PHP 61-80

     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. 

61. Guilt (by Gerhard Ockel; 1951)

  [About the Author & Pamphlet]—Gerhard Orkel (1894-1983(?)), the     son of a German army surgeon. He received a medical degree in 1920, &     trained for pediatrics & internal medicine. He practiced in Guben for 13 years.     He became a Quaker, after studying depth psychology. Being concerned with     the physical & spiritual needs of Frankfurt's stricken inhabitants, he founded     Friends Service Fellowship there.

            Dr. Orkel delivered a lecture on personal & collective guilt to the Fel-     lowship. This material is the basis of this pamphlet; I have prepared with alte-   rations & adaptations for American use. Using fairy tale & myth & a warm &    understanding optimism, Dr Orkel discovers in guilt's seeming disaster an     aid to the spirit's progress.

            [Introduction]—[Man's mind has long] been perplexed by good & evil     & its attendant cycle of sin, guilt, & redemption. As a doctor, I have become     absorbed in this fascinating problem. I am convinced it has a lot of bearing     on mental health; modern psychology convinced me of this. Crime & punish-    ment, guilt & atonement, are now so much part of us that we no longer ques-    tion; they seem like instincts. Attitudes toward sin & guilt must adapt to evol-     ving levels of moral development. Long-held ideas have penetrated into the   deep strata of subconscious & been packed down. Volcanic forces are nee-   ded to loosen the packed soil & prepare it for new growth.

            2 world wars, with their undreamed of progress in armament tech-    niques, have placed the problem of individual & collective guilt before huma-    nity in its full implication & from a new view-point. Present-day Germany dis-   cusses this problem continually & extensively. Guilt's shadow hangs more     heavily over many people than is realized. We need new patterns of thoughts     to cope with basic questions of community. We need to know our responsi-    bility [toward all others] & examine our relationship to God & [what God's Law     is for human fellowship].

    [Old and New Forms of Prophecy]—Sacred prophetic writings' form     & language are unintelligible to a vast majority. Prophecy's outward forms,     being shaped by the minds and lips of men, are human, transitory, and time-    bound. [Change brings the need for] new interpretation or wise restatement;     revelation never ceases. Prophets have to be unknown in their own country &     time. If they spoke to their own people and time, they would no longer be pro-    phets. It is easy to hastily say that to the priest should go the task of re-inter-   pretation and giving new expression to ancient truth. But by temperament &    training he is a preserver & keeper of the light, a lighthouse keeper, not an     astronomer; he is not well-equipped to observe the rising of a new star.

    It is a fundamental belief of Quakers that it is possible for every man to     hear God's voice, God's whisper. The power to hear this whisper is some-    times embedded far below the level of consciousness; studying psychology     brought this truth alive for me. This modern science obliged me to embrace     the same views proclaimed by Jesus. 

    Had I been questioned as to my religious convictions, I would have     described myself as an atheist whose beliefs were based on Darwin's descent     theory. Struggle for existence was the most essential fact of life; courage in     winning it the supreme virtue. Being neither a spiritual lighthouse-keeper nor     an astronomer, but a mariner who has had to look to the stars, I want to give     the many uprooted seekers of today an answer, new in form but old in sub-    stance, to their question as to guilt and collective guilt. I will speak in the plain     terms of experience.

            The Function of Guilt—Guilt is a very real & disagreeable fact from     which one tries to escape as soon as possible; we want to be absolved. The     Roman Catholic Church has made confession, penance, & absolution intrinsic     elements of religious life. But guilt has its uses. Guilt does for the soul exactly     what pain does for the body. As pain is the reverse of pleasure, so guilt is     love's shadow side. In terms of psychological effect, guilt is love's opposite.     Through happiness, which comes with love, God calls us to develop human  fellowship; through the torturing sense of guilt, God checks us when we take  the wrong turn.

            Guilt is essential to the soul's health. If we lose all guilt the soul's life is endangered. Only love & guilt together can bind spiritual lives to God. Tradi-   tional belief has been that guilt, [humankind's fall], separated us from our Cre-   ator. Experiencing of guilt can have a fruitful aspect; I will use a modern fable    as an illustration. It rose from post-war Germany's ruins. I watched it grow in E. Schueler's mind, who published it in The Swan Grotto.

    Please don't think too hard, but half-close your eyes, just as you used  to at bedtime.

    The Princess and the Toad: A Case History—There was a young     princess who was as good as she was beautiful. She never had a chance to     be anything but good. One day, in terror she fled from her palace, & a foreign     army. As she got ready to wade a stream, a white swan glided from the eve-    ning shadows [and offered a ride]. She got on his back and fell asleep; the     swan took her downstream instead of across.

    She awoke & found herself in a blue grotto opening on a blue lake. A     gold cage hung from the ceiling; in it sat an exquisite bird with a shining jewel     in its beak. Other swans formed a circle with their heads inward. Another     swan brought 2 boys who danced on the swans' backs. The jewel shone         with the gold of sunset in the grotto. A swan said, "You have [just] seen a     world which might be. Now we'll return to the world that is." The princess     begged to stay, & was allowed to, as long as she never peer through a cer-    tain crack, or pick star-flowers.

            One day she heard a pitiful cry coming from the forbidden crack.     Unable to resist, she peeped through the crack. There was a ravine with dark,     turbulent water; a black swan floundered there. He told her he must perish if     she didn't pass to him one of the white star-flowers from the grotto. As she     picked it, the cage fell from the ceiling and the jewel from the bird's beak. A     storm arose, and the beautiful was transformed into a muddy pool with mon-    sters raising their heads out of it. On the slimy shore the 2 boys continued to    dance, without knowing why.

            A fat, [thoroughly ugly] toad came & croaked, "I can explain, if you lift     me onto your lap." She did. "The white swan who brought you was a good    sorcerer who could transform ugliness into beauty. The black swan was his     brother who used his power for evil. Once free, he transformed the grotto into     a dirty pool, the other swans into hideous monsters, & his brother into a  bee-   tle. Only the little boys remained untouched by the good or evil forces. To     repair the damage, she would have to seek the black wizard & take the box    with the beetle in it.

    No flowers bloomed or birds sang at the black wizard's castle; vultures     sat shrieking in grim disorder. The sorcerer sneered, "I like you. You can be     my serving maid." He dragged her in, gave her bad food, & treated her abo-   minably. Although afraid, she resolved to be nice & said, "When he sees that     I do my best, perhaps it will overcome his malice." One day he asked her to    sing him a lullaby. When she sang he had pleasant dreams, and no longer     desired to destroy all that was beautiful; he became, not agreeable, but less     formidable.

            One day she gathered up courage to search him. She set the beetle     free; it turned back into the good wizard, who wanted to destroy his brother.         [She convinced the good wizard to turn his brother into the black swan], & to    let him watch the dance. He joined the swan-circle; after each day's dance a    black feathers turned white. One day the last feather turned white. He said,    "You delivered me because you were kind in spite of my wickedness." He    helped her regain her throne; she ruled well. On certain days, she returned to    the stream, & the white swan carried her to the grotto. Each time she re-   turned, her people noticed she was a little wiser & a little more beautiful.

    Diagnosis—All of us have needed to escape from unbearable situa-    tions into a land of dreams. We laugh at dreamers, either because they   remind us of ourselves, or because we feel comfortably remote, free of their     delusions. But we aren't free of our own. Activity, [especially too much activity]    can become like a dream. When such people break down, doctors say that     they have "[run away]" too hard; life has caught up with them. [They are     absorbed in work, & at times a bit condescending of people absorbed in     something other than their work].

            These people never give, or look outward or move spiritual or moral     muscles. They do useful work, but they don't grow; they are too busy. [Busy     routine is a comfortable cocoon], offering security & nourishment; with no     room for growth or hope. Life, which cares little about comfort & a lot about     growth, rises like an angel with a flaming sword & pricks us awake. Only     while the princess avoids the forbidden crack, dark truth, can she remain in     the grotto's luminous security. She could refuse to listen, or follow worldly     wisdom. This wisdom is totally selfish, & can't afford to see itself. They be-    lieve they see truth; they only see smoke that shields them from it.

    The princess' only impulse is to save the swan. But she is immature, a     spiritual adolescent, a sentimentalist. She doesn't realize that salvation, like     creation & wisdom, are god-like prerogatives; [when we exercise them, we     must pay]. After breaking her promise, [& reaching outside her prescribed     dream world], storm & darkness overcome it. Only the dancing boys remain     of the idyllic dream world. They symbolize human personality's divine kernel,     which exists in everyone, be he saint or sinner, but they cannot explain     themselves.

            Self-knowledge most often takes a toad's bloated, ungainly shape; it     uncovers the catastrophe's structure & discloses a salvation blueprint. The     princess has become conscious of evil, aware of her self. Goodness & beauty     are no longer there to just accept; she must struggle for them. Under patient     suffering, soft, unthinking pity turns to mature love which can see evil & not     hide. Her love turns to pure compassion & persuades the good wizard to not     destroy his brother. She doesn't call him good, nor does she prevent him being  turned into a black swan. The princess regains her kingdom, her balance, &      continues to return to the grotto to refresh her spirit.

    The Nature & Cure of Sin—The grotto the princess returns to is differ-    ent from the first; evil has transformed. God uses sin, guilt, remorse, & spiri-    tual rebirth to draw us up to higher development levels. We too easily accept     the past's "perfection" concept, where "Man is to blame for the world's wret-    chedness." The perfection hypothesis is false. Nothing on earth, [or in] man,    has ever been perfect. St. Paul discovers in Adam, sin & weakness stepping   stones to sainthood. How can we be redeemed without eating forbidden     fruit, or opening Pandora's box [with hope inside]? In a religion of experi-    ence, such as Quakerism, truth's light is a constant & unchanging reality. It  must be sifted through [murky] human understanding, which evolves & be-    comes clearer.

            We must see God, not as punisher, then reconciler, but as the great     creative spirit who works through growth. From within he guides us to a goal     beyond our comprehension, impelling them to new tasks. It is just as well the     princess doesn't understand the prohibition on star-flowers, or she would     never pluck the flower, never know disaster or compassion, never grow up.     But she must pay for maturity. [The difference between] liberal and conserva-    tive, prophet or priest, is the difference between whether the gain or the loss     from change is of greater importance. [One interpretation of the dragon myth   is that] the hero, in overcoming the dragon, frees a land laid waste by the    breath of outworn custom.

    While it appears that we discard the old gods, they only [put on a differ-    ent mask]. Pan becomes devil, nymphs & satyrs become witches & demons,     Halloween apparitions become small boys with bags of corn. Most vices are     virtues which have outgrown their time. They come from impulses which     served us well in the process of racial survival, including drawing a line be-   tween murder & military service, [raising it to the level of] the most honorable   of professions. The term "sin" is useful as long as it does not stand in the   way of getting rid of it. It is easier to do this if we can see its source clearly.

    An American executive was to be promoted to his firm's presidency, by     replacing his superior, a Southern gentleman. Therapy led him to his grand-    father's Civil War rifle, hunting trips with his grandfather, blood-curdling sto-    ries of Sherman's march to the sea, & [an inheritance of a hatred of all Sou-   therners]. Hostility toward his Southern superior was preventing him from ad-   vancing in business. [You would think] his hatred would make him rejoice at    replacing his superior. His guilt at his hostility blocked his path. [Revelation of     guilt opened the way forward]. The virtue of humility or self-knowledge allowed    the healing spirit to enter & do its work.

    The Healing Christ Spirit—Love is the creative and cohesive force     where separate physical & psychic entities (human beings) can merge in marr-    iage, in family, and other higher, more complex forms of community. Commu-    nity's difficulties and tensions are made bearable by it. Rudimentary phases of     it are apparent among other mammals. We are both the imperfect product of    evolution and the germ cell of its future development.

    Human consciousness' function has greatly accelerated. How has     power to love kept pace with the accelerated functioning of human con-   sciousness? Problems of life & the solutions center in the balanced growth        of inner consciousness & compassion. We balance between saintly, [hope-    less  resignation], & a prophet's zealous lack of charity. This balance in Jesus'     personality produced radiance which has pierced 2,000 years of darkness.     Christ's Spirit is love's spirit, born when the idea of community first arose in     God's mind. Holy spirit seeks potential for selfless love inherent in everyone,     & quickens the soul to rebirth [i.e. George Fox's "Christ within"]. Calvinists left     humankind with the condemnation of total & inevitable depravity & only vica-    rious atonement.

    The instinctive appetite for self-assertion was God-created in natural     opposition to selfless love, & is likewise a son of God. It becomes a devil only     when it ceases to be a necessity, when with sufficient consciousness one        sees the ethical "shape" of things & makes ones a choice between 2 powers.    Both self-assertion & selfless love come from God & both are necessary for     human life's evolution. The further apart they are as poles of an ellipse, the         more the ellipse is a distorted grimace. The closer they are, the more the         ellipse approaches a circle.

    Jesus' poles of self-assertion & selfless love, were always close toge-    ther during his ministry. In this 2-pole image, Jesus sits on God's right hand, &    the ancient, fallen angel sits on God's left; he is our past's shadow; it doesn't     stay in the past. We are called on to make the Christ spirit the ruling passion   of our lives, [as Jesus did]. The spirit of selfless love enters our fairy tale        when  it awakens in the princess. We can't create Christ spirit, nor can we    summon it.  We can only open our hearts to receive it. We must be aware of    outer, worldly evil, & inner, spiritual evil. We must meet evil with both hands     outstretched & draw it within the circle of light to transform it.

    Epidemic Guilt—A saved individual won't be left alone to enjoy it. Our     increasing consciousness is spinning its way up evolution's spiral into a new     phase of human relation. A communal sense of guilt isn't confined to the fa-       mily. A ruler's misdeeds can humiliate a nation. Given our Nazi leaders' con-    duct, it isn't surprising that Germany's sense of guilt has become epidemic.      You must come to realize guilt's meaning, for it is a phase of moral growth,     which is the law of life. Germany didn't move forward, we turned back to an     outworn deity akin to Deuteronomy's God, whose fairness & decency was nar-    rowly focused & exclusive. We had outgrown this God.

            I met scarcely anyone who wasn't disgusted with Goebbels' Jewish     pogroms & propaganda which accompanied it. Germans aren't more sus-   ceptible to evil than others. [We longed for order & instead] got that perversion  of authority which is tyranny, made more effective through the German mind's     methodical channels. Few applauded Goebbel's proclamation, but under     Hitler's system few dared raise a voice against it. [In viewing Europe as a     body], Nazi monsters were seen as an abscess on Europe's body, felt     throughout the whole though more acutely in the parts nearest the original   infection. [When viewed from a distant continent, the Nazis' guilt is seen as a     European problem, not just a German problem]. Actually, the shadow has     fallen on the entire western world.

    There are 2 errors which most of us make when accused of a crime of     which we are guilty: we make excuses for ourselves; we try to include our     accusers in our guilt [i.e we blamed the rest of Europe for continuing to do     business with us, having diplomatic relations with us, and being fearful]. While     these arguments are logical, they were being used as an evasion. The mass     murder of Russian prisoners, the slaughter of millions of Jews took place.     These crimes were committed by us. Our concern must be with our guilt. our     own change of heart.

           A Cure in Fellowship—The returning war prisoners reminded us of     work with Jews, Communists & Socialists during 1933-39. We tried especially     working with those showing signs of inner change. American Friends sent a     letter confessing their shared guilt as a link with us. Collective assumption of    guilt, broaching it to others who were more deeply involved in it than us,    seems to me the only constructive method of dealing with the problem. Our     ecumenical Service Fellowship shared the Quaker principles of faith in the    divine spark in every human being, & a belief that nonviolent & tolerant reve-    rence for life is the sustaining force in human community.

            We never ask an applicant whether they were a Nazi party member.     Even as we reject intolerance & misuse of power, we believe to err is human.     Good & evil are present in all. One who feels one is without sin among us is     likely to be lacking in self-criticism. The sum of petty misdeeds can be seen     daily in ruined homes & cities all over the world. We are bound by the guilt in     each of us to the humankind's collective guilt. We will join with all who have     been transformed by knowledge of guilt. It will not matter how much or little     each has sinned.

    Guilt has been an inner catastrophe which, met on the spirit's frontier,     serves as stepping stone to a higher level. We perceive yesterday's mistakes,     & foresee tomorrow's potential. We pay a heavy price, but out of them grows     the reborn soul, [where joy is easier to find]. In the light of increasing consci-   ousness, may we build a new city whose walls will enclose us all. Evolution's     long struggle has been a spiritual winnowing of the fit & "No one, having put     his hand to the plough, & looking back, is fit for God's kingdom." [Jesus] Let     us set to work.

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62. Toward Undiscovered Ends [Friends and Russia for 300 years] 

(by Anna Cox Brinton; 1951)

    About the Author—Howard & Anna Brinton arrived at Pendle Hill in the  summer of 1936 with solid academic achievement at the colleges of Mills &    Earlham, & became co-directors of a new sort of education enterprise, a     Quaker fusion of school and community. They retired in the 1950s & lived on     campus as Directors Emeriti. Anna died in 1969; Howard continued to serve     by lecturing, writing, and simply being; he died in 1973.

    "Let all nations hear the sound by word or writing. Spare no place,     spare no tongue nor pen, be obedient to the Lord God; go through the work;     be valiant for Truth upon earth; ... Be ...examples in all countries, places,     islands, nations, wherever you come, that your carriage & life may preach     among all sorts of people, & to them; then you will come to walk cheerfully     over the world, answering that of God in every one.     GEORGE FOX, 1656

            [Introduction]—[What have Friends done in response to political     & humanitarian crises in Russia for 300 years (1656-1951)]? 7 Friends     went to Moscow this year (1951). Besides the Czar & nobility of Muscovy, Fox     wrote to other rulers: "Ambition, pride, loftiness & haughtiness, stop the ear     from hearing the Lord ... hearing the poor's cry ... He that regards not the poor     regards not his Maker ... [They] that would be honored in the hearts of all peo-    ple must answer the principle of God in all people ... with justice, truth ... pati-    ence and mercy."

            Friends have selflessly volunteered in every generation since 1656 to     go to worldwide nobility, & to simple people. It was obedience to an inward     requirement clearly felt & affirmed by meeting members. What they can do as    outsiders is to bear witness to a principle, to infuse confidence in sympathe-    tic locals and help honest folk of various political parties to find and associate  with one another. It is always easier to see next steps in rehab than it is to do  away with  internal causes of people's troubles [i.e.] rivalry, poverty, & fear.    Quaker workers tend to go where others aren't inclined to go, to espouse    unpopular causes, to labor in enemy countries.

    The essential prerequisite is for each individual to keep one's mind     open to Divine Inspiration, cultivate an obedient will, & possess a disciplined   character & mental gifts sufficient to stand the strain. Friends at home uphold     those whom they have liberated for service away from home, with sympathy,     prayer, & material support. Friends do not indoctrinate. The aim is to approach  persons in authority as responsible human beings whose decisions are as-    sumed to be on moral grounds, and to say, "See for yourself that the thing is     good." They serve as catalytic agents in very complicated circumstances.

    Where special, self-serving interests are involved Friends establish     contact with persons of high ideals and acquaint them with one another. A     misunderstood, distrusted Quaker worker might lose his life, or more likely be     thrown in jail. George Fox wrote: "Though ye haven't a foot of ground to stand     on, yet ye have the power of God to skip & leap in." [Friends point, not to the     right action], but to the spirit of Truth in all, trusting that to make known what     ought to be done. George Fox wrote to Alexis, Emperor of Muscovia in 1656,     and wrote to others encouraging them to go to Russia; he wrote again to the      Czar in 1661. If it was like other letters, it contained a resounding call to come  out of cruelty and oppression into the "mystery of godliness."

    This is still the message of the Society of Friends to rulers & ruled,      wise & simple, rich & poor, underdeveloped & over-mechanized. There is a     steady realization that Friends must keep within the limit of their abilities &     resources, & not overreach. Mind your measure; act with your measure;     improve your measure. Friends generally go first to those in authority, then to     forgotten sufferers, & the former are drawn into a sense of responsibility for        the latter.  Quaker workers establish contact across barriers, stimulate sym-    pathy, and promote peace.

                                            1

   Czars at Meeting—Friends have related in journals and letters how 3     Czars & their courtiers attended Quaker meetings. Peter the Great visited the     meeting in Grace-Church Street, London in 1697. Thomas Story reports the     preaching of Robert Haddock on Naaman the Captain general, namely that:     

"The nations of this world, being defiled and distempered as with a                   leprosy of sin and uncleanness, not cure or help could be found, until                the Almighty ... sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world, to die for                         man ...  through whom also he hath sent forth his divine Light ... upon                 all.    [Humankind], in order for the completing of that cure ... Thou art                 not too great to make use of the means offered by the Almighty for thy                 healing and restoration. [The people crowded around the Czar too                        much, so] he retired on a sudden, along with his Company before the                 Meeting was over ..."

    In 1712, the Czar of Muscovy (Peter), inquired at Friederickstadt in     Holstein whether Quakers were there. When he discover that troops were     quartered at the meeting-place, he sent an order that the troops be put out, &     gave notice to Friends "that if they would appoint their meeting, he would     come to it ". Jacob Hagen & Philip Defair had their meeting at the 2nd hour     after noon; to which the Czar came [with his Company] ... 

    Philip preached the doctrine of Truth ... The Czar commended what he     had heard, saying that whoever could live according to that doctrine would be     happy ... A Friend presented him with Robert Barclay's Catechism & Apology      in Dutch, he said he would translate them into his own language." Princess     Daschaw attended a Friends Meeting in 1770 and said that silence might well     be the best way of adoring the Most High.

            In 1814, William Allen did much of the arranging for Czar Alexander I to     visit a meeting & a Quaker family in London. Allen rode with the ambassador,     Count Lieven and met the Czar at the meeting at Martin's Lane. A precious     degree of solemnity covered the meeting. The Emperor, 2 Dukes, and the     Count, sat in seats fronting the meeting. The Duchess sat in the first cross     form on the woman's side. Allen sat opposite the Emperor. 

            The Emperor & the whole part conducted themselves with great seri-    ousness. The meeting remained in silence about a quarter-hour. Richard     Phillips then stood up with "a short but acceptable address." John Wilkinson     explained the effects of vital religion, & the nature of true worship, by applying     the text, "He is their strength & shield." John Bell uttered a few sentences, &     John Wilkinson concluded in supplication. The Quaker family the Czar visited    was one he just happened to pass along the way, Nathaniel Rickman's house     and family. 

            Eliza Gurney twice acted upon concerns which led to religious oppor-    tunities (private meetings) with the Dowager Empress of Russia. Alexander &     Nicholas were weak and unable to control conditions in their own country, but     they were appealed to by sound principles. Friends did not give up trying to     improve the worst; having the ruler's sympathy was a help. Where conditions     were intolerable they tried to find people of influence and ability who were in a     position to improve the situation.

             A Quaker Agriculturalist—Daniel Wheeler (1771-1840) was an     orphan, & began a 12-year work history at 12, that spanned the merchant     marine, Royal Navy, & the army, from the seas to Holland to the West Indies.     At 24, he quit the army, joined the Society of Friends, & after 20 years became  a recorded minister. He enjoyed his career in the seed trade, with its sideline     of agriculture. After marrying, Daniel Wheeler retired to a "smaller compass,"  under a sense that some special work was required of him; he stood "conti-    nually upon the watch-tower" to discover it. He had a feeling it would be St.     Petersburg.

            He offered himself to undertake the management of an agricultural     experiment for Alexander I. His interview with Prince Galitzin began with a     religious silence. The Prince said: "Our languages are different, but the lan-    guage of the Spirit is the same." Travel in Russia was hazardous, & life     was rugged. God made them all willing for the special work which was to     contribute to the happiness of Russia's "numerous inhabitants." From 1818-    32, Daniel Wheeler developed an elaborate & successful agricultural project;     soldiers dug drains. A model village was built in which the householders each     had the use of a plot of ground; free villages were not allowed.

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             At the time of Wheeler's departure in 1832, about 5,000 English acres     were in full cultivation. About 2,700 more acres had been drained. Various     implements & methods unfamiliar to Russia had been used. Wheeler writes:     "A host of servants & military find me strange or even something other than     human ... Some minds are led to consider & inquire into our motives differing     so widely from the rest of humankind ... [or even] lament that a larger portion     of humankind don't follow our example." Wheeler offered [a lot of] help to    religious visitors during his time in backing their efforts & furnishing letters &  documents. He said: "Often is desire breathed that cultivation in their hearts     ... may abundantly surpass and excel, that of the wastes by which we are     surrounded."

            Wheeler combined powerful religious convictions with a remarkable     administrative & diplomatic skill. [During this time Wheeler didn't] undertake     any extensive religious labors. After 14 years, he gave up his superinten-    dence of the agricultural experiment in Russia to return to England, & later     make a circuit of Rio, Australia, Tahiti & Hawaii. His family & a few English       workers stayed on in Russia. Wheeler went back for short visits.

    Religious Visitors with Social Concerns—Prince Galitzin was very     curious & asked many questions about Quakerism. Wheeler said: "I found my     time was come, & was enabled to declare to him the everlasting foundation."     Prince Galitzin, the Emperor & a number of those about him were favorably     predisposed for the religious visits of Stephen Grellet & William Allen in 1818-    19, & Thomas Shillitoe in 1825. Stephen Grellet (1773-1855), born in France,    a man of keen intellect, instinctive sympathy, was uniquely qualified to be      a Quaker ambassador to Europe. He was concerned for international arbi-    tration, public education, slaves, prisoners, the sick, and the afflicted. In Rus-    sia, he performed person-to-person service.

    William Allen's (1770-1843) foremost interests were religion & the     results of religion in life, through self-help projects and popular education.     Before going to Russia, he prepared a report on educating the poorest     classes. This interest in the Russians paved the way for Allen's decision to     accept Stephen Grellet's invitation to come with him to Russia. Allen writes:       "[There was] a special Meeting for Sufferings, in which S. Grellet opened   his concern in a very weighty manner ... I stood up & informed Friends that I     had for along time gradually felt a concern coming upon me to join our dear     Friend ... & it was now settled upon my mind as a matter of duty ... A minute    was made accordingly ... There was something of the Lord's presence to be    comfortably felt."

    The 2 Friends reached St. Petersburg in November 1818; they had     met the Czar 4 years before, & met David Wheeler in Russia. The 2 Friends     explained that their motive in coming was "a sense of religious duty laid upon     us by the Great Parent of the human family & a strong desire to promote the  general welfare of humankind. Permission was obtained to visit public insti-    tutions, prison, schools and hospitals. Education for girls was particularly     backward, except for aristocratic women. Princess Metchersky was trans-    lating several Quaker publications, including 2 of Allen's pamphlets "into     common Russ."

They visited 9 prisons that were similar to those in New York & London.     [They were able to alter a few of the harsher conditions they found]. The Czar     asked that in the course of their travels they should communicate directly to     him  whatever they might notice in prisons or other places that they might     think proper to bring before him. A teacher-training program in the Lancas-    trian system for soldiers interested them even more than the jails.

    [Interacting with Clergy and Others]—The jealousy of the clergy     had to be reckoned with, so they decided to stick to the simple language of     Scripture. They prepared a series of lessons with which Prince Galitzen and     the Emperor were highly delighted; it made coming to Russia worthwhile. Dr.     Paterson of the Bible Society assured that the way was not open earlier for     improvement either in prisons or schools. With the Metropolitan [i.e. head of     the Greek Church] & the Bishop in charge of clergy education, Grellet & Allen  established a delightful friendship, but had to deal with the argument that     "learning, being an instrument of power, should be kept from the poor lest they  make bad use of it." Despite differing outward styles, each of these 4 devout     Christian was in thorough sympathy with the spiritual aspirations of the others.

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            The 2 Quakers traveled from St. Petersburg to Moscow by a 3-horse     sledge. Allen noted the peasants' communal spirit. They saw grand monaste-    ries lifting deep blue domes with golden stars against the pale winter sky.     They tried to initiate improvements, expressing caution against undertaking     too much, so as to avoid discouragement. Among Orthodox, Catholics, Arme-    nians, Molokans, Mennonites, Doukhobors, Jews & Mohammedans, they had     long, intimate conversation with spiritually minded persons of tender consci-    ence who believed there is "a secret influence of God's Spirit in man's heart."     The Archbishop of Georgia said they "ought to go to Georgia, [&] find some     there like the salt of the earth, for whose sake the nations weren't destroyed." 

            They met with aristocracy & were treated as "objects of no common     curiosity" & were "uniformly treated with respect & attention." They began     making a social survey. Occasionally the report got out that they were the     Emperor's spies. "Such was the mass of corruption, that those concerned in it     are alarmed at any prospect of ... investigation." They found "A Greek Bishop     at Janina (Albania) who had a copy of Barclay's Apology in Latin. He had     translated it into Greek & sent copies to Tiflis (Russian Caucasus). [Bishops     there] translated some of it on Divine Worship &Ministry into Arabic. Some of     these were circulated both in Egypt and Armenia."

    [Thomas Shillitoe (1754-1836)]—When Schillitoe got to St. Peters-    burg in 1824 at the age of 70, he found a different situation. [Most books] &    the Bible Society itself were proscribed. He came on inward leading, the pre-       cise requirement & outcome of which he didn't know, & he couldn't advance     his own reason. He waited, attentive to daily devotions, gradually familiari-     zing himself with the situation. He felt a need "to know every inch of ground       I am to travel ... before one step is taken in the line of apprehended duty ...       [while] ruminating on the seemingly useless manner in which I spend my     time."     

    "Satan [tempted me] to condemn myself ... With respect to my not     being engaged in much religious service at present, whilst a cloud rests ... on     the tabernacle, it must be unsafe for me to go forth." He saw his situation as     "There is no truth, mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land; by swearing,     lying, killing, stealing, & adultery, they break out; blood toucheth blood" (Ho-    sea 14: 1, 2).

            After a flood inundated city & country with great loss of life & property,     his waiting ended. He saw Prince Galitzin & met with the Emperor twice. He     addressed an appeal to English people in Russia, but though many were     eager hearers of the word, they appeared to be "but slothful doers of it" &     stumbling blocks in the way of honest inquirers. He saw the Emperor one     evening. Alexander inquired after Stephen Grellet, William Allen, & Daniel     Wheeler. Shillitoe ask to publish an appeal to the Russian people on the     abuse of holidays, especially First Day. The Czar confessed to feeling he had     "little power for doing what I see to be right for me to do." He asked for a    "quiet  sitting together." In their 2nd interview, Shillitoe stressed problems he     hadn't brought up before: bondage of peasants and punishments by flogging.

            He visited 2 prisons for men & one for women. He saw 15 convicts     being marched to Siberia, a year's journey at 15 miles a day; he gave one a     New Testament, & spoke a few sentences to the rest. He went by sledge with     Wheeler to Riga. Moving forward to the present, Dr. Kathleen Lonsdale, an     experienced prison visitor, & other members of the Quaker mission to the     USSR, visited a Moscow prison. In the factory attached to it prisoners were     paid at normal rates. 15% of their earnings went to maintenance & 15% into     compulsory savings. Professor Lonsdale said she believed the object of     Russian prisons was to reform the prisoners.

            Political Quakers and Russia—Both William Penn and John Bellers     raised their voices for Russia in their plans for the peace of Europe. Bellers     wrote: "The Muscovites are Christians and the Mahometans men, & have the     same faculties & reasons as other men ... To beat their brains out to put sense    into them is a great mistake, and would leave Europe too much in a state of     war." John Bellers is honored in present-day Russian school books for his     ideas on social reform, which were precursors to Karl Marx.

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            John Bright worked to avert the Crimean War. Bright wasn't so much     against war in general, as he was against every war in particular, & for peace     on grounds common to all thoughtful people through promoting understanding     of the facts through his powerful oratory. John Bright wrote: "We to protest the     maintenance of great armaments in peace; the spirit which is not only willing     but eager for war; the mischievous policy of interfering with the internal         affairs of other countries. You say you are a Christian nation ... Is your profes-    sion a dream?

    Early in 1854, the Meeting for Sufferings drew up a religious appeal to     the Czar: "[We do not] presume to offer any opinion upon the question now at     issue between the Imperial Government of Russia and that of any other coun-    try ... We implore [the Divine], by whom 'kings reign & princes decree justice'  so to influence thy heart and to direct thy councils at this momentous crisis,     that thou mayest practically exhibit ... the efficacy of the Gospel of Christ, ...     [especially] His command, 'Love your enemies." In St. Petersburg, after the     address had been read, Joseph Sturge spoke, confining himself to the moral   and religious aspects of the question, & focusing on the greatest sufferers in      the war, the innocent men with their wives and children.

           The Czar made a dignified reply, saying he abhorred war & didn't seek     to ruin Turkey. They were encouraged to visit the Czar's daughter; it proved to     be an icy occasion, as there was news from England of increased armaments     & [warlike] speeches in the House of Commons. 6 weeks later, England     declared war. The Meeting for Suffering issued a public appeal to the people    of England, the kernel of which was "That which is morally and religiously    wrong cannot be politically right."

            Joseph Sturge, although an individual with an unpopular opinion,     helped to get a provision urging the Paris Treaty's signers to seek arbitration     before [armed conflict]; it helped avoid conflict between England & Russia in    1877. Instead of national fleets, John Bright suggested a joint arrangement     "to supply the sea with sufficient sailing & armed police ... to keep peace."     The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Society of Friends in 1947. The     American Friends Service Committee Board allocated its ½ of the prize to     improving relations with Russia. Opportunity for continued conversations with      Russian representatives result from contact with Quaker non-governmental     representatives at the UN Assembly.

           Friends and the Pacifist Sects—Molokans, Mennonites, & Doukho-    bors of Russia have customs like those of Friends. Molokans have silent     waiting for Divine worship, with some speaking under the Spirit's influence.     They agree with Quakers on sacraments & oaths. They turn the other cheek    & patiently bear the loss of property. Their young men in the army work    without  having to bear arms. Mennonites refuse to take part in war, & have     unpaid ministers. 

            The Doukhobors were thoroughly Russian; they have been cruelly     treated. Their patriarchs have great authority and often reach a very old age.     Their people aren't allowed Bibles. They appeared accustomed to stripping off    their clothing as a testimony to the naked truth. [Forced relocation & efforts to     make them conform] continued in 1842 for about ½ a century; their leaders     were banished to the far north.
           In 1892, Joseph Neave felt a distinct call to go to Russia; John Bellows     agreed to accompany him. John Bellow wrote: "The wisest, cleverest, & best     man going partly by Divine guidance and partly stepping before it by his own     judgment, would have failed utterly ... Great and mightily changes will come in     this land for release ... from cruel suffering & bondage, but the time is hidden  from us ... I cannot ... make myself spiritually anything else than the strange     compound of inconsistencies I have been ... If I'm sent to the harvest-field as     a child to glean where [powerful Quakers] reaped, I must do the best I can." 

            These men also found sympathetic nobility. With Count Tolstoy these     2 Friends felt real unity & he with them. John disapproved of using the pro-    ceeds from one of Tolstoy's book to defray the cost of moving the Doukhobors    to Canada, but despite the strain this disagreement caused, his friendship     with Tolstoy stood the strain, a credit to both.

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            Joseph Neaves & John Bellows reach Trans-Caucasus by train, greatly  relishing the camels, mosques and ancient ruins, and the Russians, Tartars,     Armenians, Georgians, Turks and Germans they saw. 60 languages were     spoken in the Caucasus. Even without police or trained professionals the     Doukhobors managed better than their neighbors. Pacifism, vegetarianism &    early-Christian style Communism were their essential tenets. John Bellows     wrote: "In their faithfulness to the one point that has been shown them, the     duty  of loving all men, they have attained a high degree of perfection." Their     mass migration to Canada in 1898 was successfully completed with the help    of Friends in England and America, and of sympathizers in Russia.

            Relief and Reconstruction—The first Quaker relief mission to Russia     by Joseph Sturge, went in 1856, to estimate damage done to fishing villages  along the coast of Finland, which then belonged to Russia. England's good     name was seriously injured when the Fleet bombarded defenseless Finnish     people [when they could not find any Russian ships]. The 1856 Meeting for     Suffering received Sturge's moderate statement of loss arrived at in consul-    tation with local Finnish committees; Sturge returned with a reconciling mes-    sage and reparations. In 1891, a substantial relief project was carried out     over a wide area of famine-struck Russia.
            After [Russia's part in WWI (1916)], in no country were conditions so     severe as they were in Russia. 2,500,000 refugees were then thought to be in     western Russia, displaced from a less severe climate & a higher standard of     living. Within months this number trebled, becoming something like 12 million.   Psychologically, work was the primary need; a happy, idle refugee was a con-    tradiction in terms. 

            When 6 American women joined the British in 1917, food was the prime  need. The Russian Revolution was on, & the Russians were taking responsi-    bility for children's colonies & homes for orphans. The civil war, lack of funds        & supplies, & being unable to bring in new recruits, caused the unit to with-   draw after turning work over to the Russians. The last members worked their    way east, ending up at Vladivostok, where they gave what help they could    under the Red Cross.

            Though they left the field, these workers did not consider the mission     accomplished. The Quakers tried from various angles to reenter Russia &     finally in 1920, the work was reopened. Children's homes in the grand old    aristocracy's houses gave Quaker workers "the ... experience of witnessing         a great experiment." Famine was followed by pestilence. There was an acute   need for typhus control. The American Relief Administration (ARA) undertook   to serve in Russia on behalf of the US. English & Americans had to work   separately, because of a Congressional stipulation that supplies must be      distributed by Americans.

            In spite of free port service, transportation, storage & distribution, com-    munications, mechanics & motor supplies, relief distribution was intensely     slow & difficult. For every 100 lbs. Of food that left England & America, 99 lbs.     reached their destination in Russia. One father was informed that only or-   phans could be fed. He said, "Then they shall be orphans." There was typhus,     malaria, cholera, weakened manpower, loss of draft animals. Freight cars   were jammed with refugees attempting to return home. 

            Some Russian mothers wrote: "We who are destined to die this winter     from starvation & disease, implore the people of the world to take our children     from us that the innocent won't share our horrible fate ... In the name of those    still living, we beseech you." The relief worked & gave way to reconstruction   from 1923-1931, several members of the Friends' unit helped in the Soviet    government's public health program. The 1st Russian manual for nurses was    produced with the help of an American Committee worker who had come with    the 1st party from the US & was still serving in Moscow.

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           Harry Timbres & his wife had been Service Committee workers in     Poland & Russia. Harry had first a tourist visa & then got a permanent visa. He    & his family went first to Moscow & then to a village in a remote forest in the     Volga Valley to work in a hospital; his wife Rebecca served as a nurse. [They    took an active part in the local culture & "citizenship training." Most of their    money was spent on food, & such comforts as they had were thoroughly     enjoyed. 

            They felt "the old Russian shiftlessness and procrastination and the     new Russian passion for achievement" influencing every aspect of their lives.     Rebecca called it "patience in the present, faith in the future, joy in the doing."     Harry was exhilarated by the new-found hope of the masses, & depressed by     the rumblings of war. A year after he started, Dr. Timbres died of typhus; his     family returned to America. In 1948, the AFSC sent 4,000 vials of streptomycin  to Russia, where it was given to children in tuberculosis hospitals.
            Publications in Russian; Pamphlets about the East-West Tension    London YM's To All Men (1919), Christian Life, Faith & Thought (1920's), &     Goodwill (1950) were distributed in Russia. Henry Hodgkin's Pendle Hill class     put together Seeing Ourselves Through Russia & published it in 1932. The US  & the Soviet Union: Some Quaker Proposals for Peace (1949) was put toge-    ther by the AFSC; 65,000 copies were made. 

            They consulted with "anybody & everybody who had anything to offer towards a permanent & honorable peace. They believed that the Russians    might change their fundamental attitude to the West & accept a future in which both systems lived side by side... To make the transition as soon as possible from hate to tolerance, they urged the US to take the lead ..." A Russian official  said that his government considered the Quaker proposals very business-like.
            On a Sunday in April 1951, AFSC published a full-page ad called "A     Time for Greatness" or Steps to Peace. The steps were: a new kind of negoti-   ation; strengthening the UN as a peace-making agency; a new approach to     disarmament; financial & technical assistance to depressed and underdeve-    loped areas. 95,000 copies of Steps to Peace have been distributed. It calls    the attention of diplomats & others to the Quaker concern for reconciliation, to    the Quaker belief that differences in conviction & point of view needn't lead to     war.

            The Mission to Moscow, 1951—The June 1951 London Meeting for     Sufferings announced acceptance of an invitation from the Soviet Peace     Committee for a visit of Friends to the Soviet Union. Over 300 years of Quaker  history, our Discipline has asked the perennial question: Where differences     arise, are endeavors made speedily to end them? How can an ending of     differences be applied to groups of nations? 

            London YM chose a party of 7 to go to Moscow. The daily press of     England and America reported at length the 3½ hour interview with the Deputy  Foreign Minister, Jacob Malik, who reiterated the 5 points of the Soviet peace  plan: cooperation between the Great Powers to conclude a Pact of Peace;     reduction of arms and prohibition of atomic weapons; carrying out the Potsdam  decisions on the German question; concluding peace settlements with Ger-    many and Japan; developing trade and economic relations between all     countries.
            Among those who went was Leslie Metcalf, who helped set up a great     electrical installation in Russia 25 years ago. The others were: Gerald Bailey;     Margaret Backhouse; Paul Cadbury; Dr. Mildred Creak; Frank Edmead; &     Kathleen Lonsdale. This group reported to the Meeting for Suffering: "We are     confident our visit was abundantly justified ... Direct personal contact between     British Friends & persons of standing in the Soviet Union was God's purpose     &  [will] promote some mutual understanding & friendship between peoples     which God's peace demands." 

            They recommended: "making a reality of Christian & democratic profes-sions; rejecting wrong or misguided Soviet policy & recognizing the good & the progress in that same policy; avoid the same practices we deplore in them; re-  sisting "skepticism" of any Soviet peace declarations & approaches."

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           They got to see monuments of the Russian past & achievements of the Soviet present, the notable results of government planning in modernizing "a    still relatively primitive country." They attended a week-night service in the    Baptist Church in Moscow. Leslie Metcalf spoke briefly in Russian, & read London YM's Goodwill message, then asked all to stand "in silent intercession before God that God's peace might come into the world." 

            They conferred with dignitaries of the Russian Orthodox Communion     by whom they were received in Christian love. They protested to newspaper     editors against "embittering propaganda"; they visited a Chinese & an Indian     diplomat. Friends everywhere must dedicate themselves to reconciliation in     this gravely divided world. The Quaker's lifeblood is setting aside claims of     home & business, trusting in the undiscovered ends [& fruits of their labors].

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63.  Ninth Hour (by Gilbert Kilpack; 1951)

            About the Author—Gilbert Kilpack (1914-99) was born & raised in     Portland, Oregon. He did undergraduate work at the University of Oregon &     received an M.A. degree from Oberlin College in Christian Philosophy. He     spent 5 years as Stony Run Friends Meeting's (Baltimore) executive secretary.  He joined Pendle Hill's staff in '48, becoming Director of Studies in '54. He      gave Philadelphia Young Friends Movement’s Wm. Penn Lecture in '46, The    City of God & City of Man, which addressed issues raised by the Hiroshima         & Nagasaki bombings.

       [Introduction]—Out of the weak things of this world God brings forth     the mighty, out of the despised things, the magnificent & out of darkness light.   God so love the world that he hid his son’s last hours [from the 6^th to the 9^th],      in darkness.  God knew people would never find God’s son except in dark-       ness. Henceforth it isn't Judas treading alone in the night but councils, chur-    ches, factories, philosophies, that come with a betraying kiss.  The darkness        of the 9^th hour is become the darkness of our century.  We are a 9^th hour     people, a 9^th hour civilization and all our mighty generators cannot dispel the     darkness.   On what shall we meditate and how shall we pray in this our    9^th hour?  [The following] is what I have thought.

           While the old world dies, and with it all self-sufficient creation, grant us,     Almighty One, patience to wait & to know it’s the travail of a new birth, a new     dawn, in the glory of which a new people shall inherit the earth.   

    Gilbert Kilpack

       [My Call to Witness]—[I was ashamed to speak my witness in the     shadow of]  St. Paul, St. Francis, George Fox, Pascal, John Woolman,     Dostoievsky.  There came a rebuke:  You shall not hold a candle to Dante, but     you shall carry a light in your own dark times.  I am come to teach my people     & until the last soul is perfected, my witnesses are all too few.  There are     some whom I'm not intended to reach, that must be; someone else has been  given the light to fill their need.  I beg to be heard as a poor creature, not that    I may be seen humble, but that the Lord may be seen magnificent.  The dan-    gers of enthusiasm are, I think not half so damning as that calculating cau-    tion which binds & gags a host of persons of otherwise good intentions. 

       God has a word for me alone, a word no other man can utter.  So he     has for every one that ever breathed, a word direct and pure that cannot well      fit [anyone else].  In the end I must go forward with my word though it be     against the whole world, for it is not my word, but his.  I must testify to the     root of all evil, the sorrows of our times, to the torment of disbelief, to the joy     of finding a community of the Lord, and eternal truths which sustain us even     in our darkness.  There is a systematic logical ordering of beliefs, but there is    another order which goes beyond all reasoning and this I would call the orde-   ring of the holy spirit.  We must go back to [the 9^th hour] of an ancient scandal    to straighten out our logic.     

       [Heirs to the Cross]—The Jews and Romans barbarously nailed     Jesus to a cross.  Jesus was of the line of prophets, and prophets have been     outrageously disrespectful of ancient customs and have always rebelled     against human authority, never content to conduct themselves properly.  

       His death was a great stumbling block to the world's convincement .  There have always been persons who perhaps with fine intentions rushed     forward to remove the stumbling block, to hide all suggestions of scandal, [to     make Jesus respectable.]  In doing so they lead others into greater darkness.  

       This scandalous proceeding was God’s entrance into a dark world.      Henceforth the cross is become the symbol of God’s love to all & everyone’s     gateway into the kingdom.  The drama of Golgotha must be reenacted within     each of us.  We must suffer the humiliation of the worlds’ bad opinion of us &    our self-sufficiency's crucifixion.  What burden can be compared with that     of those who bear their [self-made] crosses alone?  That is, those who       live their life alone.    

       The cross in that darkness is the scandal by which God found entrance  into his own world, but God has sworn that we shall not be saved against our  will; we must add our wounds to his before the 9^th hour is finished.  To post-    pone the cross to a more advantageous time is to deny it altogether.  Isn't the  denier still weeping?  There is yet time to join our tears with his.  It is not so     much the sins of the world which keep Jesus on the cross as it is the disparity    between his promises and the timidity of his church.  When complacency,    envy, judgment and avarice close in, there is no hope but to hoist this pure     symbol of the inward eye of prayer.  Though sons of the saints, we are more     truly sons of Christ, the living spirit.  If we are his sons, we are heirs to his    cross; there is no other way.

       [Dwelling on Christ's Sunny Side]—The cross is as inherently a     part of our being as our hands and feet.  Each generation, each nation has its     own peculiar temptations, afflictions and burdens which are its own occasion     wherein the cross may bear them to resurrection.  But the cross that is before     us we deny.  [We wait for the Kingdom to come].  Do we expect the King-    dom will fall like a ripe plum into our empty baskets?

       We don't know Jesus; we don't know him because we don't want his     cross.  If we would know the truth, we must meditate upon the despised,   dishonored Christ.  [Once it was dangerous & humiliating to be a Christian].       Nowadays it is healthy [and easy] to be a Christian.  Forgive us, Lord, that    we  have not pleased thee, but thy suffering is not pleasing to us.   

       [You who have never said no to the world].  You who have never been     poor, never despised, never spat upon, never deserted, never scourged, how     can you know of the Christ?  Do you presume to sit in judgment on the     Son of Man?  We can argue him away, but he remains, as he stood before     Pilate, waiting in patience for that moment when our hearts shall break open     by his love.  We shall be known by our obedience.  We shall be judged by our     tears.  And we shall know heaven by our love.

       I am clinging to that inward ground on which God stands to continue     his work, that secret habitation from which he cannot be removed.  God, save     us from ourselves.  We are polite and refined, quiet and respectable, but in     our innermost part sits the demon of the universe.  We fear to annoy him, he     looks so much like ourselves.  And so we come, not with many words but only     in despair of self and hope in thee. 

       [Human Sanctity]—[The rest of Peter’s life was the result] of the 9^th     hour when Peter, weeping, looked upon the ground & saw how great was his  fall; then raising his eyes he looked upon the cross and saw the height to     which he might be lifted.  There is no human sanctity without the inward suf-    fering and the humiliation of the 9^th hour.  Peter does not labor for virtue; it is     given him when he discovers good and evil dwelling side by side & he recog-    nizes the one by the other.  The mark of sanctity is to live in absolute obedi-    ence to each day’s revealing of [God’s personal destination for you.]  Sanc-    tity is the cultivation of sorrow over separation from God; it is the aura of truth     surrounding one with whom human endowments and earthly situations have    been divinized; it's faithful discipline; it's the spirit of joy which attends all acts.

       There is no saintly act; there is only a saintly spirit. A person of false     motives may go through identical motions, but the issue is always corrupt     though it be to feed the hungry, & raise the dead. The saints are given us 1^st     for encouragement & 2^nd for judgment.  They live and breathe at the heart of     every generation.  The 1^st proceeding of sanctity is to abolish legalism.  Chris-    tian perfection is not outward form but inward fact, in a word, charity. 

       [Christian Quest & the Church]—Humans are by definition a chasm     of freedom, a vast spiritual void.  There is almost no evil greater than despair     of the search [to fill that void]. Only the love of God, God’s people & his world     can fill it. We all want deliverance—on our own terms. God confounds our     pride by hiding majestic principles in things of low degree. In our quest we     demand a rule of thumb; none shall be given. We are in God’s hands & we    have the Spirit; “it is enough.” We are born to know God, to love God, to live     in God’s Kingdom; we are to shake off the world’s delusive freedom, & accept     the bondage of the Spirit and perfect freedom. 

       [Jesus’ 1^st church was in the 9^th hour] with murderers, thieves and     soldiers. Not because I may be good am I a church member, but because I     desire the good. The church is the only true unity of all people. Other ties are     creaturely bonds, serving their day & perishing. I have come to believe that     the church is our true vocation & home. The inward church is our spiritual     unitedness through God to all people, past & present. Its nature is that of     prayer & work.

       There is no salvation outside the church. In God’s heart the church is     accomplished; in this world it is poor, defeated, obscure, & hard to find. The     Church is the living Christ spread out over all the world. We recognize the true     Spirit by his evidence & through him are able to resist evil & to accomplish the     good. To know God through Christ & to know one another in him, this is the     perfect unity of the church which cannot be broken. 

       The church is a moving, growing life & not a legal corporation. The     church is the living Spirit in people, seeking an outward form harmonious to     itself. Let us not look for change in the church but for progress. I pray that we     may all know & recognize one another in the church of the holy Spirit. The     church is God’s way of ordering the world. The mystical body of Christ is all     faithful souls & all evil-doers encircled by the love which flows from the Christ    yet on his cross.

       The Mystical Body is the spiritual Christ spread out in all lands passing    from life to life his kingdom on earth. The church is the holy Spirit, yet also the     holy Spirit communicating itself in all possible visible forms. Let us look at     Quakers as a church in which all tradition & forms are held in perpetual open-    ness to the Spirit’s purifying fires. If the Spirit of Christ comes into indi-   vidual lives to free them from worldly allegiance, is it too much to expect    that the same shall be accomplished in the church?  Light shall penetrate     to dark corners. And this shall come about because the church is God’s, as is     the power & the glory. [I have had dreams & visions of: the world’s intrusion     into the church; the savagery of the world; and the presence of all the saints in  the world.    

       [Prayer]—Eternity of Spirit, you are upon me, yet I understand you not.   Pressed upon all sides, I labor in confusion.  I turn from nature in disgust,     seeking your pure essence beyond all earthly forms.  My soul, you must learn    to live in this world, loving and hating it at once—this is your salvation.  Love     the earth when it is the mirror of God; hate it when self alone is reflected.  You     wept over Jerusalem.  Your tears broke her heart.  Shall I not praise you day     and night, my God, having seen my frail humanity and fathered it with human     tears.  Through faith, God shows us in a moment of light our living self, that     imperishable spirit, twin of the heavens.

       The prayers of our 9^th hour shall not bring great external light; they will     bring us enough light within that we may walk with confidence in the dark.     Prayer is our vocation. We do not pray that the mystery be removed, but that     grace be given to overcome the evil of this day alone. [Jesus prayed in the     darkness of that 9^th hour]. I shall never cease to wonder at the scandal of     “sweet gentle prayer” turned into an agonized cry in a night of violence.

       [The Old Mockers & Crucifiers of Jesus]—They mocked Jesus as     he hung on the cross.  And the father of lies has kept them going, but they        are all old men, old in their youth, feeble in their mightiest works.  From God        has come the moral ethical laws, the codes of social decorum and justice     which keep from complete chaos a people capable of absolute evil.  But the     inward kingdom of God is come; it isn't yet spread abroad in all creation, but        its claim on our allegiance is absolute.  The evil of evils is to turn the holy        Spirit into a law, to make God’s new creation into an untouchable tradition.      The old men who crucified Jesus now worship him at a distance so that they    can  keep tab on him.  The old man can’t hide from Christ's insistent voice in    his own heart, for it is the exorcism of all that is legal, all that is static, all that      is dead. 

       Our world is a sick, dying old man. [Doctors, priest, historians, lawyers     gather around his bedside and discuss and pray for his condition]. Others sit     brooding, wondering how they can get on without the old man.  He is our old      man, the 10,000^th son of Adam.  You & I [as] sons of Adam celebrate the great  cities, universities, hospitals, libraries, [and religions] he established. [He has  done everything], except the one thing that is necessary. 

       Outside, men, women, & children have come to look upon the sunrise.   They know that the old man must die, that he has died many times before, that  he is always dying.  They who have come early into the fields wait in silence     for the flame of life. They are free for they know the kingdom & its power. They  set to work with a free spirit, & whatsoever they turn their hands to, it is good.      While the old world dies, & with it all self-sufficient creation, grant us, Almighty     One, patience to wait & to know it’s the travail of a new birth, a new dawn, in  the glory of which a new people shall inherit the earth.

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64. Of Holy Disobedience (by A. J. Muste; 1952)

       A. J.—Memory of a Man (by Alfred Hassler, Exec. Secretary of     Fellowship of Reconciliation) What is there to say of [A. J. Muste]?  Perhaps  “understanding” is [best].  Understanding of the motivations that led people to  the violence, exploitation and oppression he hated.  And understanding of the  needs of a young assistant in the midst of a political or organizational crisis.  I  worked on his staff, and was deeply moved by his insistent focus on the     humanity of those with whom he came in contact.  This attitude produced Of     Holy Disobedience.   

       The Land of Propaganda is built on Unanimity (From Bread &      Wine by Ignazio Silone)—“In the Land of Propaganda, a man, any man, any     little man who goes on thinking with his own head, [who says ‘no’ or writes     ‘no’ on a wall at night] imperils public order. . .  Killing a man who says ‘no’ is a     risky business because a corpse can go on whispering ‘No, No, No’ . . .  How   can you silence a corpse?”  

       George Bernanos from Brazil wrote in Tradition of Freedom:  “If some     day, the increasing efficiency of the technique of destruction finally causes our     species to disappear from the earth it won't be cruelty that will be responsible  for our extinction . . . but the docility, the lack of responsibility of modern man,  his base subservient acceptance of every common decree.”  This warning     might serve as a text, for an appeal to American youth to practice Holy Diso-   bedience, non-conformity, and resistance toward, Conscription, Regimen-        tation and War. 

       Most believers in democracy and all pacifists begin with agreement as     to the moral necessity of Holy Disobedience.  Shouldn't we emphasize “[po-    sitive & constructive service]” rather than the refusal to fight?  Should     young men who are eligible for it accept the IV-E classification or take      the more “absolutist,” non-registrant position? (IV-E are persons who op-    pose participation in any war on grounds of religious training & belief).  Those     who hold to one [side of the question] are likely to be very critical of those     who take the other.  And while a minister shouldn't pass moral condemnation     on those who enlist or submit to conscription, we do not deduce that this mini-    ster should abandon his pacifism or cease to witness to it. 

       The choice confronting the youth of draft age tend to fall in 3 catego-    ries: Christian or human “vocation”; “the immature 18-year old”; the pacifist’s     & citizens’ relation to conscription and the State.  The argument for accepting     alternative service was:  “[When] the government under wartime or peacetime     conscription requires some service of mercy or construction [unrelated to war]    from us, we will raise no objection to undertaking such work.  We may even    seek . . . the opportunity to demonstrate our desire to be good citizens.”

       Conscription & Vocation—The question of one’s vocation does not or  shouldn't arise [only] when Congress enacts a conscription law.  The commit-    ted Christian, [presumably following a vocation in agreement with God's will, is   nonetheless required to] render some civilian service . . . different from what    they have been doing.  Was what they were doing then so definitely not   meaningful & sacrificial?  [We should ask ourselves:  Is the rush to get    into other jobs & to go to distant places motivated by fear of men & of   the authorities, by a desire to be thought well of, or by a dread of social      displeasure or legal punishment?

       The Normal as Meaningful—God calls men & women fundamentally     to “be fruitful and multiply & replenish the earth & subdue it & have dominion.”   To resist [war’s] breaking up of the orderly family & community life [called for     by God] is one of the great services the people who believe in non-violence   and reconciliation may render.  It may well be that the most challenging   opportunity to display courage, hardihood and readiness to suffer will be    found in the community in which one has been living doing ordinary things.    [Indeed] it is possible that some leave the home or college environment,     yielding to the temptation to avoid hardship. 

       The pacifist may judge a government’s alternative conscription 3 ways.    1^st, the government demands that conscripts temporarily abandon their        Christian or true vocation for work to which they clearly aren't “called.” The    Christian’s only choice is to refuse to comply; one’s non-conformity be-   comes a true vocation.       

       The Role of Jehovah’s Witnesses—The 2^nd possible attitude is to     say the government is competent to determine that the alternative service con-    stitutes their Christian vocation for the time being. This position seems pre-    carious & I question whether it can be maintained as consistent with Chris-    tian theology and ethics.  The position of Jehovah’s Witnesses that they can't     submit to conscription because they must always be free to “witness” to the     faith, is in this respect surely a strong and impressive one,if not a clear and     consistent, centrally Christian one.  Where, then, does the State get the     competence, or mandate to determine a Christian believer’s vocation?

        There remains a 3^rd possible position, namely that the State is doing     evil in taking the individual out of the work to which God has called them.     Pacifists in general, and especially Christian pacifists have to ask:  Is con-    forming with any provisions of a draft law, [in reality] promoting war     through conscription?  And it's important that pacifists not give the impres-    sion to the government of gratitude for the concession to conscience, after     inflicting conscription’s evil on the people. If non-resistant pacifists get off the       high ground of bowing [under] Caesar’s yoke, by letting Caesar inflict civilian       conscript service upon them, they are immediately on the low ground, with   little bargaining power.  The treatment of WW I’s COs influenced fairly liberal     provisions for WWII COs.

    Two Miles or None—We [thus] have the choice of not going along at all     or going 2 miles, not a skimpy [grudging] 1 mile.  There was not a great deal of  this glad “second miling” on the part of conscript COs.  It was for many making  the best of a bad business; [compulsion] colored this whole experience. Ser-    vice of others, fellowship with them, on the one hand, and non-cooperation     with evil, witness against injustice, non-violent resistance, on the other hand     are essential in every pacifist’s life.  

       “For some their witness was their service, for others, their service was     their witness, or resistance.  No matter how “liberal” or considerate” the con-    ditions for administering alternative service may be in the estimation of     Government officials or the pacifist agencies, if alternative service is accepted     [to any degree], it pose grave problems from the standpoint of Christian     vocation.    

       And if one is allowed to remain in one’s job [while others do not, he     does], to a degree benefit from discrimination.  It is hoped that [in the future] a     good many young men will be “furloughed” to projects at home and abroad     which will not be exclusively for COs, & which will have real social value.  It is     my conclusion that the consistent attitude toward conscript alternative service      is that which regards submission or non-resistance to the State’s evil as the    Christian man’s vocation or duty, [rendered] joyously and with readiness to    carry it the 2^nd mile.

       The Immature 18-year-old—There are 18-year-olds who have a     strong aversion to war & a leaning toward pacifism.  But if left with the choice     between the army and jail, all but a few will choose the army.  They could     develop into a pacifist if they had a third choice (i.e. civilian service).  A coun-    selor will want to avoid inducing a young man to take this or that course, while     still making a particular young man aware of their own thoughts and feelings.       It is my impression that pacifist [laymen &] ministers will work harder to keep      a young pacifist from [choosing to] go to jail rather than into civilian service,      than to [have them] think seriously about not going into the army.  Why    should they have this reaction?

       Army or Jail?—I should feel much deeper grief over having possibly     had some part in getting a some youth to go into the armed forces than over     having some responsibility for bringing a young man to go to prison for con-   science’s sake.  Are the qualms people have about COs going to prison     related to [the strong social disapproval of going to prison, and the     strong social approval of becoming a soldier]?  Is it just possible that      we older people are sometimes concerned with sparing ourselves [dis-    approval] when we think we are solely concerned about sparing teena-    gers?

       The great mass of teenagers are going to be put through rigorous     military training with all the hardships, and perhaps they will actually experi-    ence modern war at the front.  Is [the prison experience] vastly more ter-   rible than this?  Do we have a right to [divert energy] from lifting the     curse of conscription from the mass of youth into an effort to secure     alternative conscript service for COs?

       The “Non-religious” CO—[Religious COs are eligible for the IV-E     classification; non-religious COs are not.]  For the religious man it should     surely be a central & indispensable part of his faith that discrimination, most     of all where two men acting in obedience to conscience are involved, is     unthinkable and that if there is discrimination, he cannot be the beneficiary         of it.

       Advocacy of alternative service for the teenage CO is based on consi-    deration relating to the pacifist movement's future, as well as on the effect on    the COs themselves.  It seems to me we have to decide whether our pro-    blem is to find shelter for COs or whether it is to find freedom & the opportu-    nity for self-expression and service.  The draft now gets the young man at the     age when it is difficult for him to stand out from his fellows.  The additional     number of pacifists recruited because of alternative service may turn out to be     very small.  [There is a trend] toward greater conformity and regimentation.      There may be a time when army or jail may be the only choices. 

       The Nature of Conscription—Participation in alternative service is     often defended on the grounds that our opposition is to war rather than con-   scription.  We are ready to render whatever service of a civilian character may     be imposed on us.  The question with which we are dealing is that of conscrip-    ting youth in and for modern war.  Since we are opposed to all war, we should     be opposed to military conscription, for the additional element of coercion by     government enters in; young boys are deprived of freedom of choice in virtu-    ally all essential matters.  This is a fundamental violation of the human spirit    which must cause the pacifist to shudder.

       Here I wish to suggest that even if the question is the conscription of     non-pacifists, it is a fundamental mistake for pacifists to relent in their opposi-    tion to this evil.  The terrible thing that we should never lose sight of, to which     we should never reconcile our spirits to, is that the great mass of 18-year-olds     are drafted for war.  They are given no choice; few are capable of making     that choice. 

       We need to ask ourselves whether conscription is really a lesser evil.      As soon as [the State has], by simple decree, created millions of soldiers, [it     seems] proven that they have sovereign rights over [everyone], that there are     no rights higher than theirs.  Where then, will their usurpations stop?  It    can't be successfully denied that totalitarianism, depersonalization, con-    scription, war, and the power-state are inextricably linked together.  As paci-    fists we can have nothing to do with war. I don’t think it’s possible to distin-   guish between war and conscription.

       Disobedience Becomes Imperative—Non-conformity, Holy Disobe-    dience, becomes virtuous and necessary for spiritual self-preservation, when      the impulse to conform is the instrument which is used to subject men to tota-   litarian rule & involve them in permanent war.  [It seems wisest] not to wait for  evil to catch up to us, but to go out to meet it—to resist—before it has gone     any further.  To me it seems that submitting to conscription even for civilian    service is permitting oneself to be branded by the State.  A decision by the     pacifists to break completely with conscription, to give up the idea that we     can “exert more influence” if we conform and do not resist to the uttermost—    this might awaken our countrymen to a realization of the precipice on the    edge of which we stand.  

       The Reconciling Resistance—Thus to embrace Holy Disobedience     is not to substitute Resistance for Reconciliation; it is to practice both.  We are     not practicing love toward our fellow-citizens, if, against our deepest insight,     we help to fasten the chains of conscription and war upon them.  Our works of     healing and reconstruction will have a deeper and more genuinely reconciling     effect when they are not entangled with Conscript service for the [welfare] of     the US or any other war-making State.  The Gospel of reconciliation will be     preached with a new freedom & power when the preachers have broken deci-    sively with American militarism.  [There may be fierce opposition to our mes-    sage, but perhaps then they will see again [as Paul did] the face of Christ        and the vision of a new Jerusalem. 

       To depart from the common way in response to a conscription law is     one thing. To leave father, mother, wife, child and one’s own life at the behest     of Christ or conscience is quite another.  We should understand that for the     individual to pit himself in Holy Disobedience against the war-making and     conscription is now the beginning of the core of any realistic and practical     movement against war and for a more brotherly world.  

       [War continues and conscription continues because of the prevailing     feeling that] “we have no choice.”  [In the face of this feeling], the human being,  the child of God, must assert his humanity and his sonship again.  He must     exercise the choice which he no longer has as something accorded him by     society.  He must understand that this naked human being is the one real thing  in the face of the mechanized institutions of our age.  [We need] “the kind of     morality which compels the individual conscience, be the group right or wrong.”   

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65. Reaching Decisions ( by Howard Haines Brinton; 1952)

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

       Advised, that Friends keep all our meetings in the wisdom of God and     unity of God’s blessed spirit, wherein they were created and settled.  [Proceed     without] contentions &, doubtful disputations …that the affairs of Truth may be     managed in the peaceable, tender spirit and wisdom of Jesus Christ … with     charity toward each other.

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting,  1721 

       [Introduction]—The Quaker movement began as a group held together  by no visible bond but united in its own deep sense of fellowship.  There was  immediate need of systematic help for persons suffering loss property.  [There  was need for the validation of marriages, and various administrative details].     How can a free fellowship based on Divine guidance from within set up     any form of church government providing direction from without?  

       Advice was given on 20 points of behavior with the proviso that: “These  things may be fulfilled in the Spirit, not in the letter; for the letter killeth but the  Spirit giveth life … that all may be directed and left to the Truth, in it to live and  walk & by it to be guided… That the power of the God-head may be known in     the body, in that perfect freedom which every member has in Christ Jesus …     that truth itself in the body may reign, not persons or forms.”  Only the authority  of the group acting by the dictates of Truth was valid.     

       General Meetings,]/ Monthly Meetings, Quarterly Meetings, Yearly     Meetings—General meetings drawing Friends together in limited areas at     periodic intervals developed from 1650-1660; [some were for worship, some   for business. There was persecution, imprisonment, fanaticism, & resistance     to any man-made devices]. Leading Friends issued a letter asserting a mee-    ting’s authority to exclude from fellowship persons who persisted in rejecting     its judgment; this marked an important step in Quaker development. Fox at     this juncture went about England & Ireland for 4 years setting up Monthly     Meetings as [standard] executive units of the Society of Friends.

       A Monthly Meeting [MM] was made up of the Friends in a given district.     A MM's constituent parts were called Preparative Meetings. Combinations of       MM were organized into Quarterly Meetings [QM], & QMs in turn were united      in Yearly Meetings [YM]. London YM started as a group of Friends concerned       with ministry; it was open to all friends by 1760. The 1^st Quaker Meetings for      Business [MB] were for men only, but by 1656 women’s meetings began to      appear; they consisted of matters felt to be of peculiar interest to women.      Today all Quaker business meetings, except in 2 or 3 conservative American      areas, are made up of men & women.   

     The system of MM, QM, and YM as it finally developed in England and     America suggests the organic principle of the affiliation of cells or small units in  a large organism; membership resides in the MM.  George Fox wrote:  “The     least member in the Church hath an office and is serviceable & every member     hath need one of another.” The larger group exists, not to exert authority, [but   to] widen the range of acquaintance & judgment & to carry out undertakings     too big for the smaller group.  A concern may arise in any individual. The       power of the individual to accomplish what is felt to be laid upon the person is    many times multiplied if the concern is taken up by MM, QM, and YM; the       process can  work in reverse if brought to YM or QM first.  The YM issues      Advices and Queries [in an effort to meet the needs of QM and MM]. 

      The Book of Discipline—Early in the 18^th century, selections from the     minutes of the YMs were gathered in book form in alphabetical order.  The     Philadelphia YM title in 1762 was:  A Collection of Christian and Brotherly     Advices Given Forth from Time to Time by the YMs of Friends for NJ and PA;     the book form was printed in 1797. Later a topical arrangement replaced the     alphabetical order.  Under the heading Negroes or Slaves, 24 manuscript     pages show Friends’ progress from 1743-1776 in dealing with the slave issue,     the final query being: “Are Friends clear of importing, purchasing, dispo-    sing of or holding mankind as slaves?”  The evolution of the Book of Disci-    pline is a testimony to the power of the Quaker method in educating & sensi-    tizing conscience.  Quakers did not support their own revolution by violence,    but they carried it through in a thorough-going way. 

       The Individual and the Group—The perennial problem of the rights &     responsibilities of the individual & the group was never so clearly solved that     there were never difficulties. The separation in Philadelphia was due to the     individualistic vs. authoritarian trends in the Society of Friends. Meeting for     worship focused upon being in the divine-human relationship; the meeting for     business is mainly concerned with the doing of inter-human cooperation. True     worship overcomes too much individuality by producing a super-individual     consciousness. For such a MB the only essential is a clerk whose business it     is to see to it that the sense of the meeting is recorded.

       The Method of Reaching Unity—When the clerk senses a reasonable  degree of unity, the clerk announces what is believed to be the sense of the     meeting.  If the meeting agrees, it is recorded in the minutes.  On important     matters, care is taken to secure the vocal participation of all who feel able &    willing to express themselves.  A majority would have voted slavery out in     1700; instead [the sense of the meeting slowly progressed] until in 1776 the     society was united in refusing membership to persons who held slaves.

       The weight of a member in determining the decision of the meeting     depends on the confidence which the meeting has in the validity of his judg-    ment.  If an individual lays a concern before the meeting, feels it deeply     enough and continues to bring it up in spite of opposition, the meeting may     finally acquiesce.  If a serious difference of opinion exists on a subject which    can't be postponed, decision may be left to a small committee.  The decision      may be along lines not even thought of at the beginning. 

       The clerk is theoretically a recording officer, but in practice he must fre-    quently preside over the meeting. He must decide on how much expression     he can safely base his minute. The clerk may occasionally find himself having     to exercise some authority. If this Quaker method of arriving at unity doesn’t     succeed, the difficulty is usually because some members haven't achieved the  right mind & heart. Debate & appeals to emotions are out of place in this     process. Opinions should be expressed humbly & tentatively in the realization    that no one person sees the whole truth & that the whole meeting can see     more Truth. When the method has not succeeded, as in the 19^th century's divi-    sions , spiritual life was low & Friends too impatient to wait for unity to      develop. 

       Advantages of this Method/Conditions Favorable to Success—At     its best, the Quaker method doesn't result in compromise.  The Quaker me-    thod seeks to discover the Truth which will satisfy every one more fully than    did any position previously held.  To discover what we really want, we must        go below the surface of self-centered desires to the deeper level where the       real Self resides.  The Quaker method produces synthesis in which each part     makes some adjustment to the whole.  A new creation emerges through the         life or soul of the whole which was not completely present in any of the parts. 

       Quaker pioneering in social reforms shows that conservatism has not     generally prevailed.  In the end a more novel decision may result.  The Quaker  method works better in small rather than large groups; it is easier to achieve     unity in an intimate group. If a MM becomes overgrown, it should divide. Such    cell division is the organic method of growth.  The simple [2- and 3-person]     method of growth gives Friends a strategic advantage. When differences arise,  Paul said that love is really the only solution.

       The Binding Force within the Group/Freedom and Organization—    Agape, unselfish love is the highest binding force within a religious group.  It     signifies the Spirit which draws men together and to God without.  Agape is     closely akin to friendship, a uniting force which respects individuality and     freedom.  It was more appropriate that the Quakers should call themselves a     Society of Friends than a Family of Love, [a name that was used early on].  It      is from Jesus saying, “No longer do I call you servants, … but I have called     you friends.

       The Society of Friends was based on friendship as distinguished from     a code of duty.  If God’s will is revealed by the Light of Truth within, the rela-    tionship is one of friendship and freedom based on understanding.  In addi-    tion to the religion of friendship & the religion of obedience, there is the Spiri-    tual Marriage, [in which] individuality is lost.

       The Society of Friends endeavors to maintain an organization which     doesn't  destroy freedom.  To love the truth is to follow that which draws     humanity together into a unity of friendship.  The problem of freedom within an  organized group was faced by the early Christians.  Paul wrote a passionate  letter that indicated that Christianity was not the old law, neither is it a new         law.  He wrote:  “Christ has set us free; stand fast; therefore, and do not submit  again to the yoke of slavery.”  It is not surprising that the Christian Church has  been slow to understand Paul or has not striven to understand him.  The Qua-    kers stand alone in having attempted a form of Church Government which    allowed in theory for the liberty of those who are led by the Spirit.

       The Value of Differences—Unity is not Uniformity.  Some Friends will     state their religious or social views, always with the reservation that the Spirit     of Truth may lead to further insight.  Differences are tolerated, provided they     are being actively explored in a spirit of friendship and a search for truth. Christ  said, “let both grow together until the harvest.”  But differences cease to have  value when fundamental principles are ignored. 

       In science a difference between 1 theory which is based on the scienti-   fic method and another theory based on a different method such as magic     wouldn't be productive of new scientific truth. A view based on free search          & a view based on blind agreement of an authoritarian pronouncement would    not be productive of new truth. The Quaker method will not progress without     acknowledgement of the great truths which have been discovered in the past.    The religious genius must be allowed to be given to those who are not geni-   uses the full measure of guidance.  

       Stages of Growth—A group synthesis of opinion is not good simply     because it's a synthesis. Unity can occur at a low, [amoral] level. If the proper     method is followed, the Light which unifies the group will be found to be an     elevating Principle. The group will rise through deliberation to a higher level     than that on which it started. The organic method of arriving at decisions by       consensus appears at the primitive pre-individual level where self-centered-    ness has not developed as well as the post-individual level where self-cen-    teredness has been overcome. 

            [Quakers found in their dealings with Indian councils that their methods     strongly resembled Quaker business meetings], and that women participated     as well as men.   Such councils where sex equality is maintained and voting     unknown indicate that the organic method is in accord with human nature.  In     the 1^st stage there is unity, in the 2^nd individuality, & in the 3^rd the synthesis of     unity and individuality which makes possible participation in group life with     freedom. 
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66. The World in Tune (by Elizabeth Gray Vining; 1952)

            [About the Author]—Elizabeth Janet Gray (1902-97) was born in Phila-    delphia, PA, She was a graduate of Germantown Friends School, Bryn Mawr     College in 1923 & Drexel Institute in 1926, & became a librarian at the Univer-    sity of NC—Chapel Hill. Vining was widowed & severely injured in an automo-    bile accident. During her convalescence (1933), she became a Quaker. She     was mainly a children's book author. 1946-1950, Vining was chosen by Em-    peror Hirohito to become private tutor to Crown Prince Akihito. She brought     in 4 teenage boys to help the Prince learn English, & taught other children of     the Imperial household. This pamphlet is a collection of quotations from some     of the author’s favorite mystics with interpretive comments.

           "Prayer is the world in tune." Henry Vaughn

            [Introduction]—Lord, thou commandest the Israelites to offer a mor-    ning sacrifice, so I offer up the sacrifice of prayer & desire to be preserved this  day. 316 years ago Mary Proude, a little girl struggled with prayer. Later she     discovered that prayer need not be written at all; she felt she had learned true     communion with God. Her 2nd husband was Isaac Penington, & her daughter     married William Penn.            

            At the opposite pole from obscure children like Mary Proude & George      Fox, was the popular divine, John Donne, dean of St. Paul's. His prayers     were exquisite pieces of writing composed not only with a literary regard for     beauty of phrase & cadence, but with a courtier's feeling for formal and    reverent approach. [He is in stark contrast to Teresa of Avila less than a   century, before who] informed God that he had so few friends because He    treated those he had so badly.

           The tide was turning against set prayers. Some found them "a superci-    lious tyranny," while most Protestants discarded them; few so thoroughly as     Quakers. Friends' prayers were extemporaneous, under the promptings of         the Spirit, & were seldom written down afterwards; no collection of George     Fox's prayers were made for future generations. [When] mystical writers see    spiritual life [in levels], prayers of prepared words are at the lower ones;      prayers of quiet, or for union are later stages. 

            In times of empty meditation, wandering mind, and earthbound heart,     spontaneous prayer is difficult or impossible. Then, verbal prayer becomes a     support for the flagging spirit. They speak to God and us, providing discipline,     informing imagination, directing will, inducing awareness from without, when     the inner doors appear to be closed or lost. We can read them slowly, savoring  each phrase or sentence, waiting until each line is exhausted. Memorized    prayer, or a phrase that has caught our attention may accompany us through     the day, steadying us in time of anxiety or stress, or expressing a sudden joy.

    [Purity Collect]—O God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires     known, and from whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our heart     by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee and     worthily magnify they Holy Name, through Christ our Lord. Amen

   This prayer, is one of the oldest & most beloved of the Episcopal Book     of Common Prayer. While it is ascribed to 8^th century Alcuin, it may be from     some still older group of prayers. It expresses [succinctly] worship's essence.     His prayer appeared in the first English prayer book, the Sarum Missal. Os-   mund, nephew of William the Conqueror, compiled a manual for the priests'    use only; it was in constant use for nearly 500 years. The people got tired of   how Norman soldiers treated clergy, & built a new cathedral; the main body    was completed in 38 years, & the spire was completed after a pause of 37    years in 48 years. [Old Sarum took over a century of actual construction]. The    Cloud of Unknowing's anonymous author prefaced his book with the Purity    Collect.

    The Purity Collect appeared in the 1549 prayer book in its present form.  Through all the book's changes of rubric and content, this prayer has proven     itself indispensable. The magic bit for me is the word inspiration, used in its     Latin sense of breathing into, Sir Thomas Browne's "warm gales and gentle     ventilations of the Spirit." The prayer continues with [a prescription of] inward     attitude [love] and outward action [magnify thy name]. 

    The last phrase once seemed to me an outworn formula. How can a     grubby & self-absorbed little human add anything worthy to the Name of     God? The Christian minority in Japan are judged by their acts; by their deeds    they magnify or belittle the God with whose Name they are identified. [The       idea of cleansing thoughts is echoed in the 1st century] Jewish 18 Petitions:     "Cleanse our hearts to serve thee in truth."

     When first thy eyes unveil, give thy soul leave/ To do the like; our     Bodies but forerun/ The spirit's duty; True hearts spread and heave/ Unto their     God, as flowers do to the sun./ Give Him thy first thoughts then; so shalt thou      keep/ Him company all day, and in him sleep. [This and following poem are by     Henry Vaughn]

   The rising winds/ And falling springs,/ Birds, beasts, all things/ Adore     Him in their kinds./ Thus all is hurl'd/ In sacred Hymns and order, the great     chime/ And symphony of nature. Prayer is/ The world in tune.

    [Morning Worship]—Our 1st thought in the morning & the last at night  should be of God. It seems to be the nature of religion to turn in the morning,  after the darkness & oblivion of the night, to the source of returning light. The  atmosphere of true worship was palpable in the silent moments of Shinto         morning worship in Japan. We are aware in the morning of God's loving-        kindness, God's gift of the new day, fresh and unspoiled, & the opportunities  that lie before us. At night, when we are all the wiser for our knowledge of     [successes], failures & uncompleted opportunities, if we have kept "God     company all the day," then we can most completely give our selves into God's     hands for the night and "in God sleep."

    BEFORE SLEEP—The toil of day is ebbing/ The quiet comes again,/ In slumber deep relaxing,/ The limbs of tired men.// And minds with anguish shaken/ And spirits racked with grief/ The cup of all forgetting/ Have drunk and found relief.// The still Lethean waters/ Now steal through every vein,/ And men no more remember/ The meaning of their pain.// Let, let the weary body/ Lie sunk in slumber deep;/ The heart shall still remember/ Christ in its very sleep. Prudentius (4^th century Spaniard)

            [Meister Eckhart (1260-1327)]—Lord, grant sorrow of the humble; a     mind escaped from ... body; to love, laud ... & cherish act & thought toward     thee. Grant me a ... prayerful mind with intuition of thy will, & love & joy which     make it easy to act. Lord, [may I] always [make] progress toward better things     & never backslide.

    We are repelled by mystics, their self-torture & wishing their families     dead, that they might give all their mind to God. Rufus Jones: "[Eckhart] was     sane, with moral health, vigor, & humor, 1 of the best normality signs. He     exhibited religious intuition." Eckhart: "Active life is better than just contem-    plation, so far as we spend in service what came from contemplation." This     prayer pleas for steadiness. Luke says in the Sower parable, "In good     ground, are the honest & good hearts, having heard the word, hold it fast &     bring forth fruit with patience."

    [Robert Louis Stevenson]—Give us grace and strength to persevere;  courage and gayety and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends and soften to  us our enemies ... [Make us strong], brave in peril, constant in tribulation, tem-    perate in wrath, [and ill-fortune] ... and [to the end] loyal and loving to one     another.

     The Cathedral of St. Giles in Edinburgh is dim & vast; old battle flags     hang tattered and motionless under the vaulted roof, where old religious     enemies rest together. A statue of John Knox is there. Everything in St. Giles     seems to speak of religion in its harshest and most militant aspects. In a small     side chapel is the Stevenson memorial, the bronze bas relief of the invalid in     his chair, with his prayer beside him.

           We need courage, especially courage to stand by what is right, & to     claim justice & love as reasons for acting. Gayety goes with courage; it sets     to one side self & its urgencies, & it handles life with a light & healing touch.     Both courage & gayety spring, surely, from the deep, quiet mind's rich soil. A     quiet mind is one which nothing weighs on, free from ties & from all self-    seeking, & wholly merged into God's will & dead as to its own. [Any deed of    this mind], however small, is clothed with something of God's power and    authority. Prayers like this of Stevenson, in which specific virtues are sought,    are addressed as much to our own deep selves as to God. There can be   no better or more effective place to suggest improvements to our selves than   in God's presence.

    [Rabindranath Tagore]—Be still, my heart, these great trees are     prayers. These trees were likely at Karuizawa, where I spent holidays in     Japan. There were balsam trees nearby; the clear mountain air was tangy     with the fragrance. Shafts of morning sunlight slanted through their branches;     cuckoos called in the distance. Something [prayerful], higher than thought,        deeper than feeling seemed to be expressed by those majestic trees.     

    [Rufus Ellis]—We thank thee for the dear and faithful dead ... whose     truth and beauty are even now in our hearts ... Thou dost gather the scattered     families out of the earthly light into the heavenly glory ... and the peace of     eternity ... May we live together in thy faith and love and in that hope which is     full of immortality.

            Prayers for the dead went out of Protestant practice with the 1549     prayer book & the 39 Articles of Faith. Having thrown out the blasphemous     fable & dangerous deceits of Purgatory & "paying to get out of it," our beloved     dead [begin to fade] out of our religious practice. The All Saints Day that     follows Halloween is almost forgotten; All Souls Day that is next has faded         even more. Traditional prayers for All Saints Day refer to the cloud of witnes-    ses by which we are surround & to their virtue & unseen fellowship. The loss     of All Saints is the loss of intimacy & opportunity to do something to help     those whose passing has left such an aching emptiness behind.

            China and Japan have a 3-day festival of the dead is held annually &     is called "Feeding Hungry Ghosts." For 3 nights there is dancing before local     shrines. The people of the neighborhood join in the Bon Odori, an all-ages,     folk-circle dance. On the river their guests were sent down the river on a fleet    of little candle-lit boats. Religious belief in the modern world has lost much of    its old certainty of heaven. 

            When speaking to the Roman abbot Augustine, the Northumbrians of    England said: "The sparrow flies in at one door & tarries for a moment in the    light & heat of the hearth-fire, & then fly forth from the other door & vanishes      into the wintry darkness whence it came. So tarries for a moment the life of      man in our sight, but what is before it, what after it, we know not. Let  us     follow this new teaching, if it tells us aught certainly of    ["before" & "after."]

    Now, we say little about the life of the world to come, stressing instead     the teachings of Jesus & their bearing on social justice. [The "wintry darkness]     has stars and universes of light in comparison with the hearth-fire in the hall,     which is dim & smoky & brief as a candle's flame. Rufus Ellis' prayer reminds       us to give joyous thanks for our beloved dead. We can remember their high     moments & their sweet familiar homely ones. And there is continuing compa-    nionship that comes to us at times, and the deep conviction that beyond the     separation and the mystery we shall find one another once again in God.

    [Book of Common Prayer Collect (50^th day before Easter)]—O     Lord, who has taught us that all our doings without charity [love) are nothing     worth; Send thy Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of    charity ... without it whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee. Grant this       for Christ's sake. Amen.

    This collect was written new for the 1549 prayer book, & is based on 1     Corinthian 13. When we put together love of God, neighbor, and enemy, the     difficulty becomes acute. "Love is the hardest lesson in Christianity; therefore     it should be most our care to learn it." That we love is one of the illusions we     moderns most cherish about our selves. [We minimize our sins & cling to the     illusion of love]. Obviously we don't love, or the world wouldn't be as it is today. 

    Our bankruptcy of love proclaims itself in the [petty bickering], feuds,     persecutions, discrimination, wars & chaos of our times. When St. Augustine  said, "Love and do what you will," he meant, if you really love, you can't do ill;     all the things you wish to do, informed by [genuine] love, will be beneficent.     Love, powerful healing, quickening, enduring, the bond of peace & all virtues,      is of God. Lord, pour it into our hearts, in a generous life-giving flood, for we     have more need of it.

    [Prayer of Intercession]—PRAYER FOR OUR ENEMIES: Merciful &     loving Father,/ We beseech Thee humbly, ... to pour out on our Enemies ...     whatsover things Thou knows will do them good.// & chiefly a sound & uncor-    rupt mind, ... [that] they may know Thee & love Thee in true charity & with     whole heart, & love us Thy children for Thy sake.// Let not their 1st hating of     us turn to their harm, seeing that we can't do them good for want of ability.//     Lord, we desire their amendment & our own. Separate them not from us by -   punishing them, but join & knit them to us by favorably dealing with them.// &    seeing that we be all ordained to be citizens of 1 Everlasting City, let us begin    to enter that way here already by mutual Love which may bring us ... forth         thither.

    [Pray-ers for] intercession find it ungenerous & lonely to go alone into  God's presence. They bring their loved ones, their friends, the suffering, the     needy, the dismayed, the sinning, [even their enemies. The above prayer is     from 16^th century Elizabethan England]. [The best intercessory prayer] asks     that God's will be done in their lives. There is too little of this kind of prayer,     especially too little prayer for our enemies, national & personal, coming from   our arrogant & hate-filled minds today. There is so much wrong that needs     righting, so little we individually can do except to pray. Evelyn writes:    

 "Perhaps the prayer we make here may find its fulfillment on the other             side of the world. Perhaps the help we are given in a difficult moment                  came from [there]."

     [Brief Prayers (Aspirations)]—Short prayers pierceth heaven.    THE  CLOUD OF UNKNOWING 

O my God, why dost thou ever remember me whilst I, alas so often forget  thee.  ST. FRANCIS DE SALES 

 My God, behold me wholly thine; Lord make me according to they heart.     BROTHER LAWRENCE

Help me, O Lord God, in my good resolution and in your holy service.     Grant me now, this very day, to begin perfectly, for thus far I have done     nothing.         "Imitation of Christ"

        O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart; enlighten the dark corners  of this neglected dwelling and scatter there thy cheerful beams. ST.         AUGUSTINE

    These prayers often arise out of our daily life, not merely in time of     danger & crisis when even the most skeptical cry out for help. St. Francis de  Sales likens it to a traveler pausing for a moment's refreshment. In our     spiritually dryest periods it may be helpful to choose another's aspiration that     ["speaks to our condition"] and carry it in our minds during the day.

   [O God]—"Oh God," I said, and that was all. But what are the prayers   of the whole universe more than expansions of that "O God?"It is not         what God can give us, but God that we want.      GEORGE MACDONALD

Do never pray/  only say/ O Thou!// And leave it so,/ For He will know—    Somehow—// That you fall,/ And that you call/ On Him now.

"Mean [God] and none of God's goods."      CLOUD OF UNKNOWING

    Francois de la Mothe Fenelon—O Lord, I know not what I ought to     ask of thee; thou only knowest what I need; thou lovest me better than I know     how to love my self ... Give that which I know not how to ask for ... I simply    present  my self before thee, I open my heart to thee. Behold my needs which     I know not myself ... I yield myself to thee; I would have no other desire than   to accomplish thy will. Teach me to pray. Pray thyself in me.

            "Cheered by God's presence, I will do each moment, without anxiety     according to the strength which God shall give me, the work that God's     Providence assigns me."

            The first quote seems to me to be the prayer of perfect commitment, of     the complete yielding of one's own will to the divine will. It isn't an easy prayer     to make sincerely. Dom John Chapman, Downside's abbot & [a spiritual guide     to Evelyn Underhill said]: "It isn't necessary to 'want God & nothing else.' You     have only to 'want to want God & want to want nothing else.' Few get beyond     this." Fenelon's letters of spiritual counsel have become religious classics. 2 of  his books are known to us as "Christian Perfection" and "Spiritual Letters of      Fenelon."

           Fenelon in his turn was guided by Madame Guyon, co-leader of the     Quietist movement, which had so much influence on Friends. She wrote:     "When the moment of duty & of action comes, you may be assured that God     won't fail to bestow upon you those qualifications which are appropriate to the     situation in which God's providence has placed you. A statement of Fene-    lon's, the 2nd quote listed above, [provides for me] a talisman sentence to     release tension, to restore a sense of proportion, to distract one's attention     away from one's self.
             There are many ways to pray, and each soul must find its own. Gandhi     wrote: "I am not a man of learning, I do humbly claim to be a man of prayer.    I'm indifferent to the form. Everyone is a law unto himself." Dom John Chap-    man wrote to "one living in the world," "Pray as you can, don't try to pray as     you can't. The only way to pray is to pray, and the way to pray well is to pray     much."

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67. The Ministry of Counseling (by Carol R. Murphy; 1952)
            [About the Author]/ PREFACE—She was born in Boston, MA, Dec.     1916 (died 1994). After home schooling in rural MA, 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 Univ. in 1941. She began     her association with Pendle Hill in 1947. This pamphlet is the 2nd of 17 that     she was to write. She devoted most of her life to the study of religious philoso-   phy & pastoral psychology.

            This essay arises from a concern to bring together a living religion of     the Holy Spirit with a recent [development] in therapeutic counseling [connec-    ted with] a deep respect for the human spirit. My thoughts have grown and     clarified in contact with my teachers and fellow students at Pendle Hill, Garrett     Biblical Institute, and Syracuse University. I have embodied many of their     ideas in what follows.

"Our labor is to bring all ... to their own teacher in themselves"—George Fox
            [Introduction]—Perhaps one day, [someone will come to you because     of your religious faith and ask to talk about themselves and their feelings of     inadequacy, their doubts about God, their frustrations with themselves]. As the     one appealed to, you may feel equally helpless. How does salvation of the     soul include release from anxiety & meaninglessness? You may feel you     have a Christian duty to help. What does it mean to help someone?    How     can one help another towards spiritual strength or renewed faith?        How do I deal with a case of mental illness?
             You may conclude that this sort of help can only be given by expert     guidance counselors or psychiatrists. But the question of religion's relevance     [to the problem won't come up]. What responsibility does religion have to     find means of making a real difference in human lives? How can psycho-    therapy seek to relate itself to religion's ultimate concern? A conversa-    tion between psychotherapy & religion [will help] religious workers wanting a     clearer definition of what helps people's minds & hearts, & to all who want to     demonstrate that faith can make a difference in life's everyday relationships.     This pamphlet will help to see the possibility of a more delicate & thorough-    going co-operation with divine love. Each of us must determine how one will     use the spirit of counseling in one's work.
            The Promise of Religion—Great promises of transformation of perso-    nality is found in II Cor. 5:17, John 3:7, Romans 12:2, & Gal. 2:20. Christianity     at its best conceived of the religious way as joy & fulfillment. Newness of life &  fresh perception of the beauty & omnipresence of God [is found there]. Bud-    dhists & Laotzu also struck a note of fullness of life. Religion has called on all    humans to enter into a new dimension of [fully living & being]. It is holy joy  which is the heart of living religion. [Some reject this], preferring the comfort-    able discomfort of their neuroses.

            As a practical way of transformation, Christian tradition has offered the     individual growth through the loving community; a personality can grow best in  an atmosphere of mutual love; salvation isn't solitary. How have Christians     given or not given God's love & understanding effectively? Many religious  people have deeply buried spiritual diseases that needed greater self-under-    standing than was available for healing. To discover the nature of agape love     we must go to those who actually give love, & describe what they do & what     results. If we believe that transformation is a work of God 's love we will    expect to find in psychotherapy more evidence of the nature & power of love.

            The Contribution of Psychotherapy—Psychotherapists have found     they can best deal with a personal problem by transforming the person who     has the problem. Psychotherapy has changed from the medical look on men-    tal illness to an educational outlook. The therapist-teacher may offer  coa-    ching in new conditioned responses, or give the "student" a great degree of    freedom to reach one's own insights & view one's own behavior. Adjustment     is an inadequate goal for therapy, because mental health is more than docility      to folkways. 

            Dr. A. H. Maslow finds the supremely sane to have the qualities of     loving-kindness, mystical consciousness, willingness to be unconventional &     to face the unknown without fear, & appreciation of everyday life. He calls     them self-actualizing. Therapists are learning to trust the therapy process to     lead their patients into undiscovered wholeness of life, rather than to stop     short at any specific goal.

            The psychotherapist brings a single-minded concentration on the inner     springs of personality. Since therapy requires discovery of what one's self     really  is, the therapist must offer the patient unwavering respect without threat  of withdrawal or hope of favor. Through this therapeutic attitude, we have     come to a closer description of agape, God's creative love. Agape doesn't     have to be deserved, & gives freedom to the loved one to become what one      inwardly is. 

            What is the place of God in counseling? As Love, God is present in     therapeutic love as its very source & ground. [In contrast], much of psycho-    analytical theorizing seems to come from a contempt for people rather than     love for them; a second-hand materialistic philosophy is also involved. The     religious person will look for a theory which proceeds from a reverence for the     human spirit & makes no unexamined & outworn assumptions about ultimate   reality.

            Non-directive Therapy—Nearly all schools of thoughts in psychothe-    rapy agree upon the value of understanding and acceptance, and there is a     growing tendency to rely on the patient's ability to reach one's own insights     when thus understood and accepted. [In reality], one finds a greater or lesser     measure of suggestion, interpretation, approval & warning, which makes the  patient feel inferior to and dependent on the all-wise therapist. One is asto-    nished at the amount of subtle pressure and threat unconsciously employed     in most human relationships, & the extent to which another's goals are made     normative for someone.
             Consistency in avoiding manipulation & responsibility for the patient's     behavior in non-directive therapy is difficult. It is daily decisions in favor of love  rather than coercion. It is an attitude of humble willingness to be taught rather  than to teach, to be guided rather than to guide, which is the foundation of a     consistently loving therapy. Non-directive counselors offer neither interpreta-    tion nor ambiguous silence. One tries to understand step by step along with     one's client, sensing what one's client is feeling. The therapist's task is to go        into the client's private world, & look through the client's eyes. For a sensitive     therapist that must surely be a nearly mystical union.

            A simple method of "reflecting" & clarifying a client's feeling can bridge     the gap between one mind & another. Being tempted to either satisfy a client's     explicit need, or to judge & tell the client it is not good for the client is to make     one a child rather than an adult. The therapist will be able to accept & clarify a     need without meeting it. [None of the labels—non-directive, client-centered,     self-directive, spirit-centered, light-centered—are inclusive enough of the    counselor/ client/more-than-self inter-relationships, or easily understood by     both the religious & non-religious]; "non-directive" is used here for convenience.

            "Seeing is Behaving"—It is the possession of consistent convictions     which distinguishes non-directive therapy from the techniques used by thera-    pists & guidance counselors. The eclectic methods include a shotgun approach  using procedures from shock therapy to reassurance, or a "wonder drug,"     favorite panacea given to all patients, an anxious rush into planless action. In     reality, researchers in the non-directive field have worked toward a hypothesis    to which techniques must be relevant, leading to a [positive] attitude in therapy  which techniques spontaneously express; behaviorism is the opposite ap-    proach, dealing with external, objective absolutes.
             A scientific law specifies that "This thing under these conditions will do     thus and so." Scientists have now realized that the world of their theories is a     hypothetical construct which provides a consistent background to individual     experiences which alone seem real to us. This new thinking is called "pheno-    menological theory." The new theory concentrates on individual consciousness  as perceiver, & makes no claims concerning the nature of "reality." The human  organism is one that must maintain & protect itself [and make sense of what it  sees with] snap judgments concerning the meaning of reality. We cut up and  reassemble the continuity of experience in ways taught us by our mother     tongue. 

            The peculiarity of perception is not only human or cultural, but also indi-    vidual. The personal perspective & context of yourself, ordered by your needs     & values, is in turn the determinant of your behavior. [In order to understand     the meaning of someone's behavior we must ask]: How must one feel in     order to act as one does?    How would I have to feel if I were to behave     like that? To change behavior, it is the perception of self & situation that must  be changed. The only test of a field of perception is its adequacy in the ex-   perience of its possessor; learning increases that adequacy and clarity of   perception.

            In the new conception of the world, there is no "object" or "subject."     "Mind & "world" are creative of each other, & are no more to be separated from  each other than the circle's circumference from it's area. There's one patterned  field of which subject and object are interdependent poles. In psychology, the     personality cannot be understood apart from the situation it is in, nor can the     situation be the same without the personality that perceives it.

             Relevance to Religion/Moral Standards—This revolution in thought      closes the supposed gap between "objective" science & religious commitment.  The phenomenological theory supports the objection to the purely external     evaluation of another, & calls for knowledge of the person through participation  in their internal frame of reference. Many psychologists are unable to free     themselves from the older subjective psychology completely to embrace the    full philosophical implications of the new way of thought.

           The field concept provides religion a consistent, credible way of concei-    ving God's immanence in the human spirit. God & humans aren't one, & they     aren't 2. The newer trend in scientific thinking can build a strong philosophical     foundation for insights that religious seers have never been able to justify     through more traditional ways of thinking. In time, still wider & more adequate     philosophical frames of reference will have to be constructed to encompass the  further growth of truth.
             The counselor must give up the search for an "objective" interpretation     of the client by case-history and diagnosis, nor can one judge mental "illness"     by one's own opinion of what "reality" is. The counselor can only [trust and     enable] the reorganization that takes place in therapy. The religious person  must replace their own opinions or an authoritarian doctrine with faith in the     working of the Holy Spirit toward a divine end beyond our cultural horizons.     The urge to personal growth is the power of God working in us. Standards   must be thought of as dynamic rather than static, as transcending human     opinion, and uniting humankind by free reconciliation.

           Those who share the spirit of non-directive therapy have the best kind of  conscience, with a growing inner consistency which sets them apart from petty  authoritarian practices. A human is affected only by what the environment     means to one, and by one's own interpretation of one's memories. Conscious-    ness becomes an active agent of behavior. What we see determines what we     are and what we are determines what we see. 

            The concept of sin in its emotional aspect, doesn't proceed from agape,  but from moralism's approval-disapproval attitude, which agape supersedes.  As long as agape is at hand to guide perception, redemption is possible. Jesus  once implied that one might have such a rigid perceptual structure as to be     incapable of seeing new and greater values. The entrance into the Kingdom of   Heaven meant for Jesus just such a radical reformulation of one's way of     perceiving as the conventional adult finds almost impossible.

           The Process of Therapy—The reorganization of self and perception     takes place in various degrees in the course of therapy. One derives a percep-    tion of one's self partly from the opinions of others & partly from experience of    ones own needs & capabilities. An important part of the experience of therapy    is learning from the attitude of the therapist that one is capable of becoming     adequate to life. The practice of faith-healing might be redeemed from the    realm of superstition by being reformulated to experience and trust the full     capacities of the psycho-physical organism and the Spirit immanent within it.

            There is also the need to be acceptable to others & to conform to 

 their standards of what the self should be. When one tries to meet the terms of  a conditional love, one then becomes estranged from one's own experience;  not meeting their terms risks estrangement from others. There is an unac-       knowledged part of the self that is fearful because it is feared; shameful     because it is condemned; & irrational because it is not admitted to reason. In     the freedom of therapy one comes to a better estimate of one's strengths and     weaknesses; one can bear to see one's self more completely. The therapist 's     unconditional accepting attitude is a mediation of God's forgiveness.

             What is the "self" that one must "forget" & "lose?" [That self is the     one] we think we are, or the self the world expects us to be. The self we are to     develop is the self of our potentialities, [God's idea of our best self]. We can't     set the limit at which we stop growing; we must always be open to further     growth in directions that may surprise us. It must be remembered that the self     is [actually] a field which interpenetrates all perceived reality and which can be  consciously extended to include other selves or all humanity. [Perhaps the     universe is developing through the various perceiving aspects [of itself.]
            Non-directive therapy prefers to speak of experience being admitted to     or denied, differentiated or undifferentiated, to the Jungian terms Conscious &     Unconscious. Denied experience speaks to us in disguise, [which is dropped]     only when the conscious self is able to bear the revelation. Therapists are     coming more and more to let the growing self find its own acceptable time for     new insights.

             A dream has a message for the dreamer, but the different canons of      dream interpretation reveal as much of the personalities of Freud or Jung or      Erich Fromm as they do the personalities of the dreamers. The non-directive     counselor provides the atmosphere favorable for self-made analysis of sym-    bols. The Jungian art therapy could broaden and deepen the more verbal     course of non-directive therapy. Some non-directive interviews have been         almost completely silent, with the counselor's acceptance coming across     nonetheless.

           Education for therapy—Training in counseling consists in finding out     what attitudes the student actually has, and helping him to define more ade-    quately one's perception of the nature of therapy and the role one plays in it.     Learning to accept and respect many kinds of people is moral rebirth at the     deepest level. The heart of non-directive training lies in free discussion of the     deepest issues of therapy and in actual counseling experience. The non-    directive counselor must judge one's own readiness for counseling others. No     one outside of a person can judge that person's capabilities. And there is no     common agreement among schools of psychotherapy as to acceptable public     qualifications of professional therapists.
           If a non-directive counselor feels clear in one's convictions, if one feels     warm acceptance for the client before one, if one's methods express one's     spontaneity, then one is qualified for that case. The wise therapist will come to     know the point at which one's personal adequacy ceases. Psychoses are as     much an attempt to cope with a perceived threat to the idea of self as are more  "normal" behavior. The counselor may find one has reached the limit of one's  ability to accept; the counselor must able to accept one's own lack of accep-    tance. Wise is the counselor who by awareness of one's own viewpoint is able  to remain inwardly free from it.
            Applications—Although not every not every human relationship can or  should be made a counseling relationship, there are no bounds to the rele-        vance of an inner attitude of acceptance and understanding in communicating     with others. [The church can be koinonia] if we learn to live in the therapeutic     spirit. The development of group therapy is one step in this direction. Small         cells of transformation can be formed. 

             The practice of non-violence can also receive reinforcement & refine-    ment from wisdom concerning coercion & aggression that psychology is     beginning to acquire. Spiritual coercion is increasingly seen as more     destructive than physical force. Sensitivity to this kind of coercion can help     religious people themselves to avoid methods tainted by this pressure. The     therapeutic spirit accepts needs and desires but does not feel that they all     should be equally met.
             In religious education, the religious teacher must offer not labels        spelled "God" or "Christ" but actual experience of agape. True education nur-    tures the insights that unite knowledge with behavior & ability with desire,     changing one's life, not merely one's ideas. The non-directive attitude will     make us forswear indoctrination & recall us to our inward Teacher, it will also     make us unashamed of having a religious point of view.

            Culture addresses each human's ultimate concern, & is therefore ines-    capably religious. The answers to ultimate questions, if they are living and     truthful, will judge & transform the culture that gave it birth. A religion of agape     can greatly help provide education with integration around a human's ultimate     concern which proceeds from life-transforming experience rather than empty     speculation. All religion asks of psychotherapy is that God be given a chance     to will and to do of God's good pleasure in us.
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68.  Art and Faith (by Fritz Eichenberg; 1952) 

       About the Author—Fritz Eichenberg, born in Cologne in 1901, emigra-    ted to the US in 1933 [died in 1990] and became well-known as an artist, edu-   cator, print maker and illustrator of children’s & classic books. He wrote Art of  the Print, wrote and illustrated Endangered Species & Dance of Death.  He         became a Quaker in 1940.  He also wrote Pamphlet #257, “Artist on the    Witness Stand.”

       [Prints included in the 1962 edition are]: “The Lord prepared a Gourd”;     “And a Little Child Shall Lead Them; “And on the 7^th Day God ended His     Work; “And their Eyes were Opened”; “And in Her Mouth was an Olive Leaf”;     “And she Became a Pillar of Salt.”

       A New Preface (1962)—A decade in the Atom’s Age is heavy with    changes. We live under the shadow of the Terrible Cloud—expecting the        worst, hoping for the best. In the world of art, a decade is little indeed, [when]     measured against God’s Eternity. Man creating order, form & meaning out of     thought, color, & sound, wages his endless battle for perfection, for immorta-    lity, for truth & beauty. It is doubtful that without its vast iconography Christia-       nity could have [impressed] the hearts & minds of people over such vast areas  of space & time. Perhaps it was corruption of these arts that turned a few       schismatic Christians, the Quakers, against all art. The lack of insight and       imagination on the part of leading Friends drove Edward Hicks to despair and   Benjamin to England.   

       Much has happened in [the 10 years since this pamphlet was 1^st pub-    lished]. The world has slipped closer to man-made destruction. The artist’s     image of man is deformed & tinged with insanity. Art must be universal, an     instrument of peace that brings people together in deeper awareness of their     common joys & sorrows. Art has become an international movement, a means  of communication crossing racial, ideological & linguistic barriers.

       “Every man is a special kind of artist; in his originating activity, his play    or work, he is expressing himself; & he is manifesting the form which our com-    mon life should take in its unfolding.”    Jacob Burckhardt.

       “The only hope of saving our civilization lies in the spiritual & psycho-    logical sphere.  Civilization is dependent on culture; unless we as a people     find a new vision we shall perish.”        Herbert Read

       THE BIRTH OF ART—A hunter stalked his prey with all his animal cun-    ning & killed it. He runs his fingers idly through the blood trickling from [his     kill]; before he knew it he had shaped on the rock an animal's crude outline. It     seemed like magic; the idea excited him. Using a few hairs out of the animal’s     fur [as a brush], he soon completed an image resembling his prey. What he     had done no man had done before him; he had been ordained the 1^st artist on     this earth.

    The head of his tribe [set him to work drawing] all the animals they had     hunted.  The new-born artist worked feverishly.  The practice of this mighty     magic spread from valley to valley, was passed on from tribe to tribe, father to     son. Critics admit that their mastery of line & form has rarely been surpassed.      Modern artists had long been familiar with the Incas' arts, the Egyptians, the     Greeks and Romans.  [Technology has made fantastic innovations].  We     have sold mind, body and soul to the machine and we seem to have forgotten    the formula to stop it.  The magic of art seems almost to be forgotten.

       Art is a conscience that plagues us, a longing for creative power that     can bring us closer to the source of all creation; a power we seem to have lost.   [Some of the great modern masters draw inspiration from ancient art.  [When    we compare the tapestries, sculptures, jewelry of today with those of the     ancient past, we realize we have lost not only the spirit, but also the skill. We    have hardly had a new idea in type design during the last 2,000 years.  

       As artists, we may rebel against tradition, but we rarely have anything     new to say, nor are we more articulate than the artist of the past; we lack the     clear objective which makes a revolution succeed.  We seem to deny now that  man was made in the image of God and that we are meant to be creative too,  each in his own way.  The decline of the arts came with the decline of man’s     faith in his own creative powers.  What has changed is the social background     against which he works and the patrons on whom he depends. 

       PATRONS OF ART—It was the tribe, in all probability, which prompted     the first artist to paint hunting scenes on the walls of his cave dwellings.  In     Greece and Rome, the State itself became the patron of the arts, the artist an     honored citizen who brought glory to the rulers and received gracious nods         from the gods [they fashioned].  The Christian Church needed imagery to stir     the faithful to religious fervor.  The Church not only fed the artist’s body, she     also nourished his spirit.  With the rise of industry & the decline of the Church,     rich merchants & noble men delighted to play the artist’s benefactor by orde-    ring portraits to flatter their own vanity.

       The artist of the 20^th century has to serve an industrial purpose; he     must help in selling mass-produced merchandise; pretenses are gone, nice-        ties dispensed with.  The morality of the artist’s work that helps the salesman     is questionable.  [If] profit & comfort are the pillars of our industrial age, then     the “fine artist” becomes a useless member of society, at best a lovable &     impractical bohemian [who must] try to fit in to the profit system to be gainfully     employed. The artist who wants to serve God will have to embrace poverty.     Those artists are living an integrated life, worshiping as they work, creating     when they feel inspired, freely giving of their talent.

       We were all born artists; we were all geniuses when we were little.  We     were born free in mind and spirit.  Where does our enslavement begin?  A     child has: imagination, perception, insight into human emotion, enthusiasm,     spontaneity, focus. In the industrial civilization: imagination becomes handicap;  perception becomes specialized training; insight become intrusion on privacy;  spontaneity and enthusiasm become grounds for being fired; concentration     becomes over-focused into 1 operation. On top of that we lose the capacity to     play.  The vast majority of adolescents will find little to do as a vocation that     satisfies both body and soul.  

        FRAGMENTATION & ART—[Industrialization has fragmented crafts  into production by specialists].  There was a time when shoemakers, cabinet  makers, printers, builders, conceived, designed & executed their work as a     unit. [Now] we see man reduced to a tool by the machine which has super-          vised him; he serves it. Creative man has become a rarity in the office, the        factory, & in many of our institutions of learning.

       The specialist has lost his identity. In most cases he will never see the     finished product at the end of the assembly line. He feels a longing to go back    to his childhood, when he was creative, playful, imaginative, curious, insightful     and enthusiastic.  The soul is asking for a home again.  Today, modern artists     are supposed to entertain. If an artist wants to speak up against human cruel-    ty, he is condemned as an agitator, as a subversive.

       WORSHIP AND ART—If the artist’s work is worship, if there is earnest     desire to serve God & humans, the artist will, in the end, achieve peace of     mind, freedom of the soul, and mastery which will bring the artist to the foot of     the Cross.  The artist who succeeds in freeing their self from egotism, greed,     speed, sex, will have to embrace poverty.  Reducing one’s standard to bare     necessities is the most effective means of independence.

       Within this framework freedom of expression is a necessity. Think of the  world without the works of the great composers, poets, artists & writers.  How  do we repay our great artists of the spirit, who give us so much at such  great cost in suffering and unrelenting labor?  The artist is the eternal fool,  close to the child and close to God. His suffering is not a choice; it is in the     nature of all creating.  The list of ordeals inflicted upon artists by humankind is     appallingly long.  A work of art is conceived in joy and agony, it grows in     ceaseless toil & is delivered in painful ecstasy.  A ceaseless urge sweeps the     artist along, prodding, rewarding flashes of insight, then again plunging the     artist into darkest despair, leaving the artist short of perfection. 

       MYSTERY & NECESSITY OF ART—The mystery of art defies analy-    sis by [any professional].  Greatness is determined by the depth & emotion of      the message which the artist is able to transmit through work, down the ages.    The mystery becomes magic when we are irresistibly drawn into the spirit of     the revelation as experienced by the artist.  Persons isolated by their wealth,       disappointed by their family life, starved for beauty, color, warmth, will pay          enormous sums for art, and never regret it.

       If we are eager for [the revival of] art & culture, we must try to create     1^st in our homes an atmosphere in which minds, imagination, & enjoyment of     the simple things, [is given free rein]. It doesn’t take much to create a home, a   place you would like to stay & enjoy peace of body & mind; it can be beautiful    & very simple.  Harmonious colors & proportions can create an atmosphere in   which art can grow and that is where we start.  Home is where one can start to    create the little things which will deepen ones understanding of the great    things in art.     

       There are many ways of building a church or a meeting house, but they  are rarely built with our thoughts, our hearts & our hands. Materially, a meeting  house can have everything a 20^th century Quaker would want, [& still] chill the     spirit.  300 years ago the building of a church or meeting house was a dedica-    ted communal effort.  It can do us a lot of good [now] to think about a whole        community combining their thoughts and labors to honor God.

       ART—A REFLECTION OF LIFE—It takes devotion to create & reve-    rence to enjoy beauty.  We can all become artists if we make our hearts &     minds receptive. The Cathedral of Chartres, beginning in 400 A.D. was burnt     & rebuilt 4 times in 860 years; the last construction lasted from 1200 to 1260.   It was rebuilt on the same site, using parts of the structure left from previous     destructions, integrated into one harmonious whole by generations of builders.  

       2000 figures guard its windows, portals, cornices, each one a work of     art. The artists were anonymous and so is their glory.  To them art & worship  were one & the same thing.  Our 20^th century minds find it difficult to grasp the  spiritual power behind this monument of human devotion to God.  While we     may write generous checks, we have impoverished ourselves spiritually. [We    have not produced any such symbol of devotion in our time].  We have lost   faith, and consequently art has lost its power. 

       How does the modern artist fit into this world? What is the nature     of his work & how does he speak to our condition?  [When we think a work  of art is the product of a sick mind, few of us realize that it is the product of our  minds]; we have helped create this world, [which the artists recreates].  [We     would rather have] entertaining, pleasant pictures, idyllic music, colonial     dwellings.

       Modern art reflects our lack of faith.  Dadaism created art from bits and     pieces of junk left by the mechanization of our lives, by war and its destruction;  it was an artist’s revolt.  Cubism attempted the organization of the fragments.   Surrealism delved deeply into the mind and depicted its fears and follies.      Abstract art may well be a subconscious dodging of moral responsibilities.      Modern music reflects the dissonance of our lives; the din of our traffic jams,     the hustle and bustle of the rush hour, the cocktail party the assembly line.

    We must recapture what we have lost, we must fight for our faith, our way back to God; we must become creative again.  The 1^st command of civilized people is to create order out of chaos.  The artist must enhance the value of life and add meaning, joy and beauty to our existence on this planet.

       EPILOGUE—Cologne, founded 50 years after the birth of Christ, was     reduced to rubble during the last war.  One of the young men dropping bombs        on Cologne, a Catholic and lover of art, feels embarrassed and apologetic        about his role.  He is now a Trappist monk entered upon a life dedicated to     God, work and silence.  The fragmentation and ugliness of modern warfare     is undoubtedly reflected in many works of modern art.  Life and Art cannot     be separated.  We are all responsible; we should be seriously concerned.  We     have to mend our ways and try to bring order into chaos and become whole      again, holy again.

            We must go back to creative work & significant play [by dropping]     empty substitutes. There is enough excitement in our daily tasks if we ap-   proach them reverently & creatively, no matter in what medium we work.  [We    can feel the thrill] of standing up and being counted for all the despised and    unpopular causes for which we feel called upon to fight.  We can experience   the thrill of  finding God close to us in the silence of the meeting house, our    workshop, or under a starry sky.  The child, the fool, the saint and the artist    want to believe that humans still have a choice, that we do not want to     destroy ourselves, but start a better breed, devoted to Faith, Hope & Charity. 

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69.  Experiment with a life (by Howard E. Collier; 1952)

       About the Author—Howard E. Collier was a surgeon in Worcester,     England, who delivered Woodbrooke’s Swarthmore Lecture in 1936. He was     an authority on health in industry and taught Industrial Hygiene & Medicine at  the University of Birmingham. Howard sojourned at Pendle Hill in 1938, while  on a journey to observe industrial conditions in the US. Howard's approach   to the Quaker meeting was as an experimental scientist guided by scientific     procedure.

       [Upbringing and Mental Schism]—My youth swept past during the     Edwardian Era.  During the summer of 1914 I qualified as a doctor and served  as army doctor for most of WWI.  In 1919 I settled into general practice.  My     middle life has been over-shadowed by WWII & its consequences.  Many of    my generation suffered from a mental schism.  We were outwardly normal,        but our inward balance seems to have been precarious.

       I was brought up in a lower-middle-class Victorian home.  Aridity lay     like a blight on the average Victorian—a lack of vision, a failure to love beauty    for its own sake.  A Victorian home like mine was a “good” home, comfortable     and secure.  Integrity and honesty were valued, [along with] self-restraint &     moral discipline.  The seeds of religious skepticism were planted at an early     age.  I recognized that the science I learned at school and the Bible science      taught at home could never be reconciled. 

       At University, I was impressed by the empirical efficiency of modern         science in relief of suffering & the healing of sick people. Several of us decided  to believe in practical truth, rather than a speculative truth which denied     science’s basic assumption. We hoped that Einstein’s theory of relativity might  be the scientific harbinger of truth. Our basic attitude to life was “scientific.”     Finding truth with the experimental method in science & the authoritarian     method in religion produced the deeply rooted mental schism from which my     generation has suffered. 

       Medical Practice—As soon as the war ended, I settled in general     medical practice in an industrial district.  [I knew that religion disregarded cer-     tain facts. Now I began to see that science also disregarded facts.  After a    few years in general practice, I reached the conclusion that many of the     accepted theories of medicine were in need of radical restatement.  I saw a     considerable number of patients who recovered following the use of alter-    native methods of healing. It seemed to me that [attributing recovery to]     chance and coincidence was a direct challenge to the experimental scientist     [and not honest].  I began to make a study of unorthodox systems of healing.

       Any method or no treatment at all was sufficient to cure very many     cases of illness.  The refusal of medical help was often followed by disastrous     results.  The new theory I was seeking seemed to be an integration, a synthe-    sis of physical, psychological and religious healing.  I have discussed my    experiment with life from the medical point of view because [that’s where my    expertise is].  I tried to understand the relation between the economic, social      cultural and strictly religious causes of health and welfare.   

           A Lost Soul—On a summer afternoon [near 1925], after a long & tiring     day, I sat in the garden, & heard myself say, “If you don’t take care, you will         end up losing your soul.” Anyone who refers to his soul as something that can     be lost has discovered a new inner reservoir of facts to studied & related to     outward facts of ones ordinary life. This redirection from outward to inward     search for truth was the next step for my divided mind’s healing.  It became     increasingly clear that both fellowship and cooperation were important to [my]     successful [search and to] modern research.  I realized also that I needed         instruction in the art of reflection.  I made a survey of religious organizations.       In the end I applied for and was accepted into membership in the Religious     Society of Friends.

       The Search for Intellectual Coherence—At this stage in my journey it  became clear to me that the mere accumulation of facts does not bring truth.   Knowledge of truth was a blend of insight with outsight.  For William Harvey,     the 1^st step was taken when he realized the accepted theory did not fit the     facts as he observed them.  The 2^nd step was when he began to reflect upon     the facts, both old & new.  [For William Harvey] the essence of the experi-    mental  method lies in the combination of reflection with observation. There's  an interplay of reflection with action, of imaginative thought with factual experi-    ence, of theory and practice, worship and work. 

       Experience consists not only of the actual outward events, [but also of]     all we have thought, felt, desired, hoped, loved & learned.  Our experience of     life is profoundly shaped and conditioned by the particular culture into which     we were born.  Before I joined the Society of Friends, I tried to work out a     coherent explanation which would do justice both to the scientific and to the    religious data with which experience had provided me.

       2 cardinal events of my intellectual experience were: the day I accepted  as true view of life as evolution; the day on which I grasped the significance of     Einstein’s theory of relativity. It had general application to all aspects of exper-     ience. D’Arcy Thompson wrote of organic form, the individual's mysterious,      inherent nature.  As I reflected, it seemed to me that the form, the self's essen-    essential unity, was observable during life & could be studied by the experi-        mental method. For me the concept of the form of the self has provided     a sound doctrine & an explanation of the experience's enduring identity through-   out its entire life. At this time in my life, my inward & outward search met at a point, at the intersection of outward & inward life, my self & its environment.

       The Unity of the Self—I was startled when I realized how plainly the     facts relating to my life’s unity had been brought to my attention & with what     blind obstinacy I refused to see them. [I learned that]: joy is the awareness of a  harmony between our life’s form and its shape [experiences]; fellowship is joy     experienced by the solitary when he finds companionship; truth is the perfect     marriage of theory with fact & of thought with insight; beauty is awareness of     harmony between the subject & object of aesthetic reflection; goodness has     been called “love in action” & “truth & beauty personified.” I believe that all     people have experienced the influence of their form upon the shape of their     experience.  I conclude that the “life of the spirit” is the activity of the form of     the self. 

       The 1^st effects of membership in the Religious Society of Friends were     emancipating. [After that], I began to see myself as I really was. To see those     “things that were hurtful,” that we had been projecting upon other people, & to     see ourselves as truth sees us—these are experiences that are likely to shake  the self-esteem of the hardiest; some people quit at this stage. One’s lower self  will launch a counter attack soon after an initial spiritual victory. We are told that  the Spirit driving Jesus into the wilderness was the same spirit he had encoun-    tered at his baptism. 

       I began to experience a measure of divine healing.  But while I once    presumed the Sermon on the Mount & a life of practical service were the solid    sum & substance of religion, I found that this hypothesis failed to account for     the facts about my soul and about reflection.  My battery was overcharged with  ideals, but the energy never reached the wheels; I was undercharged with     drive.  [On a positive note], I was influenced by friends I had made within the     Society of Friends, and [vocal ministry from worship.  I also began to read the     Bible again with a new perspective.]  Looked at through modern eyes the     Gospel narratives spring into to new life. 

       All these influences directed my attention to a unique historic figure,     Jesus of Nazareth, whose spiritual, intellectual & moral grandeur stood out like  a mountain in flat country. [These questions became insistent:  Why must     such a man die on a cross?  Why must his mission fail?  Why did I, who   could be thrilled by ideals, fail lamentably to attain them? The Cross     became a challenge both to the reason & the heart. [At one point I found     myself between beliefs]. 

       Returning home one morning from my daily round of doctor’s calls, I     found myself standing in my hallway in the center of a bright light. [I felt as if I     might be able to] unlock “all mysteries. The light faded & I was left with: “The     Cross is ingrained within the structure of Reality.” I saw a pattern [of death &     life in a new form in] atoms, seeds, tribes, nations, communities, men &    women, & in philosophy, psychology, sociology, history, ethics, & aesthetics.     The entire creation, from nebula to man, each in his own place and order.

       The Inward Drama—Reflection made me aware that within myself a     drama was being enacted.  I learned to recognize the characters in my life’s     drama & even to give them names.  There are 5 characters; 4 appear during     the earlier part the 5^th only in the last act.  The 1^st person was a familiar figure     that I really knew little about; this was Ego.  He moved about his own world     holding a mask before his face.  I realized that the Egoist possessed a number  of real positive virtues. He could be a courageous, unconventional individual. 

       As I looked for the man behind the mask, my 2^nd character began ma-    king more frequent appearances. I found that this Shadow Ego was the coun-    terpart, the mirror image of my conscious Ego.  The center of the Egoist lay in     conscious experience, but the center of the Shadow lay in the unconscious,     & in crude self-interest.  During my early life I learned to display my “good”    qualities in the bow window of my essentially Victorian self [my Ego].  I thrust     my “bad” qualities into my equally Victorian basement [Shadow Ego]. Aggres-      sive instincts, a longing to inflict pain, self display, all my natural lusts and    hates, belonged to my Shadow self.   

       The Shadow Ego skillfully assumed a number of disguises. His earliest     disguise was a black dog; [my mother referred to the “black dog on my     shoulder” during my bad moods]. The Shadow appeared also as a ragged     neglected urchin. Lastly, my shadow self appeared as a young Hercules in    strength & a gypsy in appearance. I called him Sambo & came to think of him    as a real, if lovable villain. Sambo & his satellites possessed negative traits    but also doggedness, zest, courage, drive, & a strong sense of fun & humor.    [The Egoist was somewhat a coward]. 

       The 3^rd character in my play was a woman & she proved to be one     aspect of the soul. In My Lady, I recognized my ideal woman. She was my     conscious soul self & carried the projections of some of my feminine ideals.      My Lady, like Ego, was carrying a mask before her. She was a substantial part  of my own being.

       Years later I became acquainted with my drama’s 4^th character; her     name was “She.” Like Sambo, she was capable of many disguises. She also     had a history & a life story of her own. She sometimes presented herself as     the most human of women, rather too human & fleshly for my peace of mind.     Other times She appeared clothed in the vestments of a semi-divinity. On her     1^st appearance, She seemed wholly evil, dangerous & greatly to be feared, a     vamp & a female warrior. She was also a woman whose ancient wisdom &     power ought to be obeyed. 

      Transforming a Character—I knew that Sambo & She must transform    into reasonably respectable members of society & that they must be accepted  on friendly terms by each other & by the conscious Ego and My Lady.  I find it  difficult to give an honest and accurate and objective account of this phase of  my experiment.  Any event happening to me & others would be described very  differently by the others.

       My wife & I have had a successful marriage.  2 people more or less     infected by the mental schism of our age would have difficulties.  It seems        each of us made the common mistake of supposing that any human spouse     could be capable of carrying the other’s inward image of the ideal wife or     husband. Those ideals cease to cause serious conflict, only when each reali-    zes that those ideals are part of his or her own character and not a part of the     marriage partner’s actual character.

       We must also recognize that Sambo, My Lady, Ego, & She are in fact     integral to our character—stubborn facts about ourselves.  Making friends with  our various characters, and them behaving in a friendly fashion toward one     another is one of the greatest and most difficult achievements of the religious      life.  Time, love, & the Light of Christ, has softened some of Ego’s hard, harsh  contours.  My transformed Sambo became ultimately the strength with which I  learned to love God, my neighbors and myself. 

       My Lady became & remains guardian of my values & the keeper of my     soul, inspirer & censor of my acts.   Unreal enthusiasms, mistaking the will for     the deed, & love of fantasy are some of her weaknesses. The She character     manifests 1^st as the earthy earth, the 2^nd with an aura of divinity. The Painted     Woman carries some of the characteristics of She. Until we recognize the     strength & insistence of the sex compo-nent in the unconscious soul, the     motives of that component will interfere seriously with our religious life & all        our relationships.  Transformation of the human She is a necessary 1^st step     towards a better acquaintance with the other, [semi-divine] She.

       The Well & the Form—In Meeting for Worship, for no conscious reason,  the story of the Samaritan woman at the well recurred to my mind in a peculiar  pictorial form. As an observer, I seemed to overhear the conversation between    the woman & the stranger. As I sat in Meeting the entire story was re-enacted  before my mind. In the Samaritan woman I saw both My Lady & the Painted     Woman, 2 aspects of my soul. The story applied to myself meant that my in-    ward She would be transformed as a result of meeting the Stranger & drinking     the living water.

       Where was that Well, that source of life, in my experience? The     Well was the source of unitive life, the life of reflection & worship, the spring of     life & fellowship, of truth, beauty & goodness. The Well was a symbol of both     the divine & the human components in the soul. The human elements in She  were symbolized by the Woman at the Well & the divine components in the         soul were symbolized by the Stranger who sat beside the well. The Stranger     was Christ, but I had not realized that He was actually within the compass of      my self.  He had long been forming within my self, but had been hidden from     my awareness. 

     When I actually saw Him for the 1^st time, he became a personality     invested with the divinity that brings peace, rest, security & joy to the troubled     soul.  What I saw was the embodiment of an actual relationship between my     form on the one hand and the Eternal Form of God in Christ upon the other.  I     had found Christ Transcendent & in doing so I had come at last to my true self     & to a measure of conscious self integration.  The Divine Seed was planted in     the unitive form of my life, that mysterious & unique quality which determined  the growth of my individuality.  This last period of human life should be a     period of joy and serenity, of richness, during which the Divine Seed reveals    itself in its fullness as the Inward Christ.  

       I see that human life is a process of growth, not only of the body, but     also of the soul; the spirit, a process which commences in infancy and should     not cease until we die.  My 3 major convictions are: truth is trustworthy and     those who seek her surely find her; the “Cross is ingrained in the structure of      all reality”; life can be fully lived only in fellowship, that our many and varied     relationships are the experiences through which we touch and enter into the     Eternal Life that is our present and our future heritage.  

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70.  Science and the Business of Living (by James G. Vail; 1953)

           About the Author--James Vail (1882?-1952) was a scientist by trade     but he had time & resources to serve the Religious Society of Friends in Phi-   ladelphia & around the world in Trinidad, South Africa, & Jamaica with FWCC.    He also worked AFSC in Germany in 1920 & sat on the executive board until       his death in 1952. He tried to balance success as a scientist with Friends’           testimonies. This pamphlet was published the year after James Vail’s death in   1952. It looked at combining science 's tradition of looking at obstacles as     problems to be solved & the religious concept of moral law as the basis of a    life together to make a peaceful world.

           [Excerpt from] Sonnet—. . .  Bid then, the tender light of faith to shine/ By which alone the mortal heart is led/Unto thinking of the thought divine—George Santayana

     Science has gained enormous prestige, earned by a conquest of the     material world unique in history.  We have developed a great confidence in our  ability to solve problems which, on their face, appear impossible, & to extend      our mastery of matter into vast new areas.  How can the great accumulation  of knowledge be interpreted so that what is known shall be available     when needed?  What is the impact of our work upon our civilization?  

       Something has gone wrong with our modern world. Unrest and tension     [rather than cooperation among competing] groups are not the exception.      Rapid accumulation of knowledge has often led to an assumption of something  near omnipotence, and generates toxic substances which prevent further     growth.  Our inability to assimilate [quickly enough] has tempted us to short     cuts and nostrums which are very different from wisdom.  

       Science & the Business of Living—The man of science who is trou-    bled about his role [and feeling responsible] is now heard from [more and  more]. There is dissatisfaction with things as they are.  This is like the urges     which spur people to new discoveries in science.  It's said that science has no   moral quality; in a literal, narrow sense this is true. [If something new] should     decimate the human race, it will make little difference whether the research is    “pure science” or not. The community will judge according to the consequen-   ces. Because science has removed barriers of space and time, the proximity   of everywhere requires rethinking our social attitudes.

       Our new knowledge is pregnant with possibilities for good or evil, & we     have not learned how to assure a beneficent direction to its development.  The  earth’s population has more than doubled within the last century. Education &     development of industry through applied science can, in the long run, reduce     the pressure of population on the land.  The true scientist has evolved far from  the beast and is inclined to humane & generous actions.  Democratic peoples     are inherently responsive to human rights and human needs. 

       But the world community is frustrated, hungry, resentful, & disillusioned.   Are there some unifying principles comparable to chemistry & physics     laws by which our complex relations as human beings come into an     intelligible order & harmony?  The process of invention usually begins with  the discovery of a clue which wakes the enthusiasm of the inventor who envi-    sages great things.  In science and in human affairs, imagination, persis-    tence, refusal to accept defeat, are essential elements of success.  Faith is a      great releaser of energy.

       Science apart from people has no meaning.  [I have been able to     befriend people from India, China, Islam, & Europe who could overlook those  characteristic they found undesirable or offensive.  The experience has been  one of mutual education, and both parties have found spiritual enrichment in    the process.  Our needs, hopes, and fears are not racial or national—but     human.  How can science help the human race to survive? 

       I have [learned] that in every human being there is a tender aspect.  It     reaches across barriers usually regarded as impassable, [in the Spanish Civil     War], between Moslem and Hindu, between East and West.  [The AFSC has     proven its effectiveness in Western Europe including Russia].  To bring out the  good will in people you have to make them trust you.  Their trust is something  that has to be earned.  It involves rigorous self-discipline, and an honest effort     to see through the eyes of the other person. 

       While the majority of humankind looks with longing toward the American  way of life, wise and mature men see us as powerful, irresponsible, erratic and  immature.  [We, on the other hand, must seek] with determination to release  the unexploited resource of goodwill which experimentally we know is real.  [I     know from experience that groups seen historically as adversaries can work in    harmony with a sense of common purpose].

       It seems clear that the materialism which dominates so much of our     thought and action is a very important cause of the unrest and insecurity that     confronts us.  There is no easy answer, for it must begin with changes in you      & me & [in taking responsibility to make a difference].  Every step of regimen-    tation, indoctrination, or standardization of human beings, which relieves them     of responsibility and relegates them to be units in a vast machine, is a step     away from ultimate peace and order [brought] by the common consent of free     people.

       It would be good discipline for each of us to ask:  Do the things on     which I am working contribute to the well being of all around the world,     or do they foster vices, prejudices, of fears?       Do I realize that [such     a] course will be ultimately more satisfying since it has the approval of    an inner monitor which distinguishes me from animals and represents     the highest point in evolution?

       There is no security except in creating situations in which people don't  want to harm you.  The temptation to use coercion will be great, but we know  that coercion fosters resentment and produces results opposite to those     intended. “Feeding your enemy” may mean applying science to create local     production that they may have subsistence and self-respect. If the obvious     step of a courageous waging of peace is impractical, what is the alter-    native?  Chaos.  Albert Einstein said that you can't prepare for war & peace    at the same time.  [The high heroism & constant devotion required to wage   peace] are latent in all.  Is there anything more worthy of our effort?       

       Challenge & Response—It is of the nature & use of peculiarly human     characteristics that I wish to speak.  A letter from a Lord to a Professor speaks     of a problem, on which he was working, as all beads and no string.  Search for  the string is evident in every scientific meeting; arrangements of facts in se-    quence gives a sense of security.  Knots must be invested to prevent the loss  of what has been organized.  What is our purpose in devoting our energy   to an industry, church, government, or any institution in which many      people are associated?       Is it to satisfy the urge to exert power on the      part of a few, or is it to create a community?  Worthwhile work and the     challenge of developing one’s best powers makes for a happy and coope-   rative individual. 

       Perhaps the fundamental string of which we need to get a hold of in our  thinking is the difference between things, which we have learned how to mani-    pulate, and people, whose reaction are quite different & much less ade-    quately understood.  To develop the possibility [of life in] a seed you must      keep it alive.  You cannot hurry very much the processes of germination or     alter greatly the sequences inherent in its ancestry. 

       As a professional people we have a live interest in education.  We can     all agree that to meet the challenge of maintaining the advances already   gained in science we must have people who are learned, vigorous, and moti-   vated to spend great effort to advance the frontiers.  For the present purpose    it is sufficient to recognize that the education we need is something which     springs from an urge within one in response to a challenge or inspiration. 

       I have found something that looks like a string [in] Arnold Toynbee’s 6-    volume “Study of History.”  Of  26 civilizations he identifies, 16 are dead &     buried and the remaining 10 show varying degrees of disintegration.  The     pattern he finds in common with them all is:  1) genesis in response to chal-    lenge; 2) growth from creative vigor; 3) failure of the creative minority and     resulting breakdown; 4) time of troubles; 5) attempting a universal state to     salvage situation; 6) disintegration.  The diagnosis is suicide—not murder.      Toynbee finds that growing civilizations extend their influence by radiation, the     effect of which declines with distance across a vaguely defined zone. If this     thread can help us to see our challenge and develop our response, it is to         be welcomed.  

       The great challenge of our time is to end to war.  As Einstein said:  “if     we fail to find an answer to this question, the answer to any other question is     irrelevant.”  If each person or each national groups thinks themselves the       universe's center, conflicts will increase & the end of our civilization will be     at hand.  Toynbee says that periods of growth are characterized by differentia-    tion, decline by standardization.

       There is a special challenge to those who have made these successes     in technology to recognize the spiritual factors without which technology breaks  down, and to prepare the type of thinking on which [a vital, living] peace [& not  the mere absence of war], is based.  We have a lot of testimony on the value     to distressed people of the warmth of human friendship.  When all else seems  dark, the idea that other humans care comes as a ray of light. 

       The intellectual fortitude which sustains the scientist in the face of see-   mingly insurmountable barriers is needed for the creation of peace.  Why     should it be too much for each of us working according to his special     talents to contribute to a world in which the welfare of all is a serious     objective?  The qualities of spirit which are the key to harmonious human -   relationships are seen in the personal lives and teachings of many great sci-    entists. Without the sense of the need of religious truth the string on which     our pattern of history is related will have a loose end with chaos as the penalty. 

       Our actions seem to derive from [instinct, intellect, and the formless     source of a qualitative response to life].  Some people are possessed of     personalities which are centered on [service as a response] to trouble.  The     spiritual part of life is a peculiarly human asset.  The power of growth through     spiritual insight and action has created faith that overcomes insuperable     obstacles.  When mind and strength are put at the service of the highest that     each of us can achieve we shall make our best response to a suffering and     frustrated world.  We must seek faith and hope with a humble and a contrite     heart for without becoming better people we are indeed insufficient to the     occasion.       

             The Scientist, His Neighbors—& Peace—Peace is the great problem  of our time.  Almost everybody wants peace but most assume that peace is     impossible. Peace involves better conditions of health. [The global majority]     needs a sense of belonging to a human family of which global communication  has made them aware.  Every young person, especially the scientists [needs    to be introduced to new language and approaches to learning].       

       When the problem of building and creating is grasped we shall have to     invent methods & apply the new techniques not to dead matter, not in terms of  force which doesn't move the minds of men, but in ways which work from the     inside out.  Scientists are, whether or not they like the idea, a social being     dependent on his neighbors.  The argument that they have no responsibility to     neighbors will be hard to support. 

       Let us dedicate ourselves, each to make his contribution to reclaiming     the spirit of men from fear, frustration, superstition, prejudice.  It is important to  keep before everyone the basic ideas of freedom and responsibility.  To what  extent can we leave to others the responsibility for the end use of our     technical work?  It is a discipline first to understand and then to practice the     responsible and, if needed, the sacrificial work which it entails.  To earn the     right to freedom we must be the kind of people that behave without being     coerced.  

       Horizons—One of travel's frustrations is the horizon.  At the farthest     reach of every journey there is the call of the beyond.  We do not want to be     satisfied with the insularity which results from failure to see the place we inha-    bit in relation to what is beyond the horizon [and beyond our expertise].      Difficult, important choices are usually made without expert understanding. 

       In larger affairs a community [bowing] to authority, accepting leadership  uncritically, will lack the vitality possible to one with people who feel responsi-    ble even in the absence of a complete basis of decision.  The end of our civili-    zation is in sight.  Much of the pertinent information is over the horizon.  But         there are principles which we as well as the experts can use in directing the   course of  research and determining the validity of the findings.  National     rivalries are the major cause of war, [and need to be dealt with by the United     Nations].  Another problem we need to face is fear.  Most other nations today     are afraid of the United States of America.  Fear can be dispelled by delibe-    rate and sustained effort to create forces of trust and cooperation. 

       Have you ever pondered the teaching of history?  Each country is     described as if it were God’s own and infinitely superior to the others.  Objec-    tive treatment of history on an international basis in our schools could be of     immense value.  Peace depends upon the recognition of a moral basis of life.      Without living within the frame of moral behavior our great freedoms will vanish  over the horizon.  Moral law is as inexorable as gravity.  A responsible attitude  for each of us might include a determination to promote the discoveries we     need for the urgent business of living at peace.  We can each resolve not to    be part of the problem, but part of the answer.  

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71. Let your Lives Speak (by Elfrida Vipont Foulds; 1953) 

       [About the Author]---Elfrida Vipont was born in Manchester in July     1902 [died 1992]. Her parents were Quakers & she had two siblings. She was     educated at Manchester High School for Girls & The Mount School for Girls.     She entered Manchester University to read History but withdrew to travel as     a professional singer, freelance writer & lecturer. She served on the Meeting     for Sufferings of London YM from 1939 to 1985, and several other councils      and committees. Her books include: Quakerism: An International Way of Life     (1930), as E. V. Foulds; A Lily among Thorns: Some passages in the life of     Margaret Fell of Swarthmoor Hall (Friends Home Service Committee, 1950);     Arnold Rowntree: a life (Bannisdale Press, 1955) — about Arnold Stephenson     Rowntree ]

      EDITOR’S NOTE—300 years ago, [in 1652, George Fox] strode across  the English countryside, & in the vigor & power of his passing, a new spiritual  movement was born. He felt so deeply the necessity to tell of the Truth & Light  within that he brought his messages wherever people would hear him. Among  those who joined the group was Margaret Fell of Swarthmore Hall. In August  1952, Quakers from many countries gathered at Oxford, England for the     Religious Society of Friends’ Tercentenary Conference. In this pamphlet, an     English Quaker recreates for us some of what happened in 1652, & calls     attention to the meanings & challenges of those days. 

      LET YOUR LIVES SPEAK

      HERE OR NEAR THIS ROCK GEORGE FOX PREACHED TO ABOUT     1,000 SEEKERS FOR 3 HOURS, SUNDAY JULY 13, 1652. GREAT POWER     INSPIRED HIS MESSAGE AND THE MEETING PROVED OF 1ST IMPOR-    TANCE IN GATHERING FRIENDS KNOWN AS QUAKERS. MANY MEN AND     WOMEN CONVINCED OF THE TRUTH WENT [OVER] … LAND AND … SEA      … WINNING MULTITUDES TO CHRIST.—[Excerpt] From a tablet on a great   rock known as “Fox’s pulpit,” near Firbank Fell, England.

      

       The Kingdom of Heaven did gather us, and catch us all as in a net …     [& we] came to know a place to stand in & what to wait in.—    Francis Howgill

       The Challenge of Obedience—In 1920, the Friends attending the 1st     World Conference declared that to follow the way of Christ involved living here  & now “as though the Kingdom of God had come.” [But] the keys of the King-    dom too often elude all but the rarer spirits among us. That is why it repays us     to study the events & personalities of 1652 more closely. [There is more than      meets the eye in George Fox’s climbing Pendle Hill, especially when looked     at from a 17th century point-of-view.] In the 17th century, people did not usu-    ally climb to enjoy a view, least of all Pendle Hill. Pendle was a place of ill     repute, a haunt of witches and warlocks. 

       When George Fox recorded that he was “moved of the Lord” to climb     Pendle Hill, he [meant] that he had done a “senseless” thing because … God’s  guidance [said] to do it. One man was so dependent on God’s guidance that     he forsook the safe road for the barren mountain, for no other reason than that  God had led him there. On what far mountain of the spirit does the vision  for our own day await us? [We may walk on a road that] seems useful &  leads us in the way service to others; but can we be sure that we walk it    with a sensitive spirit, ready to leave it for the barren mountain if the    Lord wills it? Such guidance is “better than a known way. 

       The Challenge of the Vision/Recognition—To understand something  of George Fox’s vision, one need only climb Pendle Hill on a clear day. Sud-    denly, almost without warning, the struggle is over, the world drops away, & the  heavens declare God’s glory. George Fox received his vision from the summit    of Pendle Hill. The challenge of that vision is still with us. George Fox said:     “[Someone] asked me from whence I came; I answered him, ‘From the Lord.’ ”   [Today] we may have overlooked the importance of the question: “Whence     come ye?” 

       At Brigflatts, Borrat, Sedbergh, & on the slopes of Firbank Fell, George     Fox found “people waiting to be gathered.” Francis Howgill was also at Sed-    bergh & Firbank Fell, where about 1,000 men & women from the countryside     gathered in that lonely spot. At Preston Patrick, Thomas Camm recalls the     restlessness of the General Meeting of Seekers in the chapel. When George     Fox delivered the message, it swept them all off their feet & made it “a day of     God’s power. Seeking spirit & recognition of the message were essential to         the 1652 events. 300 years have passed, & still the world needs both the    mountain top seer & the seekers stirring in the dales.

       The Challenge of Swarthmoor Hall—George Fox's journey started       with a “moving of the Lord,” [flared through the countryside & its seekers],     until the arrival at Swarthmoor Hall, & the hearthstone of a home. Margaret     Fell, a cultured, charming woman & mistress of the Hall, had been seeking     the Truth for years; she recognized George Fox’s message, not only in her     home, but in the full glare of publicity in Ulverston Church. 

       It must be remembered that Swarthmoor Hall was the home of a loving,  united family before it became the home of Quakerism. 3 weeks after George  Fox’s 1st visit, Judge Fell came riding homewards across the desolate Sands  and was near Ulverston Shore when grave gentlemen gave him the somber     warning that his wife and children were bewitched. [The word brought back     memories of witches being tried and hanged at Lancaster, with a cultured,     charming woman and mistress of a great Hall hanging along with them]. 

       Judge Fell might have believed the accusation and angry superstition     might have been aroused against Margaret Fell & her children. He might have     belittled her new emotions & experiences very tenderly, very masterfully, [&     quietly rid his house] “of these rather impossible people.” Instead he chose to     stand beside her, so that together they might face whatever consequences,    for  joy or sorrow, this new experience might bring. 

       The love of Thomas and Margaret Fell and the strength of their family     life were big enough to stand the strain. Judge Fell's tolerance was something     miraculous in his own or any other age; he never threw in his lot with Friends.    [He met his young wife’s and his family’s new belief, he met George Fox’s     words, with quiet and stillness]. A 20th century Friend stood on the summit of       Pendle Hill and realized that [new] Swarthmoor Halls must be built, not in any     one place, or in any one fashion, but wherever Quaker men and women make     their home together in a love which is ready stand the test & be enriched by       what it spends. 

       The Challenge of the Outgoing Spirit/Friendship—Quakerism’s     home could only conserve its strength by sharing; it could only preserve its     message by spreading it. The only way to the wider world lay across the dan-   gerous Sands of Morecambe Bay. Thomas Salthouse referred to Margaret     Fell as a “lily among thorns.” In this region, a lily was not a hothouse flower,     or even cultivated, but a wild daffodil & still is today. Will Caton left a picture     of Margaret Fell; he saw her in a vision, “spinning flax most joyfully being   clothed with honor & beauty.” 

       Across the Sands at low tide rode George Fox, singing as he went, to     his trial at Lancaster. Margaret Fell faced the supreme moment of her life,     when though dispossessed & without worldly protection she said: “Although I    am out of the King’s protection, yet I am not out of the protection of Almighty     God.” There was hardly one amongst the 1st Publishers of Truth who did not     at some time make that journey, leaving the shelter of Swarthmoor Hall for     the storms & stresses of a persecuting world. Many returned to be refreshed     by its spirit. Only the resources of the spirit are infinite & only these can build     up the homes whose wealth can thus be shared. 

       [In the Sands], perhaps more than anywhere else on earth, one may     realize what friendship meant to the Early Friends. Margaret Fell had a friend,     Robert Widders, who never failed to sense their distress & set out from the far     shore of the Bay, in all seasons and weather in order to bring Swarthmoor a        friend's comfort. Such sensitivity means an outgoing of the spirit. It is an echo    of the deeper exercise of the spirit which is prayer.

      The Challenge of Strength—The men and women who responded to     the original challenge of 1652 were a mixed company, in age, capacity and     outward circumstance, but all shared an [outer & inner] strength. Fox was “as     stiff as a tree & as pure as a bell, for we could never stir him.” [Someone else     with a similar reputation] was Edward Burrough. “His very strength was ben-    ded after God.” George Fox & Edward Burrough were endowed with physical    strength above the average, but it was not physical strength alone. 

       There was a sense of direction, a capacity for putting 1st things 1st. Of  Robert Widders it was said: “He ever preferred the Lord’s business before his      own & never lost an inch of ground.” We can only live as if the Kingdom of     God  has come, if we do indeed ever prefer the Lord’s business before our     own; only  by doing so will we never lose an inch of ground. Among those     pioneer Friends  who gathered in 1652, there was to be found the physical     strength which is  “bended after God,” and the strength of purpose which     always put the Lord’s  business 1st. 

       [There is yet another strength, like that of Richard Hubberhorne]. “One     could feel his strength in the still spirit that kept him.” This unfailing strength is     with one whose mind is stayed on God. They see the ocean of love and light,     because they are part of that ocean of love and light and their strength is     swallowed up in it, whether they live or die. It is no easy optimism. To know     the Lord is at work, you have to be at work with the Lord.

       The Challenge of Steadfastness/Sowing—Few of us expect to leave     lasting traces on the sands of time. That's why it is helpful occasionally to     remember those other, nameless ones who lie in many a forgotten Quaker     burial ground. Most of the Seekers whose hearts were touched in 1652 came     to know the grim interior of Lancaster Castle. Lancaster Friends busied them-   selves with charitable efforts to keep helpless prisoners supplied with food    blankets & candles; it was thanks to them that more captives did not forfeit       their lives [for liberty’s sake]. 

       Few Friends meetings in “1652 country” do not have among their foun-    ders men and women who took their lives in their hands every time they atten-    ded meeting for worship. There exists a petition that asks for their rights as     Englishmen to be tried. [They cite “Unnecessary Charges” & “Impoverishment”  and close with:] “if you will not Grant theise things unto us, then shall wee lye  downe in the peace of God and patiently Suffer under you.” That was the spirit  which finally broke down the persecution. [The ones we remember best could  not have done it without those we hardly remember, if at all]. The closing     words of the petition cited above are reminiscent of Shadrach’s, Meshach’s,    and Abednego’s declaration before the fiery furnace.

       The pioneers of Quakerism couldn't know for certain that victory would     be theirs. Like the good farmers that so many of them were, they sowed the     seeds without asking whether they themselves would reap the harvest. [In the     case of Thomas Camm, who returned home worn out and broken in health, to     die with his own folk, he may have contented himself with the stirring days at     Bristol with John Audland]. But the most far-reaching results of his work were     never to be known to him in life, [for at Oxford he inspired Thomas Loe, who      in turn inspired William Penn, the founder of the Great Experiment in     Pennsylvania]. 

       The Challenge of Joy/“Come from the 4 Winds—The final challenge  of 1652 is one which has for too long remained unanswered in the history of     Quakerism. It springs from the note of joy that characterized the early pioneers  like Francis Howgill, John Audland, Thomas Briggs, Margaret Newby and     Elizabeth Cowart. [Briggs was convinced at Fox’s 1st trial in Lancaster]. He     founded the Manchester meeting, & there, when he was imprisoned in a filthy  dungeon, “the Lord was so with him that he sang for joy.” Margaret and Eliza-    beth from the Evesham sang in the stocks, during their 17 hours there.

       The spirit of the early days of Quakerism will not be fully renewed in    the 4th century of its history until the full secret of that joy is rediscovered &     expressed anew and until we are indeed fully convinced that nothing, “neither     death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,     nor things to come … will separate us from the love of God.”

       The winter months are long in the northwest of England, whence first     came the challenges of 1652. The snows may return again and again in our     hearts & in our lives, but still the promise of new life is there. The world today     is hag-ridden by fear, as if indeed the witches and warlocks of old Pendle had     come to life, to execute a fearsome vengeance on humankind. Justice Crook,     turned Quaker [experienced a night of haunting right after being filled to over-    flowing with “sweetness and peace covering his mind and such intimations of    divine favor as greatly refreshed him.” He answered the damning voice with]:    “Thou’rt a liar! Thou’rt a liar! For I feel this moment my God's sweet peace      flow through my heart.”

        There's no lack of damning voices now. Where are the “overflowings  of sweetness & peace” to be found? If we could accept the challenges of   1652, we should know that the Lord works in the darkness; that love’s & light’s    ocean is unquenchable; that what may befall us, our joy no man taketh from     us. To accept these challenges is not impossible. [We may not be among     those who “leave behind Footprints in the sands of time”]; we may well be     seekers, ready to be caught up in the net. Ours is the faith that doesn’t ask to    see the harvest of its sowing; ours the joy that sings in the dark places of the      earth. The challenges of 1652 are inescapable and they are with us now.

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72. The Indian Testimony (by Amiya Chandra Chakravarty; 1953)

     [About the Author]---Amiya Chandra Chakravarty (1901–1986) was an     Indian literary critic, academic, & Bengali poet. He studied in Hare School,     Calcutta, & graduated from St. Columba, Hazaribagh. He wrote both poetry &     prose & a number of articles in journals of India, England and the US. He was     a close associate of Rabindrath Tagore, & edited several books of his poetry.     He was also an associate of Gandhi, & an expert on the American catholic    writer & monk, Thomas Merton. He taught literature & comparative religion in    India for nearly a decade & then for more than 2 decades at universities in    England & the US. 

        FOREWORD—Humans live simultaneously or successively in the         worlds of: matter; mind; spirit; the individual; the social; his own imaginings;     God’s creation. Those who seek simple solutions for complex problems com-    mit the original sin of over-simplification, & doom themselves to perpetual    disappointment. [The problem of mass violence must be solved simulta-    neously  on many levels: political; demographic; food production; distribution;   ideology; religion. 

     Some persons are organically tough, aggressive, ruthless, and power-    loving. And the religion of the 20th century is nationalistic idolatry; established     religions are being used in service to the state. Finally, the population of our     planet is increasing much faster than presently available supplies of food and     raw materials. Professor A.V. Hill writes: “The pre-war standard [in India] was,     in fact, very poor, much of the population existed below the level of a decent     life. 

       Yet the gigantic national effort proposed in the 5 Year Plan, may only     just restore that miserable standard. An overuse of natural resources could     result in the meantime … [The application of modern science and technology     using the best humanitarian motives] has led to a problem of the utmost public  gravity.” The huge amounts spent on armaments and the political consequen-    ces of this pressure of population are aggravated by inefficient production and     inequitable distribution. 

       The great merit of Indian philosophy that Amiya Chakravarty discusses     here is the fact that it goes back to 1st principles. Because of the human posi-    tion between animal and divine, peace on earth possesses a cosmic signifi-    cance. [For humans], peace that passes understanding begins with [worldly]     peace that does not pass understanding. The ultimate and strongest reason to  refrain from violence is metaphysical in its nature. A good philosophy must be  accompanied by good: political institutions, control of population, agriculture;  technology; distribution of wealth; occupational therapy for [military strongmen].  Even in India nationalistic idolatry is now taking its place as the subcontinent’s   religion. Gandhi, the last of the great exponents of India’s traditional philoso-    phy of peace was cremated with full military honors.      ALDOUS HUXLEY

       Civilization must be judged & prized, not by the amount of power it has     developed, but by how much it has evolved & given expression to, by its laws    & institutions, the love of humanity.       Rabindranath Tagore

       [The Glories of Peace in India]—Society has to be guided by values     inherent to reality rather than by expediency. Both in philosophical ideas & in  practice, India has refused to permit the elimination of differences in order to     obtain unity; her contact with neighbors outside has not been aggressive.          Gandhi’s new technique of revolution brought out the finest elements in the 2    great civilizations Western and Eastern. The urge to achieve a humane and     integrative society is centered in India’s generally accepted faith in the sanctity  of life.

        Yet India had her Kautilya, who compiled & advocated codes of ruth-    less politics. Practitioners of his code haven't been wanting. The people chose  Gandhi and not a more violent leader to guide their spiritual and national des-    tiny. Much earlier they chose Buddha, rather than men who wielded animal  magnetism. Saintly leaders became the center of one movement after another  in the course of India’s history. Today, facing an international situation, India     shuns intellectual experts who use moral arguments to drag her into global    militarism.

       In India, the preponderance of opinion is against the use of violence no  matter how great the emergency. Their age-long faith makes it impossible for  them to glorify war. India’s testimony must be examined and clarified. For her  peoples, the greatest danger comes from minds which would oppose evil with  evil & call it good. The whole business of civilization is to discover the [narrow]  way, and this cannot be done if we continue to think and act on the basis of     “inevitable” cruelty and violence. 

        [Hindu and Buddhist Peace Principles]—India’s opposition to war is  grounded in the philosophy of love, ahimsa. Supreme peace, para shanti, is     the objective, attainable through spiritually controlled lives; the instrument is     compassion. Religion is dharma, the nature of reality, revealing the truth of      unity. The active principle in creation, praiti, is identified with the immanent     nature of God. The religious man discovers that active principle, and uses its     power with goodness and purity. The serene pursuit of ahimsa will lead to     fulfillment. 

        When one recognizes the pervasive divinity of all, evil is seen as a     challenge & a trial which has to be met with an illumined mind & active love.     There is an unbroken unity which has to be grasped; lacking such knowledge,      our actions will be fragmentary & ineffective. In a true society, the conflict of     egos is neutralized by the union of enlightened selves. By rising to the higher     levels of our being we partake of Buddha called the infinite mind, aparimeya     manasa.

        The 3 aspect of Divine Reality: the peaceful, shantam; the good,     shivram, and the undivided, admaitam cannot be denied in our relationships.       Compassionate action, right action, is purifying strength; it also destroys,     wears away, the evil that binds us. Through right action alone, we return to    the way; wrong action is further deviation. The true way is that of humility,     courage and compassion. 

       [Humans & the Law]—(Law is used here to indicate the unchangeable  Principle which governs the universe.) To be peaceful one has to be spiritually  rooted and practice the law of divine love. Without accepting the primacy of the  divine law, the law of human relationship can't be properly observed. Violence  or evil can never be a cure for violence and evil. Both oppose the law of exis-    tence; they deny the right of existence to others. Violence must be stopped in     the mind so that individual or group acts of fratricide can be stopped. [We     share a reality]. To deny reality to anyone, [for any reason] is to deny our own     reality. 

        To Gandhi this law of love was the Indian scriptures' deepest teaching,    and he found interrelated proof of it in his reading of science. He said: “That  cohesive force among animate beings is love … I have found that life persists  in the midst of destruction &, therefore, there must be a higher law than that of  destruction.” Buddha said: “akkodhena jine kodham (conquer anger with non-    anger); asadhum sadhuna jine (conquer the evil-doer by goodness). Evil is     cancelled in proportion as goodness is exerted. Any outside coercion which     hinders the inner growth is harmful to all, while the atmosphere of love and     expectation makes for social well-being. 

        When Buddha spoke of the sanction of measureless love [not unlike a     mother’s love], he was referring both to the objective existence of such love,    & to its transforming power. Non-violence, ahimsa, cannot be practiced by one  who is not constantly transcending himself and reaching the power of truth at  every stage in the conscious practice of virtue. The Indian concept of morality  is built on the divinely grounded life. India also rejected the creed of “neces-    sary evil.” Spiritual law does not allow evil to be practiced by men who claim a     special category of immunity for themselves. The compulsion of goodness     lies within and depends on the realization of divine love for its acceptance.       Nonviolence is a corollary to the spiritual practice of the law of love.

       [India’s Tradition of Peace in Practice]—India’s tradition of peace      wasn't restricted to ideals but tested & applied at various levels of life &         society. The caste system had its origin in the philosophy of tolerance     allowing all sections of people to live together protected by guilds. In every age  leaders have arisen challenging discrimination at all levels. Some of the grea-   test spiritual men, like Buddha, Kavir, Nanak, Gandhi, revered & followed by   millions, were from the so-called “lesser,” non-Brahmin categories. Rabindra-    nath Tagore, through inherited disassociation & repudiation of his "Brahmin"      stamp, stood for India’s higher ideals. India’s testimony of peace will largely     depend on what the peoples can do in getting rid of the evils of caste, idola-     try, & communalism. 

        Sikhism, founded by Nanak, incorporated the finest features of Hin-    duism & Islam, rejected idolatry, priest-craft & herd-like servitude to Vedic or     other texts or doctrines. Nanak was utterly dedicated to nonviolence. The fact     that his own successors, as in other religions, often betrayed their heritage, &     allowed Nanak’s testimony to be violated, proves that spiritual truth is pre-        served by constant vigilance. 

        In ancient epics, primitive types of heroism are extolled side by side     with unreserved adoration for the ways of peace. Asoka (269 to 232 B.C.)     was appalled by the misery and destruction he had achieved. In embracing   Buddhism, the emperor renounced the life of violence and abolished war-    waging as a function of the State of which he was ruler. Dharma is the moral    law, both implicit & manifest. Dharma meant originally both the nature of    things, & that which binds together. The background to the Gandhi movement     and its sanctions can be traced in this historical and spiritual faith of India.       Toward the end of his career, Asoka seems to have been convinced that     reflection and meditation were of greater efficacy than moral regulation. 

       Evil offers opposition so that higher resources of man can be called into  being. In fables even animals learn to associate in goodness; this may be     evolution’s modern interpretation. The Gita gives the picture of a battle between  good & evil which is waged in the human soul. The goal is spiritual freedom.     The whole point of karma is that victory is certain if the character is true, if the  will is “informed” & shaped by spiritual light. 

       The confusion created by the Gita’s 2 Krishnas, a war-charioteer, & an     advocate of compassion & God-like purity, is lamentable; the 2 Krishnas can't    be reconciled. Krishna shows the supreme path of spiritual freedom, moksha,     as attainable through divine purity. The Gita supports the effort of the Indian     mind to apply divine laws to human life. The influence of the Gita & its mes-    sage of spiritual action has been deep & continuous on the Indian mind. Spiri-    tual leaders from the time of Chaitanya to Saint Ramakrishna never felt any     doubt as to the moral & social consequences of a spiritualized life. [India’s     contact with Islamic ideals & Christian testimony have] strengthened India’s     ethical thinking.

       [Rabindranath Tagore]—Tagore’s father, Maharshi gave concrete ex-    pression to spiritual fellowship & peaceful sharing by establishing an asrama,     or  center for spiritual work, near Calcutta: Santiniketan (abode of peace).       Rabindranath Tagore took over Santiniketan from his father, & turned it into an     active center for the training of a new generation of teachers and students     whose primary responsibility would be to cultivate the spirit of loyalty to hu-    mankind. This community not only had representatives from India, but very         soon students from China, Japan, and co-workers from the West joined it. 

        [Tagore rejected caste, idolatry, & communal divisions, while embra-    cing co-education, unity of service & devotion]. The foundation of peace was     to be laid in communities where different races & nations could meet in centers  & be exposed through study & personal contact to mutualities of experience.     During WWI, any member of the warring nations who wanted a spiritual atmo-    sphere for the pursuit of international activities was welcome at Saniniketan.    As Tagore put it, the coming together of man is still an external fact; it has to     be turned into truth. 

        It was at Santiniketan that Tagore and Gandhi met. During many weeks  Tagore & Gandhi exchanged their ideas and experiences. They were united in     a common devotion to spiritual freedom and remained lifelong friends. The one  was primarily a thinker and educator, the other was a liberator. Mahatma Gan-    dhi’s work for peace is unique in that he effectively harnessed spiritual resour-    ces to the task of winning freedom for humankind. 

        [Gandhi’s Training Camps]—Inspired by Indian asramas, & influ-    enced by Tolstoy & Thoreau, Gandhi started his satyagraha camps in Africa     based on the Patanjali Yoga Sutras: Ahimsa (nonviolence); Satya (truth);     Asteya ([sexual] continence); Brahmacharya (Non-possession); Aparigraha-    Yamah (self-control). Gandhi had his community practice truth-force, as    against impulse & reflex action, in daily behavior within the group & in rela-    tion with the larger society. Exploration of fundamental laws & the facts of    daily life would reveal the framework of responsibility for each worker accor-   ding to his special problems. 

     Gandhi didn't sidestep the evil which had to be challenged, but he insis-    ted on methods which saved humanity from injury & destruction. Ahimsa is the  equivalent of Jesus’ demand for recognition of the spiritual personality of all &    the law of love as the supreme force. Gandhi believed in the transforming  power of calm courage, nonviolent group action and forbearance. If 100 M. K.  Gandhis failed, that wouldn't negate the truth of the law of love; it would merely  prove the unworthiness of the instrument. 

       The cure [for moral infection] was there & had to be found. The whole  process of finding [the cure for evil] he called “experiments with truth.” In the     satyagraha camp, the worker was to be spiritually changed and prepared in         order to become a precision instrument, morally guided, for remedying social      ills. Training camps, he felt, were necessary for all people. 

        Because we are human beings we are mutually responsible. We aren't  in a position to judge from outside, nor can we punish without equally sharing  in the punishment. Violent situations are not inevitable, but man-made & con-    trolable by man. The trained moral person will not think of masses of people     anywhere as wholly and solely wrong and in any case destroyable. 

        [Intercession]—The training camp is to train each individual in the     technique of intercessory action. The will to serve follows a different course     [from self-righteousness]. [A police action], a minimum, non-destructive &     detentive use of force would be a valid intercession, according to many. But     the term “police action” can be euphemistically used to include ruthless de-   structive force, even in peace time. Intercession must begin with the trained    individual. The intercessor must place himself at the disposal of those who     suffer & fight; he must arrive with courage, & love, & the testimony of faith. A    new chain-reaction, beneficent & creative, will have been started. 

        Intercessory action leads to contact with those who war and suffer and  need succor. Intervention is done from afar; there's no human contact with the  peoples but an agonizing destroying act from outside. Precedence is no prin-   ciple. The fact that somebody did something first doesn't therefore allow us to  do it next, & with greater power to wreak evil. The inherent goodness or bad-   ness of a thing has no relation to the inherent goodness or badness of the     thing against which it is paired. A satyagrahi had to know when to act and     how to refrain; he should expect conversion in his so-called enemy and be    ready to examine fresh proofs. The peace worker must learn the secret of     combining resolution with charity, decisiveness with continuous sensitivity.

       [Conclusion]—Gandhi’s principles have been largely unexamined by     the international world, hence the odd, [inaccurate] use of the word “neutral” in  connection with India’s positive policy of working with & serving peoples &  nations, instead of a partisanship which estranges a nation from others. The  user of truth does not expect an easy path; neither is he sure of infallibility        on his part. Any difficulty encountered will have to be conquered by human   and moral means, not by denial and destruction.

        Gandhi’s work in India was rendered difficult by the fact that people     were more crushed, disorganized & often resigned to their fate than a modern     European society would be. [The only way to know how calm, disciplined     courage would work in the face of stiff, totalitarian government resistance] is     to persist in the application of moral law, and seek know it & apply it in new     circumstances. Experiments with truth-force cannot succeed if mixed up with     such other beliefs & practices as are a clear denial of the eternal principles of  truth. We cannot practice methods which we condemn in others.

        Gandhi began with the people at the rural, humble level, demanding     the utmost from simple men & women, & got answers undelivered by doubters    & deviationists. The techniques he used can be further developed. Population     control is a necessity as well as humane & planned emigration [& immigration]  policies. The United Nations awaits proper use by a human society partially     freed from the neurosis of power, political schisms & economic aggressive-    ness. Satyagraha, truth-force, must be used instead of violence because     violence negates the law of God, and brings disaster and shame to all. Such       a testimony of peace is not merely India’s, but one that most men & women     in humanity would know in their own hearts. And we can succeed only if we     pursue truth together. 

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73. The Inner Islands (by Winifred Rawlins; 1953)

            About the Author—Winifred Rawlins (1907-1997) wrote 14 volumes of     poetry & the correspondence printed in The Inner Islands. She began writing     after emigrating from England in 1947. In the US, she worked with farm wor-    kers in California as well as with the War Resisters League & Pendle Hill.    After serving as the head resident at Pendle Hill, she directed 2 Quaker     retirement homes, the Harned in Media, PA, & the New England Friends     Home in Hingham, MA. She was a member of Provi-dence Friends Meeting in    Media.

   [My Dear Susan:/ I wonder] if you are enjoying the late 40s as much     as I am? [How does] youth know some of the keenest despairs because    [of having] no time to gather a philosophy of reality? We're like travelers    about to venture out into uncharted seas. [Let's] explore at least some of the     inland bays together, through an exchange of letters. We shall have that     understanding of tides and shallows that comes from direct experience.

    I discovered there is a great deal of truth in the "life begins at 40" point     of view. About that time I began to have a more objective awareness of my-   self. [I became] familiar with my habitual thinking and acting, my subterfuges,      pretenses, & rationalizations used to safeguard my reputation. I believe the   Powers of life are working unceasingly to bring to their destined end all the    plants, animals and human beings that exist.

    When I was 25, I had an experience which made the spiritual nature of     reality a certainty for me. [I believed my spiritual aspirations had removed self-    willed ambitions from my life. All I had done was exchange one set of ambi-    tions for another; even my years of work for peace had a high degree of ambi-    tion. I saw that I [must not have spiritual ambition, but only] want to be what     life wants me to be, something different each day. Write soon. Love, Wini.

            [Well, my dear Susan, because of your request], I realize I must try     to explain my experience as a 25 year-old again, if we aren't to leave an im-   portant island unexplored. Early childhood was very happy. During adole-   scence there was a good deal of strain because of my mother's tendency to     neurotic illness, caused in part by father's early death. Father had religious     faith; mother struggled to discover a satisfying philosophy of reality. She     wanted to lead a good life, and devoted her life to service. She was never       certain whether she had met God or not.

    My mother developed a condition [from her emotional disturbances]. My  purpose in life was to interpose my young mind between her infirmity and the  world's [cruelty and suffering]. The devotion to my mother and to aesthetic     values filled my life. I neither accepted or rejected any religious tradition.     When I was 25 my mother's illness grew rapidly worse. I tried to exorcise the  unreality which seemed to envelop her mind, and which was her spirit's ene-   my. The search for the meaning of existence would [soon] draw to an unsa-       tisfied close.

    After the end of that epoch, I gradually became aware of a strong, pro-    tective essence flowing steadily round & through me. This essence was the     underlying stuff of reality, universal and unchanging. Whether my mother     experienced it too I am not sure. I was sure that her physical death was com-    paratively unimportant, and that her search wasn't cut short. My new know-    ledge certainly didn't make me a saint or otherwise change my character.The   conviction about this underlying trustworthy essence has stayed with me  ever     since. It isn't in any sense a private consolation./ Your fellow explorer, Wini

    [My dear Sue:/ We are certainly] well out from shore now. Even with     our similar concerns I know that our approaches are very different. No 2 people  follow identical paths in trying to experience reality and know inner peace. Your  use of certain rituals, traditional prayers, and certain times for meditation is the  1st Path. Embracing all experience as it comes to consciousness and making  an intentional response to it is the 2nd Path. Your path needs to be in accord  with your true nature, and it needs to be followed faithfully.

           This 2nd Path consists of responding with [acute] awareness to the ex-    perience stream as it flows by us. [One can refer & relate everything to the    Source of All]. One can observe things outside one's self, and one's      thoughts. Experience is known as a varying flux moving against a unified &     unchanging Ground, true Self, Seed, Inner Light, God. The "I" stands a little     to one side, aware of the unchanging Ground of being & not identifying with     what is experienced, [thereby] coming to a most direct knowledge of it. I have     a strong sense that there is no interruption during sleep; something is added.     I go to Meeting for Worship for a group seeking. [The main Meeting has to be     at prearranged times, but smaller ones can happen any time, anywhere./ My     Love to you, Wini

            [My dear: / What a wonderful letter]. [You are right to say that] the 2     paths are not exclusive of one another. What you & I are concerned to avoid is  engrossment with the ego. One source of the ego's nourishment is dwelling in  thought on the past & future. I often catch myself [being more concerned] with  what kind of impression I am making [than the interaction itself]. The withering  away of the ego image will most likely take years.

            I find that I am much influenced in all my thinking by the conviction that     there is an educating element in the life process itself. Sin or egoism stands in     the way of this process. When our life is centered in the Divine Ground, I be-    lieve we are steadily & progressively taught to discriminate between eternal     and ephemeral. The "embracing" of an experience means the quiet, simple     regarding of the experience in the light of all the wisdom & maturity of which     we are capable at the time; we are aware of experience being observed. Our     task is to understand why we have these experiences. Given the desire for     wholeness & the willingness to face the painful loss of ego, we need not fear  that we shall be led in the wrong direction.
            [Dearest Sue: Perhaps we are beginning] to unravel our destiny in     childhood play. Or perhaps we set the pattern of our primary response at     an early age. There were 2 games which I played endlessly with my sister  & one brother. There was "Poor Man & Mailman," where we would enclose    a room's corner so that there was just enough room for one child to sit on    the floor behind it; there were no objects in that space. The lone child was     Poor Man. A "Mailman" would bring a small toy or other article & give it to the    Poor Man without being seen. The object would just be held & looked at,      [contemplated]; this would go on indefinitely with several objects. I think there   is an important similarity between the Poorman's experience & my    experience of  the present moment.

            The other game is called a "Supposing." Again, it is played for 1 person.    The director guides that person down a "winding dark road" with "high walls        you can't see over." The director provides little doors when things became     unbearable; only then & not before. The player would say, "The Supposing is     over everything, & won't let me get finally lost." This game was just the bigger     game that we play all our lives (& perhaps beyond) in embryo. One goes     through the "little door," being led from one moment to the next. Sometimes I     get very, very excited when I think of the long vistas of the Supposing which     lie ahead./ Write very soon, my dear, Wini P.S. [I have played a selfish game     of "Fishing" with my trusting little sister, with the intent of claiming a coveted     toy].

    [Susan my dear, Perhaps we can] bring back from our trip into     childhood some sense of being at home in our universe. We prepare our own     future, in cooperation with the whole cosmos. It rests with us whether we hail    it as friend [& teacher], or whether we struggle against it & reject it as alien &     unfair. We can learn from joy or we can learn from sorrow. A beggar & a king     can come to spiritual maturity. There is a sense in which we can't change our    immediate destiny. But we are freer than we dare imagine to mold the shape    of our future.

    We lose great opportunities if we make a habit of distracting ourselves     from painful or unfamiliar moods and emotions. Humans were made for joy &     woe; both are congenial to one and complementary to one another. [In life] we    can go through heaven or hell in this world without straying outside our native     environment; we are essentially at home [in this life]. Life can't lose her chil-    dren. But we can get distressingly separated from her. 

    Don't look around for amusement or distraction from boredom or lone-    liness, but look it full in the face & turn in company with it to the Source of     Being; it has a message for you. Shun even the most harmless distraction if     you have not discovered the message the mood is bringing you. We shrink     back from receiving any new insights, anything that might disturb our com-    fortable equilibrium. Usually, as soon as the meaning and full flavor of the    loneliness has been absorbed it will leave you; bear with it until the end./      Your friend, Wini

    [Dearest Sue,/ We all know pain] [is very hard to measure, because     of the large subjective element]. I haven't yet known extreme pain on the phys-    ical level. One thing to be said about it is that pain is robbed of much of its     power when it is fully meaningful to us. I have been imprisoned because of     pacifism, but it wasn't that hard to bare, because I had thoroughly accepted it      in relation to myself [and my conscientious objection to war]. People who are      most unable to cope with their suffering are also people without any coherent     picture of reality and so their pain is meaningless to them.

    If our existence finds expression in opposites then it must follow that     pleasure & pain are 2 sides of the same coin. I am concerned to discover how     we can make this unwelcome guest as much at home as possible while it has     to stay with us, & so transform the visit into something we can use creatively.      In accepting negative experience, we reduce the boundaries of pain into the     simple act of experiencing it, moment by moment, like we would a beautiful     sunset, and telling ourselves "This moment will not be prolonged indefinitely."

    One of the most unpleasant experiences is fear. And fear of fear is a     torture. I am a naturally [or at least long-standingly] timid person. At present it     seems I will have to learn to live with certain nervous fears. I have learned to     reduce my fear to [only being afraid during the actual event, without the fear of  anticipation]. I observe to myself, "This is me being afraid." The more fully we  can welcome this unwelcome guest, the more it is willing to not dominate the  whole scene, and be almost out of sight. 

    [By relating to pain or fear as though it is] not intrinsically different from     pleasure, and then turning my attention [without judgment] to the pain/fear, I       become gradually less aware of it. Although we meet this pain head on, that     part of us [in close relationship] to the Divine Ground is not to be identified with  it. We see both pain and pleasure flowing past us; we greet it and allow it into  us, there to be transformed./ Lovingly, Wini

    [My dear:/ We are likely to make port] on the other side, even if it     proves to be not the one in which we expected to dock. Are specific disci-    plines for daily living, deliberately decided on, necessary for spiritual   growth?  Spiritual maturity is possible in frameworks of the strictest monas-    tic order, or the utmost freedom from any imposed pattern. I have always     wanted to cast off all shackles & things that seem to tie me down to the parti-   cular, to not have around me objects which belong to the past. We all have to    compromise [in our spiritual freedom] where relations with other people are     concerned.

    There are spiritual exercises accepted purely for discipline's sake, and     there are life patterns which develop from some conviction or principle. I am a     little frightened even of the latter if they bring about rigidity or absorb too much  attention. [In order to avoid unhealthy food, I have found myself] making     excuses to not eat with a friend, even though it was a significant visit we both     needed. Sometimes, the need to express basic human unity [with another     race] is greater than my need to be an absolutely consistent vegetarian. It is     the difference between being clear about [one's life path] and values, and the     rigid application of those values that may actually prevent the life process        from teaching us some new truth.

    Another discipline is the willingness to be obedient to what the present     moment is saying to us, [and not ignore] impulses which we know we are     meant to follow. Their voices are so tiny, so non-coercive, that there is nothing     easier than to brush them aside. To trust in these young children of the Spirit     is an act of great faith. 100 times a day we settle back into old, non-deman-    ding habits. And life awaits, more or less patiently. Perhaps the most signifi-    cant discipline is the quality or intensity of our attention to what is before or     within us; it demands a kind of heroism. It is known to every artist when the     labor of one's creation is upon one, and occasionally even in everyday living.     The reward is exactly in proportion to the degree of non-sparing of oneself.

    [Sue, my dear,/ It seems that] as soon as we get a glimpse of [a new     truth] about reality, something urges us to give it verbal expression, even     though we are still mere babes in our ability to incorporate it into our lives. God  uses us to help one another even when we are hardly able to help ourselves.     You wrote of sadness about one period of life being over. Much of that sad        poignancy is the result of our retaining a childish illusion that we are somehow     immortal. 

    We don't see [the process of] our individual lives as having an outward     form as beautiful as a Greek vase, with all its symmetry in their rising & falling     motion. [How can we practice dying in our lives, so as to understand our     own death, & achieve it as a final and wholly satisfying act? How can we     support the dying in their most tremendous experience of all]? If the dead  are aware of death as an experience, it is certainly not the same experience    as the living who look on suppose it to be.

    Along with a sense of complete "otherness" there comes a sense of     familiarity, as though one had known about this always, & would know it     again if only a key [fact] could be recalled. [In the agony & despair that seems     near death], there enters an "X factor", indescribable yet completely reliable,     which doesn't deliver them but reconciles them to it. By middle-life, we should     have learned how to die daily to our old inadequate selves & to the transient        element in all friendships, & that almost everything appears different when we     are a part of it [& it becomes part of us], than when we are still at a distance       from it.  The best preparation we can make for death & beyond, is to cherish     a growing confidence in the life-&-death process itself./ Your fellow pilgrim, Wini

    [Dearest Susan:/ I shall always be grateful] to you. Your thought     about death & love being interwoven with one another, both needing the de-   struction of the old so that the new may be given birth, is something I will    cherish. The most important island of all on our route is one we have never    approached closely, fearful of the breakers and rocky coast that are the many   misuses of love's name. Love is the powerful spring of vitality and creativity.    Art is used by artists to re-channel the vital urge from the biological channel of    early life. For others unable to [re-channel] this way, there is a real danger of      the spring drying up.

           The most rewarding & mature way of rechanneling passion is the deve-    lopment of tenderness in men & women. Surely [this rechanneled, controlled   passion] is the same energy which runs like a stream of fire through all        things. We are terrified of tenderness, that it would draw us out of our little     deaths into life; we would become involved, responsible. We would have to     show tenderness to ourselves, & many of us hate ourselves. You ask, "How     do you reconcile what seems an almost indulgent attitude towards your-    self with the need for heroism? I think we need a compassionate, relaxed     attention which we give to all of life, including ourselves.

    Although we long for freedom from all that shackles, the increased sen-   sitivity which tenderness involves has always been associated with the con-    cept of limitation, and totally accepting it. The achievement of creativity is the    final triumph of the poet's & the artist's conception over these limitations. The   highest peak of life may be gained by those who by all ordinary standards are   frustrated at every turn. 

    By a final acceptance of their helplessness, their vulnerability, can    channel the gathered-up life within them into an intensity of tenderness &    compassion. Under such circumstances, the human spirit occasionally puts        forth alpine flowers of the greatest delicacy and strength. Joy is when the     dammed-up stream of passion finally accepts the narrow bed [confined          and] fashioned by suffering, and rushes with incredible swiftness towards         the valley. Blessings always.

     I'm told there is another group of islands called the Outer Ring, which may be worth investigating some day. They are considered the gateway to relationships with the world at large. Unless a ship approaches them by way of the inner islands there is a good deal of fog to be dealt with; this makes navigation difficult ... Wini

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74. Everyman’s Struggle for Peace (by Horace Gundry Alexander;

    1953)

  [About the Author]—Horace Alexander was born in 1889 at Croydon,     England. His early schooling was at Bootham School in York. He graduated in     history from King's College, Cambridge in 1912. During WWI, he served as     secretary on various anti-war committees. In 1916, as a conscientious objector  he was after 2 appeals exempted from any war service on condition of tea-    ching, which he did in connection with Friends' Ambulance Unit (FAU). 

    He joined the staff of Woodbrooke, a Quaker college in Birmingham,     teaching international relations, from 1919 to 1944. His wife Olive died in    1942, In WWII, he served with the FAU in India. As a trusted fellow-worker  of    Mahatma Gandhi, he has been actively associated with many reconstruction     projects in New India. He died in 1989 at Crosslands, a Quaker retirement     community in Pennsylvania.

    Preface—Unless we find a way of preventing another war, there is     imminent danger of civilizations being wiped out. We are entering a period     in history when every war is likely to become a total war. What we need is a        veritable revolution to change this world of armed nations to a cooperative         community of responsible people. In this pamphlet Mr. Alexander seeks to     awaken the conscience of [all] those with a devotion to truth & righteous-     ness to work towards liberating all from fear & hate, oppression &  war—E. P.    Devanandan, YMCA

    How to Abolish War—How can war be banished from the earth?    A general decrease in armaments would certainly do much to banish fear. [If     today's major protagonists knew their adversary] was greatly reducing its     armaments, both might sleep more peacefully. [Disarmament isn't enough in      itself, because] the tendency of [humans] to kill their neighbors out of     jealousy, hatred, fear, or hunger, has been so common through the long     centuries of evolution, that they have tolerated the restraining influence of     government for its protection.

    The peace of India is preserved, not because the States of India never     disagree, not because they are unusually peaceable, but because there is 1     law & government for India. The States must settle quarrels through law &     reason. [World government could abolish war]. How are people to be per-    suaded to accept the authority of world government and loyally accept     world government decisions? Today, citizens will only tolerate a govern-    ment that can command personal loyalty. If there were a world government,     how would we deal with the widespread sense of "WE" within nations       and the fear of being outvoted and overridden?

    Another way to rid humankind of war is to cultivate world loyalty by     abandoning narrow nationalisms & break down national barriers. For pacifists     [what is called for is a pledge to never resort to violence & to "resist insolent     might" with the mighty weapons of truth & love, to overcome evil with good].     Most believe there is no other way of resisting aggregation, especially that of     invasion, than by resort to arms. Most people think the only alternatives to     arms are surrender, waiting for evil to defeat itself, & running away. Such thin-    blooded pacifism [in response to evil], isn't the true pacifism inspired by the     teachings of Jesus Christ, Gautama Buddha, or Mahatma Gandhi. A true paci-    fist won't stop until pacifists have built a world that knows war no more.

    War is directed by a Government or group of Governments claiming     authority over some territory, when that territory's Government is determined to  resist. War goes on until one is in a position to impose its will. The seeds of     war must be looked for far from the battle scene. [Wherever greed, hatred,     jealousy are allowed to rule ones actions], there are the seeds of war being     sown. Fortunately, these seeds don't always take root. Only those who can    root out selfishness & greed can claim to be true pacifists. Perhaps no one is   100% pacifist, but all still need to strive after this apparently unattainable ideal.     It is no more foolish than most adventures that people undertake.

    Human Nature & War: [Humans at War with Self; Instruments of     Divine Love]—Many "realists," think that [history &] the argument about the     unchangeable-ness of human nature is the final argument that should silence     the "pacifist dreamer" forever. The pacifist dreams of a world of harmony,        where all help their neighbor to achieve a good life of spiritual understanding,     [where the arts], drama & pursuit of knowledge could grow unhampered by     brutal wealthy taskmasters & cunning, arrogant war-makers. 

    The pacifist believes humans are often at war with themselves. But one  isn't condemned to always be a sinner. Jesus Christ, Buddha & others prac-    ticed a way of salvation from dualism & inner conflict that enslaves most men.     Some sophisticated, learned men treat these prophets' teachings as unpracti-    cal & foolish, whilst others turn revolutionary teachings into philosophies that     distort the teachings out of all recognition. The revolutionary teachings of the     New Testament, the Koran, the Gita, & the Buddha, if they could be accepted    & practiced with the simplicity of an [innocent] child, might show that humans     can behave differently from civilization's [dead-end course] called human     history.

    How is Christ's view of human nature & human destiny true?          What evidence is there that humans can be perfect, the pure instrument     of divine love, & selfless? The devoted men & women who spend their lives     in service to the most needy, in hospitals, asylums, or in other work of exac-    ting nature with little material reward are often among the happiest of [folks].     Peace, contentment, fulfillment are achieved most completely when one    abandons all thought of self, & surrender them-selves to a purpose where self  can be absorbed. 

    Darwin's [notion] that all life consists in fierce struggle, [survival of the    fittest] is out of date. Kropotkin's examples of mutual aid in animal life have     shown that struggle isn't all. Among animals & "primitive men," there are soci-    eties built upon the principle of the team, where the strong protect the weak &     action is decided by team decision rather than a "dominant male." It isn't  the    action that matters so much as the spirit that inspires or motivates the action.    "A person of false motives may go through identical "selfless" motions, but     the result is always corrupt.

    [Jesus Christ's Crucifixion & the True Way of Life]/ Forwarding a     Cooperative Social Order—To the pacifist, Jesus Christ's Crucifixion is the     essence of the true way of life. His outspoken teaching and goodness so     threatened and maddened Church & State authorities, that they accused him  of being the embodiment of evil. English men & women whose careers were     in a rotten system, & whose vision was distorted by the prejudice of everyday     life accused Gandhi of cunning, deceit, & violence. Jesus, even in the face of     their hatred, could see deeper into their hearts, pity their self-deception, & say,  "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do." It was a victory over evil,   the Devil, and falsehood by love, understanding, and forgiveness.

    Many socialists and communists believe that individual interest must be  subordinated to the good of society. The pacifist is convinced this is good as     far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough. Communist society still practices     capitalism's destructive tendency to exalt material success [and its companion     and natural human tendency to seek a selfish amount of material success]. It     promotes the violent destruction of "anti-social elements." It is better to set     before yourself the goal of loving all, to so love the anti-social that they become  selfless and socially valuable. What principle of life allows all to become     essential parts of a cooperative whole by natural inclination, rather than     by orders from above?

    Gandhi did not oppose or despise the efforts of others to bring govern-    ments into fuller agreement. Action at the top political level wasn't enough.     [Since almost all governments have violence or terror or oppression in the     social structure, Gandhi sought a way of building from the grass roots that     would at least minimize conflict. It was called "basic education." "Education is    fundamentally a process of training in the art of living, so that every function,   interest or activity which makes a contribution to the good life may find its         appropriate place."

    "Good work is the human's basic activity, the means by which material     and spiritual needs are satisfied." The moment a person handles any raw     material in order to give it a useful function, one becomes a creator, and     develops an inward strength and reliance which spurs one on to greater     fulfillment. "The key to world peace lies in the development of an economy     which is peaceful by nature, which does not produce the stresses that lead to     war."

    The highly mechanized Western life has increased wealth and raised     the living standard, but hasn't produced social harmony. The Western worker  works only to earn money. They and communists are mere cogs in a machine.  Those countries with high "standards of living" [ignore the fact] that by raising  their standards, they will stimulate revolt and ideological upheavals in other     parts of the world. Gandhi's "basic education" in life offers a way out from the     vicious circle of material greed and cash value.

    Teach a child how to make simple things & be self-reliant; help one     learn the subtle wonder of inter-relationship of earth, crops, & garments; ani-    mals, birds, & humans. Teach self-discovery of life's mystic harmonies. Crea-    tive powers are renewed in rest, sleep, meditation, and religious devotion.     Basic education communities are limited in size; industries are small-scale;    use of power machinery is controlled so as not to enslave workers or make    them "machine-minded." 

    A region of small villages around a small country town can build a cul-    tural center of great value. [Self-giving is central to basic education]. Self-giving  opens hearts & hands everywhere, and gains spiritual treasure; self-seeking     grasps dead things only & loses the pearl of great price. Through this educa-    tion, self-reliance & community strength is developed, the strength on which     alone true self-government can be built.

    The Illusion of Self-defence-There are village communities in India     where Gandhi's principles have begun to operate. It doesn't follow that all     pacifists should become trainees in a basic education training course, or go off  among the exploited, those doing near-slave labor; there is work to do in every  land opposing the military spirit. We must 1st free our minds of the most dan-    gerous illusions. One illusion is that armaments are necessary as a defense     against attack, [& its companion belief that pacifism involves meek submission    to evil]. 

    Overcoming evil with good means insisting on a right choice of wea-    pons. A pacifist has seen that within 30 years, air-bombing has gone from be-   ing banned to being accepted as inevitable. Decade by decade the public    mind has slipped from the acceptance of one barbarity to another. The survi-    val of "our" nation is "necessary for the good of humankind," so we must     use the latest and most fiendish weapon known to man against the wicked     aggressor.

    Russia & America are not the only protagonists that think the "other" is     the arch-criminal, unreasonable, & perhaps inhuman. The pacifist realizes that  at totally different type of weapon must be used, one fit for humans, not the     weapons of devils. What humane weapons can be used to meet and over-    come evil? They are the invincible weapons of the spirit of humans: truth &     love incarnate in strong action. During the Nazi occupation of many Euro-    pean countries, true non-violent resistance played very little part. The deter-    mination of Norwegian professionals to uphold truth and not to bend the knee,     but to stand unarmed and serene, without fear or anger against insolent     might, provides one of the grandest chapters in European history.

    [Gandhi's Non-Violent Movement]—Gandhi was able to enroll simple  peasants and shy women as soldiers in his non-violent campaigns. Although  many of the soldiers of non-violence never understood or entirely shared his     principles, [they proved effective]. Indians & Englishmen have become friendly  overnight. It was a change of heart in the English people that Gandhi looked     for; not their destruction or even their humiliation. [Some say] if he had tried    his non-violent methods against a totalitarian government, he and his suppor-    ters would have been liquidated. 

    If there had been widespread violence in India, it is to be feared that     British morality might have evaporated. There are differences of degree in     suppressive governments' behaviors, not any real difference in kind. If Gandhi     and friends had been executed by a less moral alien authority, it would not     prove that civil disobedience and non-violence was wrong. Half the heroes of     national history are those who have led "forlorn hopes" and have perished in     the battlefield or on the scaffold; they have inspired fresh courage and     determination in their fellows. Why can't the "blood of martyrs" also be the     seed of political victory?

    When ends are achieved by violent means, it is not easy to get rid of     the violence afterwards. [When violence & deceit was taught & used against  the government of occupation in France, they became the highest duty and     value. When the French government was restored they did not find it easy to     persuade young people that suddenly truth & respect for law were the highest  virtues. [And so far as the American Civil War is concerned], one must ask     oneself whether the negroes would not today be happier, perhaps freer if     patience could have allowed civilizing forces to work for a willing emancipa-    tion of the slaves a generation or 2 later.

    The strike is a non-violent weapon used against employers who refuse     to be reasonable in negotiation. Strikes involved suffering for the strikers, which  Gandhi believed purified people and brings hidden forces of good into action.  How strange it is that the duty of protecting women and children is used as a  decisive argument for armed defense, when modern war actually leads to vast  misery for the often displaced old, young, & weak. The "chivalrous" distinction     between men and women is false. [The chivalrous Gandhi] placed as much     reliance on women as on men in his campaigns.

    In caring for "mental" patients, American Quakers, Mennonites, &     others still use coercion with patients having fits of violence; such fits are less     frequent when love replaces coercion as the main means of checking & hea-    ling the disordered mind. [The world at large today] suffers from violent mental     disorder, [more than most realize]. The world can only be cured by [people] of     courageous love, filled with the truth's power, ready to suffer [derision, deceit,    & death], unwilling to commit violence. Truth & love are the only weapons that    never fail.

    The Choice Before Us—If war continues to be waged, it will be with     greater & greater destruction & cruelty. Humankind today may follow the way    of violence or the way of intelligence. If international war is to continue, then    in democratic communities every man & woman may be expected to play a     part in preparations for defense, [i.e. conscription]. A century & a ½ of history     seems to show conclusively that conscription destroys both peace & liberty. 

    If [many or] all are taught to shoot or bayonet their fellow men, however  unpleasant the training may be, the idea will prevail that these arts must be     learnt by every man who claims to be a mature citizen; no one wants to be     incompetent or a coward. What if community life and national States are     only put in jeopardy by the practice of conscription? If Gandhi's method of  defending good & attacking evil is the only one that guarantees preservation       of the good life, then conscription & armed defense are a gross anachronism.

    [If talk of unilateral disarmament comes up, the response is]: "We will     do this, & we will do that. But to disarm in an armed world!—no please don't  ask us to do just that." And so the vicious system goes on. How will any     nation take the lead in crying halt to this arming madness? Gandhi would     say, rather than be a soldier, "It is better ... to be so brave that you throw  your     armaments away & stand before the world as men, not pre-historic monsters    coated in mail &  hurling bombs at the dreaded foreigner. "[Be a man, not a    beast]." 

    Armed forces organizers put the agents of mass murder into attractive     uniforms, with jaunty caps & brightly polished buttons. The world has admired     battlefield heroism for too long. Gandhi beckons us along the new path called     "Ahimsa" or Love. He said: "It is an attribute of the brave; in fact, it is their all. It  doesn't come within the coward's reach. It's no wooden or lifeless dogma, but     a living & life-giving force. It is the special attribute of the soul."

            How can the change from an armed world to a disarmed & coop-    erative world be achieved? Each of us must begin with oneself. When     enough are prepared to try Gandhi's way, governments will change policies,     and a  warless world will become possible. How can one make ones voice     heard against the great government propaganda and the great news-    paper combines? Gandhi started with no natural advantages, either physical    or mental. His public life was as the leader of a poor, dispirited, divided racial     minority. At best, he could hope that 50,000 would follow him to jail.     

    He became a symbol of the simple man, the forgotten man in every     part of the world. He was a common mortal using to the fullest a moral strength  inherent in everyone's soul. If the resistor can follow the gleams of light & truth  that one has seen oneself, if one can hold the faith that the God of truth is     mightier than the devil of deceit & despair, though one may perish, others will     be inspired by ones example. That example, to and for others is the mighty     force that can liberate all from fear and hate, from oppression and war. 

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74b. A Quaker Approach to the Bible (by Henry Cadbury; 1953)

    [About the Author]—Henry Joel Cadbury (1883 –1974) was an     American biblical scholar, Quaker historian, writer, & non-profit administrator.     He was American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)'s chairman (he helped     found it) from 1928–1934 and 1944–1960. His contributions to modern Biblical  studies are widely recognized, [& he contributed to the New Testament trans-    lation of the Bible's Revised Standard Version]. He had an active concern for       what he once called "the social translation of the Gospel."

    [Early Quaker Views on the Bible]—Whatever viewpoint is characte-    ristic of Friends, whether ancient or modern, it is actually widely shared [out-    side of Friends]. Geoffrey F. Nuttall arranges 17^th century English religious     thought so as to show how Quakerism has much in common with Puritans but     stands at the extreme edge of a spectrum. In so far as Quakerism has empha-    sized the contemporary presence of the Holy Spirit, God & the Light of Christ,    all outward and traditional media of religion appear to suffer some eclipse. 

    Emphasis on the past seemed to Friends to weaken attention to the     present. It was important to realize the experience in oneself today rather than  to recognize its validity in the past. George Fox said: "O no, it is not the     Scriptures ... [but] the Holy Spirit by which the holy men of God gave forth the     Scriptures [that] opini-ons, religions and judgments were to be tried. Margaret     Fell's reaction was "We are all thieves, we have taken the Scriptures in words,     & know nothing of them in ourselves." Early Friends were suspected of Bible-    burning.

   In that day, and in our day more than ever a Bible-centered theology loves to use the term "Word of God." The rule Quakers claimed instead of Scripture, the experience of present guidance, seemed to others blasphemous, too subjective, untrustworthy and lacking in uniformity and precision. Friends gave precedence to the source of inner guidance, 1st in the individual and then in the important check of the concurrence of the group of Friends. The Scriptures were for Fox a confirmation rather than a source of truth.

  One might expect neglect or even hostility [toward the Bible]. Friends     haven't infrequently respected & used the Bible as much as did their contem-    poraries. No matter what reasoned or unconscious basis our Quaker pacifism     has today, our predecessors, both Quaker & before, found sanction enough in     the New Testament & the Old. Friends made a considerable & selective use of  the Bible, like other people. Where their environment was less Biblical than in  17^th century England they changed their behavior, even quoting from the Koran  to the Great Turk. It seems shocking to some people no doubt that in our     unprogrammed worship the Bible isn't in evidence, not read from or quoted. [In  the family, this situation existed as far back as 1837, according to Joseph J.     Gurney].

    Friends often thought of their opponents that they were the ones that     neglected the Bible. Friends complained against taking the words of Scripture     without knowing the experience first hand as stealing. Friends are today only      too aware of the ease with which verbal or mental acceptance can exist side     by side with actual ignorance or practical rejection. They see the futility of     attempting to make profit of others' authority. William C. Braithwaite has     written:  "Men substitute tradition for the living experience of the love of God.     They talk & think as though walking with God was attained by walking in the     footsteps of men who walked with God."

    William Penn said: "Blessed are they, who reading them, truly under-    stand Scripture and live according to them." Understanding occurs only so far     as one is oneself in "the Spirit which gave them forth." Knowledge of the Bible     didn't of itself equip men for God's service. James Naylor writes: "[The]     unlearned men, fishermen, ploughmen, and herdsmen [who] spoke forth the     Scriptures were counted fools and madmen by [their] learned generation ...     The scripture is a book sealed to all our learned men's wisdom and lear-    ning." Early Friends and those today who are parents have encouraged both      a simple and a more advanced study in the Biblical field.

  Holding that God's revelation wasn't limited to Scripture, early Friends weren't impressed by the Bible canon's arbitrary limits. Divine revelation neither began with Moses nor ended with Apostles. R. Barclay writes: "The great work of Scripture ... is that we may witness them fulfilled in us, & so discern the stamp of God's Spirit & ways upon them by the inward acquaintance we have with the same Spirit & work in our hearts." The Bible isn't dictator of conduct & faith, but rather record of persons who exemplified faith & virtue. What is true in the Bible is there because it's true, not true because it's there. It brings answers to questions we aren't directly asking.

  [The Best Approach]—At best the Bible is a difficult book, often confu-    sing, ill-edited, & obscure. To have the Bible appropriate us, is far more exac-    ting & rewarding than other ways of Bible usage. It is much more important to     know from the Bible how God reveals than what God reveals, & to understand    how Jesus thought than what he thought, if we want to [experience God's         revelation, not just someone else's expression of it], & if we wish to learn to       think for ourselves as Jesus did. To fail to make this approach is to be satis-    fied with 2nd best. 

    Taken as a whole, the Bible offers more than 1,000 years of perspective  on a religion in time, growing & changing, with a variety of religious experience,  not the kind of straitjacket that most churches, even Friends, have been temp-    ted to substitute for the diversity in the Bible. It requires patient insight into the    unfamiliar, & provides a discipline for the imagination.

     The sobering things are that it is not on the whole a book of peace of     mind, and that in nearly every case the people shown by the Bible to be wrong  had every reason to think they were in the right, and like us they did think so.  Complacent orthodoxy is the recurrent villain and the hero is the challenger,     like Job, the prophets, Jesus, & Paul. How do we recall our generation to a     Bible literacy that is more than superficial verbal knowledge? The ap-    proach I discuss here is translation, not from Greek to English, but from lan-    guage to life, from words to flesh. Such results from the Bible come uncon-    sciously rather than specifically sought, and they recognize rather than ex-   clude the other media of divine revelation.

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75. Puerto Rican Neighbor (by Roy Schuckman; 1954)

       [Introduction]—In a world of hate, we need a concerned people, who     can help to alleviate the bitterness and ignorance so prevalent all around us.      We often think of Puerto Ricans as poor, dirty, illiterate, and lazy.  They think of  US as wealthy, arrogant, race-conscious, and tyrannical.  This is the story of a  typical jibaro (countryman) Puerto Rican, who helped me understand life in a  barrio (village).  His bitterness, frustration, despair—and hope, can be found in  men of [many countries].

       [José Garza Morales Introduction]—My name is José Garza Morales    I live in a barrio 7 mountainous miles from a small city in Central Puerto Rico,     in a beautiful valley.  There is death, hunger, misery, want, poverty, illness & ill-    feeling.  There's no confidence between neighbors.  We are too tired to really    feel love.  I work all day for the Municipal Government, unloading rocks from     a truck & placing them in the mud so that there will be a road [beyond where   the bus stops].  At noon my oldest boy, now 6, walks 4 miles through the mud    & over stones to bring me my lunch.  He sits with me and looks at me and    knows what his life will be.

       [Work, Father, Children]—[In an American mainland paper], Truman &  Stalin saying that their main interest is to free the poor Korean and help raise     his standard of living … Do we have a standard of life?  The US came in 1898    bringing “the banner of freedom … the immunities & blessings of the institu-     tions of our government.  [We quit at 5.  I do not have a watch.  No one else       has one either].  When I get up in the morning, I will still be hungry and will      go to work with an empty feeling in my stomach & heart.  [I dream of a Puerto    Rico] where the people prove that to be a part of America is not only to serve     in the army but to be a part of the world.  I know a little, because I have been       outside my little valley … I am unhappy.

       [Once I cut my foot and it got infected.  My brother & a neighbor carried  me to a bus stop.  I rode 1 hour and 7 miles to the clinic.  [I read an article by     the Puerto Rican Government].  It said all that I felt.  It told me that at least     there were others on the Island who lived as we did.  It told me that some-      body else knew—that the Government knew how we lived.  [That was a long       time ago].  Has the Government done anything?  [I live the same; my boys       will live the same; my grandchildren will live the same].

       [Near my home there is a shack], as old as the man standing in front of  it. The man has lived 20 years longer than most people do in these mountains,  just past 70. [He can do little more than walk & chat].  He is my father & proud  of his 14 grand-children—and 4 sons and a daughter—alive.  He never tells     how many have died. The place I have called “home” for many years, is not as  bad as some, not as good as others. Our youngest one was born with a split    upper lip, from the nose down.  Why do we bring so many suffering children   into the world.?  But what choice is there?  And soon another child. 

       [“Los Americanos vienen”]—[This morning] there are men breaking      the larger rocks, & more men carrying the smaller rocks to the muddy broken  road.  What is the haste I feel about me?  “Los Americanos vienen” (The     Americans are coming.  The alcalde (mayor) is putting more men on the job     because he wants the road finished as soon as possible.  

        Last summer the leader of American college students met the alcalde.   He was asked if he & his group would like to come here to work in the valley  for 8 or 10 weeks [to build a school].  They will live in our old school on top of  the hill near my father’s shack. Why should the norteamericanos come     here?      [How will they live without their luxuries?      How will they live     as we do?]      How much work can they do?  People just don’t come from     Somewhere, where it is good, to Nowhere, just for nothing.

       I tell my wife the news. She shrugs. They come, they look, they see,         they go, they forget; life goes on as before. In the morning I slowly wind my        way across the path leading past my father’s house. Walking up the path,        through the mud, is an American invasion. During the day, I work & talk & act    as I always have, but my mind isn't on the job. What can they do in 2 months?    Can they [work] outdoors under the hot sun? Do they speak Spanish? What    do they really want from us? Will they love our mountains as we do?

       Before eating at home, I wash and change my clothes. A man must do     his best, and be well received by his wife & children. A man’s dignity is worth     much. I put on my hat and take my 4-year old Maria and walk to the top of the     hill, wonder what is going on there. As we come near, we hear singing. [They   have cleaned the place and made it neat; there are 22 of them, only 6  are    married].  I am thinking that I am still not sure why they have come, and  what    if anything will come of it.

       [Newcomers Work, Help Comes]—Many of the newcomers come     work with us; 2 women come too, [but we rebel at having our work degraded     to women’s tasks].  The youngsters try to find out things about us, but we find    out things about them instead.  “Why do you come saying that you wish to     help, when you are taking the food from the mouths of those whose job     you are taking away?     

       They say, “We came because we were invited by the alcalde and the     business men’s club.” They are not paid for work, and have to pay their own        fare on the airplane.  They say, that they want us to feel that we are people,       they are people and we can all learn to work together.  There is a business        man who once lived in our barrio.  He has a wooden leg.  It is he who wishes      to do something for us.  This I understand. 

     I was born in this barrio 40 years ago. The houses are the same; the     children are the same. Now strangers come & tell us they hope things will be     different soon. [A man comes & talks of Island politics, of becoming a State of     the US, of independence. We don’t care who we belong to or don’t belong to.     We are hungry. We are poor. Our children need milk. What has all this have     to do with our barrio?

       A bulldozer comes & makes a fine path up the mountain to the school-    house. The girls in the group planned to visit as many homes as possible and     talk with the families & play with the children.  Ours was the 1^st house visited.      One of the girls asked about the little one’s hare lip.  “There is nothing we can     do about it,” my wife told her.  [Other children have it worse.]  My wife prepared  coffee and used the 3 cups we have.  Our “stove” is set on 3 rocks with a     charcoal fire under it.  Our pots are 3 large cans, ones that Americans throw    away.

       People come from the University of Puerto Rico on the new road. They     tell us that we only eat part of the good things we need to. [They talk of many     ways of improving life in all the barrios]. As I fall asleep, I think of the man who  came all the way from San Juan to bring a little hope into a barrio of despair.     A lady comes to sing songs & teach us games; she is from the Education     department. Music is something we love, though we have so little of it. 

        A man from the Department of Agriculture talks to those of us who have  a little land. El Mundo, the largest Island newspaper, comes to take pictures of  the school, the group, the people. The boys work every day, & the cement     blocks have been laid. The girls visit homes [far away] each day, bringing a    little gift to each one. Our people are polite to these guests. Coffee is always     served. Our women never drink with the visitors.

       I grow bananas and load them on my strong young mule.  When he is     really loaded, you can see almost no mule, only a lot of moving bananas.  [I     take them to the bus stop, wait, and soon the bus is full of people, chickens,     & bananas].  The bus goes down the mountainous road, having near-misses,     and stopping every few hundred feet to pick up or drop off a passenger. I get     my bananas to market, and sell 1,000 of them for $2.50.  [They will sell in     Ponce for perhaps $50].  So it is.  When I get home, Elena is talking with my     wife.  Elena talked to the doctor, who will look at our littlest one without     charging.  I go to bed with a little hope in my heart. 

       Today there is the priest here, talking to the group. I know him well.      [The americanos ask him many questions—all the questions that come to their  minds.  They want answers to questions that have been asked for centuries.   Our priest is a good man. He is one of us.  Yet he doesn't know us.  Who does  know us?  God knows.  But we don’t know God.  We don’t know our neighbors.   We really don’t know our priest.  We don’t even know ourselves.  [We try to     keep ourselves and our families alive].

       We need something.  We need someone.  But we don’t know what—or     whom.  Some of our men are beginning to want to help—to work without pay     too.  The norteamericanos say they will come back.  They believe we in the     valley will become more of a community.  Perhaps that will be so, many years     from now.  Elena says the doctor is going to operate on my little one and     perhaps his lip will be well.  The alcalde says in time things will be better.  The     alcalde has faith in the americanos from the US.  People outside our valley are  hopeful about what is happening to our little barrio.  It is not easy to have hope  when one is always hungry.  Soon my wife and I will die.  Will my children         have a better life than we are having?  Dare we hope? I do not know.

     Conclusion/[Suggestions]—The following 4 points are offered as sug-    gestions: 

       Educate the US about Puerto Rico (PR): Size of country: 100 x 35 miles;  Population 2,211,000 (1950), 3,548,000 (2014); agriculture, 39% derived     livelihood from agriculture (1948), 3% of workforce (1989), large numbers of     migrant farm workers; trade subject to tariffs, 98% imports from US, trade defi-    cit  $138,000,000 (1948), trade surplus average 1,599,000,000 (2003-16);         income per capita, $295 (1953), $15,000 (2014); literacy rate, 25% (1898),    77% (1948), 93.9% (2012).

          Exchange of students

         Young Puerto Rican as a guest in the American home

         Service projects as a possible hope.

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76. McCarthyism: The Seed is in us (by James E. Bristol; 1954)

    THE AUTHOR—James Bristol joined the American Friends Service     Committee (AFSC) staff early in 1947. He was Director of 2 AFSC International  Service Seminars in this country (Summers '47 & '48). From 1943-1947 he was  active in: Fellowship of Reconciliation; National Council Against Conscription;  Philadelphia Council for Conscientious Objectors. He was pastor or co-pastor     of 2 churches. He served at AFSC World Affair Camps for high schoolers and     adults. James is now Director of Community Peace Education Program, AFSC.

    PUBLISHER'S NOTE—James Bristol's manuscript was completed late  Sunday night March 7, 1954, 2 Days before Edward Murrow's courageous TV  broadcast ["A Report on Joseph R. McCarthy"] which made such an impact [all]  across the US & Europe. Murrow closed with [in part]: "We can't defend free-    dom abroad by deserting it at home. And [the] fault isn't really his. Cassius was  right: 'The fault, dear Brutus, isn't in our stars but in ourselves." People from     differing backgrounds have expressed the same convictions with [a] prophetic     voice.

    [Introduction]/ The Seeds were There—Generally, one defines the     terms that one is going to use. But in the US & around the world millions know     immediately what is meant by the term "McCarthyism." This is a tragically     significant and an ominous commentary on our times. Those who [see] a     Communist conspiracy wresting control [of the US government] from American  citizens are willing to surrender many carefully won freedoms & to limit liberty     to speak, think, teach, & assemble in order to save ourselves from the creeping  menace of Communism. 

    Joseph McCarthy's name has become associated with a ruthless anti-      Communist campaign. On February 9 in Wheeling, WV, McCarthy announced    he had a list of 205 persons in the State Department known to be members of   the Communist Party. McCarthy is unscrupulous in his methods, diabolically     clever in twisting the "facts" with no regard for truth, & uses techniques usually  associated with totalitarian regimes.

     There is a repressive trend in America today. It existed before McCarthy,     but he brought it into sharp focus. The seeds were there, McCarthy simply  broadcasted the seed. This pamphlet is being written when the headlines are  screaming their loudest about the McCarthy-Secretary of the Army Stevens     controversy. The attitudes, developments, & trends dealt with here [are typical  of the majority of the present US generation].

    [I had the opportunity to view McCarthyism] from a distance, in some     small sense as a person looking at it from the outside, [in this case from     England]. I found English people deeply concerned and aghast at what was     going on in the US. I found myself even more horrified at what was happening     [than I was before leaving the US]. British & US students believe that a partly  distorted picture of Senator McCarthy's and his followers' activities is being     employed by the Communists to sap the prestige and influence of the US in     Britain and on the Continent. Even without Communist urging, McCarthyism     rampant in America would still do us untold damage.

 There is a bona fide "grassroots" reaction against McCarthyism of both     depth & vigor. The situation in the US is better than most Englishmen think.     They are on the whole unaware of that "other America" which gains little pro-    minence in any foreign or domestic press, & which is determined to maintain     traditional freedoms. We become hypnotized too easily by the incredible epi-    sodes that claim the headlines in the daily press, [& fail to recognize that     there is a resistance] against the present pressures to conform. But the situa-   tion is actually worse than the English think, because McCarthy isn't the     source of all the present hysteria, restrictions, & limitations. He is not directly    responsible for [the extreme censorship] in Indiana, San Antonio, and New     York City.

    Patterns of Totalitarianism [A pattern of totalitarianism is increasingly     evident in California]. Their statutes require all religious, educational & charita-    ble organizations to sign a loyalty statement or lose tax exempt status. Orange  Grove Friends Meeting, 1st Unitarian (L. A.), & 2 AFSC offices are refusing to  sign loyalty statements. The AFSC offices are submitting alternate declarations  which state reasons for not signing & misgivings about loyalty oaths. Other     churches were troubled by the requirements, but were going to comply. Liberal  professors from the area report that they & students no longer spoke out & that  honest discussion is on the decline.

      Dr. Robert Hutchins of Chicago University writes: "Education is impos-    sible in many parts of the US today because free inquiry and free discussion     are impossible ... The teachers of many subjects can't teach without risking     their jobs, [or] in many states [can't teach unless] they take special oaths that     they have not been disloyal ... Competence or professional skill will not pro-    tect the teacher ... A school board ... will fire a teacher for insubordination if    one refuses to answer a question ... [The 5^th Amendment] will not save a     teacher's job ... [Refusal] to answer the questions of any government autho-    rity will compel [resignation] ... 

    Issues can't be omitted from education, except through falsity, distortion  or concealment ... [Presenting] only one side ... is indoctrination ... to become  passive subjects of a police state." Teachers are afraid of controversial issues  and community pressure. People are condemned solely because they appear  before investigating committees, regardless of the hearing's outcome; [some-    times they are punished for being subpoenaed to appear].

 A school required a 3-year old girl to sign a statement that she hadn't     been disloyal to state or national government for 5 years. The little girl couldn't  write & the parent wouldn't sign for her. The school required that the little girl     sign the statement in 2 years when she was 5. The mother refused to give     even the appearance of going along. Elsewhere we find people opposed to    restrictive measures but unwilling to take a stand [& suffer the consequen-    ces]. [There is compliance, acceptance of unacceptable totalitarian measures].   We hear a great deal about the menace of "creeping socialism,"  but it is the    trend toward a conformist state that is the real threat today; [the  trend has        become a rapid one].

     The Guilt in Us—Tragically, other people, other forces & interests move     in the same direction as McCarthy. They create the atmosphere in which he     thrives; each one augments the other. We all share in the guilt of McCarthyism;  all contribute to the growing strength of the repressive tide sweeping the     country. Many of us are militantly anti-Communist & add fuel to the flames of     McCarthyism [even as we work to quench them]. In England, the Communist    Party is losing ground steadily & isn't represented in the House of Commons.    The average Englishman regards Communists as humans who meet openly     & regularly; they are included on discussion panels.

    Western Europeans have suffered more from fascism than communism.  To them, communists are not plotters, but individuals encountered daily who     vote for a recognized political party. Our own fear of Communism is time and     again accentuated by the absence of face-to-face contact with Communists.      Even those who may be vigorously opposed to McCarthy's methods are     quick to assert that they are weeding Communists out in a better way. Ridding    professions & public institutions of Communists is a democratic objective     [when done correctly].

      By & large Americans vie with each other in being anti-Communist. On     every hand, organizations [& both political parties] are trying to outdo one     another in their antipathy to Communism & in the actions taken against any     who have embraced or do embrace the doctrine. McCarthy keeps constantly     playing on anti-Communist sentiment. [If the President takes issue with    McCarthy's treatment of an Army general, McCarthy will deflect] the issue to     safe, firmly anti-Communist ground.

       Even when the President is explicit about the issue being addressed,     McCarthy can keep beating anti-Communist drums in the [current] atmos-    phere created by many of us, [an atmosphere that leads to rocks through a     family's window and a flood of epithets. We, in the very process of trying to     defend democracy, by ridding it of communism entirely, have surrendered it,     and are well on our way to becoming a Fascist state with its proscribed group     that has no civil liberties or rights. If one group is deprived of its freedom, all     citizens have suffered the same loss.

    The mere fact that teachers are Communists, or simply fellow-travelers,  disqualifies them, even though political beliefs may have no conceivable con-    nection with their responsibilities. English people expressed the opinion that     what was happening in the US today was similar to what transpired as Hitler     tightened his hold upon the German people. The loyalty oath in the US is like      the "Heil Hitler" of Nazi Germany. The English think that the US is further         down the road to totalitarianiam than we realize. 

    Most of us are contributing to the growth of McCarthyism through our     involvement in the fear that is everywhere about us until we can't help but be     influenced by it ourselves. An Englishwoman was shocked at the fear [she     witnessed in a liberal who made a provocative statement and then] looked     furtively over his shoulder. [Hesitating to seek wisdom from someone under a     cloud of questionable, hysterical suspicion] makes more certain the spread of     McCarthyism by our own weakness and timidity. It is due to our confusion,     distrust, lack of confidence & inner vacillation created in our midst by the fear  of the world we live in. Why was McCarthyism so rampant in "the land of        the free" today?

    When I 1st caught sight of Warwick Castle, with its massive walls and     great moat, I thought, "This is 1954 all over again. It is America, trying by the  accumulation of great and massive strength to keep the enemy outside the     wall." [We have prosperity & heritages to protect]. We constantly feel that if we  can only get a few more soldiers, a few weapons up on the battlements we    will  be safe. But 10 more soldiers become 10 more worries that one of them     may be a Communist, and [that one will infect the other 9].

    We stockpile atomic and hydrogen bombs in order to hold the enemy at  bay. We amass a huge air force and army to hold the enemy at bay. How can  we be sure of the loyalty of our armed forces, scientists, government em-    ployees, institutional employees, & teachers? Thus it is that the country's    whole interior becomes honey-combed with secret passages [like a Warwick    Castle], and every facet of American life develops its "eyes and ears":  loyalty     checks; investigations; loyalty oaths. And with it all the insecurity mounts.

    Fear and suspicion have indeed become a deadly and corroding influ-    ence. It is only those who are willing to lose and spend their lives for others     who find peace and confidence and are purged of fear. How is the prosperity  and affluence we seek the forces that are driving us headlong in our     present hysteria? Great wealth breeds fear, and fear breeds suspicion and     distrust—the fertile soil in which McCarthyism flourishes. We must go deeper     than a civil liberties campaign if we are to alter the climate which encourages   McCarthyism today.

   What is Needed—We must stop being motivated by our fears; we must  begin to base our actions on what we know to be right. Our gaze is to be     focused upon human beings in need, and our drive and energy are to come     from the wellsprings of compassion within our hearts. There must be an end to  efforts, however sincerely meant, to "contain" Communism & "restrain" McCar-    thyism. The sort of all-out defense effort of the military program to contain     Communism to which the US is committed results in the restriction of civil    liberties. The very existence of the Army, increased in size as it is now is     because of the threat of a Communist enemy, with the resulting growth in fear,     serves greatly to strengthen McCarthy's hand.

   We shall be very great fools to allow mass poverty, segregation, & ex-     ploitive, colonial tyranny to continue untouched, providing as they do the most  fertile sort of seed bed for the growth of a vigorous Communist movement.     [Curing these ills with] programs properly motivated and implemented by     concerned people out of compassionate concern for others will make the soil     barren for the seeds of Communism. 

    We are as convinced that McCarthyism would wither and die as we are  that Communism would not thrive in a free and unfettered atmosphere where     physical and material needs of all were being met. We stand resolutely for the     right of every person to speak freely and of every group to meet and speak with  freedom. We create a climate that encourages the most honest and forthright  criticism of both foreign and domestic government policy; where all opinions &  points of view are openly expressed, truth will ultimately prevail.

    Needed: More Courage—One of the great demands of the day is that     we display some courage for a change, that we stop cringing & worrying about  what people will say of us and start to live resolutely as free people should, to  "practice liberty, [and therefore] possess it." We should not work with or coop-    erate with Communism or McCarthy. We should speak convictions openly     and forthrightly without 1st disavowing Communist connections or sympathies,  even though our thoughts may sometimes parallel those of Communists.

    It behooves us to remember that there is "that of God" in Communists     and McCarthy too. It may be buried rather deep, but we know a divine spark is  there. Nothing is more important as we face these twin threats of totalitarian-    ism than that we demonstrate all that which is God within us. We must avoid     contributing, however unconsciously, to the atmosphere of McCarthyism, or     conducting a witch hunt in reverse against it.

    A Creative Approach—"Standing fast in liberty" means forthright resis-    tance to conforming pressures of the day & may involve us in civil disobe-    dience [in the midst] of restrictive measures & repressive atmospheres. [In     Gandhi's case], civil disobedience was a profoundly creative instrument     whereby a goal was achieved without the armed strife and hatred of violent     revolution and change. [In our case], civil disobedience would be refusal to    sign loyalty oaths and statements by individuals and groups, and refusal to    appear before an investigating committee or testify at one.

    A. J. Muste [announced his tax refusal & protested the Senate's over-    whelming vote to continue the work of McCarthy's "investigation" of "subver-    sives" when he wrote]: "The whole business of the state investigating ...     [people's politics and making employment] dependent on passing test of     political orthodoxy and 'reliability' ... is utterly undemocratic ... and is practicing     the techniques of dictatorship. It is subverting and undermining democratic   institutions. It is threatening to tear our society apart [with] ... distrust &    suspicion ... It is surely a patriotic thing to refuse to volunteer taxes for such     subversive purposes."

    A German Protestant minister [talked of his struggles with divided loyal-    ties between religious conscience & regime, & then said: "I wonder how soon     the time will come when you in America will have to make grave deci-    sions? Those who would ready themselves for a campaign of non-violent op-    position to tyranny must train rigorously & undergo rigid discipline. And not just  conscientious objectors, but also other men and women who see in non-violent  methods an effective way to combat tyranny.

     Procrastination: A Snare & a Delusion—The time to oppose tyranny  is now, or at the very 1st point where it touches our lives. [Wait too long & one  either] never resists at all or does it so far down the line that the resistance isn't  effective in stopping the onrush of dictatorship. Biding one's time guarantees     the triumphal advent. It is a wrong approach to ignore little resistable evil in     favor of resisting strong, entrenched, irresistible evil. Martin Niemoller, a     German Lutheran pastor said that when the Nazis attacked Communists and     Jews, he did nothing, because he was neither; when the Nazis attacked the     Evangelical Church, it was too late.

    We postpone joining in resisting any evil great or small at the penalty of  losing the battle altogether. The fact that some believe profoundly in life's affir-    mative aspects and see creative possibilities of society leads them to take     action opposing the destructive and anti-social. May we resist every evil "ism"     and tyranny [and support the free exchange of ideas]. Thus only may we be     free to see and follow the Light. Thus only can we ever "stand fast in liberty,"     which often required a sacrifice by the freedom-loving people who have gone     before us. Albert Einstein wrote: "A large part of history is replete with the     struggle for human rights, an eternal struggle in which final victory can never    be won. But to tire in that struggle would mean the ruin of society.

    SPECTATOR PAPERS by Norman J. Whitney—Dear Friends: At in-    tervals this winter I have read & sometimes reread the passages on oaths in     the first 2 volumes of the Braithwaite histories. [Later, I was asked to interpret     the basis of Quaker concern for intellectual liberty. It seems to me that we who,  under a sense of "divine compulsion," say no to the military demands of the     state, ought to be no less sensitive at other points where the state confronts     the conscience of the free [person].

    8000 Quakers were in prison at one time in 17^th century England. The     testimony against oaths was perhaps the one by which Friends were best     known in their first period. The basis of refusal to take or administer oaths was     the familiar New Testament command and the insistence on a single standard     of truth-telling. Friends' proven devotion to freedom of religious opinion (even     for Roman Catholics) suggests they resisted on conscientious grounds at-    tempts to restrict that freedom. [That oaths] have shifted from religion to politics   is a comment on our times but does not affect the principle involved.

    An "open-ended" faith requires that one must always be free to seek     new revelations of the Light & to act on them. A university can't do its vital job    if what is novel, original, & unconventional may be punished as being immoral    pernicious, or wickedly unorthodox. Any academic community [lacking free-   dom] will degenerate into a mere finishing school for mediocrities unless mem-   bers of it feel free to think new thoughts and say new things.

   Howard M. Jones writes: "In denying the rights of professors to appeal     to the 5^th Amendment, college boards & presidents substitute their official con-    sciences for the private conscience of the witness ... [it] puts a premium on the  informer & penalizes [one] who does not believe it right to endanger the for-    tunes of others ... It would be absurd to say that a person may protect one's     self if one is guilty but not if one is innocent ... The Federal Courts may not     comment on the failure of the accused to testify."

    Growth occurs best in the atmosphere of community where mutual trust  and confidence prevail. [We must risk exposure of the mind, if we still believe  that freedom is better for [all], for the whole open structure of the American     community; better than some form of repression." Such a community is de-        stroyed by "witch hunting." Freedom of thought necessarily means the free-    dom to think bad thoughts as well as good."

   Free [persons] aren't the creature of the state; the state is ones creation.  Alexander Hamilton said that such oaths "invert the order of things" & instead  of forcing the state to prove guilt, oblige the citizen to establish ones's inno-   cence. Robert M. Hutchins said: The policy of repression cannot be justly     enforced, because it is impossible to tell precisely what people are thinking;     they have to be judged by their acts."

   Braithwaite's history states about Quakers: "The world was right in     regarding them as very real enemies to much in the existing order of things ...     Many turned Quakers, because the Quakers kept their meetings openly and     went to prison for it cheerfully ... 

    Their noblest contribution lay in the constancy and character of their     protest against the invasion of the state of the conscence of the Christian ...     When the law could not be obeyed, the Quaker suffered its consequences     without evasion, resistance, [or violence]." William Penn wrote: "He that     feareth truth needs not swear, because he will not lie ... and he that doth not     fear untruth, what is his oath worth? ... To take an oath would gratify     distrust and humor jealousies ... How is it possible for men to recover that     ancient confidence that good men reposed in one another, if some     don't lead the way?"
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77. Poets Walk in (by Anna Pettit Broomell; 1954)

    [About the Author]—Anna Pettit Broomell (1887-1973) spent her life in  Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. She attended Friends Central School & Swarth-    more College. She demonstrated her talent as an editor and an inspiration to     writers through her work in organizing “THE POETS,” a literary group de-    scribed in this pamphlet. In addition to her work on poetry, she collected & edi-    ted 2  collections of stories. She worked with the Friends Free Library in Ger-    mantown,  the board of Pendle Hill, and Pendle Hill Publications.

    [Introduction]—THE POETS group was started 10 years ago by 4 of us  who been studying the synoptic gospels together. [At the end of our studies],  someone suggested that the following year we each read poetry, & share with  the others the poems she loved best. It was a spontaneous drawing together  with no formal membership, & reached 20 in number, which has been main-    tained as some moved away or dropped out. 

    After several months of reading poetry together we found ourselves     writing poetry & reading it to the group. [Sharing intimate poems], openings     into the hearts of one another has been an important element in a creative     association which has been a delight & a therapeutic. Those who have little     opportunity to associate with others are especially prone to think they are the     only ones who [have unexpressed joys & sorrows] or difficulties to surmount.

    [Informal, Pragmatic, Procedures]—Except for a continuity of meeting  place, we remain untrammeled by rules. We have no officers, no dues, no set  programs. We meet twice a month, once to read our own, once to get better     acquainted with poets we especially like. It was a memorable experience to     hear Edith Sitwell's poems read by herself. When I heard her read them, I     realized that she was using words as if they were notes of music; I felt the     music. We read our offerings in turn. Side by side are doggerel & complicated  verse forms; the obvious and the obscure; [each contrasting form benefited     from the other]. In writing poetry the satisfaction is not so much dependent     upon the product as upon the ability to feel and to concentrate feeling to a     focal point.

    [Poetry Shared, a New Group Formed]—A charming young woman      met with us for several years and shared the delicate touch she inherited         from her Japanese forbears; she taught us to cut down on ornamentation, to     simplify. [The poetic offerings that follow will be excerpts from the groups'     poems unless otherwise noted].

     MEDITATION FOR CHRISTMAS: " Were you afraid/ When you held     Him/ snug in your arms/ Among the steaming cattle?/ Teach me Mary,/ To walk  among men/ Whose doors are half open, With Christmas in my heart."

   A poet of 60 years experience adds to the group with her beautiful voice  in readings, her beautiful praise, & rarely with a new poem. A member moved     to nearby New Jersey and started a new group saying, "If an idea is good it     will germinate"; the 2 groups occasionally meet together. One might wonder    how the born poets put up with those who are in the process of achieving    poetry. It seems as if the amateurs support the proficients like a heavy foun-   dation supports a beautiful building. Small or great, we have all been stimu-   lated to see, understand, feel more acutely and to try to capture our experience  in words.

    [IN JULY, etc.]—IN JULY: This room is bare-swept like a winter tree/ No  gentle draping but wide airy lines ... Here sit, hands still and waiting. This is     now,/ The moment unreturning.

    [Starry Eye/ Stick-in-the-Mud,]: "Said Starry Eye to Stick-in-the-Mud,/     'Let's move along today/ Said Stick-in-the-Mud to Starry Eye, 'I do not know the  way.' ...'The only way to learn a thing,'/ Said Star, 'is to keep on trying;/ The     only way to learn to die/ Is daily practice dying./ 'So come along the road with     me/ Where life with every breath/ Will teach you how to live with change/ And    feel at home with death."

   SKY-HIGH: "I have climbed once more/ To the earth's last floor, ... And a  roaring wind and a low white thorn,/ Where a loosened rock from its mooring  torn/ Falls in the hollow ... I shall taste the wind, I shall hold the sky,/ I shall     savor wings as the winds rush by/ For I have climbed once more/ To the     earth's  last floor."

   DAWN AT SEA: "A fitful cry across the drifting spray/ Where mighty still-    ness lifts the world from sleep ... Across the waters where the ripples make/ A    path where dawn may walk upon the sea."

 FIELDS AT DAYBREAK: "I crossed a field at daybreak wild and sweet ...     Narrow grasses tangled at my feet/ Shook off the dew ... And so the fields when  morning winds unfold—Shake off the night.

   No 2 people go about writing the same way; some people need inspira-    tion, others a deadline. Still others write as a catharsis. Poems are brought     back in various stages of evolution. Our criticism is constructive; the nega-    tive comes out in questions or suggestions. Sometimes the author asks ques-    tions of herself.

    [3 Poems on SLEEP, etc.]—1.]: "Lay down the mind upon the floor of     being;/ Let it no longer dart and wing in air./ Close in the doors of hearing and     seeing./ Let consciousness withdraw into its lair ..."

    SLEEP [2.]: "Only in our sleep is truth revealed to us./ Only in this pre-    paratory death are we rocked in that ocean/ From which we came & into which  we flow like rivulets./ There, our aspirations are dissolved with our chemistry ...    And we are drowned in the philosophy of constant renewal ..."

    SLEEP [3.]: "... Courageous confrontation with the deep/ Unknown     within  the self, for blind/ And uncontrolled & helpless/ We boldly lift the arras to  unconsciousness."

    Any of us will bring anything to THE POETS, [things we would not bring  anywhere else], knowing that they will sense what we are trying to say. And     when we really say it, the whole group is lifted up as though it had done it     itself; the others feel a vicarious satisfaction.

    A Night of Rain: "The presence of rain/ In darkness is anonymous/ No     consciousness of place/ enters into it ... One might be ... Feeling nothing,     knowing nothing/ But that it is a night of rain."

   There are some who don't know even important vital details about some  of the others. Yet we are all intimate friends, familiar with each other's charac-    teristic reactions. Such a relationship is indeed a peculiarly fertile way of lear-    ning to understand poetry and people.

    [The Group]: "Nineteen women,/ As frittered & forspent/ With busyness     as most,/ Snatching for themselves ... Two precious, stolen hours,/ For the     secret essential self ... how was it/ That confidence grew,/ And companionship/  And bedrock loyalty/ And then love?"

   [We Walked in Winter, OLD WOUNDS, etc.]—Using poetry, we can     share the essence of experience without the factual details. " We Walked in     Winter": "We walked in winter ... with young grief dragging at your side./ Old     sorrow followed me ... And I can remember you asked how/ long it took for a     grief to ... turn into sorrow ... I am certain now I never replied/ for, strangely     enough, it was I who cried."

   OLD WOUNDS: "These white scars can't always hold these old wounds  safe ... Some day that inner torture may break loose ... And all the ... agony will  ooze and flow/ once more, over my wholesome flesh."

   "Hold tenderly, hold lightly": " Hold tenderly, hold lightly/ The tree that     shields your home ... All favored days that pass ... Hold tenderly, hold tightly,/     Those silences which flow/ Like light through midnight darkness/ Beyond the     world we know."

   LIFE & RESURRECTION—Since you who gave me birth/ Now lie in     earth,/ Wind flower & bloodroot wave/ Over your grave ... Your urgent, vibrant     breath/ Must chafe at death./ Your childlike trust in God/ Must loath the sod ...     My mind & heart declare/ You aren't there,/ But where?/ Surely I can't be/ Your  immortality."

   The whole group sometimes attempts, for 20 minutes at a time, to switch  off ordinary mental processes, each member putting pencil to paper and letting  come what will. The results might be said to bear to poetry a relation similar to  that which [a sketch book or] finger painting bears to art.

  ["Proud Singing of the Dark"-THE ROAD TO WHERE]—["Proud Sing-    ing of the Dark"]: "Listen! The proud singing of the dark!/ The restless tide,     over and under the white/ Edges of nowhere. Sand covering sand ... Not even     after the tide is gone and the snails/ Lie dryly, waiting alone, not asking for     anything,/ Knowing the tide will return. Or perhaps knowing nothing ... [and] a     stone,/ Not growing, not ready to answer/ When the tide came back, and the     sea knew,/ And the snail wondered, and the stone gave no sign."

   A friend tried to write a poem to her 1st grandchild; all that would come     was: "Lullaby, my active one ... Bye, bye and don't you fret,/ Not God 's vice-    president, no, not yet./ Let poppies blow and send you rest/ Or there'll be a lily     on your chest./ In classic language or in not/ Shut off your motor, the engine's     hot."

    Sometimes when someone has read a poem, one of the listeners will     make a comment which brings out a meaning the author had not known was     there. Apparently a poem is a relative thing depending to some extent upon     what the person who hears it brings to it. When other modern poets wrote     obscure poetry, we felt that they were trying to make us feel stupid. When one     of our own writes and we cannot understand, we take it home and live with it     awhile. And one day we wake up to the fact that we like things we cannot     entirely comprehend.

   THE ROAD TO WHERE: "... Beyond the door the road to WHERE/ Shifts  and shudders and disappears/ Through dense, unlighted thickets/ And danger  peers from graveyards ... Only the new and painfully born can find the way/     Their weightless feet touching those mountains only./ The road to WHERE/ Is     strewn with the dry, bleached bones of the cautious/ For only fools can find the  way."

    [THE PLACE OF FEAR-"Meditation"—THE PLACE OF FEAR: "I lost     my way in madness or a dream,/ & came upon the place of fear ... 'What is the  way?' I cried./ An old man sat on a stone/ And looked past me a thousand,     thousand years./ [He replied in a cold, lifeless voice,]: 'There's many a one that  asks but none can tell.' ... [A lone man in a lone hut] Called words I didn't hear ...  No faintest sound reached where I stood/ Outside his open door ... Through  cosmic fault in time / The ancient world lay bared,/ The twilight of the cruel     gods,/ The place of fear."

   THE SEED AND THE THORN: "... The seed, the thorn, the bone: of all     the three/ The infertile bone, abandoned, bare,/ Bleached by the waves or     parched by desert air,/ Is oftenest met in modern poetry./ Bright-braceleted     but sterile to the core/ It spawns its calcium symbols by the score."

   NO GALATEA: "The statue dwelling in the rock,/ The poem lurking in the  brain,/ Await the small persistent shock/ Of love to set them free again ... Half  human, half immortal, gleam/ The hybrid children of delight."

    "Meditation": "I love people whom I know./ Love bubbles up for those     who share/ My life and give me of their/ Joy or grief, their need or overflow./    Friendship is love/ And people whom I do not know ... Who'd make the world    a better place; ... The rough, the strong, the sensitive the bold ... Interest is   love ...  And those who sit in doorways in the slums/ Listlessly waiting till the        white drug comes ... These I could love, ashamedly. Pity is love./ But how to       love [the loveless ones] ... Who scorn the good, drive trust and truth away?/ It     would take a god to love such as they./ Stop. Be still. Drain the mind/ Of         crowding images, nor seek to find/ Mind's reasons for loving what is unlovely       still ... Deeper than symbols, deeper than prayer,/ Within the center, where     is no below, above—/ Light./ It is gone. I felt its might/ An instant. I think that      it was love."

   [TREE LEANING AWAY-"Is it Calamity"]—TREE LEANING AWAY:     "The old tree leaned over the old road,/ I went by so fast I hardly saw ... It stood  with trunk erect a yard or two/ Then horizontally it leaned away ... Then reared  its branches upwards straight enough./ It had the look of sheltering the dim/     Forgotten road ... An apple tree quite likely dying, still/ Alive enough to lean     away at will."

    "Whose Song": "... Whose song?/ Mine?/ Or those great [or small]    celestial harmonies/ Too faintly heard,/ Whose music in transposing/ My        fingers blurred?/ Whose song? ... All those who stopped to listen—/ Their     song, I say."

   THE COMMITTEE MEETING: "The circle forms, our masks are all in     place ... [The chairman] executes each step;/ And we respond, our stylized     posturing by precedent perfected ... The ballet-master warns: '... No innova-    tions, please!' ... And then you spoke ...../ Our masks lie at our feet./ Your     faltering words, your fallible, human voice/ Have stopped this numbing round,/     Have halted time,/ Have shown the one releasing rhythm:/ The human heart-    beat and the human breath."

   Nearly all of us have alternately fertile & dry spells. What I have tried to     record & analyze is how a group of people through poetry can share experi-    ence, past & present, & through shared delight, sorrow, searching, under-    standing, can reach a truer sense of poetry & of community, without being     centered in success or failure.

   "Is it Calamity?": "..... Is it calamity/ We leave no footprints where we     walk,/ That tide has washed our little prints away/ And time has blown our     words to naught? I say/ It is enough that we have chanced to talk/ Together     and have learned to know/ Our grains of thought—not to aspire/ To set the     sea or even Thames on fire:/ Content to share, and so by sharing grow."

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78. Can Quakerism Speak to the Times (by John Henry Hobart; 1954)

    [About the Author]—John H. Hobart (1902-1988) was born in London,  England, and graduated from the Saffron Walden Friends School and the Uni-    versity of London. In 1924 he moved to Canada, where he founded the Mon-    treal Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. He served as director  of Pendle Hill from 1954 to 1956 and as dean in 1962; while director, he wrote  this pamphlet. He addressed the importance of continuing revelation & keeping  Quakerism responsive to a changing society.

           The worship of God isn't a rule of safety: it is an adventure of the spirit, a  flight after the unattainable. The death of religion comes with the repression of     the high hope of adventure. ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD
           Quakerism today lacks the force, power, & convincement, that carried it     through its 1st century of oppressive, bitter persecution. What happened to  the prophetic zeal & world vision of Quakerism's 1st century?

   [Introduction]—People are interested in learning more about a faith     that is able to demonstrate dedication to [impartial] relief work. We are better      at doing the job in the right spirit than in explaining our basic philosophy and     motivation. Relief workers have been asked, "Why do you do it?" and are told,     "This is too good to keep to yourselves. Why don't you preach what you prac-    tice?" Presently, we may be accepting assignments because of our past    reputation, rather than waiting for true concerns coming from worship and    silence. 

  How will the Society decide when to restrict its activities or deepen  its spiritual life? Continuous revelation is basic to Friends' beliefs. Friends     may not believe that their own experience [is] the same intensity as [early     Friends or] the writers of Scripture, or that God reveals God's self as fully now     as he did then. The words of thanks from those receiving God's preferential     treatment are profuse, and they are certain of their unworthiness. Spiritual     pride is [often] the besetting sin of those feeling specially chosen. The idea of     [feeling] chosen has no more validity than the idea of a chosen people. Every     individual has one's own particular gifts with which to serve God.

   [God's Universal Grace & Availability; Quaker Response]—There     is something of God's nature in everyone. Any relationship with God open to     one is open to all, on the same terms & at all times. This theory has the most     validity in light of my experience. We must prepare ourselves with patient dili-    gence if we would [regularly] hear & understand God's voice. Humans are re-   lated to God through natural laws. We don't understand our relationship to     God because we don't know how natural laws relate to God. Natural laws &    spiritual laws are different aspects of the same world. Sometimes one     stumbles upon a seemingly miraculous linking of these 2 aspects.

    The doctrine of Christ within, or inner light must be construed in terms    of personal responsibility & freedom of conscience for the individual. Quaker-   ism is a religion of experience & a way of life. It is the process of verification     of essential truths of Christianity in individual lives. Friends applied the test of     experience to scripture. Personal verification of Biblical truth in individual   experience is in itself a valuable religious exercise. 

  Every individual has the responsibility to know God. We have verified     universal & eternal truths in our own lives, & we invite you to test them your-    selves. George Fox & early Friends proclaimed the inner light & followed it.     Quaker way of life is expressed in Community, Harmony, Equality & Simplicity.     We tend to express divine purpose produced from worship in a concern that     these 4 qualities shall prevail in the world's life. When the service activities         stray far from their roots in the Meeting for Worship, there is a corresponding     loss of power & effectiveness.

   [Quakerism: Early Christianity Revived]—The 1st Publishers of the     Truth, as the early Friends called themselves, claimed that their faith was     primitive Christianity revived. William Penn writes in defense of this claim:           ["The Quakers] aren't bare hearsay or traditional Christians, but fresh & living     witnesses: that have seen with their own eyes, & heard with their own ears, &    have handled with their own hands, the Word of Life." Primitive Christianity     approximated a priesthood of all believers & would not fight; these too were    ideals of Friends.

    The prophetic and the mystical seem to have been of almost equal im-    portance in the development and growth of the Quaker movement. Extreme     mysticism gravitates toward negativism, while extreme prophecy may become     too positive & aggressive. Quietism (1725-1825) resulted from a slow, steady     drift toward mysticism. The inevitable reaction resulted in a burst of Evange-    licalism in the mid 1800's, which became rooted in the word rather than the     spirit. 

    Mysticism may vary all the way from a simple consciousness of the     divine spirit or power, to a sense of deep union with God as the ultimate reality.  Francis Howgill writes: "[We] came to know a place to stand in, & what to wait  in, and the Lord appeared daily to us ... insomuch that we often said to one     another ... "What, is the Kingdom of God come to be with men? ... We     entered into the Covenant of Life with God."
            Early Friends felt a prophetic call to witness in the world to God's will;     it became for many their life's work. Mysticism gave Quakerism insights and     remarkable fortitude; the prophetic strain gave it boundless drive & enthusiasm.  Too much religion today is based on the fact that once there was faith, truth &  prophetic message; it seeks no further. The truly prophetic states what is: it     deals with the present, vital, immediate now. 

    The mystic feels oneself taught of God & is jealous of any authority     other than that of the "Light" in one's own soul. There is valuable discipline in     corporate worship that renders us less liable to error. To what extent may the  Society's individual member follow what one believes to be the leading     of one's own conscience, when it is against the best judgment of the    group? I don't believe that Friends have or can answer this question with     any finality.

   [Dealing with the Dissident Minority]—James Nayler's aberrant be-   havior caused a wide public scandal, & caused many leaders to waver in their  trust of the individuals' inner light and to emphasize the judgment and autho-    rity of the majority. Isaac Penington felt that if everyone keeps to one's mea-    sure of light, and thus recognizes ones limitations, there can be no disorder.     If the inner discipline is there, no other authority is necessary. Friends have     sometimes been unready to wait patiently for that unity coming "from the hand     of God." Emphasis has been on external authority and discipline; there has     been a weakening in the Society's spiritual life.

    Early Friends had bitter experience with the extreme individualism of        the Ranters who had joined Friends. Ranters were in complete revolt against     authority & many had no experience in inner discipline. A system was set up     that was largely authoritarian in temper. [Overseers or] elders were largely     narrow in outlook and followed the Discipline to the letter. 25 years into the     movement, Friends' chief zeal was to preserve inherited testimonies.

    Barclay's "Apology for the True Christian Divinity" is "an explanation &     vindication of [Quaker] principles & doctrines." His Apology was 1st written in     Latin in 1676 when he was 28. Besides fine, inspiring thoughts, he fails to illu-    mine the unique emphasis in Quakerism, due in part to the fact that no theo-    logy can give adequate expression to the life of the spirit. Barclay tried to lock     up the new truth in the old system. Howard Brinton writes: "If Quakerism is to     remain a vital religion it must come to terms with each succeeding epoch's     thought." Quakerism has been redefined by men like: John Wilhelm Rown-     tree; Rufus M. Jones; William C. Braithwaite; John William Graham; Jesse H.    Holmes; Elbert Russell; Walter C. Woodward. Today we face a different task.

   [Past Achievements]—The 20th century saw a new awakening among  Friends, which found significant expression in 2 fresh ventures in this country:  American Friends Service Committee (AFSC; 1917); & Wider Quaker Fellow-    ship (WQF; 1936). Rufus M. Jones, the moving spirit in both these concerns,     writes: "We are, all of us, dedicated to this task to which we have set our hands  ... I hope we shall be able to keep ourselves free from prejudice while men are  torn with bitterness and hate. 

   We must be great in spirit if we are in any way to rectify the results of     war." Where the Society of Friends has been able to forget itself and think [&     act] in terms of the world's need, as in the AFSC, it has grown in spiritual     strength and stature. The WQF's was to foster fellowship among people of     goodwill in all faiths. Here individuals express unity with the outward concerns     of Friends without surrendering their own mode of worship.
            A Quakerism that is concerned only with preservation of inherited testi-    monies & recorded experiences of early Friends, is inadequate for the tasks     now confronting our Society. There is a temptation to use, even an affection for  traditional language, which may indicate lack of imagination. We need imagi-    nation in conveying religious insights more clearly to the 20th century's scien-    tifically condition mind. Not until we have a quality of life comparable to that of     early Friends can we be certain we have achieved a relationship to God similar  to theirs.
            The spiritual life in us is weak, too many of us are content with the rights  and privileges that were dearly won for us in the past, and we don't address     ourselves to correcting present evils. True concerns are the outward evidence     of an inward spiritual condition. We must never yield to public opinion on an is-    sue once we have taken a position based on inner conviction of what is right.     Loving service to the body, mind & spirit of all, undertaken because of a sense     of a divine call, has a unique quality.
            [3 Spiritual Movements/ The Ecumenical Movement]—I will mention     3 instances of spiritual seeking for light, guidance, wisdom and growth, where     there was sufficient individual concern to form groups & begin a corporate     search. The movement originating in India is known as "The Fellowship of     Friends of Truth." It grew out of conversation between Gandhi (Hindu) and     Horace Alexander (Quaker). [The Fellowship states their basis as being]:         "... alive to the urgent need in the world today of bringing together people of     different faiths in a common endeavor to ... [seek] the way of truth & love ... 

    The Fellowship invites people of all faiths to share ... the richness of     their various religious traditions & experiences in this adventure of the spirit."     John Woolman [18th century] writes: "There is a principle which is pure, placed  in the human mind, which in different places and in different ages hath had     different names. . . It is deep and inward, confined to no form of religion nor     excluded from any, where the heart stands in perfect sincerity." All in whom this  takes root & grows are brothers & sisters.
            "The Friends Spiritual Healing Fellowship" started in England circa 1938.  The belief that mental and spiritual states could cause physical illness, is too  hastily dismissed as superstition. The Fellowship meets together in prayer, and  for study and discussion. The experience gained will be invaluable to them as  individuals and for the community's understanding of spiritual potentialities.
            "The Friends Conference on Religion and Psychology" had its origin at     the World Conference of Friends at Swarthmore College, 1937. They meet in     an annual conference and exchange visits with the British Guild of Pastoral     Psychology and the Seekers Association of British Friends. These 3 groups     have contributed significantly to the spiritual development of many individual     seekers; that is where progress must always begin. One of the first evidences     of any true spiritual awakening is a concern for others. The peril lurking in such  movements is that they may cut themselves off from main-stream Quaker     thought and degenerate into mere cults.
            We are also challenged by the Ecumenical movement among Protestant  churches and similar movements. Whether we become the leaven or are lost in  the mass of a broad movement depends upon how strongly the life of the spirit  now moves in our midst. I hope for a Protestant movement that rises to a nobler  vision through a deeper understanding of light and love and truth. The faith     Jesus inherited was too exclusive, so he enlarged it. The church that is built     around his name has never quite grasped the inclusiveness of his gospel.
            [Essential Core of Quakerism]—No development of religious thought  will be taken seriously that doesn't take into account the current century's sci-    entific findings & technological progress. [Both findings & progress] open the     way for insights into the inner & outer human world. Quakerism, being without     creed or dogma, is free to examine new light with an open mind & accept what  can add conviction to the religious thought of our time.
            The spiritual & psychological needs of any generation [aren't] identical     with those of preceding generations. It is important that Quakerism preserve its  freedom of doctrinal expression. Tolerance towards diverse beliefs should be  our goal, rather than a unity of beliefs. Many views of 1st century Friends are      untenable, & are probably as unessential to Quakerism as are other additions  to it during intervening years. What constitutes Quakerism's [essential],     central core? What is the best way to interpret it to the modern world? 

   The early Quaker movement's purpose was to spread & promote a new  way of life. Fox, Barclay, Penn, Nayler & Woolman, [along with many ano-    nymous, "ordinary" Quakers], demonstrated that way. ["Famous Quakers"]     aren't authorities, but examples. Our task isn't to rewrite the books of famous     Quakers in modern language, it is to relive their experience with an attitude si-   milar to theirs, & make it our own. We mustn't make Quakerism into a com-   fortable & respectable mode of living which conforms to social mores & makes  no radical demands upon the individual.

    The mystical & prophetic strains of early Quakerism were both ele-    ments of firsthand experience, which Friends declared to be open to all. A per-    son attended the Meeting for Worship & found nourishment for the soul, per-    haps even [a strong sense] of the presence of God. Robert Barclay writes:     "... As I gave way to a [great] secret power [of meetings], I found evil in me    weakening, & good lifted up. Thus it was that I was knit into them ... & I hun-   gered more and more for the increase of this power and life until I could feel    myself perfectly redeemed."

    The Meeting for Worship is at the very heart of our Quaker faith & the     Society's life blood. It is the right discipline by which the individual may free     one's self from cares that beset the mind, & allow light to break in upon ones     consciousness. We need to increase our powers of spiritual perception, know-    ledge, & wisdom in interpreting what little light we may already have. How can  an all-inclusive gathering of people like we have glimpsed in our service  work become our message of messianic importance? The truths of Qua-    kerism have Christian & universal implications & it is important to enlarge both.    Only when we enlarge our Christian concepts to their fullest [potential] will we  realize the true universal nature of our message [& our best self].    

    [A Christian, Universal & Modern Faith]—Early Friends recognized     that the seed of God was often dormant and unsuspected, but that it would     grow and blossom when awakened and exposed to the "Light" of direct revela-    tion and biblical experience. Our faith is Christian historically and in practice.   How can a religious faith be Christian, universal, and modern? 

    Most churches offer a manmade aspect of Christianity that's essentially  based on opinions about and early interpretations by others of his purposes &    the meaning of his life; Jesus' own interpretation of religion and his way of life     are purely incidental. Embodied in the organized church are the teachings of     Jesus, often obscured & sometimes grossly distorted. "Essential" theological     concepts of Christianity have been a divisive influence among Christians for     many hundreds of years. They won't suddenly become a unifying force in the     world.
            Quakerism's self-description of "primitive Christianity revived" was correct; primitive Christianity was closer to Jesus' teachings & example than 17th century England's established church. Quakers discovered in their selves a spiritual power they often called "Inward Christ." Others, many outside Chris-tianity, also discovered this power & have given it different names. Early Friends believed this "inner light" was in every human being.
           "Inward Christ" & "historical Jesus" aren't interchangeable terms. The historical Jesus was the master, the great teacher & example; the inward Christ is the power to know & act. Jesus saw that human relationship with God is based upon conduct rather than belief; conduct can only be demonstrated in a way of life. We may be sure that the deepest religious experience springs only from very consistent belief & conduct. What are God's purposes as they relate to humankind's future? 

    With our materialistic thinking & transient sensual pleasures, we haven't  consciously entered the strong spiritual stream of eternal life. Our integrity with  the past is sealed within our inheritance; our integrity with the future is of our  own forging. Humankind is a single entity, & our human destiny involves the     whole of humankind. Our human systems' great fault is their exclusiveness.     Nothing less than the discovery of their spiritual bonds can bring the world's     peoples into harmony. Only by firmly embracing [& living] the message our-    selves can we suggest that in Christianity is to be found the ground for uni-    versal faith.
            We need to make an affirmation about the faith we now hold; to exa-    mine it in the light of our past & to test its validity against the needs of the pre-    sent. Quakerism is a Christlike way of life, growing out of an inward & immedi-    ate revelation of the divine spirit. We are led to believe that every human     being has the spiritual capacity to relate to God, spirit to spirit. "I know that     my redeemer liveth in me," is a great affirmation of faith. 

   Both in the individual and in human society, the good is struggling to be     born into the world. Our way of life remains the only true measure of our faith.     Only by trying to meet the wider need shall we satisfy the spiritual hunger in     ourselves. If Jesus is to be our inspiration, then may the "inward light" become  a power within us, and shine out from our lives as we find the way & witness     into the truth. We need the prophetic answer for our times that we may go for-    ward, confident in our direction, knowing that we have at last placed our hand     into the hand of God; God is leading us even as God did the [people] of old.

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79. A Sense of Living (by Mildred Tonge; 1954)

     THE AUTHOR—MILDRED TONGE was born and educated in England.   She taught at Bryn Mawr and Wellesley. She has published poems, articles &  stories in England and America and her paintings have been exhibited at gal-    leries in Philadelphia, New York City and Maine.  At present Mildred Tonge is a   member of the resident staff at Pendle Hill, where she teaches art and writing.

       [Introduction]—The more we know of our own experience [through art  & writing], the more we make contact with our present experience of God, the     world, other people.  My special interest is in applying to adults what I believe     most of us would concede to children: that each of us is potentially creative in     the arts; each of us hasn't outgrown our own growing point.  Just as each of us  must experience individually the Presence of God, so each of us must experi-    ence individually their own creativity. The experience has value beyond visi-    ble results.  An intelligent, well-educated adult has to overcome self-conscious-    ness in order to find self-expression.

       Writing Group—The group is the ideal audience that in old days before  printing the story-tellers had before them visibly.  When the group meets for the  first time, the leader suggests that each member write for five minutes on any-    thing that comes to mind.  There is no yardstick or authority to meet in this     piece of writing.  No one is forced to read aloud what has been written, but it is     rare for anyone to hold back.  [It becomes clear that] what seems obvious to      the writer isn't obvious at all to the listener.  By the time a few people have read  aloud their own 5-minutes worth, it is obvious that each person in the group     has material they alone could have experienced.

     There is a writer in each of us, and only by letting that writer have an     outlet can we encourage their development.  At the 1^st meeting the leader’s     main business is to let each member relax into self-expression; the less the    leader suggests subjects the better.  Each “I” finds the single form of expres-    sion, clear as a path on a map, difficult to find when we are trying to follow    someone else’s path up the mountain.  The leader’s job is to help all believe    that their own trail leads on the same satisfactory writing journey as Shake-   speare’s, Dante’s or George Fox’s.  [We must not] let another writer’s influ-   ence drown out our own vision of the world. 

       One useful exercise is using the characters who irritate you, inspire,        you, or amuse you.  [You may find yourself] freed from part of your pilgrim’s     bundles [once you as a] writer dare to touch your own life’s material.  Between    the 1^st  & 2^nd meeting, many have found a waning of enthusiasm.  They have  sat at typewriters; they have bought notebooks; they have felt restless.  The     restlessness is one hope to tie onto.  All writing is an expression of God, par-    tial but seeking.  By writing we may nurse our raw emotions into maturity,     gaining greater power to perceive and express.  In daring to write from deeper     levels, we release the imprisoned splendor. 

     [If one’s earlier training and reading seem to get in the way, it can be     treated] as compost for one’s seed-growing.  Each of us must hold our critic     side at sword’s point until we are ready to let them in.  Treat the groping writer     as a bright shy child.  The leader’s business is to keep the members of the     group focused on the main purpose—the balance between spontaneity and     restraint in each person.  The leader’s emphasis is towards expansiveness.      What the group soon realizes is that their whole attitude to life changes as they  see their material with more love.  You become mature by facing yourself in     words. 

        What emotions are we afraid of revealing in what we write? Try a     few attempts; let Pegasus prance or make himself ridiculous. He knows better     than we what gives him the meat to soar. We must remember that we are only     the riders. What forms make us feel easy? Obviously the forms each suit dif-    ferent members of the group at different times. Withhold the mockery at your-    self as claiming to be [some great writer]. You are not claiming to be anyone     but yourself. Encourage yourself to grow naturally; pruning & checking &     measuring may come later. 

       From the spontaneous writing some of the group will have begun to  develop longer passages.  The members of the group begin to lose their over-    confidences as well as their over-fears.  Each of us has the opportunity to     communicate our special world within the forms of the 20^th century.  A writer’s     special core is to feel as intensely as a child, but with the remembered layers     giving wisdom to the heights and depths of childhood. 

            With pencil and paper, no other equipment, a writer has all essential     tools for an ART. When each member of the group gains faith in their own     value as a writer, the exploring of their special kingdom is work with a pur-    pose. One can even believe that in a sense one has something to communi-    cate as vital as what Chaucer or Bunyan communicated. The leader can help     by being a genuinely interested reader. As writer you have put them more in     touch with themselves made them feel more alive, more able to be recon-    ciled with their experiences. For most of us in our rediscovered kingdoms a     better use of our time is in working with our own ore rather than studying     further the traditions of how other writing explorers communicated the     nameless

            Art Group—The approach used in a writing group can be used in an     art group, by providing chalks and paints, paper of many sizes, brushes, scis-    sors, sponges, cans of water and turpentine. [Adults will respond to these     materials with a variety of reservations, “I can’ts,” and “How do I….”] In a     painting group the main object is to paint, not to talk about painting. The closer     the adults can get to the childhood feeling of making something they liked, the     better they will get along. 

            The leader may find used newspapers valuable for the 1st plunge. The     leader will doodle something large just to get a few things started into motion.     Some will enjoy their 1st doodle, others will be looking for cues on how to pro-     ceed. The leader may repeat that there is no “right” and “wrong” way to be an   artist. The leader wants the group’s faith to grow, so that there will be no      stereotypes and imitations.

       In painting we begin to get in touch with our intuitions, our instincts, our  5 senses. [We embellish our 1^st doodle, & members of the group make disco-    veries.  The leader ought to keep out of the way as much as possible so that     no member will wait for “the right way” to do something.  The leader’s main task  is supplying materials.  If 6 people are all trying different methods of getting     colored pigment onto paper, the results are sure to be interesting. 

       [Adults will worry too much about how expensive the materials are.]      The leader knows that more paint wastes from drying up in the jars and tubes     than from being spread lavishly.  [A sense of fun is an important part of the     class.]  It is hard for adults to realize that their “camera eye” gives them a     unique view as artist.  The 1^st few meetings of the members of the art group     put them in touch with materials and encourage them to find out where they     respond.  All the different preferences that arise are important.

       The leader is hoping for greater confidence in self-expression. Between  classes each member looks at the world differently because of taking part in the  art experience; their eyes are being re-born.  As an artist one has to exercise  one’s seeing in a new way.  [One’s artistic sense is heightened by Cézanne’s,  Van Gogh’s, or Turner’s heightened perception of their subject].  But this expe-    rience is slight compared to the awakening that takes place when one begins   to see objects with their own eyes, [when] one sees with the authentic vision.   What we hope for is to re-find our own lost kingdoms.  Our business is to allow  our artistic child to grow. 

       [The leader will have to deal with the inner critics more in the 2^nd     meeting]. The leader’s business is to get the group painting as quickly as     possible, to have new ways to start at this 2^nd meeting, so that no one gets set  in the rut of expecting to continue making doodles. For the 1^st few meetings the  group should keep away from “Still Life,” “Landscape,” “Figure Drawing,”     “Interior,” “Jar of Flowers.” Their critic selves will flinch at their own attempts    to meet any of these categories.         

       At the 2^nd meeting the group may like to try monotypes.  Each uses as     work surface a pane of glass [with paint smeared on it].  The leader lays a     sheet of paper on the oil paint, and shows how one can make 3 prints from the  same oil-spread pattern on the glass.  These prints are a way to get started.      Some will want to do the process over again; some will want to add things to     the print.  [Their inner critic will be busy with comments].  [When working on      their prints], their inner child artist is an important part of the painting team.      Each of us must feed this inner child.  Seeing with [that inner child’s] creative     imagination, one sees a new world. 

      One early meeting may focus on collages. Each member of the group     cuts paper into shapes and pastes them onto drawing paper, and then makes     doodles over the pasted page. Part of the leader’s business is to encourage     members to try all sorts of mixtures. [Eventually] the group gets that there is     no one “right way,” & gets the spirit of experimenters. Through the art group,     they may re-find this lost part of themselves.  Once the group has met 6 times,    the rigidity they felt the 1^st time will have been broken.   

       Conclusion—The practice of both art and writing clears a pathway to     some sort of new creative center within each of us.  The value of our weekly     group is that we each have the group as sounding board.  The group’s enthu-    siasm carries us when we feel discouraged.  Working in writing & art groups     with adults has made me aware of how much each of us has re-educate     ourselves.  Each of us has to conquer our own form of conservatism if we     expect to belong in the mainstream of 20^th century forms.  I had much to un-    learn in writing.

       A sort of panic makes us cling more firmly to the areas where we have     felt secure. Each adult has to fight his own stubbornness a million times.     Working in the right spirit, we acknowledge ourselves apprentices to life. Both     writing & art groups encourage a feeling of discovery. [Mutual respect grows in    these groups]. The [group] process isn't mechanical, not imitative, not directed  from without. [In our groups], we are allowed to pick up again, where we lost it  as children.

       Writers and artists, like children, know the sacredness, the immediacy     of their own experience.  Faith means believing in the divine purpose behind     our own childhood and adulthood.  When we attempt to express ourselves [in     art & writing], we perform the human act of organizing something from chaos.   We share the divine act of creation.  We become part of the tide of human     life, not isolated from it. 

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80. Toward Political Responsibility (by Cecil Eugene Hinshaw; 1954)
            The Author—Cecil Hinshaw graduated from Friends University in Wichita,  Kansas, attended the University of Denver, Illiff School of Theology & Harvard  University. He taught at Friends University, & was dean and president at Will-    iam Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa. After that he lectured for the American     Friends Service Committee and the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
           
            Pentecost only comes to those who dare to put into [political] practice     the principles that are indissolubly related to the religious experience. If leader-    ship that is able & wise & selfless appears in our time to offer this synthesis of     politics & ethics & religion, we will witness another historic upward surge of the  human race.      Cecil E. Hinshaw
            “Retreat from Responsibility”—It is hard enough to consider our per-    sonal problems in the light of the insights we accept as authoritative for our-    selves. Martin Buber observes: “It is terribly difficult to drive the ploughshare of  the normative principle into the hard soil of political reality.” The interrelated-    ness of society’s component parts is the chief obstacle in attempting to apply     principles to the social structure. Society’s complexity forces upon us compro-    mises that tortures any sensitive soul.

        There are surely many sensitive people who have quietly absented     themselves from precinct politics & campaign struggles because of an uneasy     conscience about such participation; they often naively believe that a change in  administration would be sufficient to cure the trouble. [Those withdrawing from  political life mostly] continue to assent to the principle of participation but find  themselves unwilling to practice it. [In seeking] purity of life, they have left to     others the responsibility for decisions involving compromises of principles.
             The more sensitive & concerned among those who withdraw are put in     the difficult position of living in part on compromises others make for them. It is  maintained that only those who are separate from the government are in a     position to render this service of criticism. Another part of the answer is that     these people do much in labor & service for the nation, that they are the kind of  people who strengthen the moral foundations of the country.
            Those who have never exposed themselves to the problems of parti-    cipation in political life may be no better qualified to give such judgment than     unmarried people are to successfully do marriage counseling. A principle of     alternation between participation and withdrawal allows for a necessary impar-    tial evaluation of political struggles. Since few [detached] people in any gene-    ration qualify for saintliness it is hardly a justification of political inactivity on     the part of most people. Our failure to unite political responsibility and ethical     ideals has resulted in an attenuated, limited ethic. All of us have to live with     and by some worldview that gathers up the pieces of our daily lives and     weaves a pattern. We can do it, or others will do it for us.
            “Moral ambiguities”—Any plea to accept political responsibility on an     ethical basis must take account of the practical realities to be faced. In spite of     “moral ambiguities,” men & women throughout Quaker history have felt called  to enter public life in a military, non-pacifist government. Generally the Society  has supported these attempts to witness to these principles politically, but it     has ever kept a watchful eye on such individuals lest they step over Quaker     testimony's boundaries. [Quakers would] do well to consider the extent to     which John Bright maintained loyalty to his Quaker principles & still gained the     recognition of his fellow legislators. [But] there are times when even a person    firmly committed to accepting political responsibility must decline to cooperate.

       Those today who would do good [& be ethical], find themselves priso-    ners of the compounded evils of the past and present. For they have sought     to combine democracy with despotism, they have tried to defend Christ with a    sword. So the good they do is twisted and distorted by a culture that has     become idolatrous and decadent.

       “The Holy Experiment”—When political conditions seem hopeless,     idealistic people tend to look elsewhere for a place to practice their principles.     Quakers saw in PA a “Holy Experiment” where they could build a political     structure to incorporate the values they despaired of achieving in England.          While emigration may not be the answer for most of us now, there is a logic to    it that history has sometimes supported.

       William Penn & the Quakers who settled PA did not abdicate from poli-    tical responsibility. In their successes & failures we may see the opportunities &  dangers that must be faced. Penn said: “Because I have been exercised     about the nature & end of governing among men, it is reasonable that I should     endeavor to establish a just & righteous one in this province, that others may     take example by it.
             [PA’s] power was limited by the Crown’s authority, [but the largely Qua-    ker PA assembly effectively resisted it until 1744]. [By 1755], it became appa-    rent that nothing but the Quaker’s exclusion from the Assembly would satisfy     the English authorities. Not all took the London YM’s advice to withdraw from     the Assembly; enough did so that any semblance of Quaker control ended in        1756. The “Holy Experiment” broke up because of outside pressure. Quakers     were able to guide the young colony without recourse to arms for a long time    through a period when tensions between colonies, settlers, and the Indians     were pronounced.

       Today there is no escape from the long arms of planes & the reaching     tentacles of radio & television. In an age when distance is so little of a barrier,     it is not hard to foresee that the very success of a new & isolated settlement,     success both in material matters and in spiritual achievements, will bring the     world hurrying to its door, destroying the essence of its victory. How do we     relate responsibly to the political structure of our world?

       “Between two worlds”—To believe that the new world is no longer      “powerless yet to be born,” to have faith that a new age is dawning, to see the     dim outline of a new society under God—this is the vision we are called to     translate into reality. [The indisputable & historical] fact is that new cultures &     societies have been born. Men have dared believed God called them to build     nations never before realized. Success is not measured in terms of an original     blue print’s fulfillment. It is judged by the release of new energy that frees men     for majestic, breathtaking enterprises. It is in times of man’s greatest need &     hunger that new ideas & new faith come to millions.
             Realizing that men will always fail to understand & practice all of God’s     will for them in any given age, we mustn't make the mistake of thinking we can     build Utopia, perfect & flawless. [Nor] can we be excused from following some  light because we have not seen infinite truth’s blinding perfection. A new world’s  birth pangs can already be seen in the strength of the gathering storm & in the  rising might of colored people everywhere.
           Overshadowing all of these movements, will be the abandonment of mili-    tary power as an international policy instrument. Atomic & hydrogen weapons     have made war a monstrously stupid anachronism utterly incapable of achie-    ving legitimate goals of national policy. [Having no alternative to war] there is a     deep psychological need that requires people to choose error in preference to     a vacuum. To be politically responsible & relevant now means, above all else,  to solve this ancient problem of war that has now become a chess game of    annihilation. It means to solve it with the men who today obey the commands     to shoulder arms and with munitions workers.

      “What is man?” If we would seek to transform society, we must see     man as he is. Criticism has been leveled against “Utopians” or “perfectionists.”     [Critics] insist that the belief that anyone can live out such a life it itself preten-    tious pride and therefore sinful. And even if one accepts the cross for one’s self,  one has no right to accept it for others in the nation. The neo-orthodox concep-    tion of human nature is that it is inescapably and naturally sinful. Evil is ines-    capably present in each choice.
            We mustn't make the mistake of denying this conception’s validity alto-    gether. The neo-orthodox critics are in error when they make a naïve belief in    the human’s innate goodness the basis of all pacifism. The early Quaker saw    human nature’s sinfulness, “an ocean of darkness.” They believed that God        had implanted a principle or spirit in every man’s soul that could produce     redemption here & now that was complete. God’ power was great enough to     mean also a life here on earth that was one with the life hereafter in quality &     nature. Such a view of pacifism shifts the discussion to the extent to which     divine power can transform men & convert them into saintly persons.

      The beginning of the peace testimony for the early Friends was in the     simple belief that man is called to a way of life that leaves no room for the pas-    sions and hatreds & actions that war involved. The belief that God has plan-    ted a divine in all, later brought Friends to recognition of the sacredness of life.  Quakerism as a way of life is the primary foundation historically of our pacifism    Quakerism is essentially a pragmatic functional approach to life, & mysticism     is the means of providing the insights and power to fulfill the ethical urge.    

       George Fox’s dim view of unredeemed human nature allows for no     Utopian view of the world. Men must be dealt with as sinful, but also in the light  of faith that their heritage is a present life of purity. Kenneth Boulding said of     corporate sin: “… men as representatives of a group are much less moral than     as selfish individuals. Men will do evil [for their particular group] with a single-    mindedness that they would never achieve as individuals.” Our vision of a new     world must never blind us to the fact that even good men are caught up in the     magnetism of corporate sin and held by a power of attraction difficult even for     psychologists to explain.
            “To thine own self be true”—Our hope is to develop better means of     minimizing and controlling humankind’s sinful nature; this will be a task worthy     of the saintly people who must be the heart and core of a new world. [But we     look for no new] world where conflicts will cease to exist. Some means must be  found for waging the struggle. A foundation of integrity is more important ulti-    mately than the content of a particular choice. [The key is obedience to con-    science]. 

       Those who believe they should fight actually should do so as long as     they have political responsibility for the nation. Robert Barclay’s Apology says:     “We shall not say, that [a just] war is altogether unlawful to them … the present  confessors of the Christian name, who are yet in the mixture, and not in the     patient suffering spirit.” For those who are not able to use love & non-violence     in resisting evil, conscience will require them to use the weaker and poorer     methods of violence.
            “The nature & use of force”—Even when we have done the best we     can in making choices, we may find the use of some force inescapable in the  discharging our obligations. Emil Brunner writes: “By force of compulsion the     individual State gains respect from other states & by force of compulsion it     maintains its unity over against the opposing will of individuals.” Quaker tradi-    tions clearly denies that compulsion & sin are necessarily the same.
            Whether such action is sinful or not depends on its purpose & the spirit     in which it is done; this also applies to psychological compulsion. It must be     admitted that compulsion, even under proper conditions, may be the wrong     course so far as what results from it. Violence is never moral for it involves     harm to the person against whom it is used. Compulsion does not properly     involve injury. It is doubtful Jesus used any violence against human beings     when he cleansed the temple, it is rather clearly a case of compulsion. God is    a God of both justice & love.

       The true Christian can engage in the complexities of political, socio-    economic life and do so without involving one’s self necessarily in sin. Daniel     Day Williams stated: “The conflict of powers, of interests, of life with life can         & does function constructively in the growth & good of life.” It is of greatest     importance that we distinguish between what is possible and difficult, and that     which is impossible. Those who have tried to combine a perfectionist religious     motive with the [chaos] of practical life have often found it a most humbling     experience.
            In a nation with non-violent defense a police force would certainly be     necessary for peaceful functions & for providing protection from the criminal     element. A responsible government must provide protection for those who     can't protect themselves non-violently. There is probably no way to avoid as a     last resort reliance upon an armed force unless non-violent resistance tech-    niques could be adapted to the work of policemen.
            It would be necessary for some of that element in society which still     believed in the validity of using violence to serve in the police force until a non-    violent alternative could be developed. This in no way justifies an [traditional]     international police force, [since] police action is against individuals only to     bring them to court in a framework of accepted law. A nation could democrati-    cally enact and implement a policy of non-violent resistance as a national     defense program [and still have a police force to protect its citizens on a     personal basis.
            “The moral equivalent of war”—On the level of international relations,  [there is] the problem of providing a moral equivalent for military warfare. We  must meet exponents of military defense on the more difficult questions of     practical results; our program must work better than the way of violent warfare     [and it must be a pragmatic pacifism]. Reinhold Neibuhr writes: “A pragmatic     pacifism does not claim the ‘law of the Cross’ as its inspiration … the ideal of     the Cross has been violated from the beginning.”

       [The Gospels' evidence speaks of Jesus as] one who was concerned     with practical success even while he was loving his enemies perfectly. This is     not to say that Jesus calculated success as a probability, but it is to say that     he considered it a possibility and was working toward it. The cross only     becomes meaningful when it is set against the background of a frustrated     plan and hope.

       [In looking at the currently used method] of violence and war, against     which pragmatic pacifism is set as a method, & how it is working in achieving     the goals it shares, [we see that] it is not working well at all. Reinhold Niebuhr     writes: “While a balance between the great powers may be the actual conse-    quences of the present polices, it quite easy to foreshadow the doom of such     a system.” This is the measuring stick against which a pacifist political pro-    gram must be judged.

       A relative success is all we seek, without guarantee of success, or even  assurance of possible success; this fact must never be forgotten. If a person or   society is sufficiently disciplined to use non-violence properly, there are few who  question its practicality or its superiority to violence. Reinhold Niebuhr writes:  “Pacifism is a necessary influence in every society because social violence is a  great evil & ought to be [mitigated with social imagination and intelligence] if at  all possible.” He also wrote: “Nonviolence protects the agent against resent-    ments which violent conflict always creates in both parties to a conflict, by     enduring more suffering than it causes.”
            This means that we have to detail a plan and method by which a nation     could be organized for a successful Gandhian defense, and demonstrate with     proper logic and with some evidence that a nation can actually hope to defend     its essential values by this means. We do not ask for or expect a national non-    violent defense program unless and until the nation is adequately prepared     practically and spiritually for such action. 

       Until then we have neither the right nor the obligation to call for aban-    donment of military defense. [Presently], pacifism has political relevance as a    future possibility only. We have the right to work against a military program  in    3 ways in the right to: conscientious objection and calling others to the same;    oppose military proposals with political aims; advocate and persuade others of    the truth of our position, to prepare for a future time of following our program.    

       “Stumbling blocks”—Could the people of this or any major nation,  be persuaded to accept a pragmatic, pacifist, political program? The alter   native of military defense is becoming increasingly impossible & immoral;   necessity forces men to consider new solutions to old problems. Most people     have never given this program much consideration and study, for they have     never had the opportunity to do so. To expect a negative response would be     to make a judgment based upon no evidence. Assuming a people incapable     of choosing a practical and moral political program over impractical and     immoral hydrogen warfare is to assert that ordinary people cannot be expec-    ted to govern themselves properly, that democracy is an illusion.

       The problem isn't as simple as merely convincing people intellectually   that Gandhi is wiser than the generals. This political change requires also a    monumental religious & moral renaissance. No laws can substitute for the    moral & religious life which gives laws birth & makes their application practical.   The fact of the matter is that these 2 aspects of life belong together & cannot    proceed apart from each other. Pentecost only comes to those who dare to     put into practice the principles that are indissolubly related to the religious      experience. 

       If leadership that is able & wise & selfless appears in our time to offer     this synthesis of politics & ethics and religion, we will witness another of those     historic upward surges of the human race. The most pressing task now for all     is to deal realistically with the social problems of our time in the context of a     world freed from the curse of violent warfare.          

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