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.
[About the Author]—This pamphlet's 2 essays were written by Stani- slaw Zielinski (1909-74) while a student at Pendle Hill (PH) in 1950’s; he held the crafts instructor post there for 12 years until his death. He conducted sum- mer craft courses at his farm in Fulford, Quebec. He was best known at PH as a master weaver & weaving instructor; he held a master’s degree in physics & electronics. The major part of his life was writing. [He produced 2 encyclope- dias, one of radio & one of hand-weaving], & published a bi-monthly weaving magazine for 23 years. [Stan was a Renaissance man, with interests in and familiarity with]: astronomy, mathematics, comparative religion, linguistics, physics, and metaphysics.
Stan had several great loves. The 1st was the sky & astronomy. While a high school student he was in charge of the Warsaw Municipal Observa- tory; he met his wife there. He built several telescopes, & co-discovered a new comet. He married in Paris in 1931 & they lived there a few years. Stan’s 2nd love was the mountains, [in particular] the Tatras, a small but breath- takingly picturesque rocky range between Poland, Hungary & Czechoslovakia.
The longest & most enduring of Stan’s loves was for nature, for wilder- ness, for a free life away from civilization. They couldn’t get land of their own in Poland, so they moved to Canada. By the end of 1937, they found them- selves in Montreal. They wanted land on the Eastern slopes of the Rockies, but settled on a small farm in Fulford, not far from the Vermont border. They tried farming & then started a weaving school instead in 1948.
In the course of their search for a religion without cumber, they were directed to Montreal MM. For the remainder of his life weaving & pottery sup- plied Stan with a modest livelihood. He chose a simple life & had few personal belongings. Stan’s last great love was Pendle Hill; it was love at 1st sight. Since his 1st term as a student in the winter of 1951-52, he never missed a year without a longer or shorter stay in the place that became his spiritual home, fulfilling a multitude of interests and tasks, especially teaching.
The longest & most enduring of Stan’s loves was for nature, for wilder- ness, for a free life away from civilization. They couldn’t get land of their own in Poland, so they moved to Canada. By the end of 1937, they found them- selves in Montreal. They wanted land on the Eastern slopes of the Rockies, but settled on a small farm in Fulford, not far from the Vermont border. They tried farming & then started a weaving school instead in 1948.
In the course of their search for a religion without cumber, they were directed to Montreal MM. For the remainder of his life weaving & pottery sup- plied Stan with a modest livelihood. He chose a simple life & had few personal belongings. Stan’s last great love was Pendle Hill; it was love at 1st sight. Since his 1st term as a student in the winter of 1951-52, he never missed a year without a longer or shorter stay in the place that became his spiritual home, fulfilling a multitude of interests and tasks, especially teaching.
THE ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGY IN RELIGIOUS MYSTICISM: [Apply- ing Psychology to Spirituality]—Most psychologists assume that religion doesn’t correspond to any objective reality & analyze religious experience as an emotional disturbance. The peculiar attitude of St. Paul towards sex is indirectly responsible for the compensating position of Freud & his followers. Psychology is a very powerful tool. There is no reason why we shouldn’t take advantage of modern psychology methods if they can help us in the process of spiritual growth.
What astonishes an unbiased observer is the fact that all these schools of psychology, with their specialized & changing vocabulary, & their arbitrary assumptions, have about the same fairly good therapeutic results; none of them can be completely wrong or entirely correct. The outstanding value of psychological technique is that it can show the patient an objective picture of a large part of one’s psyche. The limitation of psychoanalysis is due to the fact that the analysis doesn’t penetrate very deeply, & thus is limited to the early stages of religious development.
[Hypothetical Journey]--Suppose we have a person who doesn’t know, or doesn’t wish to recognize religion’s existence. There is a need for religion, which one will call looking for knowledge or truth. Religion may find a rounda- bout way to penetrate one’s defenses. When one is faced with unscientific & contrary methods to explain ones dreams, psychology can help by showing that science & religion aren’t incompatible, why one depends on ones intellect only, why the name of God makes one uneasy, and assuring one that ones emotional life can be liberated and made a source of energy for ones spiritual development.
Particularly illuminating in studying the relationship between the scienti- fic and the spiritual is the representation of the human psyche by Dr. Carl Jung. The conscious is merely a point, which contains little more than an idea or a fleeting impression. Immediately below it we have memory, sometimes called the subconscious, where we accumulate knowledge. Deeper down lies the unconscious. Its highest layer contains things forgotten because of their small importance, things never consciously noticed, and perhaps some important, unpleasant things.
Particularly illuminating in studying the relationship between the scienti- fic and the spiritual is the representation of the human psyche by Dr. Carl Jung. The conscious is merely a point, which contains little more than an idea or a fleeting impression. Immediately below it we have memory, sometimes called the subconscious, where we accumulate knowledge. Deeper down lies the unconscious. Its highest layer contains things forgotten because of their small importance, things never consciously noticed, and perhaps some important, unpleasant things.
The next layer down is a different one, mainly composed of things so painful or so remote that no amount of conscious effort can bring them up. [When it speaks], this part of the unconscious speaks in parables and uses symbols; this is our personal subconscious. By penetrating still deeper we find a stratum which doesn't belong to to any particular individual, but which is held by a group; the deeper we go, the broader the group. This is the collective unconscious. [We will reach the limits of our imagination before] we reach limits of the psyche.
Jung’s image of the psyche shows its construction and helps explain most psychic phenomena. Thus, it is valuable to one who desires to express ones idea of reality in one neat concept. This image of the psyche is nothing more than a parable. By understanding it one is not much nearer to ultimate reality than one was before.
Our hypothetical person is at the beginning of a long road. The seeker must live a virtuous life by observing certain positive & negative rules of beha- vior. Many seekers give up, thinking that the problems are more than they had bargained for. Psychology can help the individual adjust to an existing environ- ment. You needn’t consciously believe in anything except that it is worthwhile to go on with the work.
Probably the 1st question tackled will be: Why did I decide to search for truth? In psychoanalysis there will be many answers coming from different levels. The seeker may find an accurate answer, [where the motivation in one’s search of knowledge is a negative quality]. From understanding to overcoming a particular attitude is a strenuous step, but not impossible. Now ones under- standing can no longer be a purely intellectual one.
Emotional factors must be used in ones mental processes to distinguish between personal deceptions and conventional ones. [One should not put searching for self-deception over discovering personal truths]. This preoccupa- tion can be the deadliest vice, a disguised expression of one’s hatred toward oneself and others. Pride originates from insecurity and gives the person a false sense of importance. It can combine with a holier-than-thou attitude. Hos- tility may come from a feeling of insecurity, & may lead to occupations ranging from reporter or critic, to the military, or even a judge, teacher, or preacher.
Our hypothetical person is at the beginning of a long road. The seeker must live a virtuous life by observing certain positive & negative rules of beha- vior. Many seekers give up, thinking that the problems are more than they had bargained for. Psychology can help the individual adjust to an existing environ- ment. You needn’t consciously believe in anything except that it is worthwhile to go on with the work.
Probably the 1st question tackled will be: Why did I decide to search for truth? In psychoanalysis there will be many answers coming from different levels. The seeker may find an accurate answer, [where the motivation in one’s search of knowledge is a negative quality]. From understanding to overcoming a particular attitude is a strenuous step, but not impossible. Now ones under- standing can no longer be a purely intellectual one.
Emotional factors must be used in ones mental processes to distinguish between personal deceptions and conventional ones. [One should not put searching for self-deception over discovering personal truths]. This preoccupa- tion can be the deadliest vice, a disguised expression of one’s hatred toward oneself and others. Pride originates from insecurity and gives the person a false sense of importance. It can combine with a holier-than-thou attitude. Hos- tility may come from a feeling of insecurity, & may lead to occupations ranging from reporter or critic, to the military, or even a judge, teacher, or preacher.
[Psychoanalysis, Conventional Deceptions & Mystical Integration] Psychoanalysis first shows conventional deceptions for what they are. Recog- nizing conventional deceptions without psychoanalysis is hard because these falsehoods are usually associated with a set of uncompromising interdictions rather than with the spirit of a religion. [One may have “principles,” and be scrupulous to a fault in observing them]. This “flight into principles” is probably most destructive where sexuality is concerned.
Psychoanalysis can save us from misconceptions about the effective- ness of will power and the concept of sin. Most sins are misunderstandings within ourselves. There is only one sin which cannot be reduced to simpler factors, & that is the lack of will to acquire understanding. Hindu mysticism knew long ago the sin of ignorance or lack of discrimination. Psychoanalysis does not alleviate suffering during the process; it makes the path straighter but not less thorny.
Psychoanalysis can save us from misconceptions about the effective- ness of will power and the concept of sin. Most sins are misunderstandings within ourselves. There is only one sin which cannot be reduced to simpler factors, & that is the lack of will to acquire understanding. Hindu mysticism knew long ago the sin of ignorance or lack of discrimination. Psychoanalysis does not alleviate suffering during the process; it makes the path straighter but not less thorny.
The purpose of mystical exercises expressed in psychological terms is integration. Each layer of the unconscious must become accessible to the conscious. Each strata must be mastered and quieted. In the more advanced stages, the process of mystical integration is entirely different from the process of psychoanalysis. Neither the method nor the knowledge of mystical integra- tion can be described very well in psychological terms.
Since the content of the unconscious is often terrifying & its invasion may disorganize the conscious, our reluctance [to even briefly part with reason] is quite justified under ordinary circumstances. With psychoanalysis, there is more knowledge & less fear & resistance to relinquishing reason. If psycho- logy made a great mistake in trying to explain away religion, then religion is making an equally great error in rejecting psychology as an aid in spiritual development. Neither headaches nor selfishness are spiritual, but both prove to be obstacles in spiritual development, & should be eliminated in the most efficient manner, [i.e. with modern medicine & psychoanalysis].
Since the content of the unconscious is often terrifying & its invasion may disorganize the conscious, our reluctance [to even briefly part with reason] is quite justified under ordinary circumstances. With psychoanalysis, there is more knowledge & less fear & resistance to relinquishing reason. If psycho- logy made a great mistake in trying to explain away religion, then religion is making an equally great error in rejecting psychology as an aid in spiritual development. Neither headaches nor selfishness are spiritual, but both prove to be obstacles in spiritual development, & should be eliminated in the most efficient manner, [i.e. with modern medicine & psychoanalysis].
SILENT MEETING: [Introduction]—The importance of silence in spi- ritual life has been recognized since time immemorial. Silence has been consi- dered both a method to achieve knowledge and the result of knowledge. Be- tween individual and group silence, the individual is much easier to interpret psychologically. [Union with God or reality] must penetrate not only the layers of personal unconscious, but the whole of the collective unconscious. The 1st stages of analysis and mysticism appear nearly identical.
Preparatory to yoga is “submission to the law,” a decision to change oneself which implies resignation to higher authority. Silence is then used in all steps initiation: the silence of the body, of the senses, of the intellect, & of the emotions. In psychoanalysis, the silence of the body is scarcely recognized; there is the general advice to relax, but not much more. In “sense withdrawal,” the ego controls lines of communication between psyche & body. In the silence of the intellect, the ego prevents all mental activity from becoming conscious; the ego & the personal conscience merge. In the silence of the emotions, there is little distinction between conscious & unconscious.
Preparatory to yoga is “submission to the law,” a decision to change oneself which implies resignation to higher authority. Silence is then used in all steps initiation: the silence of the body, of the senses, of the intellect, & of the emotions. In psychoanalysis, the silence of the body is scarcely recognized; there is the general advice to relax, but not much more. In “sense withdrawal,” the ego controls lines of communication between psyche & body. In the silence of the intellect, the ego prevents all mental activity from becoming conscious; the ego & the personal conscience merge. In the silence of the emotions, there is little distinction between conscious & unconscious.
The 13th century Albertus Magnus writes: “When thou prayest, shut the door—that is the door of thy senses. Keep them barred & bolted against phan- tasms and images … One who penetrates into oneself transcends oneself, ascends truly to God … Don’t think about the world … consider thyself outside of the world & alone with God … separated from the body, [with no interest in] the state of world.” [One begins to see into the depths of oneself as worldly winds die down. As mud & silt settle, one sees deeper & deeper, until the bot- tom comes into sight].
[Group Silence]—Where each member behaves as if one were alone, [it doesn’t differ from individual silence]. When the group works as a whole, the primary object is the development of group unity; the mystical experience will grow out of this unity. Little has been done to explain the process of group unity, little or no direction is given. Nowadays we need such direction, even though simple people of the past did not. There is hardly any parallel between a thera- peutic group and a silent meeting.
There is no evidence of anything faintly resembling a silent meeting be- fore the 14th century. In the 6th century, Dionysius writes: “We must contem- plate things Divine by union not in ourselves, but by going out of ourselves & becoming wholly of God.” [There were heresies starting in Armenia, traveling through Bulgaria, into southern France that had several things in common: opposing war, death penalty, oaths, all liturgy, professional clergy, and church buildings. The Brethren of the Free Spirit in the 13th century introduced the principle which Quakers called “the Inner Light.” The Brethren’s meetings for worship were not silent, speaking was supposed to be spontaneous.
The 13th century Beghard’s small communities were secular institutions; inmates had complete freedom both in joining & renouncing the community life. There are indications that worship had a group character without any liturgy. In later movements in the 14th & 16th centuries, silence becomes more promi- nent, but still there is no evidence that group silence was used much. The “Fa- mily of Love” in the mid-16th century had compulsory silence in worship. The English Seekers were around before Quakers in the early 17th century, & had something similar to meeting for worship. They influenced Quakers in the mid- 17th century & were the earliest converts. They brought the silent meeting for worship into the Quaker movement. In it silence must prevail, but it cannot be compulsory.
Robert Barclay writes: “As there can be nothing more opposite to the natural will & wisdom of man than this silent waiting upon God, so neither can it be obtained nor rightly comprehended by man, but as he layeth down his own wisdom & will, so as to be content to be thoroughly subject to God [in] an outward silence of the body and an inward silence of the mind.” Isaac Pennington writes: “If any man speaks there, he must speak as the vessel out of which God speaks; as the trumpet out of which God gives sound.” These foundations of the meeting for worship were reinforced by the influence of Continental Quietism, which came from The Spiritual Guide Which Disentan- gles the Soul by Miguel de Molinos.
Charles Lamb wrote: “More frequently the meeting is broken up without a word having been spoken. But the mind has been fed. You go away with a sermon not made with hands. You have been bathed with stillness.” On the other hand, a complete silence lasting years resulted in apathy, if not stupor. Caroline Stephens wrote: “Of all the disturbing influences from without which hinder the consciousness of communion with God, I think that unwarranted words not freshly called forth by the united exercise of the moment are the most disturbing.”
[Group Silence]—Where each member behaves as if one were alone, [it doesn’t differ from individual silence]. When the group works as a whole, the primary object is the development of group unity; the mystical experience will grow out of this unity. Little has been done to explain the process of group unity, little or no direction is given. Nowadays we need such direction, even though simple people of the past did not. There is hardly any parallel between a thera- peutic group and a silent meeting.
There is no evidence of anything faintly resembling a silent meeting be- fore the 14th century. In the 6th century, Dionysius writes: “We must contem- plate things Divine by union not in ourselves, but by going out of ourselves & becoming wholly of God.” [There were heresies starting in Armenia, traveling through Bulgaria, into southern France that had several things in common: opposing war, death penalty, oaths, all liturgy, professional clergy, and church buildings. The Brethren of the Free Spirit in the 13th century introduced the principle which Quakers called “the Inner Light.” The Brethren’s meetings for worship were not silent, speaking was supposed to be spontaneous.
The 13th century Beghard’s small communities were secular institutions; inmates had complete freedom both in joining & renouncing the community life. There are indications that worship had a group character without any liturgy. In later movements in the 14th & 16th centuries, silence becomes more promi- nent, but still there is no evidence that group silence was used much. The “Fa- mily of Love” in the mid-16th century had compulsory silence in worship. The English Seekers were around before Quakers in the early 17th century, & had something similar to meeting for worship. They influenced Quakers in the mid- 17th century & were the earliest converts. They brought the silent meeting for worship into the Quaker movement. In it silence must prevail, but it cannot be compulsory.
Robert Barclay writes: “As there can be nothing more opposite to the natural will & wisdom of man than this silent waiting upon God, so neither can it be obtained nor rightly comprehended by man, but as he layeth down his own wisdom & will, so as to be content to be thoroughly subject to God [in] an outward silence of the body and an inward silence of the mind.” Isaac Pennington writes: “If any man speaks there, he must speak as the vessel out of which God speaks; as the trumpet out of which God gives sound.” These foundations of the meeting for worship were reinforced by the influence of Continental Quietism, which came from The Spiritual Guide Which Disentan- gles the Soul by Miguel de Molinos.
Charles Lamb wrote: “More frequently the meeting is broken up without a word having been spoken. But the mind has been fed. You go away with a sermon not made with hands. You have been bathed with stillness.” On the other hand, a complete silence lasting years resulted in apathy, if not stupor. Caroline Stephens wrote: “Of all the disturbing influences from without which hinder the consciousness of communion with God, I think that unwarranted words not freshly called forth by the united exercise of the moment are the most disturbing.”
St. Gregory Nazianzus (4th century) writes: “To speak of God is an ex- ercise of great value, but there is one that is worth more, namely to purify one’s soul before God in silence.” We are not used to silence. Not only that, we are afraid of it, especially silence of the mind. The discovery that acceptance or submission—as opposed to resistance—is the only way to deal with the uncon- scious made modern psychotherapy practicable.
Besides complete silence in a meeting for worship, there is also com- munion & the message [that results]. One is tempted to interpret meeting "communion” as the whole assembly attaining the collective unconscious. But what we know about the unconscious doesn’t seem to apply here at all. The existence of a spiritual bond between the members of a meeting is undeniable. In a successful meeting short, [widely spaced] messages coming from different speakers always form a sequence. Since the phenomenon is hard to explain, it is still harder to advise anyone how to achieve it.
Provided that silence & communion are present, there is no need to control or evaluate a message’s content. However, it is too much to expect that all meetings to be so lucky. If only the 1st 2 requirements are realized the mee- ting for worship is still good; even silence alone is valuable. When message precedes the other 2 elements we have a discussion on an intellectual level or worse, a free-for-all competition in making speeches. [In judging whether our message is valid, perhaps one criterion could be that if there is any doubt in the mind of the speaker as to the value of one’s message, the one should re- main silent. A 19th century Friend, John Wilbur, felt that the more a message was polished, & the more intellectual work had been put into it, “the more it tasted of the pipes.”
Provided that silence & communion are present, there is no need to control or evaluate a message’s content. However, it is too much to expect that all meetings to be so lucky. If only the 1st 2 requirements are realized the mee- ting for worship is still good; even silence alone is valuable. When message precedes the other 2 elements we have a discussion on an intellectual level or worse, a free-for-all competition in making speeches. [In judging whether our message is valid, perhaps one criterion could be that if there is any doubt in the mind of the speaker as to the value of one’s message, the one should re- main silent. A 19th century Friend, John Wilbur, felt that the more a message was polished, & the more intellectual work had been put into it, “the more it tasted of the pipes.”
In dealing with the abuse of the right to speak, perhaps the best advice is to be patient & charitable. One who sincerely tries to work out problems is worth more than the one who slumbers quietly in the corner or doesn’t come. Lao-Tzu writes “He who knows doesn’t speak,/ He who speaks doesn’t know. We can’t expect everyone to reach the stage where one doesn’t speak any more. We are the ones who don’t know. We are seekers, not saints.
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202. Quakers poets: past and present (by Mary Hoxie Jones;
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202. Quakers poets: past and present (by Mary Hoxie Jones;
1975)
About the Author— Mary Hoxie Jones was a graduate of Mount Holy- oke College
Where each is at its best, Quakerism and poetry have something in common; the worshiper and the reader . . . may perceive the likeness without putting it in words. Dorothy Gilbert Thorne
Quakerism is poetic. Actually the heart of Quakerism is the quick of sensitivity. E. Merrill Root
I—Where does worship end and poetry begin? The experience of worship, or the experience of trying to worship, & the experience of writing a poem can complement each other. [Doris Dalglish believes that Quakers look at poetry as a tool & not at its intrinsic value]. Clive Sansom says the Friends have allowed “good works to push aside the writing of poetry; [they see it ta- king] up too much time & energy from the “development of inner life.” [San- som said]: “It can be a part of the spiritual life, even when the poem is not con- cerned . . . with religion.”
Charles Kohler writes: “Poetic experience & the heightened awareness experienced in worship both derive from similar roots: they have their mysteri- ous being in the Kingdom of Eternity
II—The Society had its bleak era, when there were restrictions & inhi- bitions in the “reading of books & papers that have any tendency to prejudice the profession of the Christian religion.” Robert Barclay believed that “all the imaginations of the natural man were ‘evil perpetually in the sight of God.” William Penn wrote: “There is truth and beauty in rhetoric but it more often serves ill turns than good ones”; Penn had a low opinion of poets.
In spite of this attitude, at least 6 volumes of verse were published from 1661-1772. [In the late 19th century, the older generation of Quakers took steps to ensure that the younger generation didn't] read anything that was not true. Luella Wright says: “The failure of early Friends to realize that intellect might be a determining factor in conduct, an aid [to] conscience, and a source of material for preaching and writing, led to a thinning of literary quality in Friend’s writing.” There is a story, perhaps apocryphal, of an elderly Friend saying: “Thou shouldst not have been thinking [during meeting].”
III—Fred Nicholson says that early Friends wrote Elegies, Epitaphs, Satires and even love lyrics. Doris Dalglish names Thomas Story as the 1st Quaker poet. In 1690 he wrote “A Song of Praise to the Saints in Zion
Thomas Ellwood (1639-1713) did not claim to be a poet, but wrote “for common readers, in a style familiar & easy to be understood.” A collection of Ellwood’s poems was published before 1770; the first poem fills 9 pages. Thomas Ellwood’s long epic, The Davideis, in 5 books, was started in 1688 but not published until about 1712. John Greenleaf Whittier referred to it in Snow- bound (1862). Ellwood said to Milton Milton
IV—John Fry (1701-1775) was a minister of London Yearly Meeting. His poems are of a most moral & didactic sort. [He has no use for poetry that] “conveys no instruction in morality, no encouragement in virtue . . . & is desti- tute of real Truth.” He wrote “in as plain & explicitly a manner as I could, avoi- ding every imaginary & flighty mode of expression.” Catherine Phillips of the next generation, had similar concerns.
Perhaps the best known poet of the end of this century is Bernard Bar- ton. While The Edinburgh Review expresses delight at finding Barton a Qua- ker poet, they saw a real danger since “the gifts of imagination ... may be abused & misapplied … The sober-minded . . . will scarcely permit him to deal very freely with the stronger passions.” Bernard Barton wrote: “But I contend the Quaker creed,/ By fair interpretation,/ Has nothing in it to impede/ Poetic aspiration.
Many verses have been written which have enabled Friends to look at their foibles and to laugh at themselves. James N. Richardson (1846-1921), an Irish Friend wrote such verse. They were inspired by the heated discussion on music and the conditions of Northern Ireland. He wrote to elders in The Quakri at Grange:
“But O ye mighty Elders/ Who guard the ancient Way,/ Who can't plead the fire of youth,/ To you what can I say?/ Are your own rules forgotten?/ And have ye still to learn/ The seriousness of hindering/ A Quakor ‘neath concern?/ With strange and varying Quavers/ Your accents oft time ring./ Why is it right for you to chant?/ And wrong for him to sing?” There is an American counterpart to these verses in Quaker Quiddities or Friends in Council, probably written by James B. Congdon (1802-1880), in blank verse, between 2 fictitious Friends, 1 liberal, 1 conservative. On the subject of a piano in a Quaker home, my grandmother couldn't agree to allow a piano in the home and compromised by allowing her son to have a flute; my uncle later found a piano at Haverford College. I went to a non-Quaker school rather than grow up without music or Shakespeare.
V—James Bunker Congdon said of John Greenleaf Whittier (1807- 1892): “Whittier, the gifted son of song, whose lays/ Have the true lyric ring ... For the 1st time in its history, the Society of Friends has produced [& par- doned] a poet.” Whittier was a better poet than most of those already referred to but perhaps he wasn't as good as many thought. He was dubious about the prevailing Quaker tendencies of the day & urged young men to stand for the great primitive lines of our faith.”
Margaret Harvey calls him a great Quaker & a sensitive spirit no mat- ter how people feel about his place as a poet. She believes that “he made a great contribution ... by the remarkable balance he kept between Christian essentials & their expression in Quakerly emphases.” Whittier’s hymn “Dear Lord & Father of mankind” is the last 6 verses of the much longer The Brewing of Soma. In the poem Whittier is making the contrast between the wild orgies connected with Soma & “the still small voice of calm.”
VI—Do I include Walt Whitman in this discussion Quakers & poetry? “The good gray poet” was actually not a Quaker, although his mother had been. Elias Hicks, a neighbor, said “the fullness of the godhead dwelt in every blade of grass,” & Whitman called his book of poems, Leaves of Grass. Henry Bryan Binns refers to Whit-man as a prophet-mystic who would not bear arms, who had many of the Quaker traits, including love of silence and goodwill to men. His poetry was greeted with approval and enthusiasm at a Philadel phia Meeting. [Ed. Note: For an example I use the closing verses of [Song of Myself] in honor of George and Elizabeth Watson]:
I depart as air. . . I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,/ I ef-
fuse my flesh in eddies and drift it in lacy jags./ I bequeath myself to the
dirt to grow from the grass I love,/ If you want me again look for me under
your bootsoles./ You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,/ But I shall
be good health to you nevertheless,/ And filter, and fibre your blood./ Fai-
ling to fetch me at first keep encouraged,/ Missing me one place search
another,/ I stop some where waiting for you.
VII—Friends are now showing an increasing amount of interest in poetry and arts in general. Dorothy Gilbert Thorne wrote Pendle Hill Pamphlet #130 Poetry Among Friends. I belong to a Quaker poetry group in Philadelphia called “Poets Walk In.” Laurence pointed out that “The full values of Art and Religion cannot be separated without loss to both alike. In the early days of the Society . . . the rejection of the sense of beauty as one of God’s true gifts to man, did the Society no good.”
Modern-day poets include: John H. McCandless (Yet Shall we Kneel; 1972); Kenneth Boulding (There is a Spirit: The Naylor Sonnets (1945)). 75 years ago an English Friend, John Wilhelm Rowntree, spoke for our age as he spoke for his: “Give your soul room to grow. Seek the reality which others have won before you, & make it your own . . . The soul’s true life . . . The soul must know itself and the battle of life must be fought within.”
Europe may obtain & preserve peace among her sovereignties. It will not be hard to conceive or frame, or execute the design I have here proposed. Something of the nature of our expedient was to the wisdom, justice, and valor of Henry IV of France Europe .
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205. Sound of Silence: Moving with T’ai Chi (by Carol R. Murphy;
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203. SEX and the HUMAN PSYCHE: Toward a Contemporary Ethic
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203. SEX and the HUMAN PSYCHE: Toward a Contemporary Ethic
(by John Yungblut; 1975)
About
the Author:
John Yungblut received his theological training at
the Harvard Divinity & the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA. He served in Episcopal Church ministry for 20 years, & was a member of the Wider
the Harvard Divinity & the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA. He served in Episcopal Church ministry for 20 years, & was a member of the Wider
Quaker Fellowship. In 1960, he became a member of the Religious Society
of Friends. He was Director of the Quaker House program in civil rights
and peace education in Atlanta for 8 years, and Director of the International
House in Washington, 1968-72. He and his wife are presently teachers at
Pendle Hill. He has felt a special concern that Friends evolve a contemporary
sex testimony. This pamphlet is a result of that concern.
THE NATURE OF THE CONCERN AND THE APPROACH---SEX. The very word has a somewhat harsh and cacophonous ring to it. Associations around it are conflicting, as dissonant as Chopin's more passionate works. There is today widespread experimenting outside the bonds of marriage, such as "open marriage," where the partners are entering into sexual relationship with a 3rd person. There is greater freedom of sexual expression among single persons. The reasons for sexual revolution are complex & relate to changing world views. It is good, that Friends should give a patient hearing to [radical] programs such as multiple, bi-sexual relationships, but those with a different view have a responsibility to make carefully considered response.
Sexual Queries now under consideration include: Do you accept the gift of human sexuality in its various forms as evidence of God's provi- dence for the enrichment of life? Do you recognize the [interactive] importance and joyful potential of this aspect of personality? Do you face honestly and openly the changing sexual mores of our time? [Where can we find] guidelines for the making of ethical sexual deci sions? I want to propose some criteria for a contemporary sex ethic in the hope that this may stimulate others to think through their position [& work towards] a distinctive Friends testimony on sex.
For many, the testimony of the Bible can no longer be conclusive crite- ria. George Fox advises: "If they should know God, Christ, or scriptures aright, all must come to that spirit by which they that gave scripture forth were led & taught." Fox placed his ultimate confidence in personal revelation of Truth through the Inward Light. [Fox's personal revelation] "was agreeable to them." I will appeal as ultimate authority to the "soul's testimony." The only laws I ac- cept as binding are those engraved upon our hearts, the tolerances within which our natures operate for maximum health & fulfillment.
There are 3 sources which may afford intimations concerning the soul's testimony: nature of the evolutionary process; depth psychology insights; direct, personal mystical experience. They offer evidence for discerning what we may describe as the testimony of the soul, which offers general guide lines, a reli- able compass and chart with reference to sexual behavior.
My bias & limitation is that of a heterosexual male. I have homosexual friends, men & women. I believe that we are all potentially bisexual in the nature of our psyches because of our inherently androgynous psychological make-up in terms of animus & anima mythology. There's no place for rejection or condemnation--- only for mutual confirmation & support as persons of infi- nite value, indwelt by the same living Christ. I want to speak to the quality & depth in the sexual relationship & those accompanying virtues which enable it to enrich and ennoble the rest of life.
TESTIMONY AFFORDED BY EVOLUTION---If there is a testimony of the soul, would it not spring in part from that process from which the human soul emerged. Teilhard de Chardin discovered meaning and coherence by be coming attentive to the laws within which the process operated. Teilhard's "lines passed by evolution" include: movement from simplicity to complexity; expansion of consciousness; a quality of "withinness." There are 2 drives in humans: ongoing sexual instinct; upward-reaching toward higher conscious- ness. Their joint movement may be thought of as spiraling upward. While matter appears to be losing momentum & heat, life appears to gaining both of these. [Along with upward-reaching], there is the instinct of religion.
How does sexual instinct and higher consciousness assume their maximum coherence with reference to human sexual behavior? A sus- tained heterosexual relationship between one man and one woman may well afford the most congenial incubator for nourishing the mysterious aspect of upreach [within each other, and for any child of that union]. The sexual drive's strength is such that it will find expression, conscious or unconscious, overt or sublimated.
There is a bi-sexual potential in all persons, at least until experience, influence, reflection and habit provide one prevailing orientation. [This hete- rosexual assumption] is not meant to stand in judgment on individuals in- volved in homosexual relationships. It is to say only that evolution has not endowed such relationships with the same meaning and role within the context of the ongoing creative process.
THE TESTIMONY OF DEPTH PSYCHOLOGY---Jung experienced an- xiety until the weight of his clinical observations in the practice of analysis and is own characteristic mystical faculty persuaded him that there was room for hope. He wrote: "Life is---or has---meaning and meaninglessness. I cherish the anxious hope that meaning will preponderate and win the battle." And "A psychoneurosis must be understood, ultimately as suffering of a soul which has not discovered its meaning."
Being attentive to the unconscious means understanding of what Jung called the "shadow" in the unconscious: dynamic aspects of the personality that have been repressed, tendencies which don't find current expression on the conscious level. The shadow can be demonic and can contain destructive elements that, unbridled, would work the disintegration of the psyche. The conscious self must learn to recognize demons in order to befriend & to disarm the demons that lurk in the unconscious. Jung also identified archetypal drives called animus & anima. All men have a feminine component or anima in the psyche, as all women have a masculine component or animus. One can see in the animus & anima the psychological roots of homosexual and bisexual attraction.
As the animal ascends in the evolutionary scale as measured by quality of consciousness, [a solid sense of self] becomes more remarkable [as there is "more self" to be aware of]. We say the person is all one. He has a center. Others readily perceive this person as transparent. Such a one's sexual orien- tation may be any kind. Such a person never stops growing because there is always need for the interior labor assimilating into this integrity new knowledge and new relationships. There is in the life of the spirit a drive characteristic of the entire evolutionary process: integration in the context of growing complex- ity. As an individual before God, do you strive to develop purity of heart, which is to will one thing, the good?
The quality of the love involved is ultimately the only sound basis for judgment with reference to any sexual relationship. Jung said: "Love is not a cheap matter ... Love will only reward us when we do take it seriously ... [Pro- blems with sex and love] should not be separated, for when there is a sexual problem it can only be solved by love ... As an expression of love sexuality is hallowed. Never ask therefore what a man does, but how he does it ... I make no sort of moral judgment about sexuality as a natural phenomenon, but pre- fer to make moral judgments dependent upon the way it is expressed.
DO THESE TESTIMONIES CONSTITUTE A BASIS FOR A CON- TEMPORARY ETHIC?---Does evolution & depth psychology point to laws inscribed on our inward parts? I believe the monogamous pattern of sexual behavior is a response to such laws. So delicate and complex are the factors affecting the development of the psyche as it moves toward individuation that its best chance of winning & retaining identity and achieving fulfillment in love would seem to indicate the built-in wisdom of the monogamous relationship.
Sexual intimacy is potentially a meeting of one constellation of whole- ness with another such constellation. Deep responds unto deep. Without such a meeting the act is less than it can be between human beings. What makes multiple, contemporaneous, sexual relationships wrong is that the very drive to achieve identity and integrity as a human being is threatened. Higher consci- ousness and more refined integrity require limiting sexual intimacy to one relationship. And to assume that one's private sexual behavior effects no one else not directly involved is absurd. Multiple relationships may be exciting and afford the illusion of greater freedom for a season, but cannot contribute accumulating associations and satisfactions for the advancing years.
[While] I applaud the experimentation with family clusters, I do not be- lieve the nuclear family is in danger of outrunning its service to the species' evolution in the foreseeable future. Usually, no other 2 people have as much of themselves invested & therefore as much motivation for love & service as the 2 to whom a child owes its birth. The love for each other through the years, of a man & woman through loyalty, long-suffering, sacrifice, mutual devotion to a 3rd, God within each other, is one of the most potent energies dedicated to the realization of the new man.
Freud believed unbridled sexual expression would bring about non- productive dissipation of an enormous quantity of energy. The conscious sup- pression of sexual energy in chosen sublimation frees men & women to make contribution to society & to culture & enables them to direct these energies toward more profound individuation & spiritual growth. Sexual energy's dissi- pation into serial relationships must be less productive, because they don't build toward accumulating satisfaction; they become increasingly meaningless because short-lived & extraneous.
[There's] incalculably potent energy in sustained romantic love. Any one of several contemporaneous sexual relationships could be more fulfilling & loving if it were the only one, & bore the promise of lifelong continuity in the investment of the self. The nature of the inward intent of the man & woman & quality of their love for each other bestows chastity & beauty upon a union. A love which springs from one wholeness to another can be as sacred as any formalized by church or civil ceremony, & far more than many.
Only God is in a position to judge the quality & sincerity of the commit- ment. For such a love there will be an inevitable desire to draw friends & rela- tive together to celebrate the union. There do come occasions when a union, entered upon with the best of intentions, is no longer a genuine union. This relationship may require divorce when judged by the criteria of individuation, integrity, personal growth, and quality of love.
If what is meant by open marriage is mutual encouragement of abiding warm friendships outside marriage with members of the opposite sex, I believe it is a sound principle and a practice which will enrich the union. I cannot agree to the validity and value [of a sexually open marriage]. The complexities of the human psyche are such that either an extra-marital relationship is too shallow and casual to bring satisfaction, or so involving and consuming that the earlier relationship is undone. Jung writes: "Every true, deep love is a sacrifice. A man sacrifices his possibilities, or rather, the illusion of his possibilities. If this sacrifice is not made his illusions hinder the realization of deep and responsible feeling ... real love is also denied him."
We must recognize the threat to our contemporary society of the false models of the man-woman relationship which we continue to hold up for emu- lation. Their male exploitative overtones and their casual nature, do infinitely more damage than any similarly exploitative form of homosexuality because such vastly larger numbers of persons are affected. Any kind of judgment on the individual homosexual is wrong.
THE TESTIMONY OF MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE---The nature of mystical consciousness involves the experience of identification & the percep- tion of inter-relatedness. The mystical faculty is present, whether developed or not, in all human beings by virtue of their being human. This form of consci- ousness is the evolving edge in man. We must do all we can to cultivate this richest treasure of the psyche, the contemplative capacity & the agape love it fosters. It is this faculty which enables us to see & to hear that of God in others & in ourselves. There is no ultimate isolation or independence.
At the depths of this solitude there awaits us the purest experience of genuine solidarity. The love for the beloved & the love for God at their highest are inextricably interwoven. The quality of the union becomes itself a means of salvation for the two. High romance and the pursuit of holiness of life, far from conflicting, mutually support each other. A sustained homosexual relationship can also have elements of high romance.
Only that form of relationship is valid which can be harmoniously inte- grated with all other relationships the individual currently sustains. In this area I believe that to will the good and to love more deeply means to relate to only one other person sexually and this with the intent of life duration. Chastity is purity of heart & depth of love applied one's sexual energy. An abiding exclu- sive sexual relationship, heterosexual or homosexual, in which there is a mee- ting of the real selves of each, has as much claim upon this word symbol as monks and nuns from a spiritual point of view.
Those in a chaste marriage engage in the physical sacrament of their mutual devotion with the recognition that it is a symbol of the way in which humans goes forward and reaches upward toward the new man. [In a truly chaste marriage, it is a question of what relationship can best fuses erotic and agape love for the fulfillment of the individuals and for the service of others whose lives are touched by the union.
Love sublimated into various forms of sacrificial service, has often been an enormously constructive and creative force in the building of religious and cultural institutions. I know I am presenting a counsel of perfection. No marri- age achieves this level in a sustained way. Are we not bidden to become, that is, to want to be perfect? This sacrament of romantic, erotic love, on its highest level is not to be reserved for procreation alone. Sexual union is not only a good in itself but nourishes, purges, purifies, quickens, enhances all other aspects of the relationship. Jung writes: "Love reveals its highest my- steries and wonder only to one who is capable of unconditional surrender & loyalty of feeling ... Let no one seek that which could make love easy. He is a sorry knight of his lady who recoils from the difficulty of love."
I hope that what I presented here may stimulate dialogue among Friends in this important area where reticence has heretofore been considered the better part of valor. My queries are: How am I always conscious of being an individual? While with-
in a marriage, [How do I live out] that still more intimate relationship I
bear to myself as an individual before God? [How do I live out] my
responsibility and use my opportunity to pursue individuation in
solitude into realization of true self and of Self, God within? How
do I assimilate and integrate sexual drive and energy into the indivi-
duation process?
How do I master, discipline, and sublimate this energy to the end
of achieving integrity as a whole person, and of offering my maximum
service to my fellows? If single, How do I keep myself in inward
readiness for discovery of a love worth investing myself in? How do
I refrain from casual abortive, and meaningless sexual relationship?
If committed to another in lifelong union, how do I be chaste, pure of
heart, loyal and unselfish in living out the sacrament of our union.
What sacrifices am I prepared to make?
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204. William Penn, 17th century founding father: selections from
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204. William Penn, 17th century founding father: selections from
political writings (ed. Edwin Bronner; 1975)
About the Editor—Edwin Bronner is Librarian, Curator of the Quaker Collection, & Professor of History at Haverford College
Introduction: Penn’s Life and Achievements—William Penn is honored as one of the founders of New Jersey Pennsylvania Delaware
Having been imprisoned, he made a special effort to provide justice for those accused of crimes. He reduced the list of 200 capital offenses to 2. The most familiar image of Penn is him making a treaty with the Lenni Lenape In- dians, paying a fair price and providing for equal justice before the law. In Pennsylvania
William Penn was born in London Oxford Christ Church Lincoln Inn , & went back to Ireland
As a despised Quaker, Penn was persecuted and imprisoned in an era when religious tolerance was unknown. Because he studied law, Penn was chosen to attempt to settle a dispute over control of West New Jersey . He defended the fundamental rights of Englishmen, and insisted on proper elected representation.
In 1681 the Crown granted him the province known as Pennsylvania Delaware Bay in the ship Welcome in late October 1682. [He spent 2 years getting Pennsylvania England Pennsylvania
The People’s Ancient and Just Liberties—Liberty
[This selection will be limited to Penn’s words, with the responses para- phrased] “We believe it to be our duty . . . no power on earth shall be able to divert us from reverencing and adoring our God. [You are here for breaking the law] I affirm that I have broken no law. I desire to know by what law you prosecute me & on what law you ground my indictment. [Common law] If it is common, it should not be hard to produce.
[Plead to the indictment] Shall I plead to an indictment that hath no foundation in law? Unless you show me the law, I shall take it for granted your proceedings are merely arbitrary. [Are you guilty] The question is whether this indictment be legal. [I can’t explain it briefly] If common law be so hard to understand, it’s far from common. [You will not be permitted to go on]
I have asked but one question, and you have not answered me, though the rights and privilege of every Englishmen be concerned in it. [We will not hear you talk all night] If you deny me evidence of the law I have broken, you show the world your resolution to sacrifice the rights of Englishmen to your sinister and arbitrary designs. [Take him away] Is this justice or true judg- ment? If these ancient fundamental laws are not maintained and ob- served, who can say he hath right to the coat on his back?” The Lord of heaven and earth will be judge between us in this matter.”
Preface to the First Frame of Government—The preface to the 1st constitution for Pennsylvania
[When God chose man to rule the world], He did qualify man with inte- grity to use it justly. The precept of divine love & truth in his own bosom was guide & keeper of his innocency; lust made a lamentable breach upon it. Whosoever resisteth the powers that be resisteth God's power. [Govern- ment’s 2 ends] are to terrify evildoers, & cherish the good. This makes the government as durable in the world as good men shall be; government seems to me part of religion itself, a thing sacred in its institution & end. They weakly err that think there is no other use for government than correction; that is the coarsest part of it. Government, like clocks, go from the motion men give them. Let men be good & the government can’t be bad. Good men never want for good laws nor suffer ill ones.
Plan for a Union of the Colonies—Penn’s proposal to bring the English closer together under a royal commissioner and a continental congress was 1st made to the Board of Trade in 1696.
1 & 2. That Boston, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, the New Jer- seys, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, & Carolina may each appoint 2 per- sons to meet once a year or oftener to debate & resolve measures for the public tranquility & safety [of the 10 colonies].
3-5. The King’s High Commissioner shall most likely be the Governor of New York, have the chair and preside in the said Congress, most likely meeting in New York
6. Their business shall be to hear & adjust all matters of debt, justice, commerce, & defense of the provinces.
7. In times of war the King’s High Commissioner shall be chief com- mander of the [provinces’ militia].
Essay Toward the Peace of Europe —Written by Penn in the period he withdrew from public life, it appeared 1st in 1693. Penn gave credit to Henry IV of France Russia
I have undertaken a subject that requires one of more sufficiency than I am master of to treat it as in truth it deserves. It is the fruit of many solicitous thoughts for the peace of Europe . Let them censure my management, so they prosecute the advantage of the design.
SECTION I—It becomes prudent men to consider the vast charge that has accompanied the blood in [Europe ], and which makes no mean part of these tragedies, and to deliberate upon the uncertainty of war.
SECTION II—As justice is a preserver, so it is a better procurer of peace than war. If we look over the stories of all times, we shall find the aggressors generally moved by ambition, the pride of conquest and greatness of dominion more than right. The aggressors seldom get what they seek, or perform what they promise. Embassies [can] hear the pleas and memorials of justice [from] the wronged party. That which prevents a civil war is that which may prevent a war abroad [i.e. justice]. Peace is maintained by justice, which is a fruit of government, as government is from society, and society from consent.
SECTION III—Government is an expedient against confusion, a restraint upon all disorder; just weights and an even balance, that one man may not injure another nor himself by intemperance. It is certain the most natural and human [government] is consent, for that binds freely, when men hold liberty by their true obedience to rules of their own making. But so depraved is hu- man nature, that too many would not readily be brought to do what they know is right, or avoid what they are satisfied they should not do.
SECTION IV—If the sovereign princes of Europe would [have] their deputies meet [periodically], & there establish rules of justice [they would] observe one to another. [Differences not solved by private embassies] should be brought before this sovereign assembly. If any sovereignty should seek their remedy by arms or delay [too long] their compliance, all other sovereignties, shall compel submission and performance of the sentence.
SECTION V—There appears to me 3 things upon which peace is bro- ken: acting to keep; acting to recover; acting to add. The first 2 may find jus- tice in that sovereign court. The last will find no room in the imperial states.
SECTION VI—[The title of sovereign states] is either by long, undoub- ted succession, by election, by marriage, by purchase, or by conquest. The world knows the date of the length of empires of conquest; they expire with the power of the possessor to defend them. When conquest has been confirmed by a treaty, being engrafted, it is fed by that which is the security of better titles, consent.
SECTION VII—[There is the] difficulty of what votes to allow [because of] the inequality of the princes and states. The least inclination to the peace of Europe will not stand or halt at this objection. [My estimation is that] Germany will send 12; France, Spain, Turkey, Russia, 10 each; France, 8; Engand 6; Sweden, Poland, Netherlands 4 each; Portugal, Denmark, Ve- nice, 3 each; Switzerland 2; Holstein and Courland 1 each. The fuller the assembly of states, the more solemn, effectual, and free the debates will be.
SECTION VIII—If the whole number be cast into tens each choosing one, they preside by turns, to whom all speeches should be addressed, & who should collect the sense of debates & state the question for a vote by ballot. It seems to me that nothing in this imperial parliament should pass but by ¾ of the whole. If there were a clerk for each ten, one out of each ten were ap- pointed to examine and compare the journals of those clerks and then lock them up. I should think it necessary that every sovereignty should be present under great penalties, and that none leave the session without leave till all be finished. The language must be in Latin or French.
SECTION IX—[As to the strongest and richest opposing this arrange- ment], he is not stronger than all the rest, so you should point this out and compel him into it. If men of sense and honor are chosen, they will either scorn the baseness or pay for the knavery. There can be no danger of effemi- nacy from disuse of soldiery; each sovereignty may introduce as temperate or severe a discipline in the education of youth as they please.
The knowledge of government in general, the particular constitutions of Europe , and above all, of his own country are very recommending accom- plishments. This fits him for the parliament at home and courts abroad. [The keeping of] a small force in every other sovereignty will prevent one from building up a formidable body of troops with which to surprise their neighbor. As to the want of employment in soldiery for younger brothers of families, edu- cation [and peace will produce] more merchants and husbandmen [which will produce more jobs.] [With such a body overseeing Europe ], the sovereign princes will be as sovereign at home as they ever were. If this be called a les- sening of their power, it must be only because great fish can no longer eat up little ones.
SECTION X—It will not be the least benefit that it prevents the spilling of so much human and Christian blood. The cries of many widows, parents, & fatherless are prevented. The reputation of Christianity will be in some degree recovered. This proposal saves the great expense [of armies] and the expense of frequent and splendid embassies. The towns, cities, & countries that might be laid waste by the rage of war are thereby preserved, [the blessings of which the history of each country will no doubt confirm].
There will be an ease & security of travel & traffic, a happiness never understood since the Roman Empire . No Christian monarch will adventure to oppose or break such a union. The treason, blood and devastation that war has cost in Christendom for these last two ages must add to the credit of our proposal and the blessing of peace thereby humbly recommended. The final advantage is that it will beget and increase personal friendship between prin- ces and states, [which will plant] peace in a deep and fruitful soil.
[On a personal note, princes would be free to] choose wives for them- selves, such as they love, and not by proxy merely to gratify interest, an igno- ble motive that rarely begets or continues that kindness which ought to be between men and their wives. [Loving parents] have kind and generous influ- ence upon their offspring.
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205. Sound of Silence: Moving with T’ai Chi (by Carol R. Murphy;
1976)
About the Author—She was born in Boston, MA., 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 be- gan her association with Pendle Hill in 1947. This pamphlet is the 12th of the 17 that she wrote, and tells the story of her work on T’ai Chi Chuan meditation.
About the Author—She was born in Boston, MA., 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 be- gan her association with Pendle Hill in 1947. This pamphlet is the 12th of the 17 that she wrote, and tells the story of her work on T’ai Chi Chuan meditation.
... The hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty … And when the faculties are empty, then the whole being listens. Chuang-Tzu
Preparation/ Beginning—There are 2 directions of the meditating mind: a focusing down to a point of contemplation; a wide-angle vision. [The latter] doesn’t shut out the world of the senses, but mirrors it clearly & without clinging. T’ai Chi Chuan is a moving meditation that also disciplines the restless body. I hope its quality will be unfolded as I relate my adventure into it. At times I feel physical & disciplined, at times inward & meditative; T’ai Chi has room for them all. [Instructions are in italics]
Try standing easily, feet firm on the ground, shoulder-width apart, knees a little flexed; feel your head and spine suspended from the sky, your shoul- ders and chest hanging easily. Swing your pelvis,[your center of gravity], a little. Let your hands be neither stiffened nor clenched but relaxed with a gentle convex curve of wrist through fingers. Let your arms rise slowly in front of you while breathing in.
The flowing grace of the T’ai Chi form beguiles me esthetically while it makes me wonder whether I can ever do such floating movements. I flex my knees, which 1st protest, but later I get a velvety, relaxed almost sensuous feeling. One’s head may be erect to the sky, but one’s feet must be planted on the earth. We are mind-body creatures, & why shouldn’t a meditative discipline minister to both? As I learn to lower my center of gravity, & balance from that, I realize that the movements are shaped to the proper use of the body & endow it with dignity.
The 1st movement is to raise my relaxed arms slowly in front of me, bring my hands toward me then lower them gently by my side. This action is to lighten the upper body and set it afloat. For an intellectual accustomed to neat distinctions, the heavy substantiality of the material [realm] is divorced from the airy insubstantiality of spirit and meaning. Yet somehow the mystics and the Chinese Taoists have actually experienced the Original One behind the 2 divi- ded realms of our everyday experience. In the movements I practice, I can sense the reconciliation, [the unity] of acting and being. Will T’ai Chi work its way through my limbs to my mind?
Grasp the Bird’s Tail/ The Single Whip—The 2nd movement is that I turn to hold between the facing palm of my hands an imaginary ball of air. I can imagine a field of force between them. I had a dream where I grasped at the tail of a whitish bird, only to miss. The paradox of the spiritual quest is that without perseverance you cannot start on your quest, but your very striving for a goal gets in your own path.
Make a fresh beginning; be like a child learning a new game for its own sake rather than being impatient. You are shaping yourself to an objective requirement, with no room for private self-expression, yet this form derives from the inner meaning of the body’s true movement. I can only hope that by learning to move to the measure of the Reality of all things, it may become more real to myself, and perhaps a little more real to others.
A recurrent figure involves a pivoting of arms & body, then a wide step. Any distractions must be [dealt with by] looking over their shoulders and pro- ceed. As this is a moving meditation, my centering must move with me. The mind must accompany the motions without becoming lost in thought or obli- vious to the surroundings. I can have 2 levels of apprehension of T’ai Chi: the moving image of Eternity; a thoroughgoing re-education of every part of my body.
Ideally, there is a carry-over into daily life, and this in turn should work hand-in-glove with practice to reinforce the spirit of the exercise so that it be- comes a way of life. Fascination is the true and proper mother of discipline … ‘Tis slow enough to concentrate the mind and complex enough to require our many parts. A teacher can give hints, one can show you an example, but the listening to your own bodily feelings in practice is up to you; you must be lamps unto yourselves.
The 70-30 Stance—I move into a well-braced position in which about 70% of my weight is on the forward foot; there is strategic importance of this stance. We students are told of the flow of an energizing life-force which the Chinese call ch’i, running along the “full” [weight-bearing] leg to the opposite arm. It envelopes the body in a magnetic field; to align one’s self with its lines of force is to generate healing. Possibly through this awareness of the chan- nels of energy, T’ai Chi can spread a beneficent influence throughout my body, I have already found the peacefulness that can spread from the relaxa- tion of the hands in T’ai Chi. In learning T’ai Chi I will let my newfound abilities and awareness grow naturally into an unanticipated flowering.
Rollback & Press/ Deflect Downward, Parry & Punch—Part of the figure of Grasp the Bird’s Tail consists in a withdrawal and then a pushing for- ward with the hands as if pressing someone gently back. At its culmination, every motion rounds into the reverse direction. Jacob Boehme wrote: “In order to have anything definite made manifest there must be a contrary there- in—a Yes and a No.” One can learn to see the yin/yang signature everywhere. The opposites are reconciled in action and interaction.
A beautifully flowing movement that manifests the basic self-defense structure of T’ai Chi [is when] my fist swings slowly forward toward the solar plexus of an imaginary opponent. [A joint exercise is when] each partner tries to absorb the push of the other & to take advantage of the other’s slightest dis- equilbrium. I would describe the 2-party political system as 2 opposing forces that alternate & cooperate in forming & criticizing an administration. One party is conservative, the other liberal, but [as in the yin/yang symbol] there is a little dot of the opposite quality in each. This keeps them from flying apart into irre- concilable enmity.
Conflict is not to be eliminated, but kept creative. The survival of caribou and wolf is a function of [their interdependent] relationship. Jacob Boehme wrote: “I raised up my spirit … toward God … in the resolution to struggle with the love and mercy of God without ceasing until God blessed me.” God blessed the Jews’ holy chutzpah, or sublime impudence, and gave them the I-thou experience. Florida Scott-Maxwell wrote: “[We say] ‘You are too different, you ask the impossible … Then God might answer, ‘Of course that is your duty. If I commanded anything less than the impossible, could you have recog- nized me as God? … Creation is the might and marvel of forever creating out of opposition.
Apparent Closure—After the long swinging punch comes a withdrawal, a brushing off of the imaginary opponent’s grasp. One must go with the oppo- nent, not counter his thrust, and not be where he expects you to be. When I had an actual opportunity to try the single-handed form of push hands with someone, the slow circling of our touching wrists and the reciprocal sway of our bodies seemed a living enactment of the yin/yang symbol.
In life itself, I had to learn at the bedside of the dying how to fight on the side of life only as long as was meet, and then to know when to yield to the necessity of death. In my practice of T’ai Chi I can begin to learn a kind of holy obedience to the flow and absorb the wisdom of living where I am; the form moves onward like a river and cannot be hurried. Alan Watts point out: “All that remains is the simple awareness of what is going on … It comes out of nothing as sounds come out of silence.” Take what comes, and Do not cling.
However solid I feel, I must trust the energy stream that creates me at every moment, & live more from my vital center of balance, & less from my analytical head which divides my self from the stream. By taking my distrac- tions & quarrels with God as part of the Tao’s movement playing push hands within me, I seem to render more permeable the boundaries of my self- conscious ego, & become more relaxed about the flow of my thoughts & fee- lings. Perhaps I can see a way of living that flows with God’s energy within & without the little ego we try to protect.
When life is lived non-directively, the mind’s antenna is more tuned to the flow of happenings around us. The more we try to plan, the more we ignore the flow of the present. We can align ourselves with God’s energy field; our struggling & questioning are part of this field & can induce God’s current in our cores. Who then is wrestling within us? And is there victor or loser? And does not the victor wear a crown of thorns?
Cross Hands/ In the End is the Beginning—At the end of the 1st ⅓ of the T’ai Chi form, and also at its conclusion, comes a wide sweep of the arms ending with crossed wrists and hands which reminds me of seraphim folding their wings. In the heat and preoccupation of learning to practice correctly, the impression of serene silence tends to recede into the background, but the possibility of it is always there.
While strolling one early Spring morning, [I found] a tranquil silence surrounding every small chirp or rustle; it was only perceived so when I listened with patient waiting for sounds that never came. Now I understood that it was the expectant listening to the sound of any silence that brings liberation from restless thoughts and a silence between the ears. [One day in a meadow doing T’ai Chi, I felt one with the holly trees]; the final sweep of arms and hands seemed to be affirming that the whole wide world was in God’s and my hands.
Though the bird’s tail of enlightenment still eludes me, I am immensely grateful to the experience of T’ai Chi for its epiphany of divine harmony in motion, the wisdom it is teaching my inward parts, and the 1st intuition of the sound of silence as a substantial fullness to rest in rather than an insubstantial emptiness to be fled from. The Taoistic unity of opposites lures one along the never ending road to perfection in a possible/impossible endeavor. So it is with meditation, the possible/impossible waiting in God which we can never quite do nor do without. T’ai Chi meditation should be the focus of a life of inward vigilance, when physical silence becomes sacramental of the creative stillness before the Word of creation.
The flow of T’ai Chi is circular & brings one back to the beginning. I am very much a novice; now I should stop talking about it. Here I stand, rooted in the earth, head to the sky. My adventure is just beginning. As you move slowly about with circular motions listen to the silence of your movements. As the day continues, consider every approaching event as the next figure of the T’ai Chi form of life, and move with it neither hurrying nor lingering. The goal is a more complete way of being in God’s world and relating to it with serene sensitivity. Listen then, to the sound of silence, and move to its music.
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206. Margaret Fell speaking (by Hugh Barbour; 1976)
About the Author—Born in Peking, he left the Orient at 10 and gradu- ated Harvard in 1942. He acquired a doctorate from Yale. At Earlham College he teaches subjects from Church history to Asian Religion. He has published The Quakers in Puritan England and Early Quaker Writings. This pamphlet presents selections from the writing of the dynamic figure sometimes called the “Mother of Quakerism.”
I:Introduction—Margaret Fell’s writings, like her acts and words in her lifetime, were graceful but forthright, with strong emotion yet sensitive to others’ feelings. She was born Margaret Askew in 1614. Her husband as of 1632, Judge Thomas Fell, inherited Swarthmoor Hall, the manor house for the market town of Ulverston. Margaret Fell administered the farms in his absence and after his death in 1658. She and her daughters managed things with unquestioned independence, often traveling alone on horseback rather than coach.
As a Quaker, Margaret Fell faced 3 long imprisonments & the seizure of her livestock & funds. Charge over Swarthmore including supporting the parish church & its visiting ministers. [From the 40s to the early 60s], parish churches became increasingly autonomous. It was Margaret Fell’s responsibility to give lodging to George Fox in June 1652. Thomas Fell trusted his wife’s faith & judgment enough to allow his home to become the base for a regional religious revival.
Despite a rapturous letter from the whole household after Fox’s first visit, there is little evidence about the personal relationship between Fox & Marga- ret Fell until long after Judge Fell’s death. Margaret Fell’s roles in the organi- zation of Quakerism must always be read between the lines. She did travel to promote the setting up of Women’s Meetings; her daughters, as clerks, wrote guidebooks for their functioning. She made 10 trips to London
[About George Fox’s testimony]: I saw it was the Truth, & I couldn't deny it . . . And it was opened to me so clear, that I had never a little in my heart against it. Margaret Fell
II: Margaret Fell’s Own Accounts of Her Life—“I was born in the year 1614 at March-Grange inLancashire . I was 17 or 18 when I was married to Thomas Fell of Swarthmoor, who afterwards was a Justice of the Quorum in his County, a member of Parliament in several Parliaments, and Chancellor of the Duchy Court Westminster
II: Margaret Fell’s Own Accounts of Her Life—“I was born in the year 1614 at March-Grange in
We had not so much as heard of Quakers till we heard of George Fox coming. One of George’s Friends brought him hither. When he came among us at Ulverston Steeple-house, he opened us a book we had never read in . . . to wit the Light of Christ in our consciences . . . & declared that this was our teacher. He said: “You will say, ‘Christ saith this, & the Apostles say this’; but what canst thou say? Art thou a Child of Light? And what thou speakest, is it inwardly from God? And G.F. spoke on a great while till Judge Sawrey caused G.F. to be haled out. He spoke in the house among family & servants, & they were all generally convinced. I saw it was the Truth, & I could not deny it . . . And it was opened to me so clear, that I had never a little in my heart against it.
When my husband was informed that we had entertained such men as had taken us off from going to Church, he was very much concerned [& trou- bled]. Richard Farnsworth & other Friends persuaded him to be still & weigh things before he did anything hastily. Whilst I was sitting with him, the power of the Lord seized upon me: & he was stricken with amazement. George Fox [came in later], & spoke very excellently, as ever I heard him; & open Christ & the Apostles’ practices in their day. Lampitt, the Ulverston priest spoke to Judge Fell, but got little entrance upon him. [My husband said to diverse Friends] “You may meet here, if you will.”
There was a good large Meeting the 1st Day; Meetings continued [at Swarthmore] from 1652, till 1690. And he became a kind friends to the Friends, & to the practicers of the Truth on every occasion. It was in the 8th Month, 1658 that he died, leaving 1 son & 7 daughters. Priests & professors began to write against us. I was but young in the Truth, yet I had a perfect & pure Testimony of God in my heart for God and his Truth & could give my life for it.
The King and the Prisoners—And in the Year 1660, King Charles the Second came into England England Scotland Ireland Liberty
I [returned home &] stayed about 9 months, & then was moved of the Lord to go to London London [South west England & then Northern England ], back to Swarthmoor. George Fox was committed to Lancaster Castle
When I was indicted for denying the Oath of Allegiance, I said I would rather choose a prison for obeying God, than my liberty for obeying men. [The judges put me out of the King’s Protection], I responded, “... Yet I am not out of the Protection of the Almighty God.” When I had been a prisoner about 4 years, I was set at liberty by an order from the King & Council in 1668.
Marriage to George Fox: 1669—[After George Fox went into Ireland Kent Sussex Bristol Lancas- ter Castle London Ameri ca
He stayed some time in London many several Counties London
The Death of the Charles II—George Whitehead & I were going to one of the Lords to speak to the King for us. But the King was ill & died 6 days later. Those persecuting Quakers promised more of the same after the King’s death. When the King’s Council heard Margaret’s letter about this, they said they could give no protection to a particular individual; [they gave a private caution to the persecutors]. I have been at London London
III: Letters and Epistles—Except for one intense letter to Fox from the whole household, they were matter-of-fact; her love was expressed by acts and character more than by phrases. She received more letters than she sent: from 1653-1660 it was evidently agreed that Friends would write to Swarthmoor Hall to report their successes, needs & imprisonments. The style of formal epistles, including some phrases characteristic of Fox, were picked up by Margaret Fell and other Quaker leaders.
A Letter to Francis Howgill & James Nayler when they were Prisoners, 1653—Dear/Brother James & Francis, prisoners of the Lord, faithful & chosen, abiding faithful in the will of God, & there stand; you have peace, joy, boldness . . . The Lord is doing great things for this darkness; this heathenish ministry & dark power have long reigned. The Lord keep all Friends that way in savori- ness, to discern the voice of a Stranger from the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look not at liberty, men, nor at time, but at the Lord who will be your eternal portion.
Living under the Light—All come down to the witness of God, & deal plainly with your own souls; let the judge pass sentence on you ... Beware of betraying the just & innocent in you . . . Deal plainly with yourselves, & let the eternal Light search, try, [and guide you], for the good of your souls. For to this you must stand or fall. Dwell in love and unity in the pure eternal Light; there is your fellowship, there is your cleansing and washing.
An epistle to North-Country Friends for Funds [used to support prea- ching and those in prison]—It is ordered by the providence of the Lord, and by his power to move in the hearts of some Friends that are poor in the outward, to go for New England. You may see it just & equal that there be general help made for Friends in the North willing to offer up their bodies and their lives for the service and will of the Lord, and to answer his motion in their hearts. The God of power enlarge your hearts towards God, his work and service.
IV. Margaret Fell on Women—Later generations acclaimed Margaret Fell’s tract on Women Speaking (1666) as a pioneer manifesto for women’s liberation. Women offering Quaker witness before & during Fox’s time include Elizabeth Hooten, Joan & Margaret Killam, Barbara Pattison, Jane Holmes, Agnes Wilkinson, & Sarah Tomlinson. Margaret Fell shows women’s ability to respond and take full part in all aspects of religious life.
“Women’s Speaking Justified, Proved & Allowed of by the Scriptures— It hath been objected by clergy against women speaking in Church as taken from I Corinthians 14:34,35 and I Timothy 2:11,12. When God created men in his own image . . . male and female . . . God joins them together in his own image and makes no distinctions as men do. Those that speak against the Spirit speaking in a woman, not regarding the Seed and Spirit and Power that speaks in her, such speak against Christ and his Church. Jesus owned the love and grace that appeared in women, and did not despise it.
What had become of the redemption of the whole body of man- kind, if they had not believed the message that the Lord Jesus sent by these women of and concerning his resurrection? And thus the Lord Jesus hath manifested himself and his power, without respect of persons; and so let all mouths be stopped that would limit him.”
V: Margaret Fell’s Other Writings—A Brief Collection of Margaret Fell’s works included 49 items & over 500 pages. She used the prophets’ words to call Jews to the same Light which they already knew. Margaret Fell’s 1st letter to Fox showed her religious dependence on him. She wrote her Epistle against Uniform Quaker Costume; April 1700 when she was 86. She warns: “Let us not be entangled again, in observing proscriptions in outward things, which will not profit nor cleanse the inward... This narrowness & strictness is entering in, that many cannot tell what to do, or not to do; poor Friends are mangled in their minds. They say we must be all in one dress and one color.
This is silly poor Gospel. It is more fit for us to be covered with God’s eternal Spirit, and clothed with his eternal Light. These silly outside imaginary practices are coming up, & practiced with great zeal, which hath often grieved my heart. Now I have set before you Life & Death, & desire you to choose Life & God & his truth.
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207. A Quaker looks at Yoga (by Dorothy Ackerman; 1976)
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207. A Quaker looks at Yoga (by Dorothy Ackerman; 1976)
About the Author—Dorothy Ackerman has been a member of the Twin Cities Meeting in Minneapolis Brown University
[Introduction]—[I have been discontented] with the meditation in our meeting. Out of this a small worship group was born [that went for about 3 years]. I have wanted to combine Yogic wisdom with Quaker beliefs & expe- rience. Only when the Yoga experience is sympathetic to Friendly tradition have I suggested Yoga’s use. I have learned to look at things upside down in imagination if not in posture. Getting in touch with the Still Small Voice should require at least as much effort as making [and participating in a meaningful] phone call. In accepting Yoga’s challenge to participate and experience the results, I have found it a helpful way, but not the only way.
Traditional Centering Devices—Religion has developed many ways of communicating with the Spiritual Source. Are we today in danger of losing the experience because we do not reach out and knock on the door or make that call and wait expectantly? Early Quakers were clear that these souls seeking together in spiritual communion were the church with Christ in its midst. The spiritual intensity experienced in group worship comes partly from the artistry of the service and partly from the group’s reaching a strength be- yond its own.
Occasionally I nourish the artist in me by experiencing a high church service where all the arts join together in celebration. Early Friends [had much more Bible & prayer in their family life than most do now]. They met whenever they felt the need, & whenever a visiting Friend came to town. Children were an integral part of the Meeting. Their spiritual bond was a personal experience of the Light. Lacking their intimate Christianity, we can use Yoga to help us contact the Spirit by whatever name we call it.
Yoga Philosophy—The aim of both Yogic and Quaker meditation is a mystical union which involves such a strong awareness of the Source of Life that action flow directly from the Spiritual Center
Abstinence: non-injury, non-lying, non-theft, non-sensuality, non-greed. (“Non”=“absence of”). Non-injury requires harmony before meditation; unin- tentional injury must be avoided.
Abstinence: non-injury, non-lying, non-theft, non-sensuality, non-greed. (“Non”=“absence of”). Non-injury requires harmony before meditation; unin- tentional injury must be avoided.
Observance: cleanliness, contentment, body conditioning, self-study, God-attentiveness. Cleanliness includes both physical cleaning and its ritual significance. Contentment is recognizing the situation for what it is and working it out.
Posture: Part of conditioning is the familiar Hatha Yoga postures. “Ha”=sun; “Tha”=moon; Hatha balances the polarities.
Breath control is the link between body and soul connecting the body with its energy (Life Force)
Withdrawl of the 5 senses is tuning out everything distracting us from meditation.
Concentration is the skill of focusing
Meditation is the act of focusing
Contemplation is the step beyond meditation where beauty, truth, and light are experienced
Adapting Spiritual Practice; Practical Application; Centering for Meditation—In learning to know myself I have discovered my abilities and limitations [and what fits for me]. Hatha Yoga is feasible in the afternoon or evening, not pre-dawn. I have not eliminated meat from my diet, but I enjoy it less. Yoga considers reviewing the day passed or planning the day coming a necessary part of mental housekeeping. Yoga suggest having a specific time and place for daily meditation and to be quiet & relaxed. If I have been sitting most of the day I will need exercise before I can relax. A leisurely walk will serve as well as Yoga, if I have a straight, tall back, and free-swinging limbs. I reach out to walls, ceiling, and floor as a stretching exercise; I do neck-rolls.
When I am comfortably settled I focus attention on my breathing. Yoga teaches me to close my mouth & breath through my nose, to filter & warm the air. Because slow breathing cools my body & calms my emotions, I deliberately slow down the rhythm for meditation; it sometimes naturally slows almost to a standstill. My hands sometimes relax in my lap. Sometimes my thumb & fore- finger are joined. In Meeting I hold my palms open & up. Finally I am ready to relax my mind. [If I have trouble, I turn my closed eyes up so that they are pointed at the spot between my eyebrows while my mind is attending my breathing.
Gerald Heard said that meditation was the most important practice that we could use for the [evolution] of the species. Teilhard de Chardin expresses concern that we must develop spiritually or face the fate of phylum extinction. Gopi Krishna suggests that meditation can actually change our bodies. In a person of genius or great spirituality the cells become irradiated with this energy. EEG research suggests that in meditation we mentally shift gears to slower brain waves. In this state there is a freedom from the past, an open- ness to new ideas.
Special Techniques for Concentration—Yogis express the difficulty of harnessing mind by referring to it as a “runaway drunken monkey.” Of the ways for gaining control of a mind, chanting a mantra and gazing at a candle have received more publicity than understanding. I was always clear that the candle flame reflected the Divine light and was a symbol for my subconscious mind. I imagined that the flame was in me and filled me or that I became the flame.
If candle-gazing is auto hypnotism, it is better to establish a strong hyp- notic relationship to the Divine Light than to TV heroes. A mantra is a center- ing device. It should be used calmly. When it has stilled the mind and fades away into a meditative silence let it go unless thoughts distract. For physical activity, Yoga uses the postures, Zen, the walking meditation, Sufis and Sha- kers, dancing; Early Friends walked. We must not let ourselves be impri- soned even by silence, but remain open to the spontaneous moving of Spirit blowing as it will.
Meeting for Worship: Preparation; Seating—Early Friends took daily spiritual practice for granted. The potential of Friends’ Meeting is so great that it is worth taking time to do our homework: reading, problem solving, daily meditation, and prompt arrival. Hatha Yoga and breathing exercises, or a quiet walk to Meeting will calm the mind. Breath watching can be used effectively, for centering and for gathering the group especially if Friends feel that each is a cell in the larger body of the Meeting, [each sending and receiving Spirit]. A straight back is best for meditation. Lanzo del Vasta said, “You must have a straight line between heaven and earth.”
Meeting for Worship: Centering; Speaking—In Meeting for Worship a mantra can be used briefly at the beginning, or on the way to Meeting. Late- comers are the greatest obstacle to gathering or centering. Meditation in Meeting for Worship can begin with a seed thought, or it can be an attitude of listening. [The seed thought needs to be brief]. The tree will grow; we do not need to begin with it. Intensity of spirit does not necessarily flow from a small group; while intensity flourishes under persecution, it isn’t absent when life is comfortable.
Preparation does not mean coming to Meeting with a prepared message or a program for personal meditation. A gathered meeting is relaxed & attentive calm and expectant. Early Friends did not believe in the power of silence so much as they realized the inadequacy of the spoken word to convey spiritual truth. Too often we wait for something from God out there which cannot mani- fest unless we use the God within us. Without God we miss our potential; without us God is not manifest.
Vocal ministry at its best can be the seed of Spirit which grows and flows through the Meeting. A brief message leaves more room for growth than a sermon. Stan Zielinski in Pendle Hill Pamphlet Psychology and Silence (#201) says that Meeting for worship is composed of silence, communion, and the message, [in that order]. Gathering brings us into spiritual commu- nion. [A collective of vocal ministry] flows from the personality of that Mee- ting. It cannot be contrived or programmed.
Initiation; New Members; Coming of Age—Early Friends did not lack initiatory experiences: upsurges of power; expanded awareness; personal awareness; personal revelation. Can we again get in touch with a feeling of expectancy? [Can we accept the unusual without analyzing or doubting it]? Formal initiations recognized by our Society are: membership; marriage, and memorials. The procedure of accepting new members into Meeting is not always straightforward; there is a tendency to say “yes” to anyone who asks, It is more appropriate to explain things like the spontaneity of unprogrammed worship and how consensus works in Business Meeting in clearness commit- tee before membership, than as criticism after membership is granted.
Emotional preparation for adult responsibility & the physical changes of puberty were an important part of initiatory tradition. Many customs involved the initiate’s withdrawal into solitude. Our own tradition has much to offer but it fails to challenge when we do not witness to our beliefs. For several years Earlham has had a “solo” experience available as a retreat for incoming stu- dents. Friends might like to consider a variation of this solo to fit their own needs & abilities. I would expect that the personal experiences would range from ecological to mystical.
Meeting Resources: Support Groups; Spiritual and Artistic—In an intimate group of 8-10 we can find sympathy for celebration of the daily initi- ation. Without a minister, Friends can minister to each other. As spiritual awareness expands, it can be shared with an intimate group of Friends. A support group that chooses to be honest is helpful in warding off false humi- lity, which takes pride in self-denigration. A small ongoing support group can help in times of crisis because it has shared the hopes and fears.
Simplicity need not be sterile or ugly. With our expanded view of world history and religion there is a wealth of spiritual nourishment available. The artist in me is too strong to turn my back on beauty. I stand at the crossroads of culture. It can be a confusing place if I do not know where I’m going. If I do, it is a convenient spot from which to make connections. I have drawn from Yoga, Buddhists, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Quakers, Amerinds, Congregationa- lists, and Franciscans. The therapist says: Be open; Don’t limit yourself; Know yourself; Recognize the blocks to meditation.” The artist weaves all this toge- ther. In Meeting for Worship I use all I have to tune in to the Presence which I call the Christ Consciousness or the Inner Light. The challenge requires me to make wise use of all my skills and treasures.
Questions for Quakers—Do we consider what physical arrange- ment help relaxed meditation in Meeting? Do we provide instruction for new members and attenders who are beginners in silent meditation? Do we have enough confidence in the Inner Light to take from other tradi- tions without fear of endangering Quakerism? Do we believe that a gathered Meeting depends on chance? On preparation? On Grace? Do we apply Quaker practices of centering in our daily lives?
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208. Rhythms of the Ecosystem (by Janette Shetter; 1976)
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208. Rhythms of the Ecosystem (by Janette Shetter; 1976)
About the Author—Janette Knott Shetter was born into a family with an appreciation of nature. [She remembers her grandfather’s and mother’s deep involvement with nature. She acquired a doctorate in biochemistry with an emphasis on bacteria from the University of CA. This pamphlet grew out of a course on ecology which Janette gave at Pendle Hill in 1971 when she was a student and her family were residents there.
The Dance of Shiva—So faintly [had the] uncertain sound began that he turned his whole mind inward & distinguished a slow & stately rhythm rising from his overflowing grace. His supple body … his legs’ movement picked up the rhythm. Shiva moved with stately grace & gay abandon, as only a Shiva could do. All that wasn’t Shiva dancing a dance of universal death & joy began to fall apart, disintegrate, evaporate into the thin vapors of apparent nothing- ness. As he had danced the worlds out, now he danced them in again evo- king [new life & a new age].
This pamphlet is the result of what Shiva said to me as a person who had already been made acutely aware of the ecological realities of our time. In one of his right hands Shiva holds the drum of creation; from the other flows protection. A left hand holds the fire which destroys the cosmos, while the other left points to the upraised foot as a symbol of release. Within man and his universe exists a rhythmic tension between destruction or reduction and creation or synthesis. What determines if the [universe’s] dance results in creation or disintegration?
The Dance of the Atoms/ Cycles of Matter—Atoms are in a never- never land where the boundary between matter and energy, which had always seems so firm, begins to blur. Forces that bind matter into atoms are probably the most powerful in the universe. Atomic reactions have been occurring with- in the sun. In the sun the coming together of 2 hydrogen atoms at intense temperatures & pressures to form an atom of helium results in energy essen- tial to our planet, [in a dance of] ascending leaps of unpremeditated joy.
[On the other hand], the use of hydrogen bombs would release bypro- ducts whose radioactivity would continue for a longer time than man has exis- ted on this earth. At first sight, there seem to be no restraining forces. The laws of physics tell us how much energy will be released, and fission or fusion processes are regulated by properties inherent in matter itself. The factors that regulate the dance of destruction or creation become more complex as the units get larger.
The “cycles of matter” is the continuous process in which macromole- cules are broken down into inorganic compounds, which reform into complex molecules. Living creatures die, and microorganisms reduce the complex molecules of that particular creature into small molecules of nitrate, phos- phate, sulfate and carbon dioxide. Similar decomposition occurs in our sto- machs; the molecules of the bread we eat are broken down into smaller mole- cules that can travel the blood stream to where they are needed.
The sulfur and nitrogen from the complex compounds, through bacteria, becomes hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. Out of the destruction of one form comes the energy for the growth of another, [anything] from bacteria to human. Intrinsic to the creation of new forms is the synthesis of the most magnificently complex molecules. I find the mythic image of the sound waves creating solid matter a marvelous metaphor for the conversion of gases into very solid plant structures by photosynthesis. Each DNA molecule and many of the protein molecules are uniquely characteristic of the species, and in some cases of the individual plant or animal that produced it.
With each step of the dance some new, but transient, structure comes into being. The regulatory mechanism of destruction and synthesis is incom- pletely known. The rate of destruction which is also the rate at which nutri- ents are made available for new growth determines, in part, the rate & amount of growth that can occur in an ecosystem. Man’s addition of phosphate al- lows inordinate amounts of algae to grow. Shiva’s dance may be frenzied, but it is still a dance with a rhythm that balances the extent of creation.
Cells to Organisms—Millions of years ago, an aggregate of cells deve- loped survival power not available to uni-cellular creatures. With the beat of Shiva’s drum renegade cells within a multi-cellular creature can return to the unicellular way of reproduction, & there may be a cancer. [There is an instance] where single cells are produced that have the potential of uniting with another single cell from another human being, & a unique new life begins.
Multicellularity allows different cells to specialize in performing the diffe- rent functions of the whole. Slime molds specialize only during reproduction, whereas humans are made up of billions of cells with specialized functions, with each cell contributing to, and playing an integrated part in, the whole. The variety and success of the multi-cellular way suggests that there is a powerful evolutionary force in this direction.
On the other hand, single cells have a less complicated reproductive system with the result that they can form 2 cells in a relatively short time, whenever nutrients become available, [e.g.] when an animal dies. Single- celled organisms can live in extreme temperatures from near freezing to about 180°F (82°C). The question of synthesis or destruction is a pressing issue on the level of cellularity.
How a cell “knows” to become a certain cell is still one of embryology’s unsolved mysteries. Each cell works to its own rhythm; & when the rhythm is violated, a cell goes wild & a malignant growth begins. It is entirely possible that any new manmade compound, given long exposure, is detrimental to bioche- mical regulatory systems; many are known to be. The cause of cancer is com- plex. Heredity, viruses, even the inability to express hostility & anger outward l can contribute to [cancerous conditions].
Within the Individual—In speaking of atoms, macromolecules, & multi- cellular growth, the results could be calculated. With the forces within ourselves an exact determination is not possible. Disintegration is represented by the mentally ill, wholeness by the creative, mature person. It can be caused che- mically & by the more subtle effect of social environment, when an intense struggle for survival leaves no room for wholeness. Disintegration can be healthy when it leads to ending [dysfunctional behavior or outmoded ideas]. I suspect that any religious experience involves the breaking the bonds of the old, dissolving the boundaries between man and God.
Integration, creation, synthesis can have their negative side, when they stunt further growth. When a prescribed definition of wholeness is assumed and creative deviance is prevented, the integration resulting is unhealthy. There are pairs of seeming opposites in all of us that cry out for an integration, a bringing together and giving honor to each member of the pair. Analogous to the eco- logical need for the decomposing bacteria, is society’s need for its deviants, as examples of what is not done, and as creators pointing in a new direction. As Shiva “turned his whole mind inward,” we too can turn our minds inward and attempt to be sensitive to our own inner rhythm.
Individuals & Groups—The pendulum swings between drawing apart as an individual, and becoming a part of a group. If we listen sensitively to the beat of Shiva’s drum, we will find that as individuals we each need differing amounts of solitude. And within every group there are forces for both cohesion and disintegration, both of which have their positive and negative aspects.
For those elements acting to decrease group cohesion in a negative way, we have the dominator, who knows what the group should do & doesn’t listen to the group’s natural rhythm. There is the one there “strictly as an ob- server,” [uninvested in the group]. There’s the one whose words & actions say “pay attention to me.” There are forces outside of the group, unclear, im- possible tasks & irreconcilable schedules. Sometimes the group’s composi- tion leads towards its dissolution. Forces of dissolution can be positive, as when an individual withdraws to become more aware of themself as an individual. A drive towards competition, self-assertion, self expression, con- trol of others & the environment, when balanced by cohesion-promoting forces, can be a powerful forward thrust.
There are negative aspects to group cohesiveness. Some are intoxi- cated with the group & lose their own identity; some groups encourage this. There is the conformist. The norms or accepted ways of behaving with a group have a strong influence with those fearing rejection. Factors that promote co- hesiveness include: a group that is hard to join; groups with a clearly defined goal; successful groups; clear expectation and roles.
My experience suggests that love and concern for others is the main cohesive force that holds groups together. When accompanied by love group norms can be very positive. People see potentials in themselves that they didn’t realize were there, & become free to respond to the Light Within; & they find the courage to act. Free choice is a dominant factor. The sum of many free choices forms a pattern, so that the factors involved here are a part of Shiva’s dance. The only true guide is a fine attunement to the Spirit’s leading—Shiva turns his whole mind inward.
Mankind and the Ecosystem—There are 3 main ways in humankind can consider the earth: domain to exploit for [short-term] benefit; natural re- source to be technologically managed for future generation; creation of God’s Spirit to be lived in harmony with. [The difference] between “living in harmony with” and “using” [can be seen in] the man who designs a hydroelectric power plant with a love for the beauty of the canyon [vs.] the man who considers the canyon to be there only so he can use the water.
There is a world ecosystem no matter how humankind lives. It is unsta- ble, out of balance, or disorganized when man plays a disruptive, rather than a harmonious role in it. Man is only beginning to be aware of the destructive ef- fects he can have upon the earth [and its other inhabitants]. With atomic wea- pons “all that isn’t Shiva dancing” may indeed, “fall apart, disintegrate, evapo- rate into thin vapors.” If all known fossil fuel reserves were burned, the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere would double; present life is adapted to the existing concentration.
An obvious disintegrating force is the uncontrolled growth of the human population, whose course I closely analogous to the growth of a cancer within the body. The death of the ecosystem earth is the inevitable result if control is not restored. These are only a few of the many hazards of the disintegrating forces acting on the once-strong ties between man and the earth he lives on.
One right hand of Shiva is in a gesture of preservation. To an ecologist preservation represents a balance of destruction & creation. Shiva’s devotees had a deep intuition of destruction’s necessity. Death is a necessity on an earth with a limited amount of life-sustaining elements. Overcrowding conditions are the soil that grows pestilence. Hidden within destruction is the hope that new more complex, more conscious, & more unified forms might arise.
Those who have seen dissolution in their personal lives prepare the way for new growth and development that could not have otherwise taken place, may find the frenzied dance of destruction somewhat easier to accept. [Disso- lution has been part of our advancing civilization]. Surely we do not have to turn our backs on all of these advances in order to form a viable man-earth ecosystem. Humankind has separated themselves from the earth as a child must from their mother. We cannot truly know ourselves until we come to know the earth our mother on an adult, and rediscover and renew his appre- ciation of the magnificent bounty, terror, and beauty of Nature. Shiva’s drum beats for disintegration, and also for reunion with earth.
We cannot go back to the simple days of relating to nature, when we had far less control of nature. Having eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, we have been driven out of the garden, and the gate to Eden is guarded by angels with flaming swords. Let us listen carefully to the dimly heard beat of Shiva’s drum and see if we can hear the beat for a new integration of humans, separate, and uniquely themselves, with their environment, an integration that is sen- sitive to the inner rhythm of the ecosystem and harmonizes with them.
[It will take the attributes of scientists, poets, & perhaps even saints to fully appreciate and integrate with nature]. When one’s egoism is consumed, one becomes less strongly bound to what from the view point of the ego is good or bad. The one is enabled to watch the dance of personal integration & disintegration with joy as well as fear. “Shiva dancing in the hearts of his devo- tees” means becoming aware of these forces within ourselves, and learning to accept and co-operate with those painful processes that disintegrate our self- centeredness.
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209. PHILOSOPHY of the INNER LIGHT (by Michael Marsh; 1976)
About the Author—Michael Marsh was born in New York City on Fe- bruary 2, 1918. He became "glancingly acquainted with Quakerism" at Swarthmore College, at an American Friends Service Committee work camp; he did civilian public service during WWII. He joined Friends Meeting in Wa- shington in 1952. He has been an economic researcher, a foreign correspon- dent, and a labor lobbyist. Michael says: "This pamphlet grew out of my own experience. That included a good bit of thinking as well as feeling. The American intellectual establishment has a dogmatic disbelief in spiritual rea- lity. This dogma intensifies human anguish."
[INTRODUCTION]/ HISTORY OF THE CONCEPT—This is the story of a seeking & a finding. It began in Friends meeting for worship. It went on to the study of various great philosophers in the Western tradition. What is the inner light, the "light within"? What is "that of God in every one"? Is it it true that the inward light is a seed of God in me? What is God? My goal wasn’t to chase words but to uncover the value of my life. What does it mean to be human? Those who discover some value in my account will be the doubters- who seek, the unsatisfied humanists, the troubled skeptics, [those who see themselves as beyond insignificant].
I thought George Fox was the inventor of the inward light as an expla- natory concept. But many Western philosophers, from Plato onwards, have written of the inner light as the foundation of our knowing. A partial listing in- cludes: Philo Judaeus, John the Evangelist, Plotinus (3rd century), Augustine (4th & 5th century), Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Meister Eckhart (all 3 from the Middle Ages), Jakob Boehme (17th century), George Fox, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Leibniz. When Quakers speak of a light within, we are not dealing with some esoteric idea of our own. Some of the greatest minds in the history of the planet have shared it.
LIGHT AS A METAPHOR/ SEEING INWARDLY—Several philoso- phers stated explicitly that the term "inner light" is a metaphor. We are compa- ring what happens within us, in our minds, with what happens outside us, in a world lit by physical light. Both kinds of light function variably: sometimes bright, sometimes dim, sometimes leaving us in darkness. Like the sun, in- ward light both illumines and enables mind to grow. Neither the outer light nor the inner light need be visible in itself; the light makes visible. The inner light as a medium reveals to us ideas or relationships toward which we open our mind's eye.
Sitting in meeting for worship Sunday after Sunday, never once did I see anything like a light. After learning from philosophers that I need not see the light, I went back to meeting, and began to practice the presence of the light and found I could use it. Some people do at times see an intense and extraordinary spiritual light that they identify as divine, among them the apos- tle Paul, Augustine, and Pascal. What are we, who have not seen the inner light to make of the testimony of those who have?
Human experience discloses at least the 4 major perspectives of truth, love, moral rightness & beauty, in which a light of the mind seems to operate. Each perspective provides us with a kind of meaning, often called an insight. The insight may be positive or negative, true or not-true, love or not-love, right or not-right, beautiful or not-beautiful. Each of us has a different measure of light available, whether from our differing endowments or differing skill in using the light. Many insights may come while we are actively making, doing, or creating in the world.
PERSPECTIVE OF TRUTH/ PERSPECTIVE OF LOVE—In truth the simplest & most immediate insights are the relations of numbers or position for example, available in perception here & now. This kind of knowledge serves as the foundation of all we know about the world. A 2nd kind of truth is that laid bare by logical or mathematical proofs or demonstrations. A 3rd kind of truth that we see inwardly is explanations. To know the truth of events we haven't directly experienced we must picture these events somehow in our mind's eye.
The Copernican insight explains the planetary motions as a whole more simply & harmoniously than our own direct experience does. Leibniz observed, "It is only with the eyes of understanding that we can place ourselves in a point of view which the eyes of the body don't & can't occupy." [Discernment of these explanations come, as] W. E. Hocking describes: "not as a gift from pre- arranged discernment, but through some intimate cooperation of thinker & objects, [which results in] the viable idea striving for birth." Without capa- city for inward vision neither science nor art could exist. The inward vision must prove itself in the outer world. Its truth must be tested.
A 2nd perspective for inward vision is love, any attraction, any impul- sion toward. How cold that sounds, when one's veins seem touched by fire, the other person takes on a new light, & our own eyes must shine so bright they'll betray what's within. Any human love partakes of 3 levels of thinking: animal appetite; desire to possess; empathy with the other's inwardness. We seek our own sensual pleasure. [Lasting love must have meaning beyond this]. [However] not even the highest upward displacement of love—of God or in mystical union—can free itself utterly of the base appetite, so long as the lover remains human.
At the love perspective's 2nd level is the desire to possess. Directed toward other persons this kind of love poses problems, as another persons can never be property. This kind of love may be [deflected] onto work-objects, creative-objects, material possessions. A degree of detachment toward all possessions may serve us best. The 3rd level of love rises to empathy with the other person's inwardness. It treats the other as subject not object, not my possession but my other self. Here I develop the I-Thou relation.
So long as I exist on this level (though often pulled below it to the 1st & 2nd levels of loving or to not-love), so long do I gain some access to my belo- ved's inner being, but never the full unity I yearn for. All human loves partici- pate in sensual appetite, possessive desire for the love-object, & [uniting with the other's inwardness]. Some of us experience a 4th level in loving God. We may find ourselves in a holy, transcendent presence, or in an extraordinary mystical union with an undefined presence. In either version God may illu- mine us.
PERSPECTIVE OF RIGHTNESS/ PERSPECTIVE OF BEAUTY—In the perspective of rightness we also find a kind of light at work. Every normal person develops internalized guides which invoke the moral "ought." Sigmund Freud suggested the source is parental authority. Lawrence Kohlberg found successive stages of morality that he labeled pre-conventional, conventional, & post-conventional. Only a minority of people reach the post-conventional or highest stage.
Certain maxims are very widespread, such as the Golden Rule & Au- gustine's propositions. The person who finally accepts the guide of rightness is said to "see the light." The inner light in its moral perspective amounts to a capacity within us to achieve that perspective. The more I can free myself from passion, desire & interest, & open myself to pure morality of the light, the higher it will pull me, possibly too high. Following one perspective exclusively will twist me out of shape.
In the perspective of beauty we view things with new eyes. We expe- rience them as being valuable in themselves. The breadth and depth of an object's harmony is used to judge its beauty. The complexity of harmonic re- lations, and the variability of backgrounds and tastes that each brings to it, account for the wide variation in judgments of beauty. Anyone's judgment of beauty seems largely subjective. Viewed from within, beauty seems wholly out there. "Sinking my identity" into a work of art, as Bernard Berenson puts it, is a capacity made available by a certain aspect of the light within. [As to making art], Nietzsche wrote: "Something profoundly convulsive & disturbing suddenly becomes visible and audible with indescribable definiteness and exactness."
Or Picasso: "I divined it, I saw it, I made it, and yet next day I myself don't see what I've done." William Blake had his inner eye: "[Where one might see the sun as] a round disk of fire something like a gold piece ... I see an in- numerable company of the Heavenly host ... I look through my bodily eye, [like a window], and not with it." Some philosophers have found in beauty the high- est of values. Each perspective offers meaningful interpretations, drawing on our past experience but going beyond that experience. Each of these perspec- tives operates by means of a capacity that enlightens, that we may call an inner light.
USING THE INNER LIGHT/ NATURAL OR DIVINE—I began to see how I might use the inner light to help with my own problems. I could use it to open myself to a perspective of the light on my own needs. I would bring to meeting a problem, perhaps with full awareness of it, perhaps only half con- sciously. I don't begin by thinking about it. I need to distance it, to lay it quietly in the light.
I 1st try to settle, taking a relaxed posture, absorbing the room & peo- ple; I begin to center down. [Stray] thoughts drift through me; I examine them & lay them aside. Then a wisp & if I am alert to it, & open, I find that more emer- ges. I've been give a new view of the problem I brought with me, often with a call to act in a certain way.
I still find this approach very helpful. But clearly I wasn't worshiping. I was making use of my own mental powers. [What I found when] I would center down was emptiness for a moment or two. Surely I'd need more evidence be- fore identifying this emptiness as a seed of God. I was not at the end of my search but still in the midst of it. What is the inner light, not as a metaphor but in reality?
On the inner light question I discovered a deep division among philoso- phers and religious thinkers, [anywhere from a natural light of reason on one end, to an inner divine light on the other, to somewhere in the middle]. Why not simply believe? Too many people have been swayed by unjustified be- liefs, even noble beliefs, into foolish or wicked acts. How many crimes have been committed in the name of religion? I could not simply believe, yet perpetual doubt seemed equally stupid.
I can't escape choosing. John Locke wrote: "[The person who] will not give himself up to all the extravagances of delusion and error must bring this guide of his light within to the trial" [of reason]. Rufus Jones held that a sound spiritual religion should "supplement its more or less capricious and subjective, and always fragmentary mystical insights with the steady and unwavering testimony of Reason ... and with objective illumination of History."
TEST FOR TRUE BELIEF—5 tests of reason are widely used for testing the truth of any belief: ease of mind or absence of doubt; reputable authority; general consensus; correspondence with evidence; coherence. Do not accept any [belief or] spiritual leading or act, until your mind has weighed it well and is at ease with it. This alone can't lead me to a divinity within. Reputable author- ity may be a news-source, book, teacher, parent, wise friend, political leader, doctor, scientist, learned treatise. Locke, Fox, Rufus Jones and many others suggest the Bible for testing our own insights. With the spiritual authority of many who speak in it. They and others form the "illumination of History." Reli- ance on authority is what I now was seeking to avoid.
TEST FOR TRUE BELIEF—5 tests of reason are widely used for testing the truth of any belief: ease of mind or absence of doubt; reputable authority; general consensus; correspondence with evidence; coherence. Do not accept any [belief or] spiritual leading or act, until your mind has weighed it well and is at ease with it. This alone can't lead me to a divinity within. Reputable author- ity may be a news-source, book, teacher, parent, wise friend, political leader, doctor, scientist, learned treatise. Locke, Fox, Rufus Jones and many others suggest the Bible for testing our own insights. With the spiritual authority of many who speak in it. They and others form the "illumination of History." Reli- ance on authority is what I now was seeking to avoid.
A large class of socially objective beliefs may be tested by the general consensus about them. [On the other hand], God's existence, whether within me or beyond me, depends not on social concensus but on the nature of reality. Correspondence with evidence is used most notably by scientists, also detectives, reporters, lawyers, & housewives. The experimental evidence from experiencing God is private, & it is hard to develop predictions from it. How does the belief fit coherently with the whole body of our knowledge, or with relevant specialized knowledge? I pose 2 questions: How is it plausi- ble that all inner light's operations in the various perspectives are redu- cible to organic brain functioning? How is it plausible that the capacity for these operations is an aspect of God functioning in us?
BRAIN AND MIND—Clearly the brain is our body's central control center. It receives & processes information & monitors bodily functions. How does the brain do the whole job of our mind? [Let's relate brain function to] some aspects of the 4 perspectives discussed earlier. People have been seeing various math axioms & theorems in a similar way ever since Euclid. We feel a binding power from the ancient Golden Rule & other moral prin- ciples. Uniformity of these ideas can scarcely be explained in full as reactions in our so-different brains. Nor does it seem likely that a pattern for these ideas could be carried by the genetic code in our body cells.
The scientific insights of minds with extraordinary visions of nature have moved the race remarkably far toward the truth about how the universe works. How is it possible that some of our minds can get so well attuned to entities we can never handle, that we're able to formulate workable laws about how they function? Charles Peirce writes: "Modern science has been built after the model of Galileo, who founded it, on il lume naturale [i.e. "the natural understanding," the simpler, more natural of 2 hypotheses is best] ... Unless man have a natural bent in accordance with nature's, he has no chance of understanding nature at all ... it follows that man has some divi- natory power, primary or derived." The power to leap toward truth, not by building on past ... thoughts but overthrowing them, can scarcely be reduced to the brain cells' movements.
HUMAN INNERNESS/ AN ASPECT OF GOD?—My experience of innerness, the most fundamental experience of human beings, corresponds to nothing observable in the physical realm, including the mini-realm of brain cells. William James writes: "between the mind's own changes being successive ... from 'not yet,' to [the now instant], to 'gone,' & knowing their own succession, lies as broad a chasm as between the object/ subject of any case of cognition."
My brain cells provide me with no means to collect past experiences separated by time into an imagery-clustered sequence of memories, nor the means to collect future plans & fears & dreams into imagery that never before appeared this way. Missing too, from the brain is the subjective "I," that decides, that undergoes the experience of living, that remembers the highlights of life, not as neural traces but as sets of dim but evocative snapshots ranged in or- der of time. Uniform abstract ideas, divinatory power of nature-insight, & per- sonal innerness don’t reduce to brain functioning alone. [The brain isn’t the pinnacle of the inner light process].
How is the inner light literally an aspect of God in us? Is there a God? What is God? The word 'God' has too many different meanings, too many overtones & undertones. I would deal instead with Ultimate Explanation, meaning by this the minimum nature of God. The principle that everything has an explanation is a basic postulate for understanding the world. The scientific explanation offered for many events is a formula based on the probability of event B following event A in Context C. We know only a part of the explanation for event B. In some cases we shall never know more than statistical laws.
How is the inner light literally an aspect of God in us? Is there a God? What is God? The word 'God' has too many different meanings, too many overtones & undertones. I would deal instead with Ultimate Explanation, meaning by this the minimum nature of God. The principle that everything has an explanation is a basic postulate for understanding the world. The scientific explanation offered for many events is a formula based on the probability of event B following event A in Context C. We know only a part of the explanation for event B. In some cases we shall never know more than statistical laws.
Even a quantum event has some explanation, though our instruments cannot reach it. As we strive to explain all that happens, we reach the founda- tions of the laws of nature, which is made up of principles of logic/mathema- tics and space or spacetime and temporality or inward existential time. [Be- sides the laws of nature and its ingredients, there is the foundation] of the uni- verse's vast, creative evolving fund of energy.
ULTIMATE EXPLANATION—The laws of nature as we now formulate them are clearly not the complete & ultimate Laws of Nature that actually rule. Logic & Mathematics as we now know them aren't necessarily the Formal Structure in full reality. Space, Spacetime, inward time is only our [finite] expe- rience of Immensity & the Eternal Now. The Ultimate Explanation lies behind what we now know of these things. It creates & sustains the universe & every component in it, including us.
ULTIMATE EXPLANATION—The laws of nature as we now formulate them are clearly not the complete & ultimate Laws of Nature that actually rule. Logic & Mathematics as we now know them aren't necessarily the Formal Structure in full reality. Space, Spacetime, inward time is only our [finite] expe- rience of Immensity & the Eternal Now. The Ultimate Explanation lies behind what we now know of these things. It creates & sustains the universe & every component in it, including us.
It seems likely that the inner light is God functioning in us. It is God as the Ultimate Knower & [uniter] of the [ultimate] Laws of Nature, Formal Struc- ture, Immensity, Eternal Now, & Creativity, that touches us with the inner light, enabling us creatively to seek & find explanations. The logos of John's gospel & its beginning can also mean "explanation." In the beginning, then, was the ultimate explanation, & it was with God, & it was God; God knew it.
Gradually this belief took hold in me. I found myself surprisingly sus- tained. The inner light truly is a seed of God in me. The short deep emptiness that had seemed so trivial in my earlier experience with the light now took on a sweet warmth. A moment's dropping down is enough. It's always present & sustaining; I needn't worry. The inner self now feels free as never before, free from doubt & dread, free to love maturely, to seek truth & beauty, to weigh rightness in a new balance. I still have far to go.
Jan Luykens writes: "I thought that Godhead made its home afar,/ En- throned beyond the moon & every star,/ And often lifted up my eyes/ Thither with deep & heartfelt sighs.// But when it pleased thee to illuminate me,/ I saw no heavenly light descend to greet me;/ But at my spirit's deepest root,/ All was lovely, all was sweet./ / For thou cam'st from the depths and outward spread,/ And like [with] a well my thirsty soul was fed./ So it was God, that thee I found/ To be the ground beneath my ground."
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210. The psychology of a fairy tale (by David L. Hart; 1977)
About the Author and Editor—David Hart is a Jungian analyst practi- cing in Swarthmore , PA. Washington D.C.
Introduction—The fairy tale Ferdinand the Faithful and Ferdinand the Unfaithful (FFFU) from the Grimm collection is a wonderful example of evil and its integration into life. In modern life, there is an assumption that evil need not happen; we are out to correct evil. When we think we can see evil and who ought to stop doing it, we have not integrated evil into our own lives. The fairy tale is remarkable in that it can contain good and evil, [and is rich in symbols for different parts and qualities of our Self, some of which I will explain].
(FFFU)—Once upon a time lived a rich man & woman. Once they be- came poor they had a little boy. Ferdinand the Faithful. (FF) They had to have a beggar stand as godfather for him. The beggar gave the midwife a key to a castle that the boy would receive when he was 14; the boy looked for the castle at age 7, but did not find it. At age 14, the boy found the castle, opened it, and found only a white horse, on which he resolved to travel. He 1st saw a pen; he was going to leave it behind, but a voice told him to pick it up. He then saw a fish out of water on the lakeshore. He put the fish back and the fish gave him a flute to call the fish with. Later he met Ferdinand the Unfaithful (FU) and traveled with him.
At an inn, a young girl fell in love with FF and got him an audience with the King. Rather than be a court servant FF became an outrider. The girl got FU a job as a court servant. The King kept saying, “Oh, if only I had my love with me.” FU told the King to send FF to get the sleeping princess or die. FF lamen- ted his fate, & someone asked “Why?” FF realized his horse was talking to him. The horse explained how to get her & what to ask the king for. FF took 2 ships, one full of meat for the giants of the lake, one full of bread for the large birds. He was to say to the giants and the birds: “Peace, Peace, my dear little giants [birds]/ I have had thought of ye,/ something I have brought for ye. The giants fetched the sleeping princess out of a castle, and carried her to the King.
The princess awoke & said she couldn’t live without her writings; FF went back with 2 ships & got them. He dropped his pen in the lake; his horse couldn’t help him, so he used the flute to call the fish, who brought back his pen. The princess married the King, but didn’t love him, because he had no nose. She offers the skill of cutting off a head & putting it back on; the king does not volunteer. FU encourages FF to volunteer; the beheading leaves a mark like a red thread. She cut off the King’s head, but pretends she couldn’t put it back on; she marries FF. His horse told him to gallop 3 times around the heath. FF did so; the horse turned into a King’s son.
Poverty and the Godfather—When everything is sufficient, nothing is born or conceived. It takes a state of poverty to create a new life. [In the impo- verished state] whatever comes has to come from beyond me, because it is not my own doing any longer. Not knowing where support is coming from also means that one is forced to meet the unknown which has a somewhat ominous face.
[The godfather found in this state is no] ordinary godfather. He doesn’t supply anything of a material sort; he gives no gifts & he requires none. What he has to give is spiritual development. Taking pride in his accomplishments is foreign to FF’s nature; he has nothing [of worldly worth to show for himself]. The thing that is coming to him has to be waited for. It is a matter of waiting for his maturity, for his is a different kind of endowment.
Supernatural; White Horse; Pen and Fish; Outrider—When FF the boy finds the castle, we enter into the supernatural. The more we experience psychic development, the better we are able to perceive [our own] fairy tale. The fairy tale shows the impact of the supernatural or inner world on what we think of as the real world. To FF the white horse means travel. A horse is a per- fect image of unconscious carrying power with its own design.
The voice saying “Take the pen with you,” is saying “You need this kind of awareness as you go along.” The fish on the bank, out of water is life out of its elements gasping and panting for breath. In returning the fish to the water FF is differentiating consciousness from unconsciousness. The fish offers the hero a flute, the means of calling on it, [the subconscious] for help which later on proves invaluable. Only as I take up conscious responsibility for my life can I re-establish a vital contact with the life that extends beyond me. The sign of this reordering is the flute, speaking the language of the unconscious life. It is a link between the 2 worlds.
FF is accepted, loved, & honored everywhere. Rather than be in the court, he decides he wants to be outrider, on the periphery of the known, con- scious world of the king; he is following his nose, trusting the unknown. [The king has no nose, no awareness of what experience has to teach us]. The hero’s position is between the two worlds, but embraces both, & is soon to be forced beyond the edge.
FU: Individuation and Shadow; Place in Court; Evil Impulse—FU’s name is the very negation of virtue; FU takes his place in the center of that world. He brings a secret knowledge which increases the awareness embo- died by the hero. He adds a dimension which is essential to the hero’s further development. He also has uncanny knowledge and the purpose of using it to destroy the other. It is clear that he has power, but not until he & the hero are working together is it harnessed to solve the king’s problem. It is convenient to think of the 2 Ferdinands as “ego and shadow,” as long as we are not rigid about it; the shadow is a necessity.
While FF is loved & honored, FU is passed over, & he makes a point of asking why. This question, the turning point of the story, is most instructive for our own attitudes. [By approaching the king on FU’s behalf, the girl at the inn (the unconscious, inner, feminine personality), paves the way for all the future developments of the story]. Admitting an uncomfortable memory, a bad im- pulse to our consciousness are ways of allowing FU a place at court. Admitting them prevents them from taking over and destructively influencing our un- conscious.
We have to see, accept and care for ourselves even as we do things for others. [We need to befriend the negative things in our lives, rather than turn our backs on them]. [Those who turn their backs wind up being] possessed by the evil which they are trying to reject. Befriending the evil impulse is the equivalent of what Jung designates as the religious attitude, namely ‘careful consideration of the superior powers of life.’ Accepting what could not be ac- cepted before is a redemptive act.
King’s Distress Pattern; FU’s Response—[When the king kept saying] “If only I had my love with me,” it's what we would call a distress pattern, some- thing that was endlessly wrong, & nothing is done about it. The pattern is habi- tual, & we may not even be aware of it. It’s as though the entrance of FF & FU throws a spotlight on what had been an unconscious pattern that was hard to face. The saving possibility has to enter before we can consider any kind of change. If the king, the center of conscious says “There is no hope,” then there isn’t any.
The point about our evil Ferdinand is that he stops the broken record & sets the redemptive process in motion. The shadow is truly a liberating force when the person concerned understands something of the great purpose of the negative. FU is an intrusion of the negative impulse which refuses to accept the limits of a resigned consciousness. We have to pay serious atten- tion to these impulses and the things that won’t let us rest.
Hero’s Quest: Life; Death; and Desperation—There are 3 challenges which lead to the transformation. [It really is a matter of life or death]. The threat of death seems to be the border between this world and world of new life. So it has to be faced with all one’s resources. The challenges reduce the hero to despair. His helplessness evokes another power, the voice of his white horse. When the hero abandons hope, the horse arises as a spiritual being. The Unfaithful will accept nothing less than true life. The Faithful is that part which lets itself be led, carried, tested, and broken by the same demand. As FF accepts his fate, new powers come to him. I think one purpose of this fairy tale is to demonstrate that we all have this faithful complex within.
The Giants & Birds are Elemental Passions—He has to load 2 ships of meat and bread to feed the giants and the birds. The hero is to say “peace” to them, speak softly and feed them well; then the giants will help. If we are in the grips of these elemental passions, we become scattered and totally inef- fective. We also become blind. It’s extraordinary, amazing, to bring a spirit of affirming and loving recognition towards these elemental, devouring, rapaci- ous, passions.
Plucking out the eyes symbolizes the loss of awareness that is involved when one is attacked by a drive. What's wrong isn't the feeling itself, but one's attitude toward oneself for having it. The inner passions need acceptance & recognition. Then the so-called evil powers become great powers for life. The whole point of fairy tales is bringing the unconscious life into consciousness.
Sleeping Princess/Anima—The sleeping princess expresses an unre- deemed state of the feminine component of the man’s psyche and the soul. The princess says she cannot live without her writings; she cannot be truly revealed and meaningful without them. FF makes a second perilous journey to retrieve them. In your life or mine, it may mean following a mood past the point that has always seemed to promise disaster and eventually finding that it leads into a new basis of life, transforming everything with altered meaning.
Fetching the writings gives the soul a voice of her own. When the soul begins to speak through a person, she carries authenticity that doesn’t depend on appearance. How do you bring the voice of your soul into your con- scious life? Whenever true life is at the threshold, we are in danger of its being taken over. The pen becomes lost; this means that life cannot be made articulate or real. The only guarantee of true life’s continuity arises from conti- nuing encouragement of what is unconscious in ourselves.
[Then], when the conscious fails, the unconscious arises to meet & support it. Another being seems to find a voice & thought begins to reshape itself. Bringing the princess away from the castle signifies a transformation of life & the emergence of new truths. The process of growth is primarily an inner one and must gradually penetrate into conscious awareness in a slow, gentle way.
Now that the princess is coming into consciousness, there is a chance to catch up with all that backlog of feelings and inner awareness represented by her writings. Her secret life, kept underground for too long, needs to be brought out into the world; otherwise she can’t live. The fairy tale is faithfully trying to show the effect of life in abundance on what we regard as normal life.
The King: No Journey; No Nose—The old king hasn’t made the jour- ney that FF made to the enchanted land, yet he grabbed the princess for him- self. This is the inflation of the ego which is inevitable when the new comes in and we haven’t the mind to encompass it. In the fairy tale, the nose has to do with the totality of experience, a sense of the whole. Thus the faculty that the king lacks is intuition; he is limited to the ego world, and not able to progress beyond his limits.
The king’s mistake is to think that spiritual reality is subject to human calculation and measurement; he takes literally what in truth exists spiritually & symbolically. So, the new life is there, but in the wrong hands. [The king is offered a chance at beginning a new life, & to take a leap of faith, but he plays it safe instead]. He is allowed to express his own limits and thereby destroys himself.
The Queen’s Magic—The queen possesses magic, the power of life & death, [destruction and re-creation]. The head has to do with central control, ego consciousness and deliberateness. [The princess/anima asks: “Are you really going to put yourself in my hands or not?” The redemption of the anima has led to the point where the hero must sacrifice himself. FF has taken his life and given it to her.
Is it not strange that Ferdinand the Unfaithful drives the faithful one to an act of faith? The shadow [is uncompromising, and] drives us to take risks. As long as we can remain open to the latent evil in our unaccep- table, difficult, dangerous natures, we have the truest guide to what can make us more whole.
The white horse makes the final transformation, [progressing from] faithful, speechless servant, to intelligent, articulate guide, to king’s son, sepa- rate from and equal to the hero. His development parallels the transformation in the story, until at the end we have a state of equality and freedom, where evil and the distortion of power have been overcome.
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211. Seeking Light in the Darkness of the Unconscious (by John
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211. Seeking Light in the Darkness of the Unconscious (by John
Yungblut; 1977)
Union —Just as the processes of purgation and illumination run along at the same time, so illumination merges into the experience of union with God or ecstasy. Ecstasy is not limited to Christian and Jewish channels; philosophers from ancient Greece
215. Art, Imagery, and the Mythic Process (By Dorothea Blom;
Keep to that in thee, O inward traveler, that shuts the wrong eye and ear, and opens the right; then wilt thou be in the number of such as our Lord pronounceth blessed, saying, Blessed are your eyes for they see; and your ears for they hear.” Job Scott’s Journal
Rogers Rogers
About the Author—John Yungblut is a graduate of Harvard College Cambridge , MA
Introduction—Most of us would confess that we suffered from the fear of darkness. [Does] even matter [have a] memory of the darkness on the face of the deep while chaos yet prevailed? But darkness also has an irre- sistible fascination for some of us, beginning in early childhood.
The God who has chosen to tabernacle with me in the mysterious within of my skin-encapsulate body has chosen to whisper [of sin and evil] to me in the darkness. John Yungblut
Darkness in the Bible—Whatever their ultimate source, the fear & the longing are immemorial and universal. The Bible offers the darkness of igno- rance, of sin, & of the unformed void. [We are fascinated & even long for igno- rance's darkness of that primitive people dwell in]; but there is no going back. If we have lost a [primitive] kind of innocence, we may yet find a nobler inno- cence that awaits us on the far side of obedience to a new light.
Meantime, scripture has assigned [the labels] “sin and evil” to another form of darkness. God, who has chosen to tabernacle with me in the myste- rious within of my skin-encapsulate body has chosen to whisper [of sin & evil] to me in the darkness. Martin Buber said: “If you ask me what sin is I know in- stantly with reference to myself. I haven’t the slightest idea with reference to anyone else.” Only the solitary man knows the judgment under which the light, revealed to him in secret, places him in terms of aspiration and commitment. God required that the solitary mystical experience finds outward expression in social codification, [written in stone].
What enables some children to know that making sport of taking life is evil, & what conceals this knowledge from others? I suppose the dif- ference is a more developed mystical faculty of identification. The darkness of ignorance is transformed into the darkness of sin when one does perversely what one’s better self knows is wrong. [The result of Jesus being] “the light which enlightens every man” was that he rescued us from the darkness and brought us to the kingdom of light. Darkness is both the evil and a place to which evil men are consigned.
Darkness is also the stuff of primeval chaos on which the act of creation can play, producing order & light. The Psalmist, among others, tells us “He made darkness around him his hiding-place and dense vapor his canopy” (Psalm 18:11 ) & “clouds & thick darkness are round about him” (Psalm 97:2). It is not only that God may overtake us in the darkness. He may even whisper there a word which we must proclaim in the light (Matthew 10:27 ).
Our New Perception of a Continuing Creation—The very “within” of matter has contained man and life has cradled him through the entire process of evolution until he has arrived at his present estate; [there's still more “huma- nizing” left to do]. The New Adam is just beginning to emerge. The individual man [may face] his own unconscious, & say: “I am, indeed, still in the dark, the same dark that covered the face of the deep.”
Out of the thick darkness of our unconscious God Speaks or whispers the word that will mean new life to us if we but attune our ears to hear it. The vast unknown [within us] can produce in us a paralyzing fear. Loren Eiseley says, “Man is not Man. midnight , knows its own ghostliness, and senses its far road.”
The Darkness of the Unconscious—Carl Jung has arisen in our New Israel as a prophet. [Beyond Freud’s description of the unconscious, Jung saw it as] darkness from which new light might be wrested, “thick darkness” out of which God might speak anew.” Jung summons contemporary man to be “will- ing to fulfill the demands of rigorous self-examination & self-knowledge.” This was Jung’s Holy Grail, because the true self's quest, was also the Self, God's quest within. “The self's archetype & God's archetype are indistinguishable.”
[Just as] George Fox believed in the inner light’s capacity to guide him, Carl Jung believed that the daemon in the unconscious was the Spirit that could lead him into all truth. When the Lord showed Fox “the natures of those things within the hearts and minds of wicked men,” Fox protested that [he had no de- sire to do those things]. The Lord explained that it was needful that he “should have a sense of all conditions,” [that he might speak to them].
As a child Jung had wrestled with and rejected the notion that God was all good & loving. Laurens Van der Post described Jung’s reasoning as "Some where and somehow God was terrible as well and stood in a relationship with darkness & evil, indeed perhaps had need of them as an instrument of grace and redemption.” If one could but wrestle with the evil urge in man, it would yield its own peculiar blessing.
Carl Jung’s Journey into Darkness—He had lived and worked for 8 years in the Burghölzli mental institution. The dynamics of his own unassimi- lated anima (feminine side of his unconscious) required understanding and integration [before he could] heal others in a more creative way. [He fell into, delved into these dynamics], and as Laurens Van der Post said: “This was the greatest of his many moments of truth and so far did he fall, and so unfa- miliar and frightening was the material he found, that there were many mo- ments when indeed it looked as if insanity might overcome sanity.” It was a great relief to Jung to discover that part of his interior suffering in dreams & fantasies was a purely psychic response to [the world war that] was about to happen.
The other & larger part of his psyche’s unrest had to do with arriving at mid-life, and with the unresolved conflict of his own anima and animus. It was like plunging into an ocean of darkness. He had no inner assurance when he let himself go and undertook the terrifying journey. When he reached the point where he could go no further in self-analysis, Van der Post suggests that he found “a positive and integrated feminine self” to assist him.
Toni Wolff, a former patient, served as physician of Jung’s tortured psyche in the most critical period of his search for individuation. Perhaps the greatest credit is due to Jung’s loyal wife, Emma, who not only tolerated this intense relationship between her husband and Toni Wolff, but encouraged it, [recognizing her own limits].
Toni Wolff taught him about the rejection of the creative masculine ele- ment in woman herself. The interaction of the 4 components in the man- woman relationship—the man, his anima, the woman, her animus—constituted the final complexity with which he had to deal if he were to understand the human psyche in depth. So, he must face in himself the darkness of the sha- dow, the mirror of his anima in woman, and the animus in woman that mirrored and threatened his own masculinity. [Such was] the infinite darkness of his own unconscious.
Finding Light in Darkness—In the great confluence of the darkness of the unconscious of 2 persons, provided there is the mutual will toward a new creation between them, an ocean of light can come atop the ocean of dark- ness. The new light does indeed well up from the very darkness itself. Both persons become comparatively whole for the 1st time, [& yet] they experience at the same moment the most clearly etched and engraved “total otherness.” As in the experience of mystical union with God, the paradox asserts itself: “Never was I so much myself nor so completely out of myself.”
Jung 1st used a Black book for recording the early episodes of this jour- ney into the darkness of his unconscious. As he gained in confidence, he began to use a Red Book, which represents the [transparent epiphany] of light from darkness. After the awesome and terrifying withdrawal into the dark- ness he has made his dramatic return to the light, a new light wrested in part from the darkness itself. [He has created a castle within and has donned scarlet armor].
He proclaimed: “unconscious is the only accessible source of religious experience.” He designated as “shadow,” [the new thick darkness], all that man had despised, rejected & repressed in himself. Within the mystery of the conjunction of opposites, [in the darkness from which God can speak], their sting can be drawn, their poison drained, and their very energy harnessed to realize a more profound individuation. Jung learned how to seek in this dark- ness a light that could heal and save.
On Dealing with Darkness—What response do we need to have with reference to the darkness of ignorance, evil, & the unformed void? Our response to ignorance needs to be an abiding awareness of our poverty in the possession of property, knowledge, & wisdom. Our response to evil needs to be chastity, reinterpreted to mean a sustained, committed pursuit of moral purity, a disciplined quest for wholeness & holiness [in our whole life]. Our response to the unformed void within us needs to be obedience to both the known light & the quest for light in the darkness which is the inner abyss of the unconscious. And if the light one has becomes temporarily dimmer, the light one seeks is brighter still and is to be found at the very heart of the dark- ness of the unconscious.
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212. A place called community (by Parker J. Palmer; 1977)
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212. A place called community (by Parker J. Palmer; 1977)
About the Author—As of April 1977, Parker J. Palmer is Dean of Stu- dies at Pendle Hill. He holds a Ph. D. in sociology from the University of Cali- fornia Berkley
Introduction—How can I participate in a fairer distribution of re- sources unless I live in a community which makes it possible to con- sume less? How can I learn accountability unless I live in a community where my acts and their consequences are visible to all? The popular image of community, on the other hand, is distressingly sentimental and ro- mantic. Our age's problems will yield neither to personalism nor romance.
I write because the community's religious basis is at the heart of every great religious tradition. The Book of Acts reports that the formation of a community of goods was among the first fruits of Pentecost. The call to com- munity was clearly a vital part of early Quakerism. At Pendle Hill, George Fox was shown “a great people to be gathered.” Most of what follows is meant to amplify the meaning of the “community” testimony for our time.
Quest for Community/Resurgence of Individualism—Much has been made about the quest for community in our day, but our rhetoric is not reflected in our actions. For 3 generations Americans have been in conscious flight from family and town communities. We have been drawn to large cities, and small (disposable) families. As much as we yearn for community, we yearn more for social and economic prizes individual mobility can bring. [We must 1st realize that community] is a value in conflict with other values we hold. Our verbal homage to community is only one side of a deep ambivalence in American character.
The American frontier's settlers had to possess both strength of indivi- duality & capacity for community. [In the meantime we have lost our focus on community and are in danger of too much autonomy and isolation]. In com- munity one could find the confining but comforting role which brought life back together. With the breakdown of community, new therapy developed, aimed at creating individuals who could get along without others.
Education has become a training ground for competition, rooted in the assumption that we must learn to stand on our own 2 feet. Their function is providing the means by which society can decide who gets what, & how much. In religious life too, community has disappointed & failed us. The new religions with their emphasis on the solitary journey of the inward-seeking self, have found many followers. At their worst, these new religions have made the self the vehicle [and] the object of the religious quest. “Getting in touch with one’s self” has replaced “seeking the face of God,” because we have lost confi- dence that anything beyond the self exists or can be trusted.
The Risks and Politics of Community—The assumption that commu- nity is increasingly hard to find is well-founded. The assumption that community can't be counted upon is a self-fulfilling prophecy. We will find the courage to assert [community’s value] & seek it only as we come to a new understanding of what it means to seek self-health. For self-health is one of those strange things which eludes those who aim directly at it, but comes to those who aim elsewhere. The ultimate therapy is to translate our private problems into corpo- rate issues.
Some of the truly private ones will fall away, and as we learn to see our own plight in others’ lives, we will begin to find health. What a curious concep- tion of self we have! [Rather than lose ourselves in community, we will gain a] larger and richer content of the self. Once in community, the pain of losing one’s fantasies is fierce. On the other side of all that there is no risk at all, only the confidence that life was meant to be lived together.
Both the ultimate therapy and the ultimate politics is to build community. We are lonely because a mass society keeps us from engaging one another on matters of common destiny. Loneliness makes us prey to a thousand varieties of political manipulation. Political scientists have long known that community in all its forms plays a key role in the distribution of power. It amplifies the indivi- dual’s small voice so it can be heard by the state.
In mass society, on the other hand, individuals in it do not have organic relations with one another, only a common membership in the nation-state. In a democracy, as community begins to wither, the conditions are ripe for totalita- rianism to take root. Without [community and a sense of relatedness], people will have no interest in government at all, except as it impinges directly on their self-interest.
The American condition seems to be one of deepening privatism. We are more anxious to protect our roles as consumers [and to buy our autonomy] than to develop our roles as citizens. In truth of course we are inter-depen- dent, despite our expensive efforts to construct a façade of autonomy. It will be some time before the worldwide pressure to share becomes great enough to make community the only sensible option. Community means more than the comfort of souls. It means the survival of species.
Communities: True, False, & Myth—A notable example of false com- munity is the totalitarian society to which the decline of true community leads. Any brand of nationalism or racism is community run amok.
False Community: True Community:
Tends to be manipulated by the Is independent of governmental
state power.
Holds the group to be superior Individual and group both have
to the individual, a claim on truth.
Tends to be homogenous, exclu- Strives to unite persons across
sive, and divisive socially fixed lines
Idolatrous; their power is God’s Takes the form of a covenant;
power; demonic self-critical
These categories are not fixed, for a false community can turn true, and a true community can turn false. Not all transcendent power is creative or benign. What the power is, and what it demands are factors that determine the quality of a community’s life.
These categories are not fixed, for a false community can turn true, and a true community can turn false. Not all transcendent power is creative or benign. What the power is, and what it demands are factors that determine the quality of a community’s life.
The 1st myth to deal with is that community is a creature comfort which can be added to a life full of other luxuries. Community is another of those strange things which eludes us if we aim at it directly. It is a byproduct of commitment and struggle. We can't have it just because we want it—because the foundation of community itself goes beyond selfishness into life for others.
The 2nd myth tells us that community equals utopia, that in easy ac- cess to one another [there will be universal brother- & sisterhood]. In learning about ourselves & our need for others, there is the pain of not getting our way, but the promise of finding the Way. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is right about the destructive potential of being in love with one’s dream of community. We can begin to know the fullness of truth only through multiple visions.
Community’s 3rd myth is that it will be an extension of our own egos, a confirmation of our “reality.” In a true community we will not choose our com- panions, for our choices are so often limited by self-serving motives. If our companions are given to us by grace we can avoid the trap of “the purified community.” [Likeness brings harmony; it also brings stagnation]. Community reminds us that we are called to love. Community can break our egos open to a God who can’t be contained by our conceptions. Community will teach us that our grip on truth is fragile & incomplete. Commit yourself to God; in that commitment you will find yourself drawn into community.
Forms of Life Together—Martin Buber says: “We expect a theophany of which we know nothing but the place, and the place is called community. Communes assume that the small intentional, withdrawn community is the only worthy form of the common life. But they are out of reach for many people. For some of us, the community to build is family, but we will rebuild the com- munity in the family only if the lure of achievement can take 2nd place to the cultivation of relations between the generations.
If it seems idealistic to suppose that many people will place community of any sort ahead of financial gain, the prospect of shrinking world resources may force us to do just that. As women lay claim to their economic rights, it becomes clear that men must more fully share the tasks of family nurture if the family is to be a model of community. Perhaps we can move toward larger expressions of community by asking how to enlarge our sense of who be- longs to the family.
For others, the community to build is in our neighborhoods—which tend to be held together more by mortgages & zoning laws than by love of neighbor. Without local communities, it is impossible for people to have true community nationally. In our mobile metropolitan life, it takes some external force to make a neighborhood become aware of itself as a community. Racial & economic factors have caused false, exclusive communities to form. People in a Wash- ton D.C.
Others among us may be called to build community in the places where we go to school & work. When we destroy the work-community [through hier- archy & competition] we get unethical products, degrading service; in educa- tion we get dehumanized teaching and learning. [A change in attitude will be necessary], because most of us are dubious of the benign assumptions about human motivation which lie behind group projects where everyone is “wins,” & no one “loses.” There is evidence that the group really is more intelligent & perceptive than any single member of it.
Quakerism and Community—Some of us may be called to build com- munity in our churches, but the church is a human reality and has failed to be the kind of community God (and some of us) had in mind. [If the church could] learn to deal with its secondary differences in the context of its ultimate unity, the church would be the most compelling model community on the American scene.
The core of the Quaker tradition is a way of inward seeking which leads to outward acts of integrity and service. The Society of Friends can make its greatest contribution to community by continuing to be a religious society and centering on the practice of a corporate worship which opens itself to continuing revelation. Community happens as that of God in you responds to that of God in me. It is my joy in silent meeting to seek with those who find different ways to express the inexpressible truths of religious experience.
The mystical experience of unity is not often manifest in the realm of human relations; those who seek inward unity may be tempted to flee the imperfections of outward life. The quest for truth among Friends is meant to be corporate, not a private reverie. Friends can contribute to community by refu- sing to follow the religious individualism of our times. Friends also have an important contribution to make in the individual’s growth. It is a Quaker princi- ple that the individual must be empowered, not overpowered or outvoted in the meeting for business.
The truth Friends have been given has led them into some of the hard places of history, places where truth must speak to power. In these places the living experience of community has been found. [For the persecuted early Friends,] “their necessities kept them together” (e.g. caring for Quaker prisoners and their children; sharing the few animals not confiscated; witnessing to the need for justice). [If we can] abide in faithful living, then we will contribute to the creation of a community both human and divine.
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213. The triple way: purgation, illumination, union (by George
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213. The triple way: purgation, illumination, union (by George
Terhune Peck; 1977)
About the Author—George Peck took his doctorate in Italian history at the University of Chicago in 1942, and served in the Italian section of the Office of Strategic Services in WW II, was a POW for 6 months, & received a bronze star. For the past 15 years he has been a member of the Stanford-Greenwich Meeting, CT. He has served for more than a decade on the Executive Com- mittee of the New York
[Introduction]—[Are experienced and weighty Friends bored with meeting when they go away]? Can it be that those who have left us are stuck in a pattern? Teilhard de Chardin writes: God . . . waits for us every instant in our action and in the work of each moment.” So important is this concept of growth that it is voiced again and again. 3 levels of spiritual pro- gress are [an important part of] the thought patterns of the ancient world.
The 3 levels correspond to 3 stages of purgation, illumination, & union. Teresa of Avila writes: “The beginner must think of oneself setting out to make a garden in which the Lord is to take his delight, yet in a soil unfruitful & full of weeds... The garden can be watered 4 ways: drawn up by hand from a well; drawn up by water-wheel; from a stream; from heavy rain. [The last,] when the Lord waters it with no labor of ours is incomparably better [than the other ways].” One can adopt these 3 stages or categories as a kind of map, which is needed to understand the journey. [The map lets me] explore where I have been, tell of whom I met there, & to peer ahead.
Purgation—In Jewish and Christian experience, purgation has meant the attainment of moral purity. 50 years ago I was brought up guilty. The pre- paratory school I went to was dedicated to Achievement through solid & largely unaided human effort. Acceptance in the community meant being popular. It is easy to feel guilty, easy to get stuck in the pattern of driving out evil and striving to be good. [Any number of social groups will try to induce guilt]. In- citements to status preservation advanced by advertisers are based on perva- sive social anxiety. [George Fox’s answer was]: “Mind the Light & dwell in it . . . it will keep you atop of all the world.”
Spiritual growth comes not through the denigration of humanity but its divinization. But one can't shed a lifelong burden of guilt in one day, especially in a world that encourages guilt. I discovered Freud, who changed the shape & terminology of Judeo-Christian moralism. The guilt was no longer mine but Dad’s and Mom’s. People were led to normality [but not blessedness]. Freud added the dimension of the unconscious, and revived the status of the dream world. Freud proclaimed that the real nature of inner man and woman was erotic.
I and many others quickly accepted Jung’s modifications of Freud; [he introduced archetypes and] cured many. In Jung’s unconscious, the sinner is likely to run into the dangerous other sex, and the soul becomes the battle- ground between sexual natures. But additional reflection reveals that every human consists of a natural mixture of the 2 natures, which need not be in conflict, but only accepted. [Since] Jung did not accept the omnipotence of God, his thought is not of much value as one progresses to the higher stages of illumination and union.
I did not realize how important asceticism was. My ascetic period was involuntary as I became a prisoner of war in October 1944. I spent 6 months in prison, 5 months in solitary confinement, and learned a lot. The 1st lesson of extreme deprivation taught independence of the things of the flesh. The 2nd lesson was realizing that I did not deserve all this, and through my dreams (Phillippe Souppault’s “theater of prisoners”), that my unconscious could be full of fun rather than dangerous and dirty.
The evil that is so magnified by Freud & Jung is in reality irrelevant— a strange and aberrant accident for one who knows God. Joel Goldsmith has taught how the appearance of evil can be overcome by the inner conviction of the omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence of God. The illusion of evil must be daily confronted with the reality of God. The dogmatic disbelief in spiritual reality in America
[Economic, sociological, & psychological] determinism makes human beings slaves of external circumstance and infects all social science. I am angered by the determinist who [label] the Society of Friends as “white, mid- dle class” and because socio-economic categories are so widely accepted. God is no respecter of status or persons; [labels inhibit God’s love]. Love can operate only if we realize what unites us and not what separates us.
Humanism denies God. One of the greatest dangers we face as Chil- dren of God is to think we are so by our own efforts & merits. The proposition that health + wealth= happiness is drummed into us daily on TV. When huma- nism leads one into thinking of oneself as a good person, problems arise. Perfect joy lies in the complete rejection of individual personality and the com- plete acceptance that all good comes from God. Identity is not defined by a name or a body or a set of habits, but by one’s relation to the eternal.
Illumination—It seems to me that during the course of life, moments of both illumination and union occur during the process of purgation. I do not think the human being has ever existed who has not experienced some form of illumination. Since illumination can come to all people, Quakers maintain that God is in fact in all people. Light comes in a completely unpredictable way, beyond human will, reason or imagination.
Anna in Mister God, This is Anna complains that thinkers are forever putting God in boxes. The imagery or box [that one puts God in] is a matter of taste, and one cannot argue about tastes. Through the experience of Quake- rism & the teachings of Joel Goldsmith, I have come to see illumination is an every day commonplace affair and that one must set aside periods of each day to be open to it. [Spending time in nature reveals many of earth’s marvels]. Many companions can be found in this exploration of God in nature, such as Rousseau, Wordsworth, Goethe, Thoreau, Whitman, Muir and Jefferies.
Visions are very common in the Roman Catholic tradition [e.g. Narciso Tomé, Joan of Arc, St. Francis, Teresa of Avila]. Among Protestants visions have always been suspect. Churchmen who are more involved in doctrinal definitions, social work, moral teaching and organizational power have deni- grated mysticism. For years I found God in churches on a regular basis. Among the Children of Light I came to think of God as light. The “dark night of the soul” of St John St. Augustine
Among the forms in which I find a rich God experience is that of music. Dance, as Ram Das illustrates, provides an analogous form of divine expres- sion. The structure of the meeting for worship does not allow dance, and permits only single melody sung by one voice. Another and quite different form of illumination comes through confrontation, the overcoming of threate- ning danger by the power of God. God’s power comes when the individual sees the threat as an illusion.
Illumination also releases us from threats other than those of violence. I have spent most of my life worrying about money and jobs and only recently have begun to receive the illumination that exposes want as illusion. On the inside I am beginning to see that it is not my efforts that produce the supply, but God’s grace. It is not my harvest, but God’s bounty.
Clare of Assisi, Julian of Norwich, and Teresa of Avila overcame the fear of illness, and Paul, Ignatius Loyala, and Fox survived incredible physical inju- ries through spiritual power. The fear of death is perhaps the ultimate evil overcome by illumination. Death transforms that precious little human perso- nality that we have been coddling all our lives. To renounce that personality and see it fused in God is the ultimate illumination.
April 1945, I thought I was going to be shot. After a time of solitary, agony, and prayer, the spirit of God came to me. A great peace descended upon me as I told God that I had done all that I could as human being and that I was ready to go if that was God’s will. Suddenly I felt free & the great peace was filled with joy. God did not take me then, but he taught me a great lesson. Sometime death will come and it will be all right.
Joyful & invigorating as these experiences of union are, they present the danger that the individual may take to investing human notions with divine pur- pose. The early Quaker James Nayler so identified himself with Jesus that he allowed himself to be led in a procession aping Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem
in the same way into the universal consciousness of each of us. A heightened awareness of the union of the group with God comes with practice. The gathered meeting as an expression of union with God is the rock upon which the Society of Friends is built. It is a revolutionary doctrine which in Howard Brinton’s analysis transcends the bounds of both Roman Catholicism & Protestantism in 2 important respects.
The 1st is that God speaks directly to us. His revelation is continuous & not limited by the tradition of saints, or by the letter of the canon of Scripture. Fox clearly states that Friends deny tradition & Scripture only when these are dead & that both are aids to our primary goal of direct union with God.
The 2nd revolutionary element is that God’s role in our lives is a daily experience. Friends are plain people of all shapes & sizes. If revelation has come to them, it can come to any one—not just to the heroes of Christian and Jewish history. This is so every day. If we do not “pray without ceasing,” if we don't carry the sense of God's presence of with us always, God’s grace does not operate in us; it is dormant unless we open ourselves to it.
We set aside an hour or even a minute during the day in which we each turn to God. Then, when 1st Day rolls around, we can come to meeting for wor- ship rich in grace & be surrounded by God’s presence in all our friends, by the love that passes understanding.
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214. Jacob Boehme: Insights into the Challenge of Evil (by Ann Liem;
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1977)
About the Author: Ann Liem majored in philosophy at Berkley & ex- plored Zen for 21 years, 2 of which she spent in Tokyo studying Buddhism. An overwhelming conversion experience led her to Christianity, Quakerism, & Boehme in 1970. She gave a brief talk on Boehme at Pendle Hill, which has developed into the present pamphlet. She writes: One of the most important tasks of our time is to reconcile East and West in order to understand how they supplement and support each other.”
[Introduction]—Quakerism is founded on the belief that the mystical encounter is central to religious life. Holy Scripture itself, we never forget, is the result of the mystical experience.
Jacob Boehme—cobbler, mystic, visionary, illuminate, clairvoyant—was born in 1575, 49 years before George Fox, & died the year Fox was born. [All the similarities between their lives suggest a profound spiritual kinship]. Were they linked somehow by the revelation of truth, and the converting of a people to follow it?
Yet in personality and accomplishment differences were abundant. It is not likely that Boehme was an influence on Fox, as Fox put small value on the findings of other men, and was never a great reader. William Law claimed that his life was changed entirely by Boehme’s influence. Other supporters include Newton, Hegel, and Goethe. Poets inspired by him include Novalis, Milton, and Blake. The Quakers Howard Brinton & Rufus Jones sought to generate appre- ciation for the mystic. [Following in the spirit of this mystic] evil is neither some- thing to deny, nor something to live with comfortably, but it is also no cause for despair.
“I had long been undergoing an intense effort to find the heart of Jesus Christ and to be freed … from everything that turned me from Christ, when suddenly the gate opened. In ¼ hour, I saw and knew more than if I had been many years at university… I knew and saw in myself all 3 worlds: divine, ange- lical; dark world; external, visible world as out-breathing of the internal, spiritual worlds.”
The Life of Boehme—He was born to Lutheran peasants in a village near Goerlitz, a Bohemian possession. We have a picture of a serious, shy, withdrawn youth, a shepherd for his parents. His formal education was a few years of elementary school. Abraham von Frankenberg, says: “he was modest, patient, & meek of heart.” He seemed to have an innate awareness of reality’s invisible dimensions & a deep sense of divinity’s presence behind the physical world. A stranger came into the shop one day & foretold his future of great- ness, poverty, anguish, & persecution. A short time later Boehme was rewar- ded with an illumination that put him in a 7-day state of ecstasy.
About the Author: Ann Liem majored in philosophy at Berkley & ex- plored Zen for 21 years, 2 of which she spent in Tokyo studying Buddhism. An overwhelming conversion experience led her to Christianity, Quakerism, & Boehme in 1970. She gave a brief talk on Boehme at Pendle Hill, which has developed into the present pamphlet. She writes: One of the most important tasks of our time is to reconcile East and West in order to understand how they supplement and support each other.”
[Introduction]—Quakerism is founded on the belief that the mystical encounter is central to religious life. Holy Scripture itself, we never forget, is the result of the mystical experience.
Jacob Boehme—cobbler, mystic, visionary, illuminate, clairvoyant—was born in 1575, 49 years before George Fox, & died the year Fox was born. [All the similarities between their lives suggest a profound spiritual kinship]. Were they linked somehow by the revelation of truth, and the converting of a people to follow it?
Yet in personality and accomplishment differences were abundant. It is not likely that Boehme was an influence on Fox, as Fox put small value on the findings of other men, and was never a great reader. William Law claimed that his life was changed entirely by Boehme’s influence. Other supporters include Newton, Hegel, and Goethe. Poets inspired by him include Novalis, Milton, and Blake. The Quakers Howard Brinton & Rufus Jones sought to generate appre- ciation for the mystic. [Following in the spirit of this mystic] evil is neither some- thing to deny, nor something to live with comfortably, but it is also no cause for despair.
“I had long been undergoing an intense effort to find the heart of Jesus Christ and to be freed … from everything that turned me from Christ, when suddenly the gate opened. In ¼ hour, I saw and knew more than if I had been many years at university… I knew and saw in myself all 3 worlds: divine, ange- lical; dark world; external, visible world as out-breathing of the internal, spiritual worlds.”
The Life of Boehme—He was born to Lutheran peasants in a village near Goerlitz, a Bohemian possession. We have a picture of a serious, shy, withdrawn youth, a shepherd for his parents. His formal education was a few years of elementary school. Abraham von Frankenberg, says: “he was modest, patient, & meek of heart.” He seemed to have an innate awareness of reality’s invisible dimensions & a deep sense of divinity’s presence behind the physical world. A stranger came into the shop one day & foretold his future of great- ness, poverty, anguish, & persecution. A short time later Boehme was rewar- ded with an illumination that put him in a 7-day state of ecstasy.
In 1600 he had the supreme visionary experience of his life, which esta- blished all the major themes upon which his many works were based. After gazing at a pewter plate reflecting the sun, he felt himself in the presence of God & was aware of being inducted into the very universe's heart.
Boehme stated: “I had long been undergoing an intense effort to find Jesus Christ's heart and to be freed … from everything that turned me from Christ, when suddenly the gate opened. In ¼ hour, I saw and knew more than if I had been many years at university… I knew and saw in myself all 3 worlds: divine, angelical; dark world; external, visible world as outbreathing of the internal, spiritual worlds. He waited 10 years to write it and another illumination in Aurora (Glow of Dawn); he produced 30 books & treatises during his lifetime.
The Aurora was circulated by a nobleman, and it immediately set in mo- tion a long & bitter feud between Boehme & his Lutheran pastor, Gregorious Richter; Boehme was often unflattering to the established clergy. Richter de- creed exile; [it was lessened to a gag order, which Boehme abided by for 7 years]. Boehme was encouraged by friends, & afraid that God would be dis- appointed [if he acted the coward]. He wrote in spite of persecution and the threat of severe punishment, and became a renowned figure throughout much of Europe.
The Nature & Manifestation of God—What was it that this gentle man which caused him to be despised by some & so venerated by some of the most spiritual men of his day? Boehme’s insights can be divided into [4 main] categories: the nature of God and creation; the Fall’s meaning; salvation; good & evil’s inter-relationship. The themes comprise a system; it is necessary to read most of his work to grasp it; he is also repetitious.
Once the pieces are put together, we possess a marvelous illumination on the age-old problem of good & evil. Reading [& understanding] him, we come to feel that the plan for mankind which God unfolds is a magnificent one. The core of Boehme’s doctrine, is a masterpiece of invention, arising from the Creator’s desire to sport or play. “Of the reason why the eternal & unchangeable God has created the world, it can only be said that he did it in His love.
Once the pieces are put together, we possess a marvelous illumination on the age-old problem of good & evil. Reading [& understanding] him, we come to feel that the plan for mankind which God unfolds is a magnificent one. The core of Boehme’s doctrine, is a masterpiece of invention, arising from the Creator’s desire to sport or play. “Of the reason why the eternal & unchangeable God has created the world, it can only be said that he did it in His love.
Man’s fall was inevitable, though freely chosen by him, i.e., he eagerly accepted the opportunity to eat of the Tree of Good and Evil, to participate in a world multiplicity.” From early childhood Boehme was aware of manifold invisi- ble realms. His visions demonstrated that man was truly & literally made in God’s image. “The life of a man is a form of the divine will, and to do the will of God means to become fully godlike, realizing ones highest ideals. The abyss manifested itself through the drama of creation whereby God saw Himself in Himself.
Boehme’s 7 phases or “qualities” in God’s process are: desire; motion; anguish; conflagration [passionate fire]; light or love; sound & form; complete realization of 1st 6 in nature. The 1st mentioned here is a contracting force that brings the potential for being an individual. At the same time there is motion (2), a centrifugal, organizing force. Together they generate anguish (3). From the great tension, an explosive passionate fire bursts forth (4). Through this flash are manifested all the opposite pairs of the universe, i.e. the beginning of multiplicity.
Boehme’s 5th quality “is the love-fire which separates from painful fire; divine love appears as a substantial being… The soul's substance is a magical gush of fire from God the Father’s nature. She is a passionate desire for light.” Boehme’s 6th quality, “sound,” symbolizes sensory awareness. The 7th quality is the complete realization of the 1st 6. Rufus Jones writes: “God’s Word, & eternal Son [is] a visible realization of God’s eternal heart.” Boehme writes, “We find everywhere 2 beings in one—1st, an eternal, divine and spi- ritual being, and then one that has a beginning and is natural, temporal, and corruptible… God must become man in order that man may become God.”
Boehme’s 7 phases or “qualities” in God’s process are: desire; motion; anguish; conflagration [passionate fire]; light or love; sound & form; complete realization of 1st 6 in nature. The 1st mentioned here is a contracting force that brings the potential for being an individual. At the same time there is motion (2), a centrifugal, organizing force. Together they generate anguish (3). From the great tension, an explosive passionate fire bursts forth (4). Through this flash are manifested all the opposite pairs of the universe, i.e. the beginning of multiplicity.
Boehme’s 5th quality “is the love-fire which separates from painful fire; divine love appears as a substantial being… The soul's substance is a magical gush of fire from God the Father’s nature. She is a passionate desire for light.” Boehme’s 6th quality, “sound,” symbolizes sensory awareness. The 7th quality is the complete realization of the 1st 6. Rufus Jones writes: “God’s Word, & eternal Son [is] a visible realization of God’s eternal heart.” Boehme writes, “We find everywhere 2 beings in one—1st, an eternal, divine and spi- ritual being, and then one that has a beginning and is natural, temporal, and corruptible… God must become man in order that man may become God.”
Seen within the context of the harmonious interplay of the 7 qualities, conflict appears as an essential ingredient of an elegantly proportioned and balanced whole. The divine will is one & undivided, stemming from the purest goodness and expressing itself in a vast plan of intricate design, interwoven with threads from the “dark source.” Boehme writes, “All human beings are fundamentally but one man. This [Adam] is the trunk, the rest are branches, receiving all their power from the trunk. In Paradise, Adam was embraced by eternity. God created him in His image and only when he fell did he become subject to the limitation of time.”
Central for Boehme’s thought was the insight that Adam was originally neither male nor female, but contained qualities of both sexes within himself. The 7 qualities of God were originally in harmonious balance in man, as they are eternally within God Himself. The development of these qualities depends upon a free choice and experienced knowledge of good & evil, which can exist only in a world of paired opposites.
Central for Boehme’s thought was the insight that Adam was originally neither male nor female, but contained qualities of both sexes within himself. The 7 qualities of God were originally in harmonious balance in man, as they are eternally within God Himself. The development of these qualities depends upon a free choice and experienced knowledge of good & evil, which can exist only in a world of paired opposites.
Preparing for the Fall of Man, God drew out the feminine qualities from Adam and formed Eve. “When Lucifer saw his own beauty & realized his high birth, he became desirous of triumphing over the divine birth, & of exalting himself above the heart of God.” He wanted to be a God & to rule in all things by the power of fire. Each individual life reflects the pattern laid down by them & described in Genesis—a dynamic pattern eternally operative with the Godhead.
Salvation & Regeneration—Reflection of the macrocosm of God, the microcosm of the individual soul contains a world of dark anger, as well as a world of sweet loving light; these 2 must always be in conflict. It is the primary intention of the Creator to reconcile these 2 impulses, as they are reconciled within Himself, & to bring the creature back to Himself. [Adam’s journey into the world & a self-centered existence of pride & materialism] carried him far from his creator; only God’s grace could rescue him.
God’s great act of redemption was taken as the Christ Spirit, working through the body & mind of a fully human individual Jesus of Nazareth. Through the incarnation, a new opportunity opened for man, a giant step forward in spi- ritual evolution. Jesus redeemed us by making it possible for us to realize the same quality of life he had realized, to reach the same heights of spiritual perfection he had reached. Boehme writes: “I must clothe myself in Christ by means of the desire of faith.
Salvation & Regeneration—Reflection of the macrocosm of God, the microcosm of the individual soul contains a world of dark anger, as well as a world of sweet loving light; these 2 must always be in conflict. It is the primary intention of the Creator to reconcile these 2 impulses, as they are reconciled within Himself, & to bring the creature back to Himself. [Adam’s journey into the world & a self-centered existence of pride & materialism] carried him far from his creator; only God’s grace could rescue him.
God’s great act of redemption was taken as the Christ Spirit, working through the body & mind of a fully human individual Jesus of Nazareth. Through the incarnation, a new opportunity opened for man, a giant step forward in spi- ritual evolution. Jesus redeemed us by making it possible for us to realize the same quality of life he had realized, to reach the same heights of spiritual perfection he had reached. Boehme writes: “I must clothe myself in Christ by means of the desire of faith.
I must myself enter into his obedience.” We become children of God in Christ through an inward resident grace which regenerates us into childlike- ness. This regeneration is a lifelong struggle & growth. “While I was wrestling & battling, being aided by God, a wonderful light arose with my soul. It was a light entirely foreign to my unruly nature, but in it I recognized the true nature of God & man & the relation between them, a thing which theretofore I had never understood.”
It follows from Boehme’s strong emphasis on free will that “election” & “predestination” were contrary to his convictions. Boehme emphasizes that Jesus “came to invite sinners.” For the soul that says “yes” to God, allowing the New Man to be woven within itself through the work of the resident Holy Spirit, the outer life changes drastically.
It follows from Boehme’s strong emphasis on free will that “election” & “predestination” were contrary to his convictions. Boehme emphasizes that Jesus “came to invite sinners.” For the soul that says “yes” to God, allowing the New Man to be woven within itself through the work of the resident Holy Spirit, the outer life changes drastically.
The soul reborn is indifferent to prestige, wealth & worldly distractions; it is meek, self-effacing, concerned for the well-being of others, detests all wars & violence & conflict with its neighbor, acts as a peacemaker among men, & in all ways shows itself a submissive servant & God’s friend. Not until man & God reach out to each other & the birth of the New Man is completed will the pur- pose of the universe be fulfilled. [As a concert band must be tuned] so must the true human harmony be tuned, combining all voices into a love melody.
The Problem of Free Will—[After looking at Boehme’s insights on evil], we can see that they also illuminate the problem of free will. The decision for good or evil is made as an inevitable outgrowth of the individual’s deepest nature. [Why would anyone choose evil]? Boehme’s visions revealed 2 con- cepts: that each soul is a combination of good & evil forces; the human soul was the precious core of an evolutionary process. “Every fiery life was brought forth in its beginning to the light.” And God has willed for us a role of surpassing nobility [with] an attitude of abject humility, coupled with a singing, rejoicing exulting faith.
Every manifestation of Being is a product of the 7 qualities (desire; mo- tion; anguish; conflagration [passionate fire]; light or love; sound & form; com- plete realization of 1st 6 in nature), combining in a long & complex blossoming beyond our capacity to comprehend. Having begun its development before it enters the earth, the soul continues to evolve throughout its sojourn here, where it's offered the opportunity of articulating itself. Each decision that it makes is crucial, both for its next step in life & for its ultimate quality & destiny.
Every manifestation of Being is a product of the 7 qualities (desire; mo- tion; anguish; conflagration [passionate fire]; light or love; sound & form; com- plete realization of 1st 6 in nature), combining in a long & complex blossoming beyond our capacity to comprehend. Having begun its development before it enters the earth, the soul continues to evolve throughout its sojourn here, where it's offered the opportunity of articulating itself. Each decision that it makes is crucial, both for its next step in life & for its ultimate quality & destiny.
The soul suffers many obstacles: physical pain & deprivation; disap- pointment; humiliation; loss of love; egotism; & sensuality. These distract or lead it away from God. The universe to Boehme is a vast evolutionary system moving on many dimensions towards the Creator's full crystallization through His creation… Only how courageously & wisely the soul has met the chal- lenge of evil, how enlightened it has become concerning the journey’s pur- pose, to what degree it has allowed itself to be used as the divine will’s instru- ment determines its quality in God’s eyes.
Each soul is offered God’s love & opportunities to turn to God repeatedly. The challenge of evil is a thread woven throughout the structure of the universe; its mysterious patterns aren't to be fathomed by man’s mind. If a soul becomes hardened & “darkened” by too many wrong choices, if it has become too deeply entangled in materialism, too self-centered, proud & unloving, it is in danger of losing its capacity to respond to the divine benevolence within itself, & is lost forever. For Boehme heaven & hell are not places, but states of mind & soul.
God brought the universe into existence that we might have the oppor- tunity of understanding good & evil & creating our own destiny. Love must 1st be recognized, through a contrast with hate, understood, then laboriously and painfully struggled for through a gradual relinquishing of the selfish will. God dignifies [and respects] man by giving him autonomy in creating his own soul and destiny, and He respects man’s decision whatever its nature.
God brought the universe into existence that we might have the oppor- tunity of understanding good & evil & creating our own destiny. Love must 1st be recognized, through a contrast with hate, understood, then laboriously and painfully struggled for through a gradual relinquishing of the selfish will. God dignifies [and respects] man by giving him autonomy in creating his own soul and destiny, and He respects man’s decision whatever its nature.
Practical Applications—Man [on his part] strives to achieve a middle ground between 2 dangerous possibilities; failing to develop his individuality sufficiently; or becoming self-willed & [going the way of Lucifer]. If God wants to differentiate Himself in us, His mirror, then we must develop our capacities to the utmost, discovering, imagining, creating on the intellectual level, & entering into a wide range of relationships.
[If a soul is stuck in the battle between desire & motion, & there is no ignition into a passionate fire], the soul cannot find peace. Youth’s hostility & self-centeredness isn’t a stage that can be skipped. [The soul is taking stock of itself, who it is, what it can contribute]. No soul can move forward until it makes peace with itself. The more familiar and probably more difficult source of evil [—i.e. prideful self-indulgence—plagues those who] are enchanted with them- selves & their own games, & genuinely unaware of any purpose in the world beyond self-indulgence. Either of these 2 possibilities can open the soul to the spirits of evil, & result in the soul’s final “hardening and darkening.” A small amount of self-doubt [which translates into realization of one’s role as God’s servant], & arrogance [which becomes recognition of one’s power & worth], are necessary.
[If a soul is stuck in the battle between desire & motion, & there is no ignition into a passionate fire], the soul cannot find peace. Youth’s hostility & self-centeredness isn’t a stage that can be skipped. [The soul is taking stock of itself, who it is, what it can contribute]. No soul can move forward until it makes peace with itself. The more familiar and probably more difficult source of evil [—i.e. prideful self-indulgence—plagues those who] are enchanted with them- selves & their own games, & genuinely unaware of any purpose in the world beyond self-indulgence. Either of these 2 possibilities can open the soul to the spirits of evil, & result in the soul’s final “hardening and darkening.” A small amount of self-doubt [which translates into realization of one’s role as God’s servant], & arrogance [which becomes recognition of one’s power & worth], are necessary.
Boehme’s thoughts avoid the following 4 unsatisfactory ways to explain or reconcile evil with an omnipotent and benevolent Creator:
1. The absolute denial of evil, [explaining it away as] an error or illusion.
2. The despairing, resigned acceptance of evil because both God and
1. The absolute denial of evil, [explaining it away as] an error or illusion.
2. The despairing, resigned acceptance of evil because both God and
man are partially and irrevocably evil.
3. Creating God’s adversary of equal power, waging an eternal war with
3. Creating God’s adversary of equal power, waging an eternal war with
each other.
4. Attributing evil to man alone, [thus creating an unbearable and unne- cessary burden of guilt.
The blueprint of the divine source, [the 7 qualities], being firmly rooted within every man and demonstrated by the life of Jesus of Nazareth, cannot be set aside without the risk of neurosis, illness and finally spiritual death.
Jacob Boehme predicted that his works would gradually fall into ob- scurity, and reemerge “in the time of the lily.” Many signs point to the likelihood that that time is at hand. It is to be hoped that Quakers in particular, will redis- cover in Boehme an inspiring link with the spiritual currents upon which their own faith originally rested. [This and other] mystical streams are once again bubbling to the surface throughout the world, offering nourishment, refresh- ment & a straight way to the Lord for all who have eyes to see & ears to hear.
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4. Attributing evil to man alone, [thus creating an unbearable and unne- cessary burden of guilt.
The blueprint of the divine source, [the 7 qualities], being firmly rooted within every man and demonstrated by the life of Jesus of Nazareth, cannot be set aside without the risk of neurosis, illness and finally spiritual death.
Jacob Boehme predicted that his works would gradually fall into ob- scurity, and reemerge “in the time of the lily.” Many signs point to the likelihood that that time is at hand. It is to be hoped that Quakers in particular, will redis- cover in Boehme an inspiring link with the spiritual currents upon which their own faith originally rested. [This and other] mystical streams are once again bubbling to the surface throughout the world, offering nourishment, refresh- ment & a straight way to the Lord for all who have eyes to see & ears to hear.
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1977)
About the Author—Dorothea Blom, artist and writer, has been in several communities: Pendle Hill for several years, Woodbrooke in England, Vittakivi in Finland, Koinonia in Baltimore, Aurobindo Ashram near Pondicherry. She has special concern for the meeting place of art, religion and growth processes in our changing world. She is a member of the Chappaqua Monthly Meeting (NY).
Introduction—Each of us is a myth-maker. Dreams have been called the individual’s myth, & myth the race’s dreams. Myth, [in fact] does have rea- lity, though it is very different from reality of the factual, functional, & practi- cal. The mythic process is a fusion of history, parable, & event. Mythic reality has 2 possibilities: society [uses them to] indoctrinate the individual with its values; the individual becomes aware of the process & explores it. Art perme- ates community life, teaching it how to focus & what to live by. This process continues, especially in the use of mandala forms which range from sand pain- tings of Navajo Indians to Lippold’s gold wire creations. Social myth justify “what is” & make sense out of community expectations. They can be healthy or destructive.
About the Author—Dorothea Blom, artist and writer, has been in several communities: Pendle Hill for several years, Woodbrooke in England, Vittakivi in Finland, Koinonia in Baltimore, Aurobindo Ashram near Pondicherry. She has special concern for the meeting place of art, religion and growth processes in our changing world. She is a member of the Chappaqua Monthly Meeting (NY).
Introduction—Each of us is a myth-maker. Dreams have been called the individual’s myth, & myth the race’s dreams. Myth, [in fact] does have rea- lity, though it is very different from reality of the factual, functional, & practi- cal. The mythic process is a fusion of history, parable, & event. Mythic reality has 2 possibilities: society [uses them to] indoctrinate the individual with its values; the individual becomes aware of the process & explores it. Art perme- ates community life, teaching it how to focus & what to live by. This process continues, especially in the use of mandala forms which range from sand pain- tings of Navajo Indians to Lippold’s gold wire creations. Social myth justify “what is” & make sense out of community expectations. They can be healthy or destructive.
Image of Inner & Outer Worlds/Individual Initiative—Visual artists are the magic myth-makers par excellence. Evelyn Underhill describes mystical experience in terms of the artist’s “new seeing.” Mystics have described the world reborn, as it calls up new life in them. The richer the assimilation of new impressions, the greater the possibility of personal evolution, involving the relationship of self and world. An artist can help us discover life lines between inner and outer world.
Blessed are the disillusioned; they no longer live for the better tomor- row that never comes—this is the 1st beatitude; [something important inside them no longer sleeps]. Certain works by that amazing mythic painter, Gau- guin, present images of fate and personal initiative in combination, especially Two Women on a Beach and Moon and the Earth. I do not mean to interpret these paintings. A happening between each person & a work of art is unique. And we must be wary of withdrawing defensively into “inner life.”
Finding the Images we Need—A work of art may confirm life as I know it—or it can bring me into contact with something new, becoming “a shock to my knowledge.” [When I am seeking images I'm] careful not to be over-impressed with what I “like” and “don’t like.” [Likes and dislikes] may represent my parti- cular inward polarization. [When I have selected images I live with them for a while].
A similar process can change our whole relation to museums. We can discover cultures and artists that are our spiritual relatives by going through the history of art from cave paintings to now. If a strong archetypal symbol is wor- king in my life I watch for images of that archetype. An archetype is a universal symbol for some aspect of human nature, helping to make it tangible and real. [Some lives are lived] as if the person abdicated in favor of a mythic being. The individual can eventually resolve the problem with watchfulness and patience. Landscape, weather, seasons, & times of day become a language of the soul, expressing the kaleidoscopic range of human emotion values, & relation to life.
Traditional Mythologies/Black Africa—There are a few artists of our time who respond to Greek myths, sometimes with power. One of my favorites is Lipchitz’s Prometheus Strangling the Vulture (1949) at the Philadelphia Mu- seum of Art. It is a somewhat abstract bronze sculpture, a highly original & expressive image charged with energy. It gives new life and new implications to
Blessed are the disillusioned; they no longer live for the better tomor- row that never comes—this is the 1st beatitude; [something important inside them no longer sleeps]. Certain works by that amazing mythic painter, Gau- guin, present images of fate and personal initiative in combination, especially Two Women on a Beach and Moon and the Earth. I do not mean to interpret these paintings. A happening between each person & a work of art is unique. And we must be wary of withdrawing defensively into “inner life.”
Finding the Images we Need—A work of art may confirm life as I know it—or it can bring me into contact with something new, becoming “a shock to my knowledge.” [When I am seeking images I'm] careful not to be over-impressed with what I “like” and “don’t like.” [Likes and dislikes] may represent my parti- cular inward polarization. [When I have selected images I live with them for a while].
A similar process can change our whole relation to museums. We can discover cultures and artists that are our spiritual relatives by going through the history of art from cave paintings to now. If a strong archetypal symbol is wor- king in my life I watch for images of that archetype. An archetype is a universal symbol for some aspect of human nature, helping to make it tangible and real. [Some lives are lived] as if the person abdicated in favor of a mythic being. The individual can eventually resolve the problem with watchfulness and patience. Landscape, weather, seasons, & times of day become a language of the soul, expressing the kaleidoscopic range of human emotion values, & relation to life.
Traditional Mythologies/Black Africa—There are a few artists of our time who respond to Greek myths, sometimes with power. One of my favorites is Lipchitz’s Prometheus Strangling the Vulture (1949) at the Philadelphia Mu- seum of Art. It is a somewhat abstract bronze sculpture, a highly original & expressive image charged with energy. It gives new life and new implications to
an old Greek myth.
[Instead of the vulture endlessly eating his liver, this] 20th century Pro- metheus has taken the initiative in strangling this vulture, choosing to have done with useless and self-consuming suffering, what Berdyaev refers to as “black suffering.” “White suffering,” as I understand it is a mourning over as- pects of the human condition that move one to a new relation to self and life; this is the 2nd beatitude. In their borrowings from Greek myth, artists of the 20th century are likely to lift beings out of context [e.g. Reder’s sirens; Picas- so’s minotaurs; Brancusi’s Cycladic intimations].
In the US there has been increasing interest in the art & myth of Native America, Black America, & Eastern cultures. Our process can be accelerated [beyond art’s access to another culture] by exploring its history, religion, & mythology. [For example], a dramatic influence on the West began percolating when African ceremonial masks were exhibited in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century. African art’s “many point perspective” says the mountain has many shapes, a different one from every vantage point, instead of one con- stant shape. The Black African masks also encouraged Western artists to abstract significance from their visual experience.
In the US there has been increasing interest in the art & myth of Native America, Black America, & Eastern cultures. Our process can be accelerated [beyond art’s access to another culture] by exploring its history, religion, & mythology. [For example], a dramatic influence on the West began percolating when African ceremonial masks were exhibited in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century. African art’s “many point perspective” says the mountain has many shapes, a different one from every vantage point, instead of one con- stant shape. The Black African masks also encouraged Western artists to abstract significance from their visual experience.
One fascinating example of convergence is the recent work of certain Makonde artists who migrated to Tanzania; they combined their traditions with the local culture. The Makonde carvings flow as if life were poured into them. A Family Group by Roberto Yakobo is the carving of a father, mother, and child with the mother on the father’s lap and the child aloft, seeming to flow out of the head of the father, and supported by the mother’s arms. It has affected Henry Moore’s work. And the African-Western convergence continues, moving both ways [with unique results of the convergence of cultures]. [This is the transfor- mation of a social myth from a few centuries ago, when feeling, intuition, my- thic truth, and ever present mystery were regarded as inferior even dispens- able, and Africans had to be regarded as a primitive culture.
India—We can't lump India, China, & Japan into 1 culture. However, all 3 tend to emphasize the universal at the expense of the individual. Each is at home in the present rather than living life [in the] past & future with little room for the present. India is still India, even though this last millennium has been a “tired” period in its 4,000-5,000 year continuity. There has been profound Mos- lem influence. Poverty & over-population is a product of recent generations.
For me the richest period of Indian art coincides [with the spread of Ma- hayana Buddhism during the 1st 10 centuries A.D]. India then was to East Asia what Greece was to the West. Much of this period's best surviving art in India is live rock sculpture in artificial caves, made by Buddhists, Hindus, & Jains. In a mythic sense a cave can signify a secret place, a hidden place, a dark and mysterious place, a womb in mother earth. No other of the “great religions” has given so large a role to feminine aspects of divinity as Hinduism. Nor has any culture used the nude more expressively. Indians are surely the supreme myth makers of the human family.
China—In China a great proportion of very vital art is animal and land- scape, for here is a people with an ancient tradition in ecology. They are philo- sophical rather than mystical, practical rather than idealistic. Confucius fared better than Lao-tse Chinese society. [I discovered from a Chinese professor] that only Westerners relate the Yin & Yang symbol to opposites, both inner & outer, finding relationships. Chinese think of Yin & Yang only externally. Some of the Chinese animals of the Han Dynasty belong with the most vital animal art of all time.
Full fledged landscape as setting for human activity began in the Han Dynasty. In the Sung Dynasty we see the greatest landscape development of all time. [These landscapes often trigger] a new visual response to nature in art class. In the West one of our important needs is a new kinship with earth, [seeing it as a living thing and not a lifeless resource]. Within the small group of educated Chinese who refused to serve the bureaucracy, we find much of the most vital Chinese painting.
Full fledged landscape as setting for human activity began in the Han Dynasty. In the Sung Dynasty we see the greatest landscape development of all time. [These landscapes often trigger] a new visual response to nature in art class. In the West one of our important needs is a new kinship with earth, [seeing it as a living thing and not a lifeless resource]. Within the small group of educated Chinese who refused to serve the bureaucracy, we find much of the most vital Chinese painting.
Japan—As I scan the imagery of Japanese art, the words I think of first are nature, energy, drama and humor. The Japanese relationship to nature is more open to the spiritual. Their love of nature made them want to live close to it and they developed an architecture capable of breaking the boundary be- tween inside and outside. The energy visible in most periods of Japanese art also shows itself in the amazing ability to assimilate from others without losing touch with essential Japanese-ness. [Their painting of fire is full of ener- gy,] and Zen monks supply us with a fair portion of humor and wisdom in the world of art. Before Chinese influences made themselves felt in Japan, male and female aspects of human nature seem to have been well balanced. [Afterwards, a military leadership known as Shogun arose, and lasted until modern times.
Horrendous Gods in Asia tend to have positive intimations. Nepal has Sarva Buddhi Dakini. There is a 16th -17th century bronze statue of her at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Like most horrendous gods of the East, this strident, erotic goddess drinking blood from a skull and wearing a necklace of skulls is our friend. She drives us to our wits’ end till we allow her to lead us to our true nature. The early 19th century painter and print maker, Hokusai, is responsible for Mount Fuji Seen Below a Wave at Kanagawa.
Mandalas—The mandala is an image representing both microcosm and macrocosm. It is a device which makes it possible to work with intangibles. “Mandala” has become widely used as a term for the whole species from clas- sic Tibetan mandalas to Najavo sand paintings and Gothic windows. Navajo Sandpainting by Millie Royce (1937) is actually a pen and ink drawing. It fea- tures 5 stylized snakes, 4 of them spiraling outward from the center in shades ranging from white to black, and each pointing 1 of the 4 direction. The 4 are nearly surrounded by a 5th black snake in the shape of a “C.”
A prototype mandala is a circle with all parts finding their relation to a center which represents the Divine in the cosmos & within persons. In cultures such as the Tibetan & Navajo, each mandala is unique, a spin-off of a specific event or worship on the part of the artist. The classic mandala of the East be- gan in India, evolved in Tibet, then spread through Asia. Heaven is the genera- tive center within and is also outside, encircling all the other symbols. Man- dalas can take a spiral or organic rather than mathematical shape, or can even be 3-dimensional, as in temples in many parts of the world. The ideal mandala for each of us suggests our many selves and the possibility that they can find their place serving the center Self, through which new life comes.
We of the West became over-impressed by “irreconcilable opposites.” Now we begin to learn we must not settle merely for our strong endowments, ignoring or rejecting our lesser ones. The many human aspects tend to polarize into semiconscious sets of “good self” versus” bad self.” A “good self” becomes a curse as it mistakes itself for the Center. Neglect of our own center makes that center seem unreal; we hardly dare hope it exists. In the 20th century West, the mandala principle grows in importance because more and more people long for an effective religious base within themselves to help them become whole persons, deeply connected with life as a whole.
There is a 3-dimensional mandala in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Variations Within a Sphere, No. 10: The Sun (1953), by Richard Lippold. Sun, star, and flower fuse as one in this modern 3-D mandala of gold filled wire. Our artists know instinctively that we of the West need to re-learn the spiritual sig- nificance of this archetypal image. Photographs reveal mandala forms in nature, from microcosmic structures to spider webs and spinning constellations in outer space. As we ponder these images they become a part of our mythic process.
For the 1st time in the human venture on earth we are beginning to ex- perience the human family as one body, represented by many persons and cultures. We need one another in order to know ourselves. If I take the initiative in this process, aided by the non-verbal language of imagery, I discover my many selves. I also discover the coordinating and unifying factors that works for me when I trust. Like a 20th century Janus, a strengthening part of us develops between inner and outer world. Able to look both ways at once, & honoring the reality of each, this Janus mediates between the worlds, and helps us take part in continuing creation.
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216. O Inward Traveller (by Carol R. Murphy 1977):
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216. O Inward Traveller (by Carol R. Murphy 1977):
About the Author: Carol Murphy has written more Pendle Hill Pam- phlets than anyone now living; this is her 13th. [She went from approaching the waters of meditation (Available Mind), to 1 step beyond the shore (Sound of Silence); with O Inward Traveller she plunged in]. The discipline of inward travel provides a common measure by which her topics of religious philoso- phy, pastoral counseling & Quakerism, theology of Paul Tillich, comparative religions, and the meaning of death may be tested.
Keep to that in thee, O inward traveler, that shuts the wrong eye and ear, and opens the right; then wilt thou be in the number of such as our Lord pronounceth blessed, saying, Blessed are your eyes for they see; and your ears for they hear.” Job Scott’s Journal
Approach—We live in an “occupied” world of nuclear threats, starvation in Africa & Asia, killer diseases lying in wait for one’s family & self. Yet we read in Julian of Norwich: “All will be well, & all shall be well, & all manner of thing shall be well.” After my skeptical college years, I was seriously challenged by the existence of an alternative mode of awareness, through St. Augustine, St. John of the Cross, Evelyn Underhill, & Rufus Jones. The great mystics’ ex- perience of God’s presence was as real to them as God’s absence was real to me.
If there were a Divine Reality, it had an urgent claim on me, & for a brief while I felt God’s call to live by this vision. This call was the impetus behind all my subsequent return to & study of religious belief. I [soon] saw how empty & “notional” religion could become when God is merely talked about or specula- ted upon. Oriental spiritual disciplines & “altered states of consciousness” sparked a renewed love affair with mysticism. What follows is the story of the encounter between various kinds of meditative approaches & my mind’s parti- cular shape & personality.
The Alternative Vision—1st, we are dealing with an alternative mode of knowing. Then there is what's known, the ultimate, dynamic matrix of being- existence, a “field” in which we live, move, interact, and have our being. Of the ways of knowing, there is the usual, thing-knowing, and there is the “mystical” way or field-knowing. It is with this mode of knowing that the presence and glory of God is apprehended. The field-seer (or knower) has developed his ca- pacity for this field of knowing, and aims at the unselfed life in which his ego is replaced by a deep center united to the Divine matrix.
The Alternative Vision—1st, we are dealing with an alternative mode of knowing. Then there is what's known, the ultimate, dynamic matrix of being- existence, a “field” in which we live, move, interact, and have our being. Of the ways of knowing, there is the usual, thing-knowing, and there is the “mystical” way or field-knowing. It is with this mode of knowing that the presence and glory of God is apprehended. The field-seer (or knower) has developed his ca- pacity for this field of knowing, and aims at the unselfed life in which his ego is replaced by a deep center united to the Divine matrix.
The field seer has episodes of field-seeing, what George Fox called openings. Field knowing is thought to be facilitated by the process of mind- stilling (meditation and contemplation). It has always been a problem whether meditation causes field-knowing or is a response to it. It is perhaps safest to think of meditation as cultivation and watering of a seed that grows by its own laws. Openings come to the prepared mind as seed sprouts in prepared soil. The deeper wisdom knows that we must still the verbal, thing-seeing half of the brain that the latent field-seeing half may be freed for inspiration.
The Way Inwards—Christians practiced “meditation” by thinking about God or picturing the life and work of Jesus. The Oriental tradition is the disci- pline of mind-stilling. The settling of the mind’s roiled-up waters seems neither very holy nor heroic; but it can have a healing effect. You sit and stare into space and you don’t think about a damn thing, but something’s going on. Sometime later you find out what it is.
Transcendental Meditation seems to be a concession to the anxious feeling that there is just one correct drill that only Teacher knows. [“Needing”] a special, secret mantra is highly suspect. The mantra has no particular meaning to the meditator. Most of relaxation methods lack the important ingredient, so important from the religious standpoint, of a disciplined regimen of life. I have noticed that even a few minutes of this self-forgetfulness is tremendously invi- gorating. [The early Quaker] Penington said: “Lie low before the Lord in the sensible life, not desiring to know and comprehend notionally, but to feel the thing inwardly, truly, sensibly and effectively.” Simone Weil said: “Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.”
Degrees of Attention: Absorption—I found that the traditional Hindu Yoga, Poulain’s degrees of interior prayer, Claudio Naranjo’s Outer, Inner, and Middle Ways of meditating sorted themselves out into absorption, insight, and dual-focus methods of training the attention. My 1st experience was with Law- rence Leshan’s How to Meditate. He taught himself an altered state of aware- ness from his scientific research to explain ESP and spiritual healing by using Patanjali’s Yogic Aphorisms and Evelyn Underhill
Leshan said: “you strive to be aware of just your [breath] counting ... [Conscious] thoughts and feelings are a wandering away from the instructions... You are aiming at being totally involved from your head to your toes.” Full of hope, I plunged into breath-counting and contemplating a pebble, and emerged months later sadly frustrated and self-divided. Watching the World Series, I wondered why God was throwing me such a curve ball.
A Wider Awareness—[God then guided] my hand to Nyanaponika Thera and Chögyam Trungpa's Buddhist writings one from the Southern school, one from the Tibetan. Chögyam Trungpa said: Generally one can't really concen- trate . . . One should not try to suppress thoughts in meditation, but one should just try to see the transitory nature, the translucent nature of thoughts.” The Buddha himself failed to find what he needed in absorptive yoga, and turned to self-clarification through insight.
I abandoned mechanical breath-counting for simple awareness of the drawing in & letting out of my breath, & prepared to watch my thoughts go by. In daily activities like T’ai Chi, the meditator can slow down, & become tranquilly aware of the beauty of the simplest task. [When successful] Sri Aurobindo says: “[thoughts] cross the mind as a flight of birds crosses the sky ... it passes, dis- turbs nothing, leaving no trace. Zen meditation can be either wide-angled, or veer to the absorptive end of the spectrum. In my own insight meditations, thoughts still carried me away. I abandoned the expectation of an ideal tranquil- lity; meditation is a search for the real, not the ideal. [Perhaps vocal release of pent-up doubts & fears is necessary before] we can hear the still small voice.
The Dual Focus—Complete single-mindedness is not essential all the time; what is essential is that the activity of the mind or body not distract from the central intent directed to the Ultimate. Thomas Merton wrote: “This state of attention to God certainly can co-exist with a simple kind of action. . . [Some people] may find that when they sit down and try to attend to God . . . they be- come tense & confused, too aware of themselves. . . It is better for a person to be somewhat active and not be aware that anything special is going on.”
[This then is a kind of active] “Martha” meditation or contemplation. For Merton it is quite legitimate not to be mindful of just the one activity, but to wash dishes for the love of God. A sort of split-level or dual-focus way of meditating can emerge. Possibly the restless modern mind must begin its centering on God in this divided fashion, stilling the mind at one place which can later spread its centeredness to the whole.
The Here & Now Presence—What makes the dual focus kind of medi- tation is not one thought competing with another, but a simultaneity of thought with movement, or imagination with will. The simplest and least “mystical” method is the informal conversation with God or Jesus as recommended by St. Teresa of Avila
Another approach to the practice of the Presence is not so much a me- thod as an attitude, one that accepts in faith the presence of God hidden in the present moment. For Friends who believe that all life is sacramental, this sacrament of the present moment is a way to make this belief very real. J. P. de Caussade writes: “There is never a moment when God does not come for- ward in the guise of some suffering or some duty, & all that takes place within us, around us & through us both includes & hides his activity. . . You seek your own idea of God, although you have him in his reality.”
While mindfulness presses toward enlightenment, faith is content to fol- low a way of darkness, to find God’s presence in his absence. St. Thérèse of Lisieux said: “My consolation is not to have any in this life. Jesus never mani- fests Himself not lets me hear His voice. He teaches me in secret.” As de Caussade puts it, there are those who lose sight of the divine will because it moves behind the soul to push it forward.
Invitation to Pilgrimage—It may be useful for the journey to ask what sort of person you are. It is better perhaps, to find meditation neither too easy nor too hard. [If they are too easy and rich, they may be] pursued as ends in themselves and not for what they were opening the person up to. In our prac- tice, we must learn how to combine will and surrender. Our [own] temptation to spiritual greed comes with the envy and discouragement we feel in reading the accounts of those more proficient in meditation than we seem able to be.
As we differ in the paths we take, so we will differ in our need for gui- dance. It is in the more advanced stages of field-seeing, when contents of the deeper psyche may have to be explored. Thomas Merton speaks of “dread”—the necessity of the purifying doubt of one’s fidelity and authenticity in the face of God’s total demand for truth in the inward parts & the little death of ego. Meditation must not become a closed, self-confirming system, and another person can be God’s agent in helping to keep us open. As you jour- ney on the way, you will inevitably feel a certain withdrawal from “the world's,” trashy values of the [along with] compassion for those still in it. You'll have to steer a course between the avoidance of separatist priggishness on the one hand and over-assimilation on the other.
What good does your inward journey do? It isn't so much what good you and I can do, but what good can be done through us. I once was told my presence in a group was “supportive,” though all I did was sit there. Some- times just being is the best kind of doing. This is the secret of field-knowing: that we are all partakers of the divine activity. Jesus was [in effect] saying, “Don’t hold a metaphysical autopsy; do God’s healing work.”
We reach a deeper plane when we realize that for Buddhism the poi- soned arrow from which we all suffer is our self-protective sense of ego—our thing-seeing blindness from which we have to be awakened. [Those of us who seek field-seeing] by dying to self can play our part in bringing the gift of the eternal, living, all-encompassing works of God made manifest in the growth of Christ in each and all.
John Woolman said: “As I lived under the Cross and simply followed the openings of Truth, my mind from day to day was more enlightened. I looked upon the works of God in this visible creation, and an awfulness covered me. My heart was tender & often contrite. . . Some glances of real beauty is per- ceivable in their faces who dwell in true meekness.” You come too.
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217. Wholesight: The Spirit Quest (by Frederick Parker-Rhodes;
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217. Wholesight: The Spirit Quest (by Frederick Parker-Rhodes;
1978)
218. ANOTHER WAY TO LIVE: experiencing intentional community
219. Approaching the Gospels (by Mary Morrison; 1978)
About the Author—Recently retired leader of Gospels Study Groups at Pendle Hill and long-time member of Trinity Parish, Swarthmore, Mary Morrison describes herself as 49% Quaker and 51% Episcopalian. Group study of the Gospels has had a long history at Pendle Hill. Henry Burton Sharman came to teach [group study and discussion of the Gospels in 1931]. His student Dora Wilson took over from him until her death in 1953. Her student Mary Morrison taught the course from 1957 to 1977. This pamphlet hopes to encourage this approach.
I. The Gospels are part of an ancient library, the collection which we call the Bible. The Bible story of God’s way with one small people in Asia Minor is a long sequence sweeping through the centuries and making sense of all the things, good and bad, that had happened to the Hebrews. The truth of a myth goes beyond whether or not it represents factual accuracy; truth comes from its power to make sense of events & to breathe meaning into them. The myth of Athena had inspired, formed and developed the Greek and experience of life.
Compelling mystery is what gives myth its power. A myth draws us to it & makes us ask questions, eager to grasp the mystery so far as we are able. A myth speaks in answer to our questions. Our understanding of the answer depends on the mind set with which we approach it. A myth stands beyond our shaping our experience's chaos into order. It asks of us the awe & respect that will keep it forever free to move with us, creating question, answer & mea- ning. [In approaching myths, as Heinrich Zimmer says: “The replies already given can’t be made to serve us … Our primary task is to learn how to ap- proach, evoke fresh speech from them, & understand that speech.”
About the Author—Born 1914 of well-to-do parents, this British Friend led an unstressful childhood; his main interest was acquiring knowledge. He took an unprotesting part in World War II as a government scientist. In 1948 he joined the Society of Friends. The present pamphlet “gathers up some of the threads of my abiding concern for Wholesight, in the belief that this is the most urgent need of man today. If we can't find coherence among religion, science, art, and politics, all these will come to nothing.”
[Introduction]—One can talk sense enough about both the whole and its parts, provided one doesn’t over-estimate man’s present knowledge. We stand overburdened with bits and pieces, [and have] lost sight of the Whole. There will be some level in the Whole where Yes & No can peacefully coexist in the shelter of a wider comprehension. Our simple-minded logic has taken away our understanding of Wholesight’s language, which is the language of myth, poetry, art and music; we admire their beauty but discount their wisdom.
Those [in the past] who recognized Wholesight as their supreme goal had something to say which is no longer said. None are better qualified than they to teach us to recapture it. The problem is to weave together science's objective approach with the arts' subjective vision. If religion is the offspring, it must be a humbler creature than usually bears that title. Subjective creativity & science are complementary, but without Wholesight they can seem enemies. My aim is to show by myths & stories how we gain a little fluency in that forgotten tongue.
Creation is Circular: The Phoenix Phoenix Phoenix
This tale has a multitude of meanings. All these interpretations are there, but each by itself is a diminishment, even a betrayal of the whole. Most impor- tantly the Phoenix Phoe nix
The Stair of Bethel rael Be- thel
Living creatures are fluent forms which renew their substance, albeit slowly. The colony of bees is a form imposed on the whole collection of bees, where they work together for the continuation of the whole. Our social struc- tures, mirrored in our minds, support yet further levels which have no parallels. [The Stairs of Bethel are not of infinite number]. But to set a particular number of steps would be outrunning knowledge. We must remember that the Stairs are an imperfect image. There is neither top nor bottom to the Whole.
The Seed landed on the soft and naked earth a token to our Mother of our Father’s love. This seed held within it certain instructions. The 1st root grew towards the lifeless darkness, & began to feed in the humus, [and grow towards the sun]. All the while the face of heaven smiled and frowned. This Tree was an Ash. The Tree held heaven and earth in one embrace—which is what trees are for. Thus was the purpose of heaven obediently fulfilled. [Man came and cut the tree down]; the ancient dance of cause & consequence was cut short. There came a word from God to teach man to turn toward heaven, planting a Seed charged with instructions for life.
Religion teaches that God is the 1st cause, from whom proceeds spiri- tual, human, and lower orders of being; science finds that things have gone the other way. Wholesight requires that mutually exclusive hypotheses must both be entertained, and a framework of thought found in which they may coexist. The angels on the Stairs of Bethel go both up and down, [because some are] bringing God’s will to men, some carrying the effects of earthly causes into higher planes. Do not deride any wisdom contrary to your own; don't overesti- mate your tools. It is a flaw in the tale of the tree that it fails to present the cre- ation process as circular. What's time but a streamer in the hand of the Di- vine Dancer, tracing the figures of creation for us creatures to wonder at?
II Entry into the Human State
The magical Age of Gold’s last ruler lived all alone in a vast palace, served by sorcerous familiars. He needed to consult the people about the Void Lord’s pending invasion. He held a feast & invited the chief men of the nation to come to it. But they cared nothing for the Survivor, their king and they all made excuses. The king said, I shall invite beggars and vagabonds, and they shall rule the people instead. The Lord of the Void called off his invasion.
The vast palace is empty because we haven’t yet received the summons to the feast. Outside the palace there are people, aspirants in principle to the spiritual order. There is also the Void, the inhuman & unspiritual environment in which we must live. The Void perpetually threatens the precarious experiment of the spiritual life. If no one heeds the invitation to the feast, the Void will in- deed triumph. We aren’t told how the bottom people that came to the feast reacted to being made new rulers. We needn’t fear that there will be no takers for Heaven’s Kingdom.
Theseus—King Minos of Atlantis received from Athens Knossos
The knife in the story stands for technical competence; the lamp repre- sents clear thought. The ball of wool stands for discipline, commitment, and [patient, humble] correction of mistakes. It is all too clear how few of us have the gift of discipline, how few possess the thread which let them answer that of God in everyone. It is a thread which lets one retrace every step & undo one’s errors. Whatever resists change [and correction] is soon left lifeless behind the Spirit.
Prometheus—In the beginning gods and men lived side by side, gods on the mountaintops and men in the valleys. Gods understood the mystery of fire, which aroused envy among men. They said to Prometheus, son of Japhet, “Fetch us this fire.” Prometheus pretended that the god’s feast fire went out, and that he was sent to fetch fire. He brought it down & taught men how to use and tend the fire. Zeus cursed Prometheus. He was chained on Mount Ararat to the Rock of Knowledge, where every day a vulture came and feasted on his liver.
Prometheus acquired a [crucial] item in man’s technical armory; he brought down a gift of the Spirit to men. What gift from heaven is best for man? Buddha brings knowledge of the cause of suffering; Jesus brings know- ledge of the cause of happiness: loving. Prometheus’ gift is speech according to some. There came a curse with this fire: language of self-knowledge. Speech is the medium of our humanity. Talking isn’t only to show us our sha- dows, but to build up & instruct. Our hope lies in discipline, that frayed thread whereby we need not be thrown back to our beginnings, but emerge from each [trial] a little more safely human, a step nearer to Redemption.
III The Spirit Quest: Destiny and Duty/ The Holy Grail—Human life's purpose is to be the basis for the Spirit's life. The Spirit is our purpose, as we are one of the purposes of that animal life which underlies our humanity. The Holy Spirit is a fluent form which plays with our souls as the wind plays with the sea. We can hinder her play with ice floes of pride & breakwaters of self- regard. We can stand stiff or we can trust ourselves to be blown away, safe in God’s love, to the garden of delight.
The 1st being was of the Ocean, & was called Fisherman; he married Fruitful & they had children, myth shadows. The youngest was Harvester. He lay in wait with his scythe, & when his father came home he robbed him of his pintle. Fisherman fled with Fruitful to the world’s end, where they lived in a castle of glass with an inexhaustible dish. All else in the world was Harvester’s, but the loss of this one treasure he couldn’t forget. He it was who passed on the empty memory of Wholesight. No one knew what manner of thing it was, & called it the Holy Grail.
A sage came to King Arthur’s court claiming Holy Grail knowledge. The sage & others went out looking in vain for it. Next came a peasant lad, claiming knighthood if he should succeed. Many jeered him, & went looking for it in vain. Percival the peasant went on the Western road & fell in with a stranger who gave him specific directions; [he didn’t find it]. He met a loremaster who be- came his friend, an old woman healer, a boatman and a girl.
They found King Fisherman’s dwelling but had to flee from 7 armed knights. He gave the girl his father’s treasure. [Eventually] Percival rode off alone to the world’s end. A short way across the sea rose the castle, high walled & silent. [After fighting a knight, he gained entrance to the glass castle]. He saw a fine woman with a golden dish. He followed her to a bed chamber where an aged king lay. The king said, “I am robbed of my virtue by Harvester, my son & lay here many years, waiting for one to ask after my sickness… Wonderment is the world’s framework, & by your wondering I am whole again. Here is the Holy Grail. I give it gladly & in gratitude to King Arthur.”
Percival passed through a doorway into King Arthur’s hall. The king asked, “What do you bring us from the world’s end, what soul food to heal the sickness of mankind?” The hero passed around the company, wordlessly serving each from the inexhaustible dish. [Word of Mordor’s army came and they all went off to war. Arthur didn't return. The rest that survived were scat- tered; and their kingly hall, with the Grail in it, was never seen afterwards. Percival became a monk, and when he died he was still wearing his father’s treasure.
The Golden Age, when men were innocent, happy, & whole, reflects the durability of our happy memories & deleteable sorrows. [In Eden
I have introduced the theme of Precious Bane into my version of the Grail. For there are things we need to lose, as well as things to find. [We need to] lose pride, growth economics, & the self-sufficiency that man delights in. [Have we reached a condition in which our life can be an end in itself?] It is a humanist’s question, for whom there is no level beyond the human. This precious bane] is our humanity’s seal.
All that is needed is to refuse to go any further, & perfect our own little garden, a showpiece in the world’s wilderness. [The price of this choice is] all that belongs to the spiritual level in human life. The positive quest isn’t for the proud. [Those seeking wholesight will have to make do with coincidence & serendipity]. These things don’t work for those who carry their father’s token. Those who are content to be people for others find that things happen which they can be happy with.
The Holy Grail is not to be found by any who have not sought till their strength fails. When you reach the end of the world and find nothing, you turn round, defeated—and you’re there. Your own soul is the castle, your own con- sciousness its glassy wall. To know that our nasty corners do not shut us off from love, that imperfections are allowed for in God’s plan for us, is to over- come the self-horror from which so many people suffer.
At 1st it will seem a hall of distorting mirrors. When the fragmentary echoes of our own voice and partial reflections merge into the whole self, and becomes clear, we shall find ourselves back home. He who completes the double quest—the quest for what we must lose as well as what we must win— becomes a redeemer. The true redeemer may stop short of full success; he not only completes his quest but leads others into it, and out again, teaching what he has learned & learning what other have to teach. The redeemer must help in healing the world’s ills; he must look at it all in wonder, [which is the beginning of understanding and Wholesight].
Quakers learn much of the spiritual Way in their silent meetings; but one can be famished for words, and in those times speech is in order. The wisdom of the redeemer who neglects the needs of the wordy world is false to his trust & his wisdom dies with him. Speak up then and don’t mind our lack of under- standing. No one who thinks one’s self above the use of mere words is free from pride and has nothing to teach. We are at the edge of the competence of speech to communicate; silence is the best language. The ancient wisdom is being resurrected.
Listen to the silence. Listen to what they say who say nothing. Open yourself to inner silence. To love one another is the spiritual quest’s essence; one can use the language of silence with those they love. [Those who seek, & find, & wonder shall possess the Kingdom & shall rest. All of you must live wearily in the world, & leave it with more hope than you brought to it. You have Jesus as your forerunner & your model. May God be with you.
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218. ANOTHER WAY TO LIVE: experiencing intentional community
(by James S. Best; 1978)
About the Author—Jim Best has spent much of his life in the company of publications, 2 decades in books, another decade in magazines, off and on with newspapers. The Fellowship of Reconciliation took the 2nd largest chunk of his working experience. The 3rd of his 3 loves, living in community, he speaks of here. Jim has been a member of 4 Friends Meetings: Nashville, TN; 15th Street, NYC; Rockland Meeting (NY); & Central Philadelphia MM. At 65, he has no intention of retiring.
About the Author—Jim Best has spent much of his life in the company of publications, 2 decades in books, another decade in magazines, off and on with newspapers. The Fellowship of Reconciliation took the 2nd largest chunk of his working experience. The 3rd of his 3 loves, living in community, he speaks of here. Jim has been a member of 4 Friends Meetings: Nashville, TN; 15th Street, NYC; Rockland Meeting (NY); & Central Philadelphia MM. At 65, he has no intention of retiring.
May we ... try whether the seeds of war have nourishment in these our possessions. John Woolman
Is there no other way the world may live [than] under the cloud of threatening war? Dwight Eisenhower
If you aren't going to be part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
Eldridge Cleaver
The world is now too dangerous for anything short of Utopia. John Platt
[Defining Community]—Parker Palmer has made some excellent working definitions of community. In this pamphlet I will, in almost all cases, be implying the word "intentional" whenever I use the word community. A true community of faith involves a community of sharing, where Christians held "all things in common." The 19th century saw perhaps the richest flowering in Christendom of a wide variety of communistic societies, A directory of Ameri- can and Canadian alternative communities & communes lists 320 communities [1978]. Other lists and "guestimates" range all the way from 2,000 or 3,000.
Is there no other way the world may live [than] under the cloud of threatening war? Dwight Eisenhower
If you aren't going to be part of the solution, you are part of the problem.
Eldridge Cleaver
The world is now too dangerous for anything short of Utopia. John Platt
[Defining Community]—Parker Palmer has made some excellent working definitions of community. In this pamphlet I will, in almost all cases, be implying the word "intentional" whenever I use the word community. A true community of faith involves a community of sharing, where Christians held "all things in common." The 19th century saw perhaps the richest flowering in Christendom of a wide variety of communistic societies, A directory of Ameri- can and Canadian alternative communities & communes lists 320 communities [1978]. Other lists and "guestimates" range all the way from 2,000 or 3,000.
Most of them are characterized by: relative physical isolation; effort to
be self-sufficient; counter-culture life style, [anti-conventional]; general egali-
tarian and libertian philosophy. Another important category, often overlapping
the above, is that of the religious communities, which may vary all the way from
monastic types to family-oriented communities. Many in both groups use the term New Age or similar label.
Antecedents—Since adolescence I [have had it in mind] to make a per- sonal commitment to a society that would outlast me, a Kingdom of God brought down somehow to the 20th century. I threw myself into plans for Sky- view Acres, which in time became a reality for 44 families. I thought I had pre- pared for living in community, but the reality was different.
be self-sufficient; counter-culture life style, [anti-conventional]; general egali-
tarian and libertian philosophy. Another important category, often overlapping
the above, is that of the religious communities, which may vary all the way from
monastic types to family-oriented communities. Many in both groups use the term New Age or similar label.
Antecedents—Since adolescence I [have had it in mind] to make a per- sonal commitment to a society that would outlast me, a Kingdom of God brought down somehow to the 20th century. I threw myself into plans for Sky- view Acres, which in time became a reality for 44 families. I thought I had pre- pared for living in community, but the reality was different.
Skyview Acres was for 24 years a limited sanctuary after 10 hours of work & commuting. It was a rich & warm seedbed for nurturing 4 children. [It was liberal, middle-class America], a staging ground for protest meetings & action, often a place of ease for certain kinds of liberal comrades in the strug- gle. It was also a place of high taxes, harassed & sometimes angry neighbors. It was a burial ground for dear dreams of what an intentional community might mean, a gradual dimming of the once-bright hope of cooperative en- deavor. [3 of our 4 children grew up and moved away].The 4th had a year to run at Skunk Hollow school.
A New Kind of Community—A "realer" community continued to beckon. In Philadelphia, A Quaker Action Group had merged most of its mem- bership and added many more in a Movement for a New Society (MNS), local- ly called a Life Center in West Philadelphia. The bedrock on which it was foun- ded was the belief that our war-making, profit-prone, consumption-gorged & violence-infected society is on its last legs. There is still time to build a peoples' structure sturdy enough to hold the weight of public peace and order. For 2 suburbanites well past mid-life a certain kind of freedom beckoned. [The good things where we were could be left behind. There was an "unlived" life out there.
Why not go in search of it? The generally youthful members of MNS took certain of these [West Philadelphia, turn-of-the-20th-century] houses in a 10-block area as they found them, [with original or 1950's decor]. All had spacious airy bedrooms, much "common" space, endless hallways. At the 3- day orientation weekend, I don't remember much of the information that was thrust at me those 3 days, but the feeling "this really is another way of life" be- came clearer & clearer. They were here as a necessary discipline to change the world. Their "revolution" consisted of the non-violence of peaceful per- suasion, learning to perceive political and economic contradictions, and con- fronting the oppressive nature of reality."
Moving into a New Society/ Reflections—We bought the house next [to MNS's central Stone House] after spending one day in it. I would say that a hand not our own could be seen in this push into the future. By the time our moving days ended on a scorching Labor Day weekend, we had substituted a new extended family for the old nuclear family. [2 others formed a family with us]. Applicants needed to understand the purpose & commitment of MNS. We would live & eat as simply and as "low on the food chain" as good nutrition would permit; we would share equally in every task, both in work and costs. We would make all decisions by consensus.
Later modifications and refinements set in. Uncleanliness and anger were dealt with in "contracts," agreements worked out by the householders. There were 13 other houses in the community that tended to function almost as a unit, while keeping the identity of each clear. We did any things together: Christmas Day procession and decoration to and at Clark Park; merging many traditions and greeting the sun on a cold rooftop in a Winter Solstice cele- bration. [There is a long list of] "collectives" that constitute the real core of the movement: food service; feminist; life center; "Seeds for Change"; "Won- derful Older Women"; "Men Against Patriarchy"; etc.
In these collectives the real work for social changes takes place. One of the most ambitious was the Community Associates Printing Collective. For 4 years we printed books, pamphlets, newsletters, posters & other things. Pro- blems with equipment, and adequate training made it necessary to lay it down. We learned a great deal about worker-managed enterprises designed for service rather than profit. Most collectives provide no substantial income to MNS community folk, nor are they expected to do so.
In the 1970's, it seemed time to blur the distinctions between activists and supporters and MNS evolved as one way to do that. [As a result of that], a requirement that those who joined MNS communities seek work that would not commit them to more than 3 days a week The other 4 days were needed for: obligations to the resident community; tasks in the social change collec- tive; group & individual study of the world scene to be changed; socializing and recreation; personal growth.
The 5 time-divisions caught me up in a equation of freedom-cum-com- mitment that released rather than regimented my time. [Making my place] homey was usually a joy, never a duty. Macro analysis was more challenging than any leisure time college seminar. There were frequent minor celebrations; even the meetings were fun. I made friends in the wider neighborhood & kept my Quaker meeting connections in center city. I rarely thought about my life's relatively insularity. [Ours wasn't a pie-in-the-sky utopianism]. What the MNS is largely about is how we get from here to there, & living as if the "kingdom of heaven" were already here. It is a challenge worthy of every ounce of thought & devotion. Life in community, in a small society that strives to actualize itself, gives me more chance of self-actualization than I would have if I were buried in the mass society.
Community as Family—Living in community is on balance a great learning experience—one that never ends. I [will] sort out something of what I learned as well as observations and comments for [fellow-travelers]. What is the place of marriage and family life in intentional communities? No mar- riage that has honestly faced the necessity for change in society and relation- ships need fear for its life in community. A persistent Life Center (MNS) ques- tion is: "Where do you stand on the women's issue?" Good men's groups have emerged, too, going beyond mere knee-jerk responses.
Sexuality as an expression of affection is a ridiculous bugaboo that gets in the critic's eye when looking at communities spelled "communes," yet it must be dealt with. One wonders how the myth of sexual license in the new communities ever took root. I, even keeping my eyes & ears halfway open, observed no "free love" along the gaudier lines. I would hazard a guess that there is more celibacy [in social change communities and] those in their 20's than in any cross-section group in the same age-range. The family as we know it now has a number of characteristics we must preserve in this new age. In Life Center houses where children are an important part (5 out of 20 houses in 1977), the whole house usually participates in Parent Effective- ness, a system of re-education.
Sexuality as an expression of affection is a ridiculous bugaboo that gets in the critic's eye when looking at communities spelled "communes," yet it must be dealt with. One wonders how the myth of sexual license in the new communities ever took root. I, even keeping my eyes & ears halfway open, observed no "free love" along the gaudier lines. I would hazard a guess that there is more celibacy [in social change communities and] those in their 20's than in any cross-section group in the same age-range. The family as we know it now has a number of characteristics we must preserve in this new age. In Life Center houses where children are an important part (5 out of 20 houses in 1977), the whole house usually participates in Parent Effective- ness, a system of re-education.
"Social Security" in Community/ Simplification of Life—Income- sharing is a way to approach the problem of the "whole community's" protection of individuals from life's hazards. In our particular setup, such questions often came up in the [query:] "What are the hallmarks of a caring community?" No final or really satisfactory answers emerged. Is this an occasion for self- taxation or incoming sharing as an expression of mutual help, or for reli- ance on state-financed help? A "core community" group at Life Center began to deal with these thoughts. It grew from the conviction that communities of change are long-term things, & must have an expectancy of continuity built into them.
Wonderful Older Women (WOW) is a bright light in the MNS/Life Center structure these days. They give each other much personal support in stretching and occasionally "downing" experience. Alas, no comparable group exists for men, and I was more than a little frustrated in trying to start one. The transition from our rigid and invalidating family" system to suggesting the "small society" that fosters true growth is strewn with blocks and boulders. But there are paths in between.
Living in a new kind of residential setting has myriad openings for expe- rimenting with the simplification of life. There is a new exuberance in the return to almost forgotten style of inventiveness & adaptation that turns away from re- liance on gadgets & wasteful mechanization. We found, early on that much of real value & even beauty can be garnered from the sidewalks of our "throw- away" society.
Living in a new kind of residential setting has myriad openings for expe- rimenting with the simplification of life. There is a new exuberance in the return to almost forgotten style of inventiveness & adaptation that turns away from re- liance on gadgets & wasteful mechanization. We found, early on that much of real value & even beauty can be garnered from the sidewalks of our "throw- away" society.
Cars are often shared, & there need be only one of many kinds of appli- ances & machines for several houses. Communal stockpiling of common medi- cines & health aids is taken for granted. [there was even a clothing exchange for a while]. It is never for the sake alone of simplifying life, [but is based] on the assumption that America [globally] is much more a part of the problem than of the solution [i.e.] 6% of the world population consuming 30% of world resources; this must end.
Decisions and Privacy/ Shared Leadership—I would concede that, in our decision-making process, we touch a difficult issue. Living in community makes new demands on the forbearance, flexibility, an individuality of all its members. The Friends meeting with its consensus method is only a rough approximation of how people living in close community order their lives. For a house meeting, a small group of adults meet. A facilitator has already prepared a wall or large clipboard chart with the proposed agenda. Items might include: new member; new treasurer; retreat; food storage; assessment for Child Care; Evaluation. Hard & difficult questions are matters dealt with in these sessions, but with a minimum of hurt to participants. Sound process means keeping necessary tension in group relations to a minimum.
I believe that intentional communities, to be successful, must go beyond the style and expectations of an ordinary Quaker-type business meeting. A weekly meeting of corporate concern cannot postpone a decision without loss and maddening frustration and sometimes death of hopes for living and working together.
The old-style charismatic leader, who embodies his people’s wishes and sometimes their very soul, in benevolent, loving dictatorship, has played out its role and left the stage; the exception are guru-led communities. MNS/Life Center started with Taylor, Lakey, Willoughby, Moyer as "leaders," by virtue of their clear vision, ability to inspire, and sound organizational sense. And now, not needing official "spokesmen" nor people to attract crowds or even to initi- ative strategy or write papers, the community now distributes this kind of work more widely between the different sexes and ages.
Change or Die/ Community As Witness—Institutionalizing and politi- cizing of social processes seems to stand in the way of what some would call a genuinely "marco-analytic" view of total reality affecting the continuing human presence on earth.
I believe that intentional communities, to be successful, must go beyond the style and expectations of an ordinary Quaker-type business meeting. A weekly meeting of corporate concern cannot postpone a decision without loss and maddening frustration and sometimes death of hopes for living and working together.
The old-style charismatic leader, who embodies his people’s wishes and sometimes their very soul, in benevolent, loving dictatorship, has played out its role and left the stage; the exception are guru-led communities. MNS/Life Center started with Taylor, Lakey, Willoughby, Moyer as "leaders," by virtue of their clear vision, ability to inspire, and sound organizational sense. And now, not needing official "spokesmen" nor people to attract crowds or even to initi- ative strategy or write papers, the community now distributes this kind of work more widely between the different sexes and ages.
Change or Die/ Community As Witness—Institutionalizing and politi- cizing of social processes seems to stand in the way of what some would call a genuinely "marco-analytic" view of total reality affecting the continuing human presence on earth.
Thoreau writes: "I learned this at least by my experiment: that if one ad- vances confidently in the direction of one's dreams & endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours ... Solitude won't be solitude, nor poverty poverty, weakness weakness ... If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now, put the foundation under them." My life in that small part of the MNS in West Philadelphia, has been and is an experiment in life; it is a lifeway. I don't put it forward as a final model for anyone else. New beginnings are being made, must be made. The time is now when wrong rises up to con- front us everywhere."
Our lives are all we have to experiment with, & the way is not unchar- ted.
The communities set forth by MNS and the American Friends Service Committee do not see themselves so much as utopian models, but rather as a school for a future life of sharing and working together toward a world of peace and justice. God is not to be sought in the sky, but in everyone engaged in the struggle for what certain prophets used to call the Kingdom of God. [With the amount of] caring for each other, it's hard to determine whether a community is "religious" or "secular." My experimental life is not done. Community is no idle dream for me. I shall never forget the rapt & solid commitment that gripped us as we sang together in General Training. It is indeed Another Way to Live.
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About the Author—Recently retired leader of Gospels Study Groups at Pendle Hill and long-time member of Trinity Parish, Swarthmore, Mary Morrison describes herself as 49% Quaker and 51% Episcopalian. Group study of the Gospels has had a long history at Pendle Hill. Henry Burton Sharman came to teach [group study and discussion of the Gospels in 1931]. His student Dora Wilson took over from him until her death in 1953. Her student Mary Morrison taught the course from 1957 to 1977. This pamphlet hopes to encourage this approach.
I. The Gospels are part of an ancient library, the collection which we call the Bible. The Bible story of God’s way with one small people in Asia Minor is a long sequence sweeping through the centuries and making sense of all the things, good and bad, that had happened to the Hebrews. The truth of a myth goes beyond whether or not it represents factual accuracy; truth comes from its power to make sense of events & to breathe meaning into them. The myth of Athena had inspired, formed and developed the Greek and experience of life.
Compelling mystery is what gives myth its power. A myth draws us to it & makes us ask questions, eager to grasp the mystery so far as we are able. A myth speaks in answer to our questions. Our understanding of the answer depends on the mind set with which we approach it. A myth stands beyond our shaping our experience's chaos into order. It asks of us the awe & respect that will keep it forever free to move with us, creating question, answer & mea- ning. [In approaching myths, as Heinrich Zimmer says: “The replies already given can’t be made to serve us … Our primary task is to learn how to ap- proach, evoke fresh speech from them, & understand that speech.”
II. How do we approach the Gospels? So many voices have said so much about them that our ears are deafened. Our eyes slide over the pages as if they were slippery. How can they possibly bring us any good news? What can they possibly say to us that they haven’t already said? Jesus always dealt with the crowds who gathered round him by telling them stories. So we might try approaching the Gospel 1st of all as if it were a story, a novel.
We give a novel the latitude it needs to say in its own chosen way what it wants to say. We enter its world, & let that world be created around us. Sup- pose we read “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” as if for the 1st time. We would realize that in that whole introductory sentence the only word we understand is “beginning.” We have the whole sweep of what is to come to let the theme grow & speak to us as it wants to.
III. How do we evoke fresh speech from this Gospels material? Words have lost or changed their meaning, especially key words, which may have radically changed. The concepts that “Faith,” “Sin,” “Forgiveness,” “King- dom of God,” “righteousness,” even “love” try to express are so foreign to ordi- nary, everyday human thought that tradition cannot pass them on. But perhaps we are in worse shape when we think that we have defined them, for then we are casting in concrete what is meant to be a living experience.
Help is at hand in the many new & brilliant translations of the texts that have come out during the 20th century. They can separately bring the language to new life, & together by diversity set our minds to working. One way to flesh out the dry bones of the concepts is to read the gospel as if for the 1st time, & try to learn the “new words” by the context in which they appear. Better still, do the same thing with all of the 1st 3 Gospels in one of the parallel arrangement editions. A dictionary can be helpful too. In it, we are looking for its poetry, its living, active meaning.
The greatest help of all is to assemble a group of interested people and look at the Gospels together, a variety of minds thinking together; it is a real mind-stretcher. Either privately or in groups, we are working at the business of turning dead and empty doctrine into living meaning that will grow in our hearts and give direction to our lives. We must let it come to us and speak to us where we are. Harold Goddard wrote: “[One] must be ready to strike life into it from one’s own experience.” We must be prepared to collide with many events and saying that we will not like at all. 1st we must see as clearly as we can what is being said; then react to it.
The central character of this story is out to shock us & disturb us, as he does the people in the story. How do we react to being disturbed [by diffi- cult Gospel passages]? Will we feel an inner stir of excitement, & open our minds? If we bring our full, fresh attention in the kind of open response that we would have for a person we most want to talk to, we will hold a con- versation with the Gospels, & let them read us while we are reading them.
IV. How do we understand that fresh speech? [While we put our- selves in the author’s era in reading a book], we lose sight of this requirement when we read the Bible. We have made almost a virtue of taking Holy Writ absolutely straight. “This is what it means, no more, no less.” The real sin lies in assuming that God always speaks in flat linear statements & never in poe- try, fiction, riddles, jokes, dreams, anecdotes, folktales or drama.
The Hebrew Bible as a whole has a tremendous variety of content: legend, lawbooks, history, biography, fiction, poetry. The Gospels, coming as they do out of that rich variety, hold it all in miniature. We commit a 2nd sin when we assume that God created the fine responsive instruments, humans, & prophets from out of them, only to use them as dictating machines. The fabric of prophecy is woven in a much more complicated way than that. In the Gos- pels we are dealing with human beings, exhausting their range of thought & language to express the inexpressible.
III. How do we evoke fresh speech from this Gospels material? Words have lost or changed their meaning, especially key words, which may have radically changed. The concepts that “Faith,” “Sin,” “Forgiveness,” “King- dom of God,” “righteousness,” even “love” try to express are so foreign to ordi- nary, everyday human thought that tradition cannot pass them on. But perhaps we are in worse shape when we think that we have defined them, for then we are casting in concrete what is meant to be a living experience.
Help is at hand in the many new & brilliant translations of the texts that have come out during the 20th century. They can separately bring the language to new life, & together by diversity set our minds to working. One way to flesh out the dry bones of the concepts is to read the gospel as if for the 1st time, & try to learn the “new words” by the context in which they appear. Better still, do the same thing with all of the 1st 3 Gospels in one of the parallel arrangement editions. A dictionary can be helpful too. In it, we are looking for its poetry, its living, active meaning.
The greatest help of all is to assemble a group of interested people and look at the Gospels together, a variety of minds thinking together; it is a real mind-stretcher. Either privately or in groups, we are working at the business of turning dead and empty doctrine into living meaning that will grow in our hearts and give direction to our lives. We must let it come to us and speak to us where we are. Harold Goddard wrote: “[One] must be ready to strike life into it from one’s own experience.” We must be prepared to collide with many events and saying that we will not like at all. 1st we must see as clearly as we can what is being said; then react to it.
The central character of this story is out to shock us & disturb us, as he does the people in the story. How do we react to being disturbed [by diffi- cult Gospel passages]? Will we feel an inner stir of excitement, & open our minds? If we bring our full, fresh attention in the kind of open response that we would have for a person we most want to talk to, we will hold a con- versation with the Gospels, & let them read us while we are reading them.
IV. How do we understand that fresh speech? [While we put our- selves in the author’s era in reading a book], we lose sight of this requirement when we read the Bible. We have made almost a virtue of taking Holy Writ absolutely straight. “This is what it means, no more, no less.” The real sin lies in assuming that God always speaks in flat linear statements & never in poe- try, fiction, riddles, jokes, dreams, anecdotes, folktales or drama.
The Hebrew Bible as a whole has a tremendous variety of content: legend, lawbooks, history, biography, fiction, poetry. The Gospels, coming as they do out of that rich variety, hold it all in miniature. We commit a 2nd sin when we assume that God created the fine responsive instruments, humans, & prophets from out of them, only to use them as dictating machines. The fabric of prophecy is woven in a much more complicated way than that. In the Gos- pels we are dealing with human beings, exhausting their range of thought & language to express the inexpressible.
Luke begins with describing the sources he is using, whom he addres- ses, & what he intends to do. We are to approach this story as if we were inside it; it won’t speak to us if we stand outside it arguing. Mark’s Gospel cen- ters on action more than speech. Matthew’s introduction is a genealogy of Jesus, beginning with Abraham rather than Adam. The strongest impression that the 1st 3 give is of a similarity out of which a central character speaks consistently & powerfully. Jesus is a Jew, a genuine radical, & a challenger of the rigid & corrupt in his tradition.
We must be ready with a Hebrew Bible to look into the sources of his thought when we find a reference that takes us back into his tradition. We must [get comfortable] moving within the deeply-ingrained habit of thinking and acting in symbols and speaking in paradox & parable. We must feel our way into the ingrained Hebrew sense of Covenant, the conviction of being a People chosen to understand and fulfill God’s purpose.
Jesus was speaking to 1st-century Palestinian Judaism, a religion/ nation guided by a dream. They held out against the pressures of time & place as they had throughout history. Today, we aren’t People of the Law, [not really even] a People. “The Kingdom of God” has little spontaneous [recognition &] value for Americans. We know more about history, science & politics & less about images, poetry & finding meaning in experience than 1st-century Pale- stinians. When we have made the mental adjustments we need to read what is actually on the page, we can see that while Jesus lives fully within his time & space, he also transcends it and can speak to us across distances & years. He brings us the assurance that his [human]-voice can be heard and spoken at any time, even our own.
V. “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it; and whoever loses it will save it and live,” is a 1st class illustration of what a paradox is; or to make a definition by action what a paradox does. The mind must be startled and teased into emptiness before it can let something new burst in. If we let the Great Paradox have its way with us, life becomes a mystery constantly moving and calling to us to follow where it leads. A paradox turns everything upside-down. Underlying [several] of Jesus’ paradoxes is a general paradox basic to Jesus’ teaching: that all our ideas of good fortune somehow get in our way and make us get in other people’s way.
Perhaps the best way of approaching a parable would be to ask, “If this were a joke, what would be its point? Parables, like jokes, not only amuse us; they also jolt us. They crack our closed minds open. Parables put together 2 things that we never though of relating. Or they place familiar things in a wholly new setting. So we are to let parables move our minds into a new dimension of thought, a light and even graceful seriousness that is for the mind what dancing is for the body.
Jesus said in an early text of Luke, “Man, if you know what you are do- ing, [working on the Sabbath], you are blessed; but if you don’t know, you are cursed & a transgressor of the law.” The great sin against the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, is to be a hypocrite. A sense of prophecy grows naturally out of a concern for truth. Because prophets could see so deeply into their own time, they described a basic & recurrent human pattern that future readers could see as applying to their own time as well.
Perhaps the best way of approaching a parable would be to ask, “If this were a joke, what would be its point? Parables, like jokes, not only amuse us; they also jolt us. They crack our closed minds open. Parables put together 2 things that we never though of relating. Or they place familiar things in a wholly new setting. So we are to let parables move our minds into a new dimension of thought, a light and even graceful seriousness that is for the mind what dancing is for the body.
Jesus said in an early text of Luke, “Man, if you know what you are do- ing, [working on the Sabbath], you are blessed; but if you don’t know, you are cursed & a transgressor of the law.” The great sin against the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth, is to be a hypocrite. A sense of prophecy grows naturally out of a concern for truth. Because prophets could see so deeply into their own time, they described a basic & recurrent human pattern that future readers could see as applying to their own time as well.
In Hebrew thought past, present and future blend and coalesce with a poetic freedom that hard for us to grasp. Hebrew has only completed and un- completed tenses. We would some-times do well to leave out the concept of time entirely and look for the timeless pattern that underlies the verb-tenses of our text. Also in Hebrew, a noun can refer, almost in the same sentence, to an individual and to a nation.
Kingdom of God includes and sums up all the rest. It has paradoxes and is expressed in parables. It includes the law and the prophets. It is both indivi- dual and social. It is past, present and future all in one. It fully embodies cho- senness, servanthood, and relationship to God. Just as Jesus wanted the peo- ple of 1st-century Palestine to live and be the Kingdom of their time, so he wants us to live in and be the Kingdom of our time.
VI, VII. John’s Gospel will go out of this world; it will come into this world from the space beyond it or the depth within it. The word “sign” in John carries the simple meaning of a sign by the roadside; it points to some-thing beyond itself. The “Feeding the 5,000” story is a “sign,” pointing to a meditation on the true Bread of Life. When Jesus says “I am,” we might think of the author as saying, “At this point I looked at him & said in my heart, ‘You are the life—the bread—the truth—the way.” It is a meditation on human nature & on the Pro- logue promise that human beings can, by looking at the full meaning of Jesus, receive “the right to become the children of God.” If we partake of [the great I AM], we,[as Jesus did], will move in freedom & power within our dependence on God.
A musical process works upon the words that appear in the Prologue & again in the final prayer of Jesus in chapter 17. Word … light … life … world … truth … glory … Father … made known in the beginning & at the end they are the same. All that comes in between blends and develops the themes to a point where the words of the ending have acquired overtones and resonances that could only be guessed at in the words of the beginning.
Kingdom of God includes and sums up all the rest. It has paradoxes and is expressed in parables. It includes the law and the prophets. It is both indivi- dual and social. It is past, present and future all in one. It fully embodies cho- senness, servanthood, and relationship to God. Just as Jesus wanted the peo- ple of 1st-century Palestine to live and be the Kingdom of their time, so he wants us to live in and be the Kingdom of our time.
VI, VII. John’s Gospel will go out of this world; it will come into this world from the space beyond it or the depth within it. The word “sign” in John carries the simple meaning of a sign by the roadside; it points to some-thing beyond itself. The “Feeding the 5,000” story is a “sign,” pointing to a meditation on the true Bread of Life. When Jesus says “I am,” we might think of the author as saying, “At this point I looked at him & said in my heart, ‘You are the life—the bread—the truth—the way.” It is a meditation on human nature & on the Pro- logue promise that human beings can, by looking at the full meaning of Jesus, receive “the right to become the children of God.” If we partake of [the great I AM], we,[as Jesus did], will move in freedom & power within our dependence on God.
A musical process works upon the words that appear in the Prologue & again in the final prayer of Jesus in chapter 17. Word … light … life … world … truth … glory … Father … made known in the beginning & at the end they are the same. All that comes in between blends and develops the themes to a point where the words of the ending have acquired overtones and resonances that could only be guessed at in the words of the beginning.
John is the work of a writer whose central image and music come from an inner reality. “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, & we will come to them and make our home in them.” John’s author is mediator for the Mediator. He speaks only the words that he has heard in his heart. And the words which we hear are spirit and life. The Son, in a maturity that makes humankind and God merge into one harmonious whole is that ex- pression, that Word. And that inexpressible process of merging is expressed by and in the Gospel, more and more, as we learn more and more how to hear what they have to say.
APPENDIX/ GROUP PROCEDURES—The leader must hold to the concept that the important elements of membership are the ease and open- ness with which the individuals in the group interact; seek those interested in taking a fresh look at the subject. The leadership of the group can proceed adequately with a learner leader, co-leaders, or rotating leadership. The im- portant things are asking questions and moving the discussion along. Group members should listen to one another and all should read the text as if for the 1st time.
Scheduling a weekly meeting is desirable, if possible. A series of 4 meetings, and no more than 10 is a good idea. Have [open-ended] questions ready. 2 books are very helpful as study texts. Records of the Life of Jesus, by Henry Burton Sharman, is a very helpful parallel-column version of the 1st 3 Gospels. There's also Exploring the Mind of Jesus, by Phelps & Willmott, with its selections from the texts, helpful questions & pointers on group procedure.
As discussion leader your job is to help the group mobilize its own re- sources and direct these to attack the problem at hand. [Things necessary to leadership include]: definite outline and procedure; open-ended questions to meet the developing interest; have members introduce themselves; keep group on topic; move the open-minded, thorough, frank and outspoken discus- sion along without “steering” it towards a pre-determined end; summaries indicating the trend of the discussion, agreements reached, significant differ- ences; encourage all possible points-of-view; limit own talking; allow silence; encourage participation.
The means by which group thinking is carried on is the method of dis- cussion. A discussion is the process whereby a group of individuals seek together for conviction as the best solution to some problem, and where indi- viduals are not sure beforehand what the outcome of the thinking will be. Group members need to: search for a solution, a best answer; listen, don’t plan next input; avoid stereotypes; participate; say real thoughts, not “accep- table” ones; talk to the point; limit preconceptions; talk briefly; be open to evi- dence that will change your mind; wait for “erroneous” opinion to correct it- self, rather than try to correct it yourself.
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220. A Fifth Yoga: the Way of Relationships (by Joseph Havens;
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220. A Fifth Yoga: the Way of Relationships (by Joseph Havens;
1978)
About the Author—Joseph Havens was educated at M.I.T. as an In- dustrial Engineer. WWII terminated that career after 2 years; he served in a Quaker C.O. camp. He continued his radical way of life in a Quaker commune He worked with Blacks, work camp style, in desolate South Chester . He re- ceived a Ph. D. from the University of Chicago Wilming ton College & Carleton College Minnesota
[Introduction]—There are many paths to God. Seers of India
Personal relationships are a means of seeing. Central to the discipline of the 5th Yoga is the fact of Otherness. The matrix of the Yoga of Relationships is our life with others. The more completely we recognize and confront the Otherness of other persons, the more potentially redemptive they become for us. Otherness is known in empathic and confrontational mode.
The more completely we recognize and confront the Otherness of other persons, the more potentially redemptive they become for us.
“To see the failings of our friends, & think hard of them, without opening that which we ought to open, and still carry a face of friendship, this tends to undermine the foundation of true Unity.” John Woolman
Seeing through Another’s Eyes: Empathy—My 1st teacher in the dis- ciplines of the 5th Yoga was Carl R. Rogers, originator of Client-centered The- rapy. Uncompromising honesty, [with oneself and with others] was the most important learning I gained. It is a cornerstone of the 5th Yoga. A specific discipline I learned was getting inside the frame of reference of the other. Ro-gers
“To see the failings of our friends, & think hard of them, without opening that which we ought to open, and still carry a face of friendship, this tends to undermine the foundation of true Unity.” John Woolman
Seeing through Another’s Eyes: Empathy—My 1st teacher in the dis- ciplines of the 5th Yoga was Carl R. Rogers, originator of Client-centered The- rapy. Uncompromising honesty, [with oneself and with others] was the most important learning I gained. It is a cornerstone of the 5th Yoga. A specific discipline I learned was getting inside the frame of reference of the other. Ro-
Taking Back the Projection—Later I was a “religiously-oriented coun- selor” at Carleton College
Across the Mat—In the mid-1960s I became associated with a group of clinicians who introduced me to a whole new dimension of my discipline. [At 1st I felt inferior, but as I broke into the group I found that they were] not so comfortable as I thought. Talking in this group sometimes led to “the hot seat.” I was tortured with wanting to risk being in that position, yet frightened of the unknown things these probers would uncover in me. [As we helped one ano- ther], the love among us grew. Otherness can enter our lives and change us [as we listen] carefully and try to experience the world he or she lives in. [In the 5th Yoga] caring, direct, even angry confrontation can be healing. In the yoga of relationship, growth rests upon being confronted, sometimes against our will, by the new and unexpected dimension of another person’s being.
The 5th Yoga entails perceiving relations as means of true seeing rather than as instruments for our satisfaction. Otherness is more directly & power- fully known in direct confrontation. The aims of confrontation with Otherness are discovery of Truth and growth in love. Confrontation is relevant as a mode of knowing only if the truth contained in it can be heard and assimilated. A caring atmosphere is the element most necessary for this receiving and assi- milating to occur. The controlled professional responsibility and skill of a group leader, along with a serious and responsible attitude from the participants, may provide a non-sentimental kind of caring quite appropriate to the 5th Yoga path; a deep affection and respect may grow out of such a soil.
Confrontation and Caring—In the working party on “The Future of the Quaker Movement” [we built up] good feeling and respect [without dealing with] anxieties, irritations, and latent jealousies. [Without realizing it, I tried to impose my definition of communication on a speaker and I was confronted about it]. Through their mediation I had met an Otherness. Frank criticism had not been programmed into our group, and came only after the deeper springs of our feelings had been opened by the earlier eruptions. The falseness of [avoiding strong emotions] and of programmed love is safer than running the danger of feelings which may be part bad and part good.
We can trust the bad feelings of others first; then, having traversed with them the Valley of the Shadow we can more easily give & receive tenderness. In a confrontation where deep hurt surfaces and tears flow, [there is often] a coming together. It begins to dawn on us that at root our interests are identical, our destinies the same.
Corporate rituals [which follow such moments] seem to allow the uni- versal or transcendent dimension of the event to be recognized and integrated without diluting the particularity of one person’s suffering or another’s need for forgiveness. Quakers have a long tradition of honesty in speech and action. John Woolman said: “To see the failings of our friends, and think hard of them, without opening that which we ought to open, & still carry a face of friendship, this tends to undermine the foundation of true Unity.” Without caring for ano- ther, criticism may simply raise the level of fear & anger, & Truth is shadowed.
For Better or For Worse—Within my marriage my wife Teresina and I have experimented with 5th Yoga disciplines, sometimes explicitly, sometimes unconsciously. Hermann Keyserling’s Book of Marriage expresses the 5th Yoga view of marriage as: “The intention of marriage is not to slacken but to intensify conditions. [From it] regeneration and new growth are made possible... Marri- age is not a fixed state . . . but should be looked upon as a problem that has to be solved ever anew. Marriage is a lifelong pilgrimage.
A long-term partnership usually begins with each partner presenting those facets of him or herself which please the other. [Eventually] hurt & pain shatter the original oneness and the partners are forced to take another look at each other. The more one looks, the more unfathomable becomes the mate we thought we knew.
[After a painful interaction triggered by a household disaster] we decided to re-enact the scene, & when Teresina
[In my marriage I tried to impose my rhythms of energy & activity on her, & she silently accepted it]; it was a hidden collusion we had never identified. I now let her care for her own rest & food needs without my interference. Dealing with the Otherness over the years can unlock the vise-grip which a life long companionship can place on us; real changes are possible. My wife is the Mirror which reveals what I need to know about myself.
The Light that Reveals—[By listening carefully, & with a detached meditative attitude, I noticed] how much competitiveness and tenseness there was in the Meeting for Business. Along with this new seeing came compassion —for all of us caught in the self-concerns which cut us off from one another. It is a part of Quaker genius to provide in worship the opportunity for just this kind of deeper seeing, but we too seldom use it—especially while doing business.
[A meeting was organized to reconcile bitterness & contention between 2 members. The presence of 2 or 3 members while they explored their feelings about one another] acted as a catalyst to better communication; the 2 prin- cipals began really to hear, to take in feelings of the other to which they had been deaf. Most of us are at the stage in our Friends Meeting where we need special situations to make full use of the spiritual potential of our mundane Quakerly affairs. It is an uphill struggle to see our Monthly Meeting procee- dings as anything more than getting the business done. Our present-day Mee- tings & Churches, with all their tensions and blockages, can be arenas for the practice of this particular spiritual path.
Companions on the Way/My Own Otherness—Buddha said: “Having spiritual companions is not half of the spiritual life, Ananda. Having spiritual friends to share one’s journey is the whole of the spiritual life. A similar teaching is evident in Merton’s description of the life of the Desert Fathers. [My wife and I needed] to develop a sub-culture in which confrontation with Otherness is acceptable, a norm.
Temenos, our spiritual retreat, is hidden in the woods a mile from the road, with no electricity or telephone. Each summer, 10 or 12 of us come to- gether for a week of mutual, unprogrammed search. In discussing someone’s dream, someone else ventured that dream might be saying something about what had been going on in our group. [What had been discussed on another occasion as a seeming minor irritation became a deep sharing of hurt]. Some of us became aware once again of how deeply we hurt one another.
At Temenos we intend to experiment with workshops, focused on the 5th Yoga. [On 1 occasion when 2 women role-played men, & 2 men role-played women, some of us were brought] in touch with parts of ourselves that we us- ually repress or relegate to the opposite sex. We envision Temenos as 1 of many cells in a network in which 5th Yoga practice will be nurtured & deve- loped. Many of these already exist—in spiritual communities.
As I move in my own journey into a more meditative phase, I seek con- frontation less than I used to. The stage of the journey which lies before me has to do with meeting and integrating my own inner Othernesses. I am refer- ring to my Shadow, my inner Child, my Anima, etc. I doubt if we can know Otherness racially and deeply within ourselves without dealing with it in en- gagement with other persons. The way of human relatedness described here means contending with the full Over-thereness of other beings.
The 5th Yoga—The concern of this writing has focused on certain as- pects of the spiritual way of human relationships. The 5th Yoga draws heavily on contemporary psychological disciplines which try to foster good communi- cation, creative human relations, supporting & loving communities. It asserts that the religious search is a lifelong one, & it involves disciplines which ap- ply to all the situations & relationships of one’s life & not just specially designa- ted ones.
My experience with the 5th Yoga leads to the conclusion that any at- tempt to make ourselves more wise or more loving soon brings us up against the high walls of our competitiveness, our self-conceit. Transformations do oc- cur. The truth grows on us that we in the hands of powers which we do not understand. What began as an empirical observation evolves into a faith. When the visible fruits of our walking the path seem non-existent, remembe- ring to open ourselves to guidance & support from powers beyond our own can sustain us in persistence & in love.
The other sense in which the 5th Yoga is a spiritual path is its mystical element. [In the episode with my wife], I experienced a sense of burden in my own body. Beginning with attention to the many, we come upon the One. We begin to see in George Fox’s words, “that we are written in one another’s hearts.” The 5th Yoga then, is a contemporary path to Truth. It is a particular talent of the present age which we are meant to multiply.
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