In our own day the light doctrine is usually spoken of as a mysterious   tenet, indigenous only in Oriental countries, and naturally abhorrent to [the         English. The early Friend’s light] wasn't confined to that innermost sanctuary    that none but a few mystic were aware of. The religion they preached was    one which enforced the individual responsibility of each one for one’s own     soul, and their share in worship and meeting business.

            The perennial justification of Quakerism lies in its energetic assertion     that the kingdom of heaven is within us. [Simply that & not] the abstruse dis-       tinction between consciousness & being, [etc], which it has been the delight of     many of God’s most devoted followers to interweave with the simple expres-    sion “within you.” That we may all experience inspiration if we will but attend to  the Divine influences in our own hearts, is the cardinal rule of Quakerism.     How it will manifest itself will depend chiefly upon our natural temperament         & special gifts. George Fox & the other fathers of the Society were strongly   mystical, though not in the sense [that] conveys a general vague dreaminess.  They were fiery, dogmatic, pugnacious, and intensely practical and sober-    minded.

            Mysticism & Quietism—Mystics, as I understand the matter, are     those whose minds, to their own consciousness, are lighted from within. They     have naturally a vivid sense both of the distinction & the harmony between         the inward & the outward. They may have the sight of an eagle, but they see    by the same light as the bat. The obvious tendency of a vivid first-hand per-     ception of truth or light, is to render the possessor of it so far independent of       external teachers. It is easier to do this because of the mystics’ quietness &     independence. 

            Mystics are naturally independent of authority and of each other. The     duty of looking for & of obeying the light, or voice, or inspiration is a principle  that may be transmitted from generation to generation like any other principle.    [Quietism is present] because it is instinctively felt that it is only in stillness    that any perfect reflection from above can be formed in the mirror of the     human spirit.

            Conscience—Faithfulness to the light is the watchword of all who hun-    ger and thirst after righteousness. It is not the same as “obedience to con-    science.” Our consciences must be enlightened, and the light must be some-    thing purer than this fallible faculty. It must be that power within us which is    one with all the wisdom, all the goodness, all the order and harmony.

            I believe that to have our sense exercised, to discern between truth &     falsehood, light & darkness, order & disorder, God's will & the flesh's will is        the end and object of our training in this world. We must have settled it in our     hearts that everything, from the least to the greatest, is to be taken as God’s     language—language which it is our main business here to learn to interpret.     The Divine guidance is away from self-indulgence, often away from outward     success; through humiliation and failure, and many snares and temptations,   over rough roads and against opposing forces—always uphill.

            Worship—That mysterious diversity which is interwoven with all our     likeness, and belongs to the very nature common to us all makes it impossible  for one to judge for another as to the manner of worship most likely to be vital-    ly helpful to one. Before long [in worship] I began to be aware that united &  prolonged silences had a far more direct & powerful effect than [unconditional  freedom to] seek for help in my own way. They soon began to exercise a     strangely subduing & softening effect upon my mind. The words spoken were     indeed often feeble, and always inadequate; but, coming as they did after the     long silences, they went far deeper. I wonder whether some of the motherly     counsel I have listened to wouldn't reach some hearts that might be closed to  the masculine preacher.
            Silence—It isn't only silence's momentary effect in public worship that     constitutes its importance in Quaker estimation. “Silence of all flesh” [& mind]     appears to us to be essential preparation for true worship. It seems indisputa-    ble that laying aside all disturbing influences, is an essential preparation for    receiving eternal truth. Not only at the times set apart for definite acts of wor-   ship but also in all the daily warfare of Christian life.

            I don't feel that ours is the only lawful manner of worship, or that it     would be for all people & at all times the most helpful. I do believe it to be the     purest conceivable. Let no one go to Friends meetings expecting to find every-    thing to one’s taste. But criticism fades away abashed in the presence of what     seems to be a real endeavor to open actual communication with the Father of    spirits. Why cannot you be silent at home? The worthy answer is that we     meet together so as to kindle in each other the flame of true worship, and to     show allegiance to the Master. Travelling Friends can cause a stirring of the     waters and keep up the sense of freedom to take part in the meeting. Silent     meeting [does not distract with liturgies or hymns, which may] stifle many a     cry for help. A silent [unproductive] meeting would not delude anyone into a   hollow sense of having been part of a religious service.

            Prayer—I have been speaking of our public meetings for worship. But     our worship doesn't begin when we sit down together nor end when we leave     them. Where others speak of family prayers, Friends prefer “family reading,”     & “religious retirement.” When we penetrate into the inmost chamber of pri-    vate worship differences of method can no longer be traced by human eye.        It isn't possible for anyone to judge the practice of others here.
             Everything, all beauty & rightness, seems to turn upon [gradual] right  subordination of the outward to the inward, the transient to the permanent, in  our lives & thoughts. We must secure a space for that which to the devout     soul is life's very breath: the practice of prayer. That prayer which springs     from the depths of silence, both of lips & of heart before God, this deepest    prayer has in it a power to melt all the barriers which may seem to divide one      from another of the upward-looking children of the Father of Spirits.

             We meet daily with open denials of the reasonableness of prayer—    communication with the Divine Being. Few amongst us can have altogether     escaped the paralyzing flood of unsolved and [“insoluble,”] moral problems.     Prayer [has become only] the asking for things, and a means of getting them.     The word “prayer” may be used in the restricted sense of making requests.     Let it be distinctly understood that it is only part—the lowest & least essential     part—of worship or communion with God. Concentration on this lowest form:     suggests a test which is not & cannot be uniformly favorable, [because some     requests are not going to be granted]; & every heart capable of real prayer     [will reject] the idea of using it only for obtaining advantages, be they of what     kind they may.
            Prayer is not really prayer—true communion with God—until it rises     above the region in which willfulness is possible, to the height of “Not my will,     but Thine, be done.” It is not in “remarkable answers to prayer,” or in signs &     wonders that the real power & soul-subduing influence of a Divine communi-    cation is most clearly felt. It is the still small voice which overcomes, or ordi-    nary circumstances which when combined, acquire the significance of a     distinct message.
            To those who in any degree know His voice, it gradually becomes clear     that prayer & answer are inseparable. True worship implies inspiration. While     we separate worship & inspiration we can never think worthily of either. Let us     acknowledge that the simplest, inarticulate cry for help is as sure to be heard     by the Father of spirits as the deepest prayer ever uttered by saint or martyr.     The one voice which is most sure to [be listened] to by the good Shepherd, is    the voice of one who has strayed & knows how far [from God’s path] they are.

            Ministry—Our Ministry may be said to be free because: it is open to     all; it is not pre-arranged; it is not paid. The one essential qualification for the     office of a minister is the anointing of the Holy Spirit, as much beyond our con-    trol as the rain from heaven. It is not necessary that each congregation be     placed under the spiritual care of a pastor. It is each Christian's right to ap-    proach the Divine presence in one’s own way; it is a right and duty to take     one’s share in worship when called upon by the Head of the Church.

            [A wholly silent meeting] hasn't failed in its role of enabling united wor-    ship. No one should venture to break the silence in which inward prayer may    be arising from other hearts except under the influence of “a fresh anointing   from above.” [Quaker worship] is a dispensation entirely spiritual in its nature;    a state of enlightenment and true worship in which forms and shadows have     passed away & substance alone was to be labored for. Quiet meetings [can   provide the truest sense] of the words, “baptizing into the Name . . . and the        communion of the body of Christ.”

            Cornerstone and Foundation—What is peculiar to us is our testimony  to the freedom and sufficiency of the immediate Divine communication to each  one, & our witness to the independence of true gospel ministry from all forms     and ceremonies, all human imposed limitation and conditions.

            2 main currents have flowed side by side. One upholds the doctrine of     the inward light [and “waiting upon the Lord”], & especially the performance of     acceptable worship. The other throws themselves heart and soul into active     efforts. [Both point to early Friends] for abundant evidence [in supporting their     position]. There are, of course, dangers in either extreme. Both functions are     surely needed. The secret of our Society's strength lies in its strong grasp of     the oneness of the inward and the outward.

            [More popular attention is paid to] the Quaker “non-resistance” tradition     than to its resolute vindication of each one’s individual responsibility to one’s     Maker, to God alone. To experience in our own hearts the harmonizing, puri-    fying, invigorating power of the Divine Will, that truth which alone can make us  free, is to be at rest for ourselves and for others.

            It seems to me that the framework of the Society has vigor & elasticity     enough yet to be used as an invaluable instrument by a new generation of fully  convinced Friends. It is not judicious adapting of Quakerism to modern tastes,  [but rather] a fresh breaking forth of the old, unchangeable power of light and     truth itself which can alone invigorate what is languishing amongst us. A         measure of the ancient spirit is still to be recognized amongst our now widely     scattered remnant. [I would revive] amongst our own members and amongst     others the Society of Friends’ experience of the power of an exclusively spiri-    tual religion  
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60.Promise of Deliverance (by Dan Wilson; 1951)

            [About the Author & Pamphlet]—Dan Wilson was executive director     of Pendle Hill from 1952-70; he has been on staff since 1950. He studied at     Kansas Wesleyan University & Pacific School of Religion. In college he was     active in Christian & Methodist groups. He joined Whittier Friends Meeting in  California, [& was active in serving the meeting, CA YM, & 5 Years Meeting].  He is serving on AFSC, Friends World Committee, & Friends Central School.    This pamphlet proposes that a person must be regenerated by the power of      God to overcome the human condition.

            The promise of Deliverance is the assurance that there is a power,     available to humanity, by which high disaster can be abolished forever. But     there is no promise that we shall not be in great danger, nor that we shall be     delivered from war, institutional evil, or calamities. There is no promise that     western civilization can be delivered from the fate of prior civilizations. The     message of deliverance drives away fear; it is that God is real and that God     acts for humankind’s deliverance. 

             Deliver us from the present—Time is running out. We no longer feel     an easy confidence that we can leave our deliverance to technological pro-    gress or to chance. We yearn for deliverance from meaninglessness. But God     takes too long; we dare not experiment with eternity. War must be avoided,    yet we find ourselves dependent upon [evil] tradition & habits that make war.     “Deliver us from the present” is our prayer. The Promise is that we can be     delivered from anxiety about our past failures, and from fear of future disillu-    sionment. The present could hold all we could ever wish for, and more. God is    completely present. Eternity is now. We can experience it now.

            Deliver us from Christianity—Christianity’s doctrines & divisions, rem-    nants of once vital religion, leave modern man cold. Christianity institutiona-    lized has spoiled the world for the gospel. Western culture's materialistic ele-    ment marks the failure of Christianity. Limiting the message of deliverance to    fixed creeds and formal procedures diminishes its power to persuade men     who are endowed with spiritual freedom. Deliver us from a Christianity that     doesn't feel the living and Inward Christ at its center.

            Deliver us from evil—The sufferings of life attest the reality of evil.     Can the overfed & privileged overcome starvation’s evils? We have under   estimated the power for evil—the assertion of self-interest without regard to         the  whole—in ourselves as well as in others. Replacing God with ourselves     at the center of the universe separates us from God, & [creates the most     basic] evil. The good, [when put in static categories] hinders deliverance as     surely as does the evil. 

            Such legalism misinterprets the human’s free spirit. It overlooks the     necessity for moral action in each particular instance to originate from within.     If one is condemned if one chooses not to follow the law, this destroys the     meaning of freedom. The habit of thinking about man’s imperfection in legalis-    tic terms is so fixed that our morality has become negative & uncreative. How     quickly we legalize God, so set are we upon capturing & imprisoning life as         we know it, or as we wish it to be. The only life truly guided and truly free is     the life of constant prayer, the life continuously seeking for God’s guidance.

            God has performed miracles through humanity, when devotion has     been centered on the source from which activity springs and not on the ends     toward which it is directed. Even Quakers are not available to be used freely     to transform evil because so much effort is directed toward preconceived     solutions. Anxiety about our kingdom of plenty stands in the way of delive-    rance. We are filled with fear because we are afraid of losing something we      think we cannot live without. 

            We have looked hopefully to the United Nations for the power to pre-    serve things as they are. We look everywhere but to God, because we do not    want to pay the price God asks for deliverance. The Promise of Deliverance        is not for us unless we deeply and urgently feel the need of deliverance. Yet     there are many hidden falsehoods which arise to justify privilege and elude     detection. Some are even considered virtues.

              Deliver us from man—If we are aware of the brutality & degradation     of life that exists in the world & in ourselves, we shall not pass lightly over the     judgment of [theologians] who want to return to a doctrine of man’s depravity.      In a time of imminent crisis [and failure, the pessimist feels guilt, & even the     optimist feels hopeless]. “Deliver us from evil, ego-centered, meaningless     man” is our cry. [The theologian Karl Barth says of humankind:] “Humans     have stood, are standing & will stand in infinite opposition to what God is.”

            In contrast to Barth, Nicolas Berdyaev’s interpretation of the Christian     doctrine of the Fall is: “Awareness of original sin both humbles & exalts. Man     fell from a height & he can rise to it again.” He longs for a return to the blissful     state of the unconsciousness of pre-birth. He longs for power to overcome     evil. He longs for the transcendent and external God to come near, to fill man     with God’s presence, to reassure man that he belongs to God.
            The promise is a new man—There is no promise that man will be     delivered from human status, because to be human is his high and creative     destiny. [He cannot] return to a state of primitive bliss, he would then be mea-    ningless. There's the Promise that man can be delivered just as he is, frailties,  suffering and all, into a certainty now of oneness with God. The new man’s     creation is the painful, joyful task of us all; it isn't delegated to those known as  saints or towering prophets and apostles.             
            The new humanity is made up of all the faithful—the faithful found     within & without all forms [of religion, government, political systems, or profes-    sional disciplines]. What the saintly, mystical, prophetic types discovered for     themselves they believed to be true and available to all who love truth. The     truth is as near to you & me as to any others. The Promise is a new humanity     made up of you and me & others who will believe (in terms of our own indivi-    dual experiences of truth) and follow.
            We can listen to others’ doctrines & experiences, but we can learn little     from them about God’s Promise held in our own nature. It's conformity of        mind & practice to God's will, in all holiness of conversation, according to the     dictates of divine light and life in the soul, which denotes a person as truly a     child of God.

            Spiritual and Material—There is an invisible spiritual aspect and a     visible material aspect of the same life; the spiritual and the material are inex-    tricably one. Each is to be known in & through the other. Mysticism is the key     to the whole, the recognition that there is a point of convergence of the mate-    rial and spiritual qualities of man and the world. [Prayer where I feel in control     of the input & the outcome] won't bring God nearer. Prayer as a cry when my     [carefully] constructed world falls apart opens the way to God. Prayer without     form and with openness to receive contains the meaning & mystery of waiting  upon God.
            The Presence of God rarely brings specific guidance for behavior, but     rather a quality of being, an exultation of belonging, a renewal of strength, &    a power & justification for action. We see that of God & the new man already     in every man. The discovery that the Light within, the inward intuition of God,     and the spirit of Jesus the Christ, are one, is the most momentous of life’s     experiences.

            The Christ has existed from the beginning, in man’s center as the seed,  the germ, the life. Once Jesus the Christ has won a deep intuitive response      within us, it is inevitable that we project our apprehension of God into Jesus’     form. The Church’s central challenge today is the reunion with the living expe-    rience of the historic and the inward Christ. In a Friends meeting, a powerful    and creative ministry is the product of a meeting that expects God to speak to   it as God spoke to Jesus, and that expects to receive strength & guidance    from God’s Presence.

            The promise is a new loyalty—There is no higher loyalty than this: to     be faithful to that of God unfolding in every man. God is acting in each to per-    fect an original masterpiece. Rabindrananath Tagore wrote: “The universal is     ever seeking its consummation in the unique. It is our joy of the infinite in us     that gives us our joy in ourselves.” Loyalty [to God] is the secret to open the     way to joy in all experience of pain & heartbreak, success or failure, of doubt   or assurance. Each of us feels the pressure of [divided loyalties]. Until we         have found a new unity within and without, our lives will be disorganized, &     our hearts torn with conflict. We look everywhere for a loyalty that will again     claim our full and joyful obedience; everywhere except within ourselves.
            The secret is available—In the quiet depths of our innermost nature,     if we know how to find it, is the dwelling place of loyalty for which we would     joyfully die. [The Quaker Job Scott said]: “God has made humankind univer-    sally sensible in degree sufficient for their various circumstances & allotments     in life.” As children [we sensed our connection] with all life. [As adults] we lose     this sense of the whole of things, & shape [the world] to fit [what] we know of  fragments of it.

           Many of us live as if we had no expectation of finding God. Because we     don't find God [only in a certain place] where others seem to find God we strive  to content ourselves with lives of patient resignation. [We should rather have]  the immediate and constant Presence of God as our certain expectation. Our     apprehension of God’s presence is often unexpected; it breaks through when  we are open to it. Jesus was one of God’s masterpieces. God’s expectation is  that we should be like Him. We look for “God in man” in every man. But     always, we recognize the Christ that we find outwardly because we first     recognize the Christ within ourselves.

            The promise is a new community—In the Old Testament, through     the power of a liberated spirit, a new community arises out of the deadness &     fears of the old. Yet side by side with these positive elements there's also the     record of the accumulation & hardening of the law. The Promise of the power     of God, available to man is contained within each of us. This Kingdom of     God's seed is a gift from God to persons.

            [Although Jesus seemed lost forever to the disciples,] they discovered     that He was still with them in their hearts. [They found themselves] in a unity     beyond what they had while He was alive. Now he was truly & indestructibly     alive among them. They had known and loved the outward Christ. Now they     knew also that Christ was living with them. This group experience [of Christ     amongst them] was no mere pooling of separate experience of the Christ     within. Something more than the highest insight of any of them, or all of them,     was available.
            Membership in the Living Christ's community was essential for the    individual. Our lack of experience of community prevents our acceptance of     the Kingdom of God as a present fact. [A close-knit community is essential] as     a tangible experience of the love and care of God through one another.     Salvation for an individual or for the whole appears possible in proportion to     the fullness of this experience of community.

            Germ cell of the new society—How do visible nuclear communi-    ties exist now, held together by an experience of unity so fundamental     that the new society is emerging through them?      Could a community     of individuals become so filled with the sense of belonging now to the    Kingdom of God that they would suffer even their beloved commu-        nity to be sacrificed in order to spread the promise of the Kingdom for     everyone?

            The Promise is the assurance that there is a way to change suffering     into joy; all men who respond affirmatively to the light as they receive it, shall     know what God is like. Early Christians were drawn together by the creative     experience of the Kingdom present among them. Without the aid of specia-    lists, men can come together with all their blindness & limitation & suffering     into a consciousness of the Presence of God. Salvation, healing & whole-    ness, is the seed which God has planted in each person. Salvation is never     complete or final. It brings with it no guarantee of infallibility, but it does bring     the glorious freedom to experiment radically and creatively.

            The promise of deliverance—This is the Promise of Deliverance. We    can begin at once to help create the Kingdom—to translate love into political     & social relations. We do not have to commence retraining, or to expect new  talents, or to go to a new place to begin, or to wait for a more opportune time.     Always God is giving God’s self without stint to help us accept our weakness,     to overcome our doubts, to start over again & again. Wherever we are, power  equal to the measure of our need is available to enable us to follow as we are  led. Now all our gifts, including the gift of life itself can be given fearlessly,     joyously and confidently. The Promise of Deliverance is the promise in Christ,     of God in man, loving, living, suffering and giving Himself to win each person     and humankind from disaster forever.

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