The Quaker Dharma

To Gather a Great People

2008-05-14T08:47:00.003-07:00

This weekend more than twenty Quakers gathered in Chicago from across North America. We were brought together by Friends General Conference to become Quaker Quest trainers. Quaker Quest is a dynamic outreach program conducted by Meetings for Seekers. For those of you new to Quakerism, I’ll explain why I think this moment is so important.

For many years, Quakers in unprogrammed or “Silent Worship” Meetings have been reluctant to do outreach. Many Quakers have viewed outreach and proselytizing as the same thing. It’s grounded in a noble impulse to correct the perceived overreaching of other faiths. Most Quakers believe there are many paths to God and many have been upset by the “hard sell-- my way or you’re going to hell” recruiting methods of many fundamentalist religious groups. In recoiling from this, many Quakers have recoiled from any outreach whatsoever. Some Quaker Meetings even removed their phone numbers from the public directories. As this impulse settled deep into the Religious Society of Friends, many in the public came to see Quakerism as a closed society. This was never true and Quakers have always have welcomed newcomers. However, because of Quaker’s invisibility for the past few decades many people who might have found a home among Quakers either didn’t know they could become Quaker or simply didn’t know that Quakers still existed. In my travels, I constantly meet people who express amazement they’ve just met a Quaker. As a young woman in Dallas said to me last month, “You’re Quaker? I thought you were all gone.”

Many in the Society now feel called by Spirit to make wide the door to our faith. A growing movement is emerging to do outreach in America, to let the world know that there is another way to experience the Divine. As members of this movement, we all continue a deep acknowledgement that God will find people through many paths and religions and that the Quaker way may not speak to the needs of some. However, to hide Quaker process and Quaker community from Seekers is to abandon many people to loss and suffering. To offer spiritual hospitality to seekers is now a mark of our faithfulness to Spirit. We can do nothing else. Withdrawal from outreach, withdrawal from speaking, publicly and vibrantly, about our faith-- Quietism as some call it within the Society—is impossible.

For those of you who’ve been working faithfully in your Meetings to open the Society or who feel this calling now rise within you, know that your faithfulness is and will bear fruit. Understand that you have brethren who share your calling and who are creating services and systems to support you. The first part of this is Quaker Quest . However, Quaker Quest is just the beginning.

For those of you who are new to Quakerism know that you have arrived among us at an auspicious time. The renewal movement does not depend simply on those within the Society. It rests with all of you who seek Spirit. As Seekers you are the reason why we are throwing wide the doors of the Society. We need your help to gather us all as a great people who can transform our own lives and manifest the values in the world that we so earnestly share— joy, simplicity, integrity, equality, community, and peace.

Some of you, as seekers, live in places where Quaker communities already exist. You simply need to find them . For others you may live in places where there are no Meetings. Do not let this hinder you. Quakerism is a set of practices, shared in community, designed to help you hear the stirrings of Spirit in your own heart. If no Quaker community exists near you, be the seed that creates one. You can be the heart of the renewal movement and you have Friends to help you.

The Inner Christmas

2007-12-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

As Quakers we often talk of God, the Still Small Voice or the Inner Christ. It is that place of communion or experience of oneness that can bring peace, clarity, and sometimes profound change to our lives. When we wait in silence, in expectation of divine union and guidance, we sometimes become open to an unfolding that we often cannot imagine by ourselves. That's the point of listening and seeking communion. We are great miracles of life and creation and yet still very limited. The Sacred Oneness Connecting Everything is by definition not separate and not limited. Being open to that reality, to God, takes us to places beyond our experience and beyond the rutted ego driven conversations we wear so deeply into our minds. It's the freshness of perspective we get through listening that so often delights and befuddles us when we let go of our minds and hand it over to the Presence. Tonight as I sat in prayer I realized that, in many ways, this is Christmas for me. There is a ocean of love that stretches endlessly beneath the surface of our minds and the business of our everyday lives. Being allowed to let go and experience it even for a few moments from time to time is a sacred gift.

At the end of my prayers tonight, I sat and watched the lights of our Christmas tree twinkle. As a small child, like so many children, I absolutely delighted in all the presents, the bright papers, the bows, the shiny ornaments. It was like a beacon of all the possible wonders that life can create. I'm now a grown man and I still love the promise and the joy that a Christmas tree is and represents. But now, when I look under the tree I realize that the real presents of Christmas can't be seen. And while I love, when God so chooses, to be the recipient of these invisible presents, the practice of listening for God should never be kept to our ourselves. Like the fruit of the practice, the practice itself is a gift and gifts should always be shared. On the day we mark the birth of Christ, I hope you will reflect on the gifts of listening and the joys of having a spiritual community in which to share and grow. I hope you'll also pray deeply about how you can share these gifts and joys with others who lack peace and are searching for that ocean of love that spills endlessly into the world.

In the coming year and all the years to come, may we create in our Meeting Houses a safe place for all those who seek healing and renewal.

Merry Christmas. Peace on Earth. Goodwill to All.

A Year in a Life

2007-12-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a year since I posted. I must admit, I've missed writing. It had become a part of my practice in ways that have taken time understand. Further, I've missed all of you who chose to share in this experience with your insights both supportive and challenging. All of this is to say, I think you'll be hearing from me regularly again and I hope you find that a good thing as time goes by.

Probably the best place to start is with an update on life for the past year. This way you'll understand some of the posts that are to come. It's been a busy year. The electronics recycling company for which I was Director of Marketing was bought out and my position was transferred to a new person at their headquarters in Canada. Fortunately, before that happened, I had already started my own company, DonateIT which raises money for non-profits, churches, and schools. I'm now putting my efforts full-time with this.

When I first started DonateIT in May 2006 there were all sorts of challenges, but there is now light at the end of the tunnel and I think I'm building a company of which I can really be proud. Ninety percent of success is perseverance, right? Right now, I'm searching for investment so I can rent a new warehouse, install a new inventory system, and really grow. I learned that being underfunded in your business is a good way to mess things up. I don't want to do that anymore. It's a lot more fun to run like a well oiled machine and have customers who want you to join their family. I have a few customers like that, but I also have a few from last year that probably wanted to pat me on the head and say "Moron." Fortunately, I fixed most of what led to those moments. A few more tweeks and I hope to be called brilliant. I probably have to keep hoping for that one.

Outside of business, I've gotten involved in a host of community concerns which makes my life feel more meaningful. I now sit on the Advisory Council of the Dallas Center for Survivors of Torture, the Advisory Council of the Adobe Alliance, The Advisory Council of LaReunion Texas, and sit on the Board of Dallas County Young Democratics. It sounds like a full slate, but the bulk of my extracurricular time has been spent on Quaker issues traveling to Development & General Committee Meetings of Friends General Conference. I've also learned I'll be involved in a new Quaker outreach effort, but more on that when the time is right.

I've also realized there is no replacement for a regular spiritual practice. I've neglected it this past year (with the excuse that I was too busy) and there is no doubt that I've lacked the same sense of clarity, connectedness and insight that I feel when I practice everyday. In fact, some of what I want to write about now is everyday practice. I used to think there was my spiritual life and then there was everything else. Now I know there is only your spiritual life and everything you create stems from it. There's no closet in which to store God while you're doing other things. All you can do is forget or deny that you're life is spiritual and then deal with the train wrecks that ensue. In fact, if what I'm saying is really true then I wonder if a person's whole life can be lived from a centered place. Everything is one piece. I know many Quakers have traditionally considered everything and every moment sacred. I know that Sufi's and Buddhists also talk about this. I marvel at what that would feel like. Maybe if I'm lucky and diligent, I'll find out. If you've already experienced that or have tips for the road, feel free to share. I think that's the point of fellowship and it's important for people to understand that more is possible.

Cheers...

The Q Project: A Quaker Graduate Institute for Business & Entrepreneurialism

2007-12-10T14:08:00.000-07:00

In the early years of Quakerism, Friends were banned from institutions of higher learning in England. Most university were offshoots of the Anglican church and admitting religious non-conformists was not on their agenda. Therefore, entering the professions and becoming a lawyer or doctor was not possible for Friends (this was also part of the reason Quakers established their own institutions of higher learning). Further, being pacifists, Quakers did not enter into military careers either. In this way, a number of Quakers came to be entrepreneurs. It was one of the few remaining options to put food on the table.

Many of these early entrepreneurial Friends didn't check their conscience at the office door. Instead they took Quaker principles of social justice into the office and remade the business scene of 19th century England. Few people realize that the concept of the fixed price on a product, the ubiquitous price tag, comes from Quaker business people. Quakers decided that if everyone had the seed of God in them, they should all be treated equally and fairly. Haggling over price favored some people and not others, which could lead to a person with little means paying more for the same item than a very well off person. This was not right and the idea of a fixed price on many goods is now an accepted part of daily modern life. There are other practices that also took root, in part, from Quakers such as employer provided medical care and Saturdays off. A Century later there are a number of major business institutions whose roots are Quaker. These include Cadbury Chocolates and Lloyd's Bank.

I share the history lesson to underscore Quakers historic ties to the business community and how Quakers have been significant reformers in this arena. I also bring it to the fore, because I believe it's now time, as part of the Quaker renewal movement, for Quakers to re-embrace their entrepreneurial past to deeply impact institutional worldwide commerce. In the past half century, many Quakers have been drawn deeply into social services work, academia, and government service. This is good and noble work, yet there is another avenue through which to live the Testimonies-- the business world. To successfully do this, however, Quakers and non-Quakers alike need an institution of higher learning that focuses at the Graduate level on rigorous traditional and alternative business practices. This program could build on the successes of the undergraduate business programs at Guilford or Earlham, or it could be a stand alone program solely focused on Graduate Certificates and an MBA program.

I emphasize the graduate level, because the MBA has become the golden ticket for entrance into the institutional business world and for gaining access to venture capital for start-ups. Further, I emphasize it because there are few traditional MBA programs that are built from the ground up to promote ethical and sustainable business practices. There are fewer yet (if any) built on a spiritual foundation like Quaker practice that emphasize the worth of every human being.

Further, this is a very exciting time in the alternative business world because the foundations of a business revolution have already been laid. Coursework in environmentally sustainable business practices have already been written and are being taught. Triple bottom line accounting is becoming accepted. Socially responsible investing is becoming the norm rather than fringe. However, none of it has been tied together in a completely coherent and rigorous way. In fact, being a business person (my start-up is http://www.donateit.us/) I have been searching for a program like this and I haven't found it. I think it's time for us to start one.

In talking with a friend familiar with good academics, it seems like the place to start would be with the formation of a collegiate-- a circle of professors who will be the designers and innovators of the program. The lovely part of this is that they can be located anywhere in world due to the Internet and still be able to collaborate. In fact, beyond finding the right people, the Internet may be the linchpin to successfully implementing this idea. There are numerous open source distance learning platforms now available. Founding this graduate program could truly be more a matter of dedicating time than having a large budget. Also, Quakers have a model for how a distance program could be run in School of the Spirit. Students could have an intensive 3 day weekend each Quarter together and the rest of the program be run over the Internet and by phone meetings.

Once the program is established it will create numerous benefits. First, it will create business leaders who will understand both the traditional and sustainable models. As a result, they will be able to both found new companies and rise within existing ones to promote new and better business practices. Further, it will help advance a new generation of Quaker leaders who can help guide existing Quaker institutions. Lastly, it will provide a rigorous and coherent course of study for non-Quakers who are looking for tools and alliances to live their beliefs in the business sector.

I would like to stress that I am not interested in this program as being an outpost of ideology over pragmatism. If principles are taught that cannot be implemented, then the program will have failed its purpose. This institution must provide real solutions to real problems and be an incubator of people and ideas to advance progressive outcomes in the business world.
As we all know, the business sector has a tremendous impact on our daily lives. The opportunity to create a socially and environmentally progressive business school could have consequences for the twenty first century of even greater impact than the reforms of early Quaker business leaders. In a time of environmental calamity and disregard towards the human costs of improper business practices, investing in the leaders of the business community could very literally save the world.

Comments are appreciated.

Beyond Oatmeal: an introduction to Quaker Spirituality

2007-01-27T10:34:00.000-07:00

I will be co-facilitating a 45 minute get to know Quakerism session for Quaker newcomers. If you're in Dallas or will be visiting, please attend.

Wednesday January 31st at 6:30pm
Dallas Friends Meeting House, 5828 Worth Street, Dallas

Co-led by

Barb Leutke, member of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Corporation (the governing body of AFSC)

&

Barry Crossno, member of the Friends General Conference (FGC) Central Committee (the governing body of FGC)

This introduction will broadly and briefly cover the most important topics concerning Quaker spirituality and practice. These topics include a brief Quaker history, Christian and Universalist influences, the various branches of Quakerism, Quaker worship including vocal ministry, Quaker testimonies, and Quaker decision making.

The introduction is intended to help newcomers determine if the Quaker path is something they should explore in more detail. We invite those who feel “led” to explore Quakerism in more depth to participate in the life of the meeting and to attend the Quaker 101 sessions which start Sunday February 4th. Quaker 101 sessions will last one hour once per month for six months and cover the introductory topics in much greater detail.

Quote- Dwight Eisenhower

2006-07-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

-Dwight D Eisenhower, 1953

That of God in Everyone

2006-07-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

On my way into the Meeting House this morning, I could feel it. The Presence was strong.

Before I could even settle into my chair I could feel the Presence taking hold of me. There was something that needed to be said. What it was, I did not know. It was coming even before I could center myself or pray. It was coming before everyone had even gotten to their chairs.

“Genuine ministry doesn’t come so early,” I thought. Indeed, it rarely comes to me at all. But come it did. I kept trying to push it away, but I felt like I'd been plugged into a wall socket. I could feel the Presence that strongly. The words kept coming. Ten minutes into meeting, it felt like I was straining to keep them in. Finally, it occurred to me, the message was not mine to keep.

The presence is strong with us today.

By seeing that of God in everyone, as is our way, our hearts can be renewed. By seeing beyond the wrongs that we do and the labels of religion, by seeing that of God in everyone, we can change our society. In doing this…

we can transform and heal the earth.

THIS is the promise of faith.

I was blessed that the presence did not let go of me after the words were freed. The burning experience of God stayed with me and the tears silently rolled down my face during much of the time left. There was also the blessing of additional ministry from a Friend along this theme that gave important clarity to the earlier message.

There are no words to do justice to the reality of God.

----------------

There is a unity which reaches beyond our illusions of separation and fear. It exists beyond the created sufferings of our perceptions.

Go beyond your mind, beyond wants, and beyond needs. Turn your mind to the burning reality of God. There, you will find the world renewed.

This is the promise, the possibility, of faith.

God is a fire that lives in your heart. The experience of God is the engine of creation, the source of all awe and wonder. It burns within us. Turn your gaze inward. When you then look out, the world will be utterly changed. It can be no other way.

A Latte and a Scone

2006-04-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

This morning I did something that I haven’t done in at least ten years. I went to a protestant church service. A friend, Catherine, invited me. “We’re progressive,” she said.

Indeed they were. People of all walks of life were welcome. The music was positive and upbeat. The Pastor, Laura, delivered a life affirming sermon. It was a wonderful morning. It was also a little surreal.

Having only gone to un-programmed Quaker services and Buddhist teachings for the past decade, I wasn’t prepared to walk in the door and be offered a latte and a scone. Was this the modern Eucharist (wink)?

I have to say being greeted at the door felt a little bit like a novelty. Quaker meetings don't do that for the most part. Having half the church and the pastor introduce them selves before I made it through the foyer was really very nice. Once services began, a lovely young woman sat with me to let me know where we were in the hymn book, about their customs for the breaking of break, the sharing of peace, etc. The children were included at the opening of the ceremony and seemed to be ecstatic to be there. After roughly ten minutes they gleefully went to Sunday school. In all there were maybe 70 people there of all ages and backgrounds including a heavy contingent of twenty and thirty some-things. I wasn’t in Kansas anymore, but I liked it.

It got me thinking about how we conduct un-programmed meetings and how many Friends have told me they wish there was more community at their Meetings. However, for me this is very secondary to the reason why I went to this church in the first place.

A good friend has been acting as a teacher and guide for me the past two months. Two weeks ago she hit me with something of a mental bomb. “You have a problem with Jesus.” “Excuse me,” I said. “You have a problem with Jesus.” After a couple of sentences to clarify things, she hung up the phone. I found this really confounding coming from a woman who doesn’t consider herself traditionally Christian and has done lots of Buddhist study. Maybe this was the point? Hm. Today’s lesson was over. Now what to do about it?

After a little ranting and raving, I realized, “Yeah, I’ve got a problem with Jesus.” For years, I’ve held the person and concept of Jesus responsible for two thousand years of war, genocide, slavery, and oppression. From the time I was fifteen my basic feeling was “Christianity is the problem. God is the solution.” This position softened a lot in my twenties, but Jesus still had very little to do with God in my mind. The whole Jesus thing was a problem to be solved, rather than being in any way life affirming. In thinking about all of this, I realized that I should go to a more traditional Church setting to at least make sure I was focusing my mind on the whole Jesus thing; hence my journey to church this morning.

However, even before getting to church a little light bulb went off in my head. “If I resent Jesus, if I hold anger towards other sentient beings past or present, then I’m not walking in compassion and love. I’m not fully in the light.” After much reflection, this seemed inescapably true. I have to let go of my anger towards what people have done in Christ’s name. And I have to let go of some of my thoughts that Jesus must of have been a crappy teacher for things to get this messed up!

Interestingly, during the process of letting go I started thinking, “But how do I know what Christ really taught?” I gnashed on this for a while. Then I remembered some of the original Quaker teachings about the Inner Christ-- that you can receive clear guidance. I’ve always thought of that in terms of God, but maybe I can receive guidance from the life and presence of Jesus. What a novel concept! Wow, and it’s what Quakers have taught all along!

Sometimes it takes me a while to catch on…

While it’s unclear that I’ll ever refer to myself as traditionally Christian, it feels right to embark on a path of reconciliation with the tradition of my culture and to let go of my resentments. If I’m to emulate the life that Jesus lived then I can’t be caught up with labels anyway. Love is all.

Scone, anyone?

A Wish List

2006-03-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

Based on some feedback I’ve gotten from the last few entries, I’ve not written very clearly on some issues of late. I appreciate everyone taking the time to write me with thoughts and for helping me understand this. Therefore, I’m going to attempt be more clear in future posts. In fact, I'm letting them season for a day or more and rereading them before I post.

I look at spirituality as having a continuum or range of practice. There is complete solo spirituality like being a hermit on a ridge and there is complete corporate or community practice where you only sit/meditate/worship with a group on Sunday or go on retreat with other people. For me, I’ve always thought of Quakerism and experienced it as falling pretty close to the “only worship with others” situation. As wonderful as the shared silence is, this falls short for me. I need more than sitting in a chair on Sunday morning or an occassional retreat. I need to be able to sit regularly on my own and feel that I'm making progress on my journey.

As I’ve experienced what I call “the presence” more in my life, I’ve also needed more training and practice. What is it I’m experiencing? What is discernment? How do I discern? What does being “spirit led” mean? How do I settle my mind during the silence? Should I do silence every day? Why do I never feel led to break the silence during worship? Why do I get these huge flashes of gratitude that sweep over me during the silence and sometimes when I’m not even worshipping? The questions go on for me.

There is a larger question, however, that I sometimes ask myself. Can the cumulative Quaker experience answer these questions? Can I access training methods that will get me to a spirit led place? I know the Source is beyond human definitions and is beyond what any one religion can contain. Therefore, should I continue to look to other traditions like Buddhism to answer some of these questions or am I looking there only because I don’t know what’s available in my own tradition?

Some will answer that there are lots of lovely books that address many of these questions. Some will say that’s what the retreat centers are for. Others might say to simply continue to seek and you will find.

First, I’m sick of lovely books. That side of my brain is hemorrhaging from too much reading. I’m ready for more of the “burning experience of God.” Take me there. Get me there. No more second hand stuff. Quakers are all about the experience, right? Next, retreat centers are great. However, like many people I find that the closest one is a thousand miles away and I’m neither rich nor endowed with great stores of free time. I still plan to go, but it’s more like the once in lifetime thing. Lastly, I’m a systematic person. I’m not much for randomness. The idea of randomly flailing my way through this until I have some epiphanies is not heartening.

My suspicion is that I’m not alone in my feelings. My feeling is the “worship on Sunday, flail your way through the solo practice part” of Quakerism is why many young people aren’t Quakers (this is beyond the point that most young people don’t even know what Quakerism is). I want answers and I want it from people who have been there. I need teachers, peers, and tools of practice. I want to talk about the spiritual journey more than I want to talk about the fruits of the journey (like social action). I want to feel like I know what I’m doing. And even if I don’t know where I’m going at least I know the processes to go deeper and maybe find out.

If I could have a wish list fulfilled to deepen my own practice:

1. Traveling ministers who talk about process for deepening solo practice. It’s one thing to have occasional traveling ministers sit in on Sunday and speak out of the silence. I want traveling ministers who will educate on daily practice issues.

2. CDs and DVDs about real people and their experiences. Talk me through worship. Talk me through quieting my mind. Share what a Christian Quaker Mantra sounds like (I’ve heard about them- haven’t heard one). Let me hear it from another person’s mouth.

3. Traveling retreats. Host retreats in different parts of the country that do Quaker 101 from a practice standpoint—more than a history lesson. Give many of us in the hinterland a chance to do a three day weekend in Quaker processes without packing up and going to Pennsylvania, California or North Carolina.

4. A practice community, even if it is virtual. I’ve sat with many meetings and there is a reluctance to talk about personal practice on anything approaching a regular basis. This is not criticism, just an acknowledgement of experience. I know my practice is more consistent when I’m around people who also sit a few times a week and can talk about there experience of it.

Basically, I’m seeking tools for personal transformation within the context of the Quaker experience, but beyond the communal experience of social action, the decision making processes and Sunday worship. I wonder if other people are looking for things like this as well. Thoughts?

A Way Within A Way

2006-01-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

Note: There have been so many changes in my life these past few months that my writing has been infrequent, but I hope to write more now that things are getting a little quieter.

There is something that has been swirling in the back of my mind for sometime and related to many early blogs on this site.

As a young man my life was not going very well. Through study of both religious texts and more specifically self-help books of various kinds, I realized it was my perceptions that were driving my unhappiness and the poor choices I was making. Where I put my mind my life followed. This was very fundamental and years later I’m still learning how to alter my perceptions and concentration to experience life in particular ways. This was the beginning of my walk with God. Somehow, I had an intuition that by understanding the nature of reality, perception and the act of creation, and that by applying this understanding, I was somehow both experiencing and acknowledging God.

However, I also realized that religions of the western tradition largely separated the experience of creation and actualization to emphasize instead codes of conduct. Codes of conduct are useful, but they do not ask us to stretch our perceptions, to understand the nature of reality itself, or to grow in ways that take us beyond the surface of life in human society. Codes of conduct generally do not lead us to unity with God. They simply protect us and others from the consequences of our minds being in the wrong place. Yet, what I’ve always been interested in is putting our minds in the right place. In starting here, codes of conduct recede in importance. This is part of my fascination with eastern religious and philosophical works. They place great emphasis on the workings of the mind and how this influences our actions in the world, or more truly how we create the world.

With Quakerism, I was fascinated to find a western mystical tradition that put great emphasis on the inner life and that asked us to transform ourselves and the world. What I have found as I have experienced Quakerism, however, is that Quakers are largely self-selecting. What I mean by this is that most convinced Quakers went through a process of inner transformation before becoming Quaker that led them to adopt the Society as a grouping of like minded people. While transformation often deepens as people walk a Quaker path, their basic values and perceptions have already been attained that lead them to the Quaker way. What if we chose to stand this on its head? What if we consciously sought to lay bare a path within the Quaker way that is beyond the basic Quaker education available to most Quakers in the American West? One that is intended to reach people at a place where they have not yet encountered the proper tools, the tools that speak to them, to transform their minds, their relationship with God/Reality, and therefore their creation of the world around them?

As many long term readers know, I’m not advocating that we convert people to Quakerism. I believe there are many valid paths. What I am advocating is that we open a path within Quakerism specifically for people to experience an intense, transformative way within Quakerism for those who are seeking it and who have just come to the Quaker way. What would this look like? I’m not sure at this point. I think it is already out there and all we have to do is uncover and make it plain for people. It could be an important concern for those who wish to open themselves to the spiritual needs of others and are open to being guided to its creation.

Washing the Dishes

2005-12-15T11:35:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting conversation this morning with a gentleman whom is both a skilled business person and a spiritual teacher. It’s not a combination I’ve often encountered, but I have to admit that after knowing him for years he’s one of the more accomplished and yet serene people I’ve ever known.

I was talking with him about how I often feel split between spirit and my daily business activities. It’s not that I’m doing anything business wise that troubles me, per se. It’s just that I go to work and then work. I then go home to pray and I pray. It feels very disjointed. One part of my life feels spiritual and one part doesn’t.

He said this is common, but not necessary. Everything is intention and the form that the expression of this intention takes is secondary. It's the place it's coming from that matters. Whether I'm running a business or at Meeting for Worship, it is intention that drives whether it's a spiritual activity.

I was suddenly reminded of a story from Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge. If I remember correctly, there is a scene where a man in India is washing plates in the river. The main character says something to him about how it must be hard to live a spiritual life and still wash the dishes. The man replies that he is having a deeply spiritual experience washing the dishes. Point made.

My friend this morning said that life should be effortless. It should be about flow. The best way to do this is to shift our minds. He said that we should:

Give up expectations in favor of anticipation.
Give up reacting and instead respond.
Give up attachments and instead be appreciative.

He then said that it's easier to say all of this than live it. We both laughed. It was, however, a nice reminder that we can be whole if we know where to start.

Quote: John Perkins

2005-11-09T17:09:00.000-07:00

"We have dreamed it: therefore it is. I have become convinced that everything we think and feel is merely perception: that our lives--individually as well as communally-- are molded around such perception: and that if we want to change, we must alter our perception. When we give our energy to a different dream, the world is transformed. To create a new world, we must first create a new dream."

- John Perkins, The World Is As You Dream It

A Quiet Revolution

2005-10-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

There’s a coffee shop not far from where I live. It’s a little less funky than it used to be. The new owners have painted the interior soothing beige and some of the clutter has now been replaced with nice cards and art books for sale. Pleasantly sanitized or not, It’s still ground zero for some of the more liberal and radical elements of the little mountain town I call home.

I remember the first time I went into this place. At that time, the walls were still three colors and the art was… different. I started talking to the girl behind the counter. She was twenty, maybe. She had on three, or at least parts of three skirts, two tops, knee boots and her hair was something that still defies description. I wasn’t at Starbuck’s and, despite my more mundane and conventional appearance, this made me happy.

I found her to be a great guide to the revolution. This revolution, however, wasn’t about overthrowing the man, liberating test animals, marching against the war, or doing anything radical in the way that some of us might commonly understand it. She was interested in something more pedestrian and yet harder achieve.

With great mirth she proceeded to explain that the only fist fight she had ever seen at that coffee shop was between two peace activists. It would seem one found the other’s theories on non-violence questionable. This led to derogatory comments, which descended to name calling, which eventually became a request to “step outside.” This they did. No one was really hurt. They were more about hot air than vengeance. But, the irony of their conflict was eventually not lost on them and it certainly wasn’t lost on my new guide. She lapped it up with good sense, good humor and a certain amount of ego-deflating sarcasm that’s largely born of compassion. She was the type that would poke you in the ribs with a sharp stick and then kiss you on the cheek. This way you’d forget about being poked until she got clear of you. Smart girl.

After relating this story, she then proceeded to explain the central dilemma of modern humans as she understood it. We’re slaves to ideas. Ideas take over. We become vessels made simply to carry and spread them. Of course, these were not her words. She’s more gifted than I am. But, I got the gist.

Two men, dedicated to the idea of non-violence, in reality took a swipe at one another. Was this a moment of personal failure? Perhaps. But, I think it was symbolically the natural result of how we live. Ideas, in many ways, are more important than people. After all, we fight wars over ideologies. We create entire bureaucracies to protect one set of ideas and to destroy others. Now don’t get me wrong, there is a point to nurturing ideas. Ideas do have consequences. However, I think the point is lost when the idea becomes more important than the actual well being of the person next to us. This is the difference between being in your head and being in your heart. It’s the difference between religious creeds and a daily practice of kindness. Is there a place for ideas? Certainly. Cultures and values exist because of them. However, are they really more important than people?

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has often said that his religion, more so than the doctrines of Buddhism, is loving kindness. Some of my friends think this is banal at best. It glosses over our differences, they say. It doesn’t recognize the reality of different religious ideas. Precisely. That’s the point. Living the basic tenets of your religion is more valuable than talking about it, just as being kind is much more important than the idea of kindness.

The revolution that my kaleidoscopic guide was interested in is a revolution of kindness, a revolution of the heart. Ultimately, I think she was more interesting in living than winning, more interested in being understood than being vindicated.

I hope, for all of our sakes, the revolution comes soon.

On Quaker Process and Meeting for Business

2005-09-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

At the basis of all the great traditions is, not the idea, but the deeply felt realization of love and compassion. All the texts of our traditions are simply an effort, or even a struggle, to provide commentary on this. Therefore, I believe we should try to look beyond the words of a text to its intention. And, where a text seems to fall short of this intention, we should let it pass and return to the still place where compassion always dwells.

Beyond symbols and concepts, there is a place of clarity that can both center us and teach us. This is the inner Christ, the inner teacher, the Source. It’s a voice both heard and unheard that can be experienced when we surrender ourselves to stillness, when we look beyond the mind and its concern with outcomes and instead center upon our intentions which are generally concerned with process. The voice is always about becoming.

Outcomes are secondary to intentions. This is not to say that outcomes are unimportant, but we miss the process of becoming when we focus simply on the end. I believe in focusing on the beginning. It brings our mind back to intention and leaves us open to fulfilling our intentions in ways and forms that our minds could not hold or imagine for lack of experience. By focusing on intention we can open ourselves to possibilities beyond our ability to conceive them. This is the act of joyous Creation.

As Quakers, we meet to conduct the business of the Meeting from once per month to once per quarter. The full name for this is Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business. It is called this because the act of conducting the business of the meeting is a form of worship. We often talk about group mysticism as something shared in the silence. However, some of the most profound moments of Quaker worship happen during the business meeting. This is where daily life and daily practice intersect. It is here that we must truly surrender to the power of intention and have faith that by focusing on intention, opening ourselves to love and compassion, that the intention will be fulfilled with an outcome that is possibly beyond our individual conceptions. Therefore, the focus on the process of the meeting for business is an act of corporate worship, of group mysticism. We open ourselves to the possibility that our intentions will be fulfilled through concepts that may come from within us, from within our Friends, or from the Source that is both of us and beyond us.

Just as we should look beyond the printed words of a religious text to its intention, we must look beyond our spoken words during Meeting to our intentions. By doing so, we can often find that while the surface of our words may be without unity the same intention is shared among us. In sharing the intention and being aware of this, we can then open ourselves to outcomes that move beyond the limitations of our own experiences to the possibilities existent within and beyond our Meeting.

This is the value and possibility of Quaker process.

Let's Begin

2005-09-11T22:12:00.000-07:00

For some time I’ve been writing about Quaker renewal and outreach. What I realized is that I was hoping some magical group of people would make it happen. Due to a number of you writing me and some inner promptings, I now know we’re the magical people.

It’s time to begin.

“Quakerism is a doorway through which many will walk.”

This came to me clearly two years ago. As regular readers, you know I believe in a multiplicity of paths and that there is no one way. However, I also know that there are many people to whom the Quaker way would speak and bring great joy if only they knew it existed. Therefore, I am making it my personal act of devotion to make the Quaker way available to non-Quakers who seek an alternative western tradition. I feel called to do this.

I'm open to this work being part of FGC or Wider Quaker Fellowship. However, I’m not going to wait for it to happen. As several Friends have said, “Do it now.” I also feel I simply must begin my witness. Therefore, I want to form an organization dedicated to Quaker Outreach to non-Quakers and the deepening of Quaker spiritual practice. To do this, I need help. Therefore, I’m asking for help.

-I need a small board of advisors. There are several of you who write me regularly that I think would fit the bill. Write me about this.

-I need someone with web design and/or graphic design skills.

-I need someone with accounting skills.

-I need someone who can help me organize.

-I need seed money to incorporate as a religious non-profit, generate publicity, and start to fundraise to staff and run programs.

For those of you who wonder if I have the technical ability to do this, the answer is “yes, with your help.” Three times I’ve held the Director title/position in non-profits. I’ve written the business plans for three organizations. I’ve had four years of experience as a fundraiser and two more years as a Business Development agent. I’ve helped organize events that have involved up to 30,000 people. I want to put these abilities to use for something I really believe in- universal progressive values and the Quaker way to offer people a path to the peace of God. Beyond the technical ability, I simply feel inspired to do this and I think the inspiration is key.

If you can help get this started or know people who can help, please let me know. With your assistance, the way will be open.

Quaker Renewal

2005-08-23T10:38:00.000-07:00

Author's Note: This particular piece is about Quaker Renewal and is aimed at suggesting improvements for the organization of Friends worship. For those looking for a piece on personal practice or a personal expression of devotion like some other pieces I've written-- check back later. I'm getting there. I promise.

“If you continue to do what you've always done, you will continue to get what you've always gotten.”
-proverb- author unknown to me

I have been traveling for almost four months through the American West and now I find myself home in New Mexico with some time to reflect.

Much of my travels had nothing overtly to do with Quakerism, but there were significant moments that did. What I gleaned from these encounters is that Quakerism is alive and well, there are many extraordinary people that practice the Quaker way, and there is also a deep need for Quaker renewal. I also repeatedly encountered, as has been my past experience, people who thought Quakerism was the same as being Amish, people who exclaimed “I thought Quakers died out with the Shakers?” and my favorite for the befuddled expression that usually accompanies the question “What's a Quaker?”

In particular, I encountered people who had very specific criticisms of Quakerism as currently practiced and I think much of it should be looked at closely. I also wish to offer some ideas to address some of this criticism.

One young man I met was an incredibly devout and dynamic person raised in the Quaker tradition. He believes that Quakerism through its history and tools of practice has the opportunity to speak deeply to people looking for a community of belief. Of course, we got along really well. However, he said that he was often dismayed by the lack of dynamism in his own meeting and other local meetings. In fact, he felt that many Quakers were afraid to discuss issues of theology because they might find that their meeting had no cohesion and could not continue as a whole. Some people might find that they are not Quakers and that somehow because Quakers have come to value tolerance and unquestioning acceptance over all else, even the tools of practice and the spiritual intentions that created them, that Quakers have created many lifeless meetings. As he talked, I kept having an image in my head of a bowl of cold oatmeal. He also spoke of his desire to do outreach to non-quakers, especially to young people, but added something to the effect of “...But what happens when they come to meeting for the first time and find that they aren't particularly welcome and that the practice is watered down?”

On another occasion I had the good fortune to spend time with another incredibly dynamic person who once walked devotedly with Quakers in her twenties. This person is now conventionally protestant- which is wonderful and I bless whatever path gets people where they are going- but her reasons for becoming protestant are what strike me. Quaker theory was great to her, but the practice of decision making wasn't simply difficult or lengthy- it was sometimes abusive or tragic. She talked of how one person could lay over decisions and how frequently this happened on important matters that damaged people's careers, their livelihoods, and sometimes caused them to leave the community. She gave very specific examples that deeply troubled her and related how democracy can be the tyranny of the majority over the minority, but how the consensus process can become the tyranny of one over all. She also talked of how many Quakers wouldn't talk about Quakerism and how this made it difficult for her to feel she was progressing on her path.

In another instance I came across someone who related how the Quaker process of decision making and discernment (and I'm quoting roughly from memory), “grinds your dreams into dust.” Quakers sometimes are more concerned with being patient and being in process than actually allowing a flash of discernment to spontaneously occur and acting decisively on it.

Lastly, as an illustration, I came across a lifelong Quaker who has worked for Quaker organizations who is, like the person above, critical of the decision making process. I talked about the frustrations I had encountered among many Quakers concerning consensus, but I then offered that a friend once reminded me that, “Yes, it took Quakers one hundred years to unite against slavery, but once they did they were a force to be reckoned with.” She replied that arguments like this are often trotted out to defend the glacial pace of decision making, but her feeling was that during the hundred years how many millions of God's children died in slavery and today how many suffer while Quakers take decades to come to consensus on gays, AIDS, outreach and other issues. Further, she asserted that there is a debilitating attitude in some meetings that unless the meeting has come to consensus on what you personally are working for, you should keep the fact that your Quaker to yourself. That you feel spiritually led to do your work is not to be discussed in public while you fight your battle.

There were other people who voiced similar concerns. I do not write any of this as evidence that Quakerism is failing as a life path. If it was, I wouldn't self identify as Quaker or expend so much effort in trying to create dialog between Quakers and to also reach out to non-Quakers. However, as with any human organization, we have some problems. The question is what do we choose to do about them. What I offer next comes out of my own experiences within Quakerism, allied to my years of searching that led me through Buddhism and other forms of practice.

First, I want to start again with one of my favorite sayings that simply asserts that George Fox loved God not process. This is a touchstone for me. Sometimes I think Quaker processes are synonymous with the Quaker identity. There are not. They are tools. As tools the only question that should relate to them is do they serve us to experience God, to create community, to transform us personally and to provide us with a foundation that allows us to walk in the image of Christ, Buddha, Mother Theresa or whomever is a pattern for you of God's love on earth. As such, everything is on the table. Dissect it all. The silence. Discernment. Decision-making. Put it under the microscope. See what works. See what doesn't. One of the foundations of Quakerism is that revelation is on-going. God speaks to us in the here and now. This is not 17th century England. It's not the same historical circumstances. It's not the same culture. God, the universal force, is the only constant. We should not worship the tools of worship. If the tools speak to us in so much as we can feel the presence and advance our practice, this is what we should do.

Next, Quakers are very concerned with schisms. Many of you reading this will know the history and we don't need to go into it. As a result, Quakers will often fail to assert any beliefs to other Quakers for fear of making others inside the group uncomfortable. The intention is commendable, the outcome is tragic. We sometimes end up with cold oatmeal. There is another way to frame this entire discussion. Within Buddhism there are many paths. The idea is that many people have had different experiences and one teaching can not speak adequately to everyone. In fact, Buddha was reputed to have stressed and taught different things to different people. It makes sense. Within Quakerism we already do this. There are different organizational bodies within Quakerism. We recognize our common origins and our shared beliefs. Some emphasize a cristo-centric approach. Others emphasize a more universalist approach. This arose out of a heated schism which was seen as very bad at the time. I think it's time to call it good. It's good that FUM, EFI, and FGC all exist. Different people need different things- but we're bound together in the light. As long as we keep the love of God in our hearts and are determined- as Quakers have always been- to express God's love through action in the world- we will forever be bound together.

Now, I wish to take the idea a step further. If it is good that FUM, EFI and FGC all exist then perhaps its also good to create highly defined paths of study within Quakerism to serve the needs of particular practitioners. As always, the starting point of this is that many paths lead to God. The point of creating one or many defined paths within Quakerism is not to create “The” Quaker path or to attempt to define what Quakerism really is, but instead to create a dynamic way for people to experience Quakerism, or a form or expression of it, through a shared community where hard things can be spoken, theology can be explored, and people can actually challenge each other on issues of practice. In other words, a place to really, really practice. People who engage in these practice paths are part of the larger Quaker community, but will have the opportunity to experience a certain amount of intensity and directness that may not be available through the local meeting.

How to do this? The solution actually lies in Quaker history. In the 1930's AFSC created the Friends Fellowship Council. At the time, Quakerism, an always evolving religion, was experiencing a renewal movement. The renewal was coming from liberal friends who wished to reinvigorate the peace testimony. Not receiving a great amount of support from the larger Quaker community they created the Friends Fellowship Council as a way to organize new worship groups and meetings that reflected the values and interests of the FFC. During two decades of action, over sixty independent meetings were founded through the work of FFC before it was merged into the Friends World Committee in 1954.

I want to be clear that I am not suggestion the replacement of existing Quaker organizing bodies, but I do believe there is a need for one or more organizations that are dedicated to conducting outreach and providing a dynamic Quaker experience to newcomers and current Quakers alike. By forming an organization outside of current organizations it may also be possible to formulate a direct path through the consensus of a small body of people so that a clearly defined way can evolve and be offered, based on Quaker principles, in a short period of time. This new dynamism could be critical to what is most important of all, not the propagation of Quakerism, but equipping people with tools and experiences that transform them and make them able to express through their actions the ideals of love, forgiveness, solidarity, etc in the world that have always been the hallmarks of the Quaker way.

Comments are appreciated.

God is All

2005-08-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

The heart of the Quaker experience is God.

When George Fox [The founder of Quakerism] started to walk the path that would become Quakerism, it came from his experience of the Divine. In his life and for much of the subsequent history of Quakerism this experience was (and is) a Christian experience. It was the direct experience of the living Christ; a very beautiful, moving, and sometimes disturbing experience for those blessed by it. In time, some Quakers recognized that the living or “Inner Christ” is sometimes called other things by other religions. The similarity of the divine experience among all religions and the sincerity of their practitioners has led some Quakers to believe God comes to all people regardless of the labels they may use and the culture that frames these labels. This is the basis of Universalism for many Quaker Universalists. Yet, even among many Quaker Universalists, who expend great intellectual energy on comparative religion and the similarities among them, there is the recognition that the experience of God, the Source, is the driving dynamic of Quakerism. The experience informs everything. Our attempts to explain and frame our experiences of God are another issue all together.

The practice of ‘silent’ worship within Quakerism, which is also called expectant waiting, is a tool to help experience God. By waiting together on the ‘inner Christ’, ‘holy spirit’ or ‘presence’ to fill us and guide us, the meeting for worship becomes in effect a place for the experience of group mysticism. When a sense of unity is shared during the silence, it can become a very profound experience for the Meeting. When it happens, you can feel it. The presence cradles the room.

I share these two experiences at the base of Quakerism to help clarify Quakerism for those who have not attended a Quaker meeting or for those who have, but have found it mystifying instead of mystical.

Sometimes, I believe, people confuse the method for the purpose of Quaker practice. The silence is seen as a wonderful meditation tool, which it can be. The silence is seen as a practice that creates unity among a group who may have very few theological beliefs in common. It does. The silence, having no religious authority figure presiding over it, is seen as symbolic of Quaker beliefs in simplicity and equality. This is true also. In short, the silence defines Quakerism for some people. However, as one writer succinctly put it, “Fox did not love method; he loved God.” The silence can graciously and legitimately be many things depending on your needs, but its overarching intent is as a tool to experience the divine nature of reality.

When functioning as a seeker the most important thing is “the burning experience of God.” Look for this. Look for this inside of Quakerism. Look for this outside of Quakerism. Walk whatever tradition or individual path that brings you to unity- that puts the burning love of God- the flaming reality of universal truth- in your heart. Whether God places this in your heart like a blaze, or an opening of the quiet grandeur of clarity, accept this gift with all of your being.

Quakerism is a tradition, continued by a living community that passes on tools and stories to help people have the living experience of God. The tradition of Quakerism, the community, then exists to help us translate this experience of God into values and actions in the world. The experience of union with God is not an end within itself. God is love. Union with God is to express this in our interactions with others and perhaps to even come to a place where we realize there are no ‘others.’

God is all.

Spiritual Activism Conference: A Great Success...

2005-08-02T22:56:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Spokane last week from four days at the Spiritual Activism Conference in San Francisco. It was phenomenal. It was originally planned for 500-600 people. Instead, 1300 of us came. More impressive were the speakers. Rabbi Michael Lerner, Mathew Fox, Fritjof Capra, Father John Dear, Bishop Spong, Reverend Jim Wallis, Rabbi Debora Kohn… the list goes on.

As some of you already know, the purpose of this conference was to lay the foundation for a new movement. It’s a movement composed of progressive people of faith (all faiths and the spiritually unaffiliated) who want to restore issues of social justice, equality, democracy, economic opportunity, and shared responsibility to the American political agenda and American life in general. I believe the conference succeeded. This is a legitimate movement. The next conference is being planned for Washington, D.C. in the spring. I’ll be there. I hope you'll consider learning more about this organization. I think it could be an important part of putting the nation back on a progressive path.

http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/

This conference was also great fun because it allowed me to meet new Quakers from around the country (along with lots of other amazing people of all traditions). There were at least 50 or 60 Quakers. We had three Quaker worship services and a Quaker lunch meeting to talk about outreach and New Urbanism as an environmental cause. It was also great to have people of other faiths sit in on Quaker silent worship. In fact, the interfaith solidarity of the conference was tremendous. I loved seeing people of every faith community you can imagine pledging common cause to create a better future based on what all of our faith traditions ask of us, "Love One Another." It was inspiring.

What is, is...

2005-07-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

I have been asked to state my beleifs as simply as I can. Here is what I beleive based on my experiences of the world and my experiences of the presence. Later, I will explain in more detail what each statement means and how these statements relate to each other. I will also talk about how these experiences form the principles that lead to personal and public action.

These are listed in no particular order...

We are not alone. If ever we feel lost or abandoned, God, the source, is with us. Know this in your heart.

There is a continuity & unity that pervades everything. We are inseparable from the creation and the creation is endless.

What is, is. Strip away our beliefs, our judgments, our ego, and we will see reality and perfection in the now.

Peace. If we wish to experience peace, we must attain it within. Once we, as a people, experience peace within us, it will be manifest in the world.

What we create in our minds, we create in the world. Our beliefs, visions, desires, carry themselves like lightning into the void that manifests into the world that we experience.

God is omnipresent and available to all regardless of the language we speak, the customs we practice, our race, or our gender. All living things find favor in the eyes of the creator.

Surrender is necessary to progress beyond the limits of the ego and to touch the overwhelming boundlessness of God.

Some Principles for a New Organization

2005-07-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

For some time now, a number of friends and I have discussed how do we help expand the progressive cause in a way that includes the spiritual left, reinvigorates policy discussions, and creates a simple and compelling vision that moves the country towards more progressive and humane programs.

These discussions have led me in part to participate in the upcoming Spiritual Activism conference being held in Berkeley, CA this month. As posted last week, the conference seeks to create a new organization and movement called the Network of Spiritual Progressives. I have high hopes for this conference.

While there is much on the Tikkun website and Rabbi Michael Lerner has done an extraordinary job of carrying the message for the spiritual left, I would like to take a few minutes to muse about some ideas concerning the formation of a new organization like the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

I think there are certain guiding principles that could help the organization grow and achieve its long-term goals. A couple of these are perhaps self-evident for an organization centered in spiritual belief, but I think it's good to write it out.

1. Adhere to principles, not policies: Often people, especially on our side of the political divide, confuse policies and principles. A policy is a means, tactic, or intended program to achieve a principle. If the intention is to create and expand economic security for lower and moderate income Americans, there are many policies or programs that might achieve this. Too often we decide that a particular program is the same as the principle we intend to achieve. This creates rigidity, stifles innovation, and often eliminates policies from being implemented that could gain bipartisan support and achieve our principles. In fact, this confusion is at the heart of the Left often seeming stuck in a policy time warp from the 1930s or 1960s.

2. Create organizational transparency: If we as progressives are in this for the long haul, if we intend to create a movement, however long it takes, to hold power, we must create transparent organizations. Transparency means we publish where the money comes from and where it goes. Not simply disclose it to the Feds, but to disclose it readily to the public. There is a difference. Also, part of transparency is truth telling. Some liberal organizations have gone the way of the far right conservatives and have started to bend the truth or lie outright to support a policy fight. You may win short term doing this, but you can’t win long-term. You can respect someone who tells you the truth, even if you don’t agree with them. You can even support them in power. It’s been shown that people will vote for people with integrity even if they don’t agree with the person’s policies. Values matter.

3. Make Common Cause: There are issues that progressives and conservatives agree on. Where we do agree we should make common cause. There are times when the conservatives won’t do this so they can attempt to gain politically. But, our cause is the welfare of the country, not short-term polling. Make common cause.

4. Offer a vibrant message: I’m tired of hearing about how corrupt the right is. Is that all the Progressive movement is about? How bad the other guys are? We have goals and principles. It’s time to articulate them and shout them from the mountaintop. Let those who oppose progressive principles and values become the carpers, naysayers, and mudslingers. Check the defeatism and bellyaching at the door. Better yet, invite the right to change course and join us. Let’s get on with leading the country in a new direction.

5. Respect honest differences of opinion: Again, if we’re in this for the long-term we have to offer respect to people with whom we have an honest difference of opinion. It’s nice to congratulate ourselves for being correct about our policies. But being right isn’t the same as governing. The country, even if it doesn’t shift left, has to believe we respect people even if they differ from us. Only then can we go from opposition to governance. We have to give respect to eventually get respect, even if in the short term its not being returned to us. Like the civil rights movement, people know decency and courage when they see it.

Please write, I would like to know people’s thoughts.

Book Review: Beyond Majority Rule

2005-06-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

Beyond Majority Rule:
Voteless Decisions in the Religious Society of Friends
By Michael J. Sheeran
Printed 1996 & 2002 ISBN 0-941308-04-9
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
Order at http://www.quakerbooks.org/

This book is exceptional for the Quaker curious and new attenders who wish to understand the process through which Quakers attempt to experience unity in their decision-making. Often the Quaker process at business meetings can seem baffling to the uninitiated. This book explains the origins, intellectual and spiritual reasons, underlying assumptions and intended outcomes of this process. The style is somewhat scholarly, but still accessible and clear.

Highly recommended.

From Our Core

2005-06-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

Why are many Quakers activists to some degree or another?

This question has been asked from time to time and I think there are almost as many answers to this as there are Quakers. However, there are some basics that I think I can cover to at least get things going.

Quakers believed (and believe) that the light of God, or seed of God, was (is) in every human being. This belief led to the Peace Testimony and the traditional stance of Quakers to not take life or participate in war. Quakers also believe that the presence of God, the inner Christ, is available to everyone. We just have to listen. Notice I used the word everyone. This led Quakers towards an egalitarian path. A path that produced a unique form of corporate worship and vote-less decision-making process based on the idea that guidance is available to everyone and everyone should have the opportunity to be heard.

When you have these ideas at the core of your belief system starting in the 1640’s in a world that engaged in widespread slavery, believed women were almost property, and had kings that claimed rule by divine right; well, you get activists. In fact, for early Quakers, simply believing what they believed and living it in their day-to-day lives was a highly charged political act.

On top of this, many Quakers did and still do believe that Jesus talked of creating the Kingdom of God, here, now. Jesus wanted to alleviate the suffering of the poor and those who had suffered injustice. Combining the belief that the seed of God was in everyone, the inner Christ was available to everyone, and that to walk in the footsteps of Jesus was to seek to alleviate suffering and end injustice; you get activists.

However, because Quakers believed and believe in direct access to the inner Christ and experience “leadings” and have “concerns” their activism takes them beyond relationships defined by law and towards relationships defined by empathy, compassion and shared aspirations. Throughout history there have been people who have attempted to use religious writings, or strategically lifted passages from those writings, to justify a host of human inequities. These have included slavery, the servitude of women, capital punishment, divine right of kings, segregation, class-based societies, etc. Quakers have generally sought, based on their experience of the light, and the teachings of Christ from the New Testament that supported their experience of the light, to end injustice wherever possible. Further, many have felt led by the personal relationship with God, the inner Christ, to dedicate their lives to the liberation of humanity from social injustice, war and poverty. Many have been dedicated to the point of giving their lives for these causes. Living in the light so that others may experience it. All of this together helps explain why Quaker activism has often been considered “liberal” or left of center.

In this way, Quakerism is compatible with many of the goals of secular humanism and there is a natural sense of alliance and affection between many secular humanists and Quakers. In fact, many secular humanists have become Quakers. However, Quakers, unlike some secularists who are sustained by enlightened rationalism, naturally deep felt empathy and/or compassion (all wonderful), are generally motivated by a core religious conviction of equality borne out of experience of the inner Christ, the source, or God. This sense of communion with that which is, the prime mover, and the sense of mission it creates has sustained many Quakers through severe trials that have included harassment, imprisonment, property confiscations, and even death. Therefore, Quaker activism over many centuries has been sustained by the core beliefs and experiences of the divine. It is this deep resource or grounding that has given strength to the community and continues to give strength to the community.

Tikkun & The Network of Spiritual Progressives

2005-06-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

Note: This particular blog entry doesn't have anything to do with Quakerism per se, but a lot to do with spiritual activism that includes many Quakers.

I first heard Rabbi Michael Lerner speak in Santa Fe this Spring. His critiques of both the right and the left and his call for progressive spiritual renewal really touched me. In fact, his organization Tikkun is hosting the formation of a new group called the Network of Spiritual Progressives. Their spiritual activism conference is coming in July in Berkeley. I will be attending and I hope some of you will take a look at this organization, its principles, and goals. I think something important might be forming.

All of the following has been taken and condensed from the Tikkun website. For complete information about Tikkun and the ability to register for the conference, please go to http://www.tikkun.org

The Tikkun Community

We are an international community of people of many faiths calling for social justice and political freedom in the context of new structures of work, caring communities, and democratic social and economic arrangements. We seek to influence public discourse in order to inspire compassion, generosity, non-violence and recognition of the spiritual dimensions of life.

The Network of Spiritual Progressives

Network of Spiritual Progressives is in formation. Their first conference is upcoming. The dates and a summary of the agenda is below.

Spiritual Activism Conference in Berkeley, Ca. July 20-23, 2005.
In Washington, D.C. Feb. 10-13, 2006

The Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP) is an association of people interested in:

1. Changing the Bottom Line in America. Today, institutions and social practices are judged efficient, rational and productive to the extent that they maximize money and power. We believe that they should be judged rational, efficient and productive not only to the extent that they maximize money and power, but also to the extent that they maximize love and caring, ethical and ecological sensitivity and behavior, kindness and generosity, non-violence and peace, and to the extent that they enhance our capacities to respond to other human beings in a way that honors them as embodiments of the sacred, and enhances our capacities to respond to the earth and the universe with awe, wonder and radical amazement.

2. Challenging the misuse of religion, God and spirit by the Religious Right, and educating people of faith to the understanding that a serious commitment to God, religion and spirit should manifest in social activism aimed at peace, universal disarmament, social justice with a preferential option for the needs of the poor and the oppressed, a commitment to end poverty, hunger, homelessness, inadequate education and inadequate health care all around the world, and a commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, environmental protection and repair of the damage done to the planet by 150 years of envrionmentally irresponsible

3. Challenging the many anti-religious and anti-spiritual assumptions and behaviors that have increasingly become part of the liberal culture, and challenging as well the extreme individualism and me-firstism that permeate all parts of the global market culture. We will educate people in social change movements to carefully distinguish between their legitimate critiques of the Religious Right and their illegitimate generalizing of those criticisms to all religious or spiritual beliefs and practices. We will help social change activists and others in the liberal and progressive culture become more conscious of and less afraid to affirm their own inner spiritual yearnings and to reconstitute a visionary progressive social movement that incorporates the spiritual dimension, of which the loving, spiritually elevating and connecting aspects of religion has been one expression (but so has the group-in-fusion experience of the movements of the 30's and the 60's and the communitarian aspirations of many other efforts--social healing and health care, progressive summer camps, the wide appeal of service.

Outreach & A New Site Format

2005-06-13T23:37:00.000-07:00

Someone said something really interesting to me today. She told me she had been reading the Quaker Dharma site and it's creating some interest in Quakerism for her. Then she said it was great to know that Quakerism still exists as a religion that people practice. She said she vaguely remembered hearing about it when young, but thought it was gone.

I was so glad she told me this. It reaffirms so many experiences that I have had over the past few years. Quakerism is so quiet, so under the radar, that people think it went the way of the Shakers. This is a disservice to seekers.

As the description of my site says: I believe in Universalism. I believe in many paths to God. I’m also very interested that people have the opportunity to find God in a way that speaks to them. For me, the Quaker path has really helped me. It’s a spiritual discipline that has caused me to grow in unexpected ways. The same can be said of Buddhism. There are ideas within Buddhism that have deeply benefited my daily practice and have caused me to look at the world with new eyes. I feel it is deeply important to offer ideas and practices that may help people experience God and find liberation, whatever that may be for them.

This is a topic I have written about before, but I want to revisit it. It’s time for Quakers, especially silent worship Quakers, to make some noise in the world. I’m not talking about social work or political action. I’m talking about sharing the Quaker process or practice, Quaker thought, and Quaker heritage with the world in a much more dynamic way.

This blog was an experiment. I wanted to see if people were interested in talking about Universalism, Quakerism and the Quaker movement itself. Through certain articles, I learned the answer is yes. In fact, since I started the site last November over 3,000 people have come to the site. Thanks for this.

What I would like to do is change gears and create a new site with a different format. I would like to create a site that is more traditional with links to many other sites and permanent articles that would be accessible through a navigation bar. The focus would become getting Universalist, silent worship Quakerism out into the world so that people can benefit from 350 years of practice and experience. It would not be focused on creating Quakers; in fact this might be counter-productive. Not everyone will find what he or she is looking for through Quaker practice. We should however make Quaker thought visible, accessible and transparent. It should be dynamic. It should offer ways for people to get immersed in practice so they can develop tools that get them to a fuller experience of God and the world. It should be transformative.

How do we achieve this? I don’t know. I feel strongly moved to do this, but I don’t know how it should look necessary…what it should involve. In the past, a few of you have written me that Wider Quaker Outreach and other Quaker organizations exist to do these things. I thank you for the reminder and I’m glad these people are doing this work. What I’m proposing I believe is highly complimentary to these organizations. In fact, I would be happy to explore making this a part of their organizations if that is the greatest good. In some ways, I think I’m proposing a movement within in the larger Quaker movement towards having a home, real or virtual, for people to get deep into Quaker practice through a group that is dedicated to making Quaker practice highly visible in the world as an offering to the greater good. I would also like to make it a place where younger Quaker interested people would feel empowered. It’s been said more than once to me that many people in their twenties don’t always feel welcome within Quakerism.

I could see the site have multiple editors, contributors, book reviews, links, etc.

I would like to know how all of you feel about this. What ideas do you have? Would you like to see the Quaker Dharma explore becoming something more than a blog?

Also, if you wanted it to have a different name, what would it be?

Thanks for the feedback and for reading.

The Water of Life

2005-05-08T09:20:00.000-07:00

Called by many names
In many tongues
We are sustained

Villain or Saint
It quenches us
But gratitude makes it sweet upon our lips

In a million points it gathers in the sky
Falling to earth
Now it is the Ganges or the Jordan

Always to the Sea it returns
The Ocean vast
A million points and yet One

So it is
Always

The Ocean itself does not need a name
It is what it is
The Sacred Unity

Though it does not speak
We hear it
“I am that I am” it whispers

Yet, in our half waking
From the inky dawn
We see the Ocean

It swells and surrounds us
And, in our awe
We, the million points of light-filled dew, name the Ocean

We do not see
We forget ourselves
And so the Ocean calls to us

“I am that I am” it whispers
Confused we try to ride the swells
“Know who you are” it calls

Still we see the Ocean
We swim, we thrash
We call out into its echoing vastness

Finally we let go
We see ourselves
We let the Ocean embrace us

I am the Rain
I am the Ocean
I am that I am

So it is
Always

Let Our Light Shine, Take Two

2005-03-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

A good friend asked a question the other day. It's one, which in various forms, I’ve been asked by others. The question went something like this:

Q: As Quakers, our good works are our testimony. Why do you feel the need to talk to the world in general about Quaker beliefs and practices? Why do you think this is beneficial?

A: Good works are part of what attracted me to Quakerism. In fact, being around people who walked their talk really drew me to study Quaker practice or the Quaker dharma as I sometimes call it. What I realized, however, is that experiencing good works or reading about them did not fully teach me the principles that created them. If I did not understand the principles, I could not replicate the path that created the good works. This became my overriding concern, that I could follow the path. Therefore, I spent a number of years reading Quaker theory, history and practice and am now actively trying to live this out in my life.

I believe the Quaker path creates a personal transformation, an inner transformation, which then manifests in an external testimony. The external testimony is exceeding beautiful and important for everyone involved (whether they know Quaker beliefs or not) and if all that is intended is to perform good works, then this particular testimony is a complete and beneficial act. Its intention and realization are in harmony.

However, if the intention of Quakerism is to be an openly available method, means, practice or experience for people to reach and know God, to become transformed by this experience, and to revolutionize their relationships with other humans and society in general, then good works in the absence of widely available teachings concerning the Quaker way becomes an incomplete testimony. It is incomplete because the intention and the realization are not in harmony.

What I have written above is why I believe in making access to the Quaker dharma, for non-Quakers, a paramount concern for the Society. By sharing the experiences and principles of the Society with others, we make the Quaker dharma into a replicable path. It becomes a path that can be experienced, assimilated and expressed in the broader world. Again, I am unconcerned that anyone calls themselves Quaker or “Be” Quaker. I am profoundly concerned, however, that people’s sufferings be reduced and their joys multiplied. This starts in the mind and the heart. The world we experience is created by our beliefs. By making the Quaker path deeply available to non-Quakers we have an opportunity to greatly reduce the suffering of the world by deepening people’s personal realizations regardless of the faith tradition that they choose as their primary religion.

The experience of simplicity, clarity, immediacy, and loving kindness that evolve from Quaker practice, while of Christian heritage, are trans-religious and can be incorporated and experienced, in various ways, by anyone who sincerely seeks God. The Quaker way can expose them to ideas and practices that were previously unknown to them and could have an unprecedented impact on them and everyone that their lives touch.

This is the great opportunity that is presented to us as The Society of Friends. It is why I believe in offering the Quaker dharma, not to convert, but as a sincere gift of Spiritual Hospitality to all of our brothers and sisters in the world so that they may take from it what their souls need.

Simplicity

2005-03-27T15:01:00.000-07:00

My understanding of simplicity continues to evolve.

For a long time, I thought it was about having very little in the way of material objects. And, what was owned was not to be very ornate. I call this aesthetic simplicity and it is really only a part of the picture, if even a part.

Now, simplicity is starting to mean something else to me. Simplicity is a form of freedom and an opportunity to heal. It really no longer has to do with whether something I own or use is ornate or not. In fact, complex physical objects, objects as art, are taking on new meaning and importance for me. No, simplicity is a means, an opportunity to discover who I am and what’s meaningful in my life.

-Simplicity gives me permission to sit and stare at the sky.

-Simplicity gives me the time to let things that I don’t understand unfold around me.

-Simplicity allows me to abandon the expectations that have driven me to work too much.

-Simplicity is the recognition that contentment is not around the corner, it is now.

-Simplicity is about being rather than doing, because it’s only through being that our emotional life becomes deeper.

-Simplicity is about seeing layers of meaning and nuance.

I’ll try to illustrate the point I'm trying to make.

The following story is about a very simple moment that changed one woman’s life and helped me understand how moving and deeply connected our lives are to everything that swirls around us.

At the beginning of this story, Cathy was very successful in the way that we often talk about success. She had a great job and made a very nice living. She lived downtown in a major city. Her closet was full of elegant clothes. Her social life was full and she had many friends. It was not unusual to find her at galleries, nice restaurants, and fundraisers. Her friends adored her. Her parents were supportive. She would often think to herself how lucky she was.

One morning she was on her way to work, walking briskly down the street, when she noticed a pigeon on the sidewalk. It was pecking desperately at a penny. She stopped immediately to stare at this strange sight. Without knowing why, she could feel the tears starting to run down her face. Within seconds she was inconsolable. She was now driven by a force she didn’t understand and couldn’t control. By the end of the day, she had resigned from her job and started to pack her apartment. Her friends and family were baffled to say the least and she left town within the month. She traveled incessantly, worked intermittently, and home was anyplace that would let her get comfortable enough to sleep. Sometimes it was the floor of a friend’s apartment, a hostel, a retreat center, her car or a farmer’s field. This went on for some time.

When I met her, she was relatively settled, but the life of the wanderer was not so distant. As she told me her story, I couldn’t help but ask why she had left everything behind and what was so dramatic about that one moment, that day, a pigeon on the side walk?

“What the pigeon was doing was so futile, so meaningless. Somehow in that moment, I was the pigeon. Everything I was doing was meaningless. I was doing what humans do, what they’re expected to do, I was “successful” and yet my incessant pecking meant nothing. When I saw myself I broke down. I realized I had no idea who I was, what I wanted. All the clothes, the parties, the friends, they were like valium. I was self-medicating so I wouldn’t have to deal with how meaningless my life was. What made that moment even worse was I had no idea what a meaningful life was supposed to be.”

“I traveled for the next few years. I didn’t know what I was looking for and it didn’t matter. It was touch and go a lot of the time. Sometimes it was miracle that I was able to fill my car with gas and feed myself.”

“Gradually, I started to understand who I was. Slowly I started to get comfortable with my life. In order to see myself, I had to get rid of everything that got in the way. I’m not saying everyone one should do what I did, but I couldn’t continue to fill my life up with activity and yet continue to be empty… not once I saw it. I just couldn’t do it.”

In some ways Cathy now leads what others would see as a normal life. She has a good job. She lives in a nice house. She has friends who adore her. Her family is supportive.

The difference is that Cathy became the miracle of her life. She gave herself time to know herself. She simplified her life so she could heal and evolve. It was not an outward form. It was not an ideology. It was about removing the things from her life that kept her from seeing herself and others more clearly.

In some ways Cathy now leads a life that is outwardly similar to one she used to live. However, now she sees herself and the life she leads as an extension of who she is. It doesn’t come from outside. It’s created out of her knowledge of herself and what matters to her.

I’m reminded that as Quakers, we often talk about the “inner Christ.” Christ, God, the Source, is not a church, a building. The Source is inside of us. We are the church. Our lives are the church. Cathy shed everything, all the clutter that kept her from seeing herself. From a place of inner simplicity, a place of focus and intent, she built one of the most magnificent Cathedrals the earth has ever known- her heart.

So often, we believe simplicity has an outward form. It’s about the way something looks or how much of it we do or don’t have. This can be the case. However, I’m now in a place where simplicity is more about the inner life. Simplicity is our act of giving ourselves permission to slow down, to get rid of the mental clutter (which often manifest physically in our lives through stuff or meaningless frantic activity), to experience ourselves as we wish to experience ourselves. Simplicity is the act of creating ourselves, of connecting to the power to be the hero of our own lives.

In the end, part of the divine gift is the knowledge that, regardless of outside circumstances, our clarity can allow us to be expressions of God’s grace.

To become clear, simplicity can be a tool, a way, to help us recover our clarity and through it, our innate divinity. This can be the value of simplicity.

In my own life, I’m trying to get rid of the clutter, to embrace simplicity.

Thank you Cathy and to all of you who attempt to live the way, to share, to inspire, and ultimately, to be whole.

Intuition & Leadings

2005-03-15T18:02:00.001-07:00

Author’s Note: This piece is written largely for people who are Quaker curious, but I think many Quakers might find something worth discussing in this post.

The direct experience of The Source. Intuition. Being taught by the Christ within. Ways to describe this and different categories of it could go on for some time. In Quakerism, there are different ways to talk about this, but you will often hear people use the word Leadings.

I find Leadings are a topic that is not talked about very widely though it’s really central to the Quaker experience for many of us. In fact, the Society is based, in part, on the belief that the divine is accessible to everyone. I think Leadings are not talked because the leadings are often very personal (and from that standpoint maybe shouldn't be widely shared). It’s also difficult to share experiences whether small or large with others, especially outside the society, because there is that essential fear, “They’ll think I’m flakey or worse…nuts!”

Having said this, one of the tremendous benefits of walking with the Religious Society of Friends is that it is open to people receiving direct guidance. It has created a base of knowledge to help people understand what they are experiencing and helps them decide if their experience is a genuine leading that comes from “the greater self”, The Holy Spirit, God, or the divine unity. This is often called discernment. There are tracts and books written about this and they’re really valuable. Of even greater value are the Clearness Committees that can be requested to help an individual sort through a leading. This is really necessary because there are times when leadings ask us to do things that involve a deep change in our lives and having the clarity of others is important to determine the legitimacy of the leading. If it is legitimate, a clearness committee, anchor committee or spiritual peer group can help us get to a place over time where the leading can be integrated into our lives. Sometimes the Clearness Committees also keep us from doing things that might not be well "seasoned" or clearly not the greatest good. This is part of why they exist.

Something I would also like to share from my own experience is that leadings don’t always come during traditional Quaker worship. For some people, silent worship opens them to leadings or knowledge of some sort. In my case, I sometimes know things just because they pop into my head (I don’t get to choose what pops in, it just happens and sometimes it’s really trivial seeming stuff). It’s always been like that for me. I finally accepted this about myself when I was a teen and I’m now open to it, so I experience it more. Really it’s openness that creates the condition for being guided. The question becomes how do you become open? What method do you use? Silent communal worship is key for many. In Quakerism, it’s called “expectant waiting.” For others it may be the use of a mantra to “center down.” For others it may require the traditional Christian & Islamic process of surrendering the ego over time so that The Source can eventually be felt. In all these cases, what matters is that you get there. In all these cases too, the Quaker path can be there to help you understand what you’re experiencing (whether subtle or huge) and make sense of it. So whether you get your insights during Sunday Meeting or while brushing your teeth, the tools of discernment, the clearness committees, and the published journals of Quakers who have gone before are available to help. This is what matters. There are tools and knowledge available if you want them.

Cowboy Buddha

2005-03-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

Author’s Note: The following piece is written playfully and with some intentional irony. Know that I’m not poking fun at anyone- I’m just exploring ideas and our shared culture of Quakerism. As always, your comments are greatly valued.

Questions. I have many questions and few answers. I guess this is why I’m a seeker.

Last year, a friend put a cowboy hat on a small statue of Shakyamuni Buddha. It was a happy Buddha figure and the hat fit on the statue perfectly. It struck me as surreal and I laughed so hard I was winded.

After a while, the hat, metaphorically speaking, fit better than I realized.

In the forward to the Quaker Reader, Jessamine West posited the idea that much of what could be said about Zen could be said of Quakerism. This really had resonance for me as it was around the time of reading that book that I really started to understand Quakerism as more of a process than a “thing.” It was something I had come to realize about Buddhism and Zen in particular at an earlier point in my life.

Somehow, while I see much in common between the Quaker way and Zen practice, the cowboy hat also helped me realize more of the places where Zen and Quakerism don’t align. There are many places, really (and it’s why I’m Quaker). However, the place that became more obvious for me is the place that I would like to explore now.

I’ve always been very drawn to the arts and come heavily from that background. In fact, I’ve spent time as an assistant to the curator for manuscripts, the same for photographs, a project registrar and finally became a fundraiser for art institutions. When I was a teen, I also harbored an intense desire to be an industrial designer and I still doodle strange contraptions and outlandish house plans on a regular basis.

In some ways, my love of art and the creative process mirrors my love of the creation itself. I’m intensely moved by the beauty of the earth; the sound of aspen leaves rustling in the wind, the crackling of ice that covers babbling spring brooks, the majesty of the soaring mountains that I call home. The passion of life itself, the ongoing process of creation and destruction is awe inspiring. As humans we get to participate in this dance every day. It’s magical to me. The abundance of this dance also reminds me that we too will have our time and return to that from which we came. The moment to be and create in the world is now. In a certain form of Zen practice, it’s that moment when we lose the now that the master gently whacks us on the noggin. Refocus, be here now.

The imagery and art that surrounds or comes from Zen practice is something that I deeply admire. In particular, I prize Zen calligraphy as a marriage of simplicity and the vibrant dance of life I described above. The brush strokes are simple and yet, at times, extremely lush, perhaps luxurious in their depth and economy. Forgive me; I’m not trying to write an art critique. But I am trying to make another sort of observation and perhaps find answers to some questions I have about walking a Quaker path.

Every once in a while, I find myself uncomfortable on the Quaker Path. Largely it surrounds my love of art, design and beauty. I know it has been many many years since Quakers openly distanced themselves from the arts. In fact, there now exists the Quaker Fellowship for the Arts to talk about topics such as this. Yet, I still have moments when I feel not quite Quaker. I often read tracts on simplicity and I feel like if I’m not wearing third generation hand me downs and living in a cardboard box then I'm being a bit of a wastrel. At other times I’ve felt like if I love vibrant color and complex patterns then my mind must obviously be cluttered and I’ve lost the way. In one particular meeting I visited I got the distinct impression that wearing Birkenstocks with one black sock and one brown sock was a visible sign of personal enlightenment! Humorously, it probably was. These were lovely people. However, this has not been my way. The question becomes, can my polished loafers (which cost less than the Berks by the way) and my matching socks be Quaker? Can I occasionally fawn over a cast bronze Miro and be Quaker? Can I be intoxicated by the dynamism of life and still hear the faint laughter of Buddha, the gentle proddings of the “Inner Christ?”

In some ways, I’m being rhetorical. I feel like beauty and simplicity- clarity and complexity can coexist or even complement each other. For myself, I feel I can go deeper through appreciating art and engaging in the creative process itself. Yet, this marriage still feels uncomfortable to me within a Quaker context. I understand the historical reasons why this is so. I understand why Zen developed an appreciation for physical order and certain art forms as a means to bring people to nothingness; to actually use physical objects and their creation to inspire insight and detachment. I also understand why Quakers historically detached themselves from physical symbolism and “non-productive” labor, i.e. art. However, history and rehashing it doesn’t resolve the tension I experience because the tension comes from the present experience and walking a corporate or communal path (The Quaker path) where a shared method creates a shared experience. Simplicity and the traditional expression of it are almost inseparable from the Quaker identity as I’ve experienced it. I respect this and I also respect and support anyone who takes simplicity all the way to plain dress as a testimony.

However, is there room to explore a lush, elegant and/or artistic simplicity?

If I identify with and find myself spiritually uplifted by a gorgeous work of art or by the process of creating a physical object, am I still Quaker?

Should I mix rather than match my socks?

Joy & Gratitude

2005-03-07T20:20:00.000-07:00

A man walks into his church. In the course of conversation with his pastor, he shares that his son has become Quaker. His pastor smiles broadly and retorts, “What committee is he on?”

A young man is having dinner with his new boss at the boss’s house. During dinner the bosses’ wife inquires about his religion. “I walk a Quaker path,” the young man replied. At this the woman was at first astonished, then befuddled, and after a brief hesitation blurted out, “But you seem happy…”

I laugh every time I think of these moments. I was the son in the first and the new hire in the second. I also remember an Italian friend telling me she was surprised at all the jokes I made and yet I was Quaker. I asked why those two would be in conflict. She replied that in Italy if someone is being too serious, they say “Don’t be a Quaker.” The fact that I enjoy my life seemed to explode her view of Quakers.

I bring these up because they are stereotypes and yet there is some truth lurking in the shadows of these stories.

I love walking a Quaker path. I love so many people who share this path. Yet, sometimes our desire to remake the world makes us a little grumpy, a little too serious. We can be overwhelmed by all the things there are to do and to fix. And, amazingly, we have committees for all of them!

Sometimes I reflect on the moment that I first felt God deeply in my heart. I was so overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. Honestly, I cried. No, I didn’t cry, I sobbed. Sometimes, when I pray or meditate and the presence sweeps over me, tears run down my face. I can’t help it. I’m just so grateful to feel the presence. The world is suddenly Technicolor. I can feel the air vibrating with all the possibilities of the creation. It’s a miracle to live in those brief flashes when it happens. I would love for it to happen more often.

I share this simply to say that for me Joy & Gratitude are the foundations of my practice. I wish I could say I practiced this way all the time. In fact, I forget. Often, I get too serious. I want to fix too many things. Occasionally, I remind myself that I don’t have to do anything. In fact, doing nothing can actually be the most important thing that I do. In that moment of doing nothing, I’m open to the presence and all striving ceases. On a really good day, all thought ceases. At times, I reflect on this and realize that in those moments all I did was breath the sacred air that we all share. We all breathe. We are all one united in breath.

In the moment of gratitude and cessation, when all doing stops we actually achieve so much of what we are trying to achieve. There is no war when we are still. Nothing is taken from another. We do not transgress against our brother in any way. We’re still and yet we are fully with one another. It’s its own little miracle. This happens when we are in a meeting for worship or when we pray by ourselves. We’re still and yet, with the breath, sharing the world.

At times, I feel like, as Quakers, we become lost in our social activism. It comes first, before stillness. I’m not speaking against activism. Not at all. What I’m advocating is activism grounded in joy and gratitude. Activism grounded in a Technicolor vision of what the world actually is…the continuous unfolding of sacred intention. The world is life itself, the desire to exist, to create, to breathe. Imagine the dynamism of a Society dedicated, not to fixing the problems of the world, but to creating infinitely from our passionate mystical faith. Imagine living your life each day from a core of joy because you can feel the beauty of the unfolding envelope you. Imagine a daily practice that helps you be in this place and in the world simultaneously.

Now imagine what happens when that practice is shared among all those who are seeking to experience the presence.

When enough people are still there will be no war. There will be nothing that must be done. There will be nothing to fight against. There will only be what we wish to share and create. We will be in the world and the world will be in us.

In that moment, we will indeed “live in the power that takes away all occasion for war,” as George Fox said.

To see the change we wish to see in the world, we must invite our brothers and sisters all across the world to share the sacred air with us, to be still, to breath, to let go. Then we will see the possibilities that we are born share, to create.

As those who choose to walk a Quaker path, our mysticism, our experience of joy and gratitude, is one of the first steps towards creating the world we seek. What exists within exists without.

Quote: Compassion

2005-03-07T19:06:00.000-07:00

"The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another and all involved in one another."
-Thomas Merton

Building Consensus for Outreach

2005-03-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

Readers and Friends please comment- it’s really the only way to know how to move forward on this issue. Thanks.

There are really two issues at hand when talking about building consensus for outreach. The first involves members of the Society as a whole and their feelings and considerations concerning outreach. The second involves the possible existence of an organization or group of people whose concern it is to make the Quaker path more available to the general public.

The first issue is in some ways difficult to address because it involves many thousands of people. Ultimately, however, I think Outreach has to be discussed at the level of local Meetings & Worship Groups and also at the Yearly Meetings. Each Meeting will have to access what Outreach means to them, how much in the way of resources to dedicate to it (if any), and what members of the Meeting wish to take this on as their role or Concern in the Meeting. I think this is really the best way to go about this because it will allow the building of consensus around the issue of Outreach and each Meeting will be comfortable and united in its approach. Really, this is the Quaker way and I don’t know another other way of going about this really. Opinions on this are appreciated.

Concerning the second issue, this is an entirely different situation. A dedicated Outreach group or organization doing the things I have described in previous blogs would be operating outside the framework of a local Meeting (more than likely). It would be under the care or guidance of an existing Quaker organization such as FGC, The Wider Quaker Fellowship, the Friends Universalist Group, (I’m just theorizing- I’ve not talked to any of these groups about this) etc. or it would be an independent organization under the guidance of weighty or respected Friends who care about this issue.

If under the care of FGC or another existing organization, the legitimacy and integration of this Outreach organization with the greater Quaker fellowship (as it were) is somewhat assured. If, on the other hand, the organization were to exist separately and be governed by an independent Board of Directors, some thought would have to be given as to how this organization would interoperate with existing Quaker organizations and the Meetings spread all across the country. The reason why I say this is that this Outreach organization will have an impact on Quaker Meetings that other special interest Quaker organizations do not. Incorporated groups such as Friends Universalist Fellowship, Friends Universalist Group or Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts are all composed of existing Quakers. They are very valuable organizations that serve very real needs. However, a dedicated Outreach organization will impact meetings in a different way because new people will inevitably start coming to meetings and will need attention. The question becomes this: if an independent outreach organization were created in the United States to introduce people to Quaker thought and practice and this resulted in new people coming to local meetings, will the Meetings embrace this? Of course, it would seem the answer would be yes, but I don’t like to assume anything or make decisions for anyone. Comments would be really appreciated.

Access to the Quaker Dharma

2005-02-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

Some of you have read my heartfelt plea that the Religious Society of Friends begin in depth outreach work, Spiritual Hospitality, for seekers. Today, I would like to address more deeply how we can think about this and what is could look like in some ways.

Quakerism is both wide and deep. However, many people see the diversity, but never know the depths of practice available to them. This is true even for people who have been attenders for years. We have to make clear; we have to share plainly with people, a pathway to get deep into Quaker practice. This is not imperative for Quakerism, because the Society has no inherent need on its own to exist. What is imperative is that the Quaker method, practice, or way be made available to those who seek God, the divine unity.

Above, I used the word method because this is a critical understanding to open Quakerism to others. I understand that some may be unprepared for this word because they think that method might in some ways denote rituals or creeds. This is not how I use the term. Rather, I use the term to denote ideas, processes, and experiences that can be communicated, internalized and used by the individual to seek and find the divine presence. If we cannot share these things among ourselves and communicate these to others, than we are not providing a path for others to follow and we are missing out on one of the primary benefits of being in the Society- the shared mystical experience.

In 1962, Jessamyn West (for the introduction to The Quaker Reader) wrote:

"For Quakerism, as Howard Brinton says in Friends for 300 Years, is, like science, primarily a method. The central procedures of the method were established by the time of George Fox's death in 1691. And the central procedures remain the same today as then. This does not mean that there is anything sacrosanct in the method. Fox did not love method; he loved God, and the method was important only as it gave him and others a living experience of God."

This last portion of this is so important, “a living experience of God.”

There are many paths in the world Buddhism, Taoism, Sufism, and many flavors of Christian practice. In addition they are all important in so much as they speak to certain people whose minds and hearts respond to their formulas of speaking about and getting to the divine. However, Quakerism is relatively unique as a Western form in its simple, yet profound, beliefs and its emphasis on the direct experience as a means of transforming and guiding the individual.

Therefore, discussing and making available Quaker method becomes critical to helping dedicated practitioners get deep into the practice. I am not suggesting that a “complete” Quaker path can be offered. After all the complete Quaker path is unique to each of us and ultimately, eventually, each person’s path transcends labels. However, we can offer points of access into Quakerism for people to go deep in themselves to The Source or the “Inner Christ” and find their lives subtly or greatly transformed. These points of access can be DVD series with interviews of practitioners, guided CD meditations on practices that people use to “Quiet Down” at the beginning of meetings for worship, etc. There is much that can be and should be done.

The additional benefit is that as we dedicate our energy, as we commit to creating these materials for people’s use, people will commit to using them. This is the nature of our minds and hearts. As we give respect and our time to the path, others will see value and explore.

Fully in the World

2005-02-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

Most Quakers are mystics. They seek to experience the divine presence in their lives. Mysticism is a very personal journey that can be experienced with our without companions, inside or outside organized religion. However, many of us choose to walk with the Society so we can share the bounty of the divine experience with one another and nurture our ability to listen and live in the presence.

For me, the beauty of what some would call “positive” mysticism, which is the form of mysticism that most Quakers practice, is that it connects us to the world. The idea and the experience is that our union with God makes us more vibrant, more connected, more fully able to be of service. It equips us to live in the world and helps us become complete. It does not ask us to withdraw from the creation, but rather immerse ourselves in it. Through union we seek to elevate our intentions and experience the world more completely to the benefit of others and ourselves.

To reinforce this idea and experience, I believe:

· We do not deny ourselves the pleasure of good food, rather we share this bounty with others.
· We do not deny ourselves laughter and joy, but seek to include others in the joy of creation and existence.
· We do not deny the physical beauty of the world and all its infinite variety, but seek to exalt it so that others feel it in their hearts.

I could go on...

God is infinite. There is no separation between us and God. Therefore, we should seek the fullness of life and support this for others.

Outreach Part II

2005-02-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

Thank you to those of you wrote to me concerning Outreach and Spirituality. Your kind words helped me realize what I should write about next.

In creating an organization dedicated to spiritual hospitality and outreach, it should be something that will utilize the deep body of Quakerism that already exists through the dedicated work of so many wonderful people at Friends General Conference, American Friends Service Committee, The Wider Quaker Fellowship, etc. In fact, what I propose relies on the good will and cooperation of many people and institutions and in fact may be under the direction or care of one of these groups.

I also wish to recognize that ideally the outreach organization should be the body of Quakerism, all Quakers themselves (as Mark mentioned in his comments from the last blog entry). In fact, if the membership of the Society does not embrace spiritual hospitality the efforts of a dedicated outreach organization will be in vain. If people are introduced to Quaker thought and practice and wish to experience it on a deeper level among members of the Society, individual meetings throughout the country must be ready to support the spiritual needs and aspirations of these people. In fact, preparing the Meetings for this is one of the most important works for an outreach organization working in conjunction with FGC (without whom nothing with this degree of ambition can be contemplated).

In terms of what the outreach organization might do and look like, let me tell you not what only I think and feel led to do, but what I have experienced. As I have mentioned in other entries on this blog, I spent two years working for an international Buddhist organization. At the time, I was already walking a Quaker path. I was there for a variety of reasons including my belief that God reaches us through many ways and cultures, that Buddhism reduces suffering for many, that I wished to experience certain Buddhist teachings, that inter-religious dialog is sacred and simply that my leadings and life itself had brought me there. What I experienced while there I believe is invaluable for the work ahead.

Before beginning, I also wish to reinforce that the Buddhist organization that I worked for does not believe in converting anyone to Buddhism, but does believe that making the Buddhadharma (teachings of the Buddha, the laws or way that will lead to enlightenment) available to anyone who wants it is a sacred obligation to reduce suffering and promote peace and wellbeing. This reflects my own beliefs concerning the sharing of the Quaker thought and practice, or Quaker Dharma if you will.

For this organization, I worked as the Development Coordinator/Director. It was my responsibility to help run the online shop that distributed study and practice materials worldwide. It was my responsibility to write appeals that helped pay for the food offered to Buddhist monks and nuns in India, Nepal and Mongolia. It was also my responsibility to help organize special events. It is this last topic that I want to discuss in some detail so that I can share some aspects of what I think is possible for a Quaker outreach organization.

The last major event I worked on was The Enlightenment Experience in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. This event was possible because of the hard work of people all over the globe including our volunteer directors from France (thank you Sean & Ariane) and our volunteer concert organizer from Australia (thanks Victoria) along with a host of people on the ground in Mongolia (thank you all).

The event was designed as a teaching event for the people of Mongolia. Mongolia had suffered for 70 years under communist rule and their traditional religious core had been destroyed. It was the vision of our Lama to offer the teachings to the people of Mongolia as a way to restore their spiritual center, to restore hope to a people.

After six months of organizing and publicity, we held the month long event. Because of fund raising, the way we structured the event, and the generosity of many western attenders, we were able to offer the teachings to the people of Mongolia for free. In all, three lamas taught during this month long event and over 30,000 Mongolians received teachings. So many people came that we set up loud speakers outside the event facility so that people outside, who couldn't fit inside, could hear the teachings. It was awe inspiring. I am deeply grateful to have been part of something like this.

In addition to the events, the organization also had a dedicated education department, and at one time a film/video department, run by some very focused people. While it is true that the teachings of the Buddha are available in many books, the idea was that the organization wanted to package teachings in a way that would make the teachings as accessible as possible. One example was they assembled modules on certain teachings that utilized existing books. Literally they designed course work for dedicated home study. This was for people who were not close to teaching centers. At any given time hundreds of people were doing the home study course. The course was designed through consultations at a special conference held for this purpose. It brought together Buddhist practitioners from all over the world. Reading the organizational report is a great how-to manual. Another thing that was done was the production of a high quality video/DVD series on the Buddhadharma. This series has been converted into many languages and has even aired on Mongolian TV. It is estimated that 200,000 Mongolians have watched the entire 13 part series.

Also, the organization created a great website (thanks Candice) that was visited by 2,000 or more people DAILY. In addition, the organization had people who traveled to give teachings and travel they did. In any given year, the Lama and Geshes might visit between them thirty or more countries.

Due to all these efforts, in a few short years, this one small Buddhist organization has acquired an affiliation with roughly 20,000 people worldwide in its main database. This does not include people who go to any one of the 100+ teaching centers but don't affiliate directly with the organization. Given that millions of Americans are studying Buddhism in various forms (so we know they are seeking), which means that they have to absorb/understand a non-western culture in addition to absorbing the teachings, it is time as a form of spiritual discipline, hospitality and affection to offer Quaker thought and practice to non-Quakers. If part of our goal as Quakers is to create peace in the world, then we must share our mystical insights and understandings that motivate us and can achieve peace in the world through the transformation of people's lives. Secular Humanism is wonderful and is where I started, but Quaker practice has the possibility to transform us through divine guidance and insight. God, our understanding and experience of the source, gives us the strength to carry on through adversities that rationalism cannot sustain and to have insights that transcend logic. Sharing this is part of our gift to the world.

While there are aspects of the organization described that, of course, only pertain to Buddhism, it opened my mind to the possibilities for Quaker outreach and what a dedicated outreach organization might be able to accomplish.

· Create a DVD series about Quaker thought and practice that documents not only the history of Quakerism, but features many Quakers speaking about the diversity of Quaker thought and experience. It would also show meetings in progress and illustrate what ministry within an unprogrammed meeting can look like. This could have a profound effect on people who have never seen the inside of Quaker meeting and would also prep them to understand what they are seeing. Too often, for a non-Quaker, the silent meeting is a mystery left unexplained and incomprehensible for them. The series will also show different meditation and prayer techniques, discuss positive mysticism, talk about the Queries, etc. This series could be many hours of footage and we should not shy away from using this medium to develop a rich and challenging story about Quaker practice. We do not need surface treatments, but rather materials to take people to a really deep place in their search for communion with the divine and how they can live this experience in the world.
· Create a study at home course that is visually rich and can guide people at a very deep level. Tie it in with existing Quaker books and pamphlets. Again, challenging and rich is the key. If it takes people a year of more to go through the course, so be it.
· Create an online moderated discussion board for people who are learning Quakerism so they can experience a Quaker learning environment even if they are not close to a meeting or their worship group is too small to support Quaker Education efforts.
· Hold traveling seminars on spiritual hospitality to prep meetings and worship groups for seekers who may come into their midst and how to help them. This can be done at places like IMYM.
· Train volunteer traveling outreach coordinators who can serve small worship groups in their area for outreach and education. Many worship groups are too small to do this without help.
· Create advertising campaigns for publications throughout the USA to help people know what Quaker thought and practice is available to them. This can include ads for seminars and discussions, Public Service Announcements, articles distributed to non-Quaker publications and an extensive website.
· Set up lectures for college students on college campuses to expose them to this rich tradition.
· Create a traveling ministry in the best tradition of Quakerism that helps people get really deep. The topics could be on meditation and prayer techniques, peace testimony, etc. This is really important for the American west where there is difficult access to Pendle Hill or Philadelphia Yearly.

There is more that is possible, but this should give people an idea.

This organization can be a stand alone organization or it could be a part of FGC or The Wider Quaker fellowship. All of this is open as far as I am concerned.

I look forward to people's comments.

Be Of Service- Quaker Outreach & Spiritual Hospitality

2005-02-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

PLEASE ADD YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENT AREA. WHAT I DISCUSS HERE ONLY BECOMES POSSIBLE WITH YOUR PARTICIPATION, CREATIVITY AND ENTHUSIASM.

I asked many times, “Is Quakerism and Universalism where I am to put my energy?” The leadings have always reinforced that yes; this is where I should put my energy. Then to reinforce the point, non-Quakers started asking me for Quaker teachings. “Who am I to teach Quakerism, I thought?” Yet, they came anyway. I had some really amazing experiences last year with people coming up to me asking that they heard I was Quaker and what did this mean. I had similar experiences at Buddhist teachings where Buddhist wanted to know who are Quakers and why was I there among them. In fact, many were excited that someone from a western tradition wanted to walk with them. This reinforced for me that people want to be loved from a place of simplicity and fellowship. They want to share their stories. They want new ways to understand themselves and the people around them. They want to give love and be loved in return even if the details of our beliefs are different. I asked my Worship Group if I could begin outreach for non-Quakers; not to convert, but to enrich, to share, to love. They have said yes and I hope more of you will join me in this effort of reaching out to enrich all of our lives.

What I see is simple and yet I believe will have a profound and joyous effect in the world for people regardless of their path.

Quakerism has much to offer the world as a system, a way of becoming and a way of being. It always has. It does not encompass the fullness of all human existence, but no system does. Paths exist to help us become more fully human, more fully alive, and present to ourselves and others. Quakerism is a powerful tool, an amazing set of teachings and practices to show people that more is possible. They can live fully. They can witness to the miracle of the unfolding. They can be present with God and live in the power that releases us from all occasion for fear, repression, and separation. We can be present for the miracle of our own lives and instrumental to the awakening of our brothers and sisters regardless of the path they claim or the language they speak.

What I propose is the creation of an organization dedicated to sharing the Quaker path with the world. It exists to enrich humanity by sharing the core of Quaker thought and practice and challenging people to transform their minds and hearts through practice and sincere intentions. What I propose is a rigorous, deep sharing of a path that we will make deeper through our shared practice. It is not intended to be easy, but rather profound. Transforming our world and our culture by transforming our own minds and hearts at a profound level is an amazing witness and worthy of our commitment. Sharing the unfolding of a deeply Quaker path is perhaps one of the most important things we will ever do.

In terms of making this happen, I have experienced this sort of organization. I know it is possible. Some may say that several Quaker organizations already exist. This is true. They do and I am so glad for the existence of groups like Friends General Conference and AFSC. So much is possible because of the work they do. However, their singular purpose is not Outreach. Further, there are those of us who view Quaker Outreach as one of the core engines of the revitalization of western culture. This will take singular commitment. It can be done. I believe in my heart with all the sincerity my soul has to offer, that a powerful movement will arise and spread across the world that will teach Quaker practice but will ultimately help us see one another without separation regardless of our traditions. We will walk a Quaker path and through it be fully present to the world, its diversity and our unity.

Join me.

Let Our Light Shine Brightly

2005-02-01T18:38:00.000-07:00

The comments reflected in this particular entry are directed to fellow silent worship Friends. However, I hope everyone will continue to read this. I’m writing this to spark debate, dialogue, and commentary. So please chime in on the comments area at the end of this entry.

1. Some Friends say that it is hard to describe what being Quaker means or is. Sometimes it’s almost easier to say what we’re not.

My Comment- The vision of the Religious Society of Friends is not uniform, but it is powerful and can be powerfully communicated. Equality before God and others. Direct mystical access to the source through expectant waiting. Our witness for Peace and Justice. The sacredness of every moment. A community of prayer, service and dialogue. A home for seekers. Tolerance through the belief that God finds you in the place that you are (many paths). A dynamic history that provides hundreds if not thousands and tens of thousands of role models for living powerfully in the world.

It’s worth explaining what Quakerism is. No apologies necessary.

2. Some say that learning Quakerism is complex or at least lengthy and we need to find a way to communicate it without complexity. After all, Quakers believe in simplicity…

My Comment- The depth (not complexity) of Quaker practice is astonishing and should be cherished. You can spend a lifetime deepening your understanding and practice. The fact that many Quakers also learn practice techniques from other paths only enriches the possibilities of a life lived on a Quaker path. This is one of the most beautiful things about Quakerism and should be powerfully communicated to those who seek us.

The richness of Quaker practice adds to its effectiveness. There is no reason to make Quakerism into a sound bite. The basics may be simple, but we can spend a lifetime getting to a deep place with them. This is good news. Quakerism is process. It’s about becoming, not arriving.

3. Some say that being a Friend requires too great of a commitment for most contemporary Americans.

My Comment- Quakerism is not intended to be the religion of all humanity. This is why there are so many paths. People’s minds and spirits do not hear in the same way. Having said this, Quakerism speaks powerfully to those who seek a path of justice, altruism, and personal transformation. The fact that hundreds of thousands of Americans are learning Buddhist spiritual practice speaks to the deep need for a process of transformation based in being centered, quiet and contemplative, of being mystical. Thank God for Buddhism. We, as Quakers, should make no apology for the commitment required of walking a Quaker path. Quaker practice is valuable and worthy of a deeply rooted commitment to transform our lives and the world.

4. Some say Outreach and Prosetylization are the same thing.

My Comment- Not at all. Not in the least. Prosetylization is when someone believes that you must practice their belief system. It is the process of the teacher trying to make the prospective student into a carbon copy of themselves. Outreach is not this. Outreach is simply the process of making Quakerism available to those who are seeking, to those who may find value in its process. Whether these people become Quaker is of no consequence to the person who conducts true outreach. True outreach is an act of spiritual hospitality. It is an act of service to others to find and take what they need so they can find that of God in themselves and others.

5. Some silent worship Quakers are concerned that unprogrammed Quakerism is dying and is largely composed of mature members.

My comment- Yes. Silent worship Quakerism is dying. Quaker practitioners are aging and there are fewer every year. It is dying not because it is an unworthy path (Though, if it is of no use, it should die. Paths exist to serve others, not for their own sake.). It is dying because too many Quakers seem to believe that Prosetylization and Outreach are the same. It’s dying because too many Quakers seem to feel that being contemplative and doing outreach are incompatible. It’s dying because many seem to think others are uninterested and so they keep it to themselves. This is the biggest problem.

I’m going to share a story…

I was traveling to see people and stopped to have breakfast in a little town in Colorado. A friend (not the capital “F” variety) joined me and brought someone I did not know. My new acquaintance was told by my friend that I walked a Quaker path. The acquaintance’s face lit up. “What is that?” she asked. For the next hour she peppered me with questions about the Quaker path. I could not evade or sidetrack her. She was intense. At the end she exclaimed, “If I had known all of this twenty years ago, I would have lived a different life!” I sat stunned, moved, elated, and saddened all at the same time. This person grew up in Philadelphia. She had heard of Quakers all her life, but she never met a Quaker that would explain what it meant.

To borrow and butcher a phrase from the Bible: it’s time to stop hiding our light under a bushel.

6. Same say Quaker practice cannot appeal to the young, especially to Gen Xers raised on TV and video games.

My Comment- Wrong. I came to Quakerism from Buddhist study. I also worked for an international Buddhist organization for two years. These are experiences for which I am deeply grateful. Teachings for which I am deeply grateful. I saw twenty something year olds who took Buddhist ordination vows and shaved their heads. This was deeply moving and was a joy to share their sense of union at having committed to a path. These kids were flying to India to take teachings. The commitment level was unbelievable. Some of them went on month long silent retreats. Quakerism, especially now, in these times could speak to many. Unfortunately we hide it and thousands and thousands of people in their twenties and thirties go without a spiritual home.

Conclusion- Quakerism is a dynamic, committed, contemporary faith. It offers a rich heritage and a rich present that speaks powerfully to those who are looking for a path that is open, committed to dialogue, focused on personal transformation and dedicated to societal transformation through justice and compassion. Quakers have always tried to walk the talk. This is our testament. People are looking. If we believe in Social Justice, it’s not just about feeding people bread. It’s about starting with the source of our suffering, our minds and hearts. This is why Quakerism exploded into the world in the seventeenth century. It spoke to people. They were so moved they Quaked when they rose to speak. This is, in part, how we got our name. Quakerism’s powerful nature, message and process are why it’s needed now. It’s time to walk powerfully in the world, living intensely from our hearts and minds. It’s time to make Quakerism transparent to the world.

Business and Quaker Service

2005-01-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

Quakers have been very dedicated to serving others for many, many years. Quaker good works in the areas of prison reform, care for the mentally ill, suffrage, abolition, etc. are well known. However, even within the Society it seems that our calling to reform business practices are often forgotten. When I say this, I am not speaking of protesting the WTO or the World Bank. These are worthy activities, but generally involve people outside these organizations protesting against the corrupt practices of the IMF or World Bank in the developing world. What I am talking about is more fundamental.

It is little known that some common business practices originated with Quakers. For instance, price tags evolved out of Quaker practice. Haggling was seen as inherently unfair. People should be charged the same amount for the same product. Except with buying a car, we now take it for granted that all products will have a set price. This has dramatically changed the way people live.

I bring this up, because we all know that business practices affect our lives in intimate ways every day. As Quakers, we can take our drive for social justice into the corporate world. Values such as transparency (honesty) are core to us and should be core to corporate accounting and the creation of products. Quakers joined to the cause of Socially Responsible businesses could be every bit as world changing as some of our other practices.

What would happen if a Quaker institution were created to grant a Master’s of Business Administration founded on our values? Just think about it…

There is a joke that Quaker’s came to Pennsylvania to do good and did very well indeed. Some Quakers in the 17^th and 18^th centuries became wealthy because of their dedication to honesty and integrity with their products and services. This is why a Quaker graces a box of oats (not that it is owned by Quakers- it's branding thing). What would happen if we really became dedicated to that on a large level again? Something more than just putting our savings with a Socially Responsible Investment fund. What if business students were taught that the starting point for all their business training is that the light of God exists in every human being? This includes not only the person who buys the product, but the people who make the product. How would this change things?

Universalism- Quote by Caroline Stephen

2005-01-29T13:05:00.000-07:00

It is, I hope, hardly necessary to repeat that it is not Quakerism, but Truth, that I desire to serve and promote; the sect may no longer be what is needed, and may be destined for extinction for all I know. But that view of Truth which has found in Quakerism its most emphatic assertion- that purely spiritual worship and that supremacy of the light within which were set forth with power by Fox and Barclay and Penington- these things are of perennial value and efficacy, and the need for their fresh recognition seems to be in our own day peculiarly urgent.

-Caroline Stephen
Quaker Strongholds
Printed 1890

Book Review: The Quaker Reader

2005-01-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

The Quaker Reader
Selected & Introduced by Jessamyn West
Pendle Hill Publications, 1992
ISBN –
In distribution from other publishers

This is a great book for anyone interested in how Quakerism started and how it got to where it is in 21^st century America. It is, by no means, comprehensive. As an anthology, there is only so much ground it can cover and for my taste it goes light on both the Quaker founders and 20^th century Quaker writers. However, this is really a minor quibble. It’s a wonderful read, the selections are often inspiring, and it accomplishes what it set out to do, which is to give an overview of Quaker thought and practice over the centuries. As the saying goes… a great addition to any library.

Book Review: Original Blessing

2005-01-12T18:38:00.000-07:00

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
By Mathew Fox
Jeremy D. Tarcher, 2000
ISBN 158542067
In distribution

This has been a very controversial and highly praised book ever since it’s first publishing in 1983. Mathew Fox is a defrocked Catholic Father who postulates and/or recovers a Christianity that celebrates the creation and deemphasizes Original Sin. He contends that the doctrine of Original Sin is a 5^th century addition of St. Augustine that has taken the Church down an unfortunate path that deeply affects both Catholics and Protestants. As can be seen from certain websites, some people’s reactions to this book and Fox’s teachings have been less than favorable. Yet, what he argues seems to have merit both on the grounds of recapturing a Christianity based on liberation and also in terms of what, at first blush, seems to be sound scholarship.

For Quaker readers, mystics and seekers of every stripe, Mr. Fox discusses many topics of great interest such as embracing the joy of creation, feeling the divine presence, entering into direct communion with the Source, etc.

If you have always imagined a more personal, mystical Christianity and have found yourself conflicted over Christ’s message of love and forgiveness verses the Church’s emphasis on Original Sin and suffering, this could be the book that changes everything. Highly recommended.

Social Justice & Liberation

2005-01-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

Social Justice and personal liberation from suffering are at the heart of spirituality and therefore religion. Some may say this is a curious claim and I’ll admit that much of what humans have done in the name of religion is anything but just. However, there is much to recommend this point of view.

In studying the social context of most religions, those who are considered the founders of those religions came to create better lives for the people they touched. At the time of their coming, they were progressive for their culture. In large part, this is why the major world religions took fire and spread. There was an urgent social need for justice, fairness, or at least a way to escape the sufferings of the world by believing in something greater than what they saw around them.

Jesus came to overturn the harshness of the law and gave people hope of something beyond the military occupation and strife that plagued Israel. It is a sense of community and love that is at the heart of Christian revivals throughout the centuries.

Muhammad came to overturn corrupt tribalism that was, at that time, almost Darwinian and left those with the least the most vulnerable. He left behind a system of charity and community that helped so many who had no help before.

Buddha came to free people from the sufferings of the world by freeing them of the sufferings in their minds. He left behind a system of teachings and teachers that still thrives today as people seek a way to understand themselves and their place in world.

There have been many others who have responded to the need for something better. However, the point is that they came as reformers. They came to reduce the sufferings that we create for ourselves through unenlightened thought which becomes unenlightened action.

This is the essential spiritual urge, to free ourselves and others from the suffering we create through selfishness, ignorance or other causes. This urge, when heartfelt, is communion with God or Unity. However, once the founder has moved on, the teachings become codified and then, unfortunately and often, ossified. Codification of spiritual teachings is what creates a religion. In and of itself, this is not wrong. In fact, it comes usually from a place of service. It comes from a desire to share teachings that have reduced the sufferings of the convert or practitioner. However, often codification becomes about external conduct and is no longer about the spirit of the teachings. The idea of creating and sharing a way of life that creates liberation for others is replaced with a code that is intended to create a culture that reflects the codifier. Hence, the teachings of a reformer become the armory of the fearful. And, as we know, fear creates suffering and the need for new reformers and teachers.

This cycle of fear and suffering can be overcome. It begins with the recognition that all who truly love God or unity and their fellow human beings are committed to the liberation of others from suffering. They do not have to look a certain way. They do not have to use a particular language. Their prayers and ritual may not look familiar. However, we all share the same intent. It is our motivation that binds us together and can allow us to have respectful dialogue. In a Christian context, it could be said that the Holy Spirit animates all of us who love one another. Look beyond the words in the prayer. Look beyond the words in the books. Get deeper. Help others get deeper. Feel compassion for everyone. Help them move beyond fear and suffering. This is the heart of our shared spirituality and of all religions. We just have to remind ourselves… and each other.

Book Review: Listening Spirituality

2005-01-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

Listening Spirituality
Vol 1: Personal Spiritual Practices Among Friends
By Patricia Loring
Openings Press, 1997
ISBN 0-9657599-0-3

This is a really wonderful book for someone who may want to understand Quaker practice more deeply or for a first time attender who wants to know why everyone’s so quiet and what they’re “doing.”

The introduction gives a great oversight of Quaker silent worship and some of its value to individual practitioners. Later chapters break down different prayer & meditation techniques from the Quaker tradition and other traditions such as Buddhism.

While this book is currently out of print, you may be able to find it as part of the collection of a local Quaker meeting or on Amazon or Powell’s. While tailored to Quaker's, its worth a read for anyone looking for techniques to deepen their practice regardless of faith tradition.

Quaker Related Resources

2005-01-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

Some have asked for more information on the diversity of beliefs and practices that are called Quaker. I have tried to include a number of them that I find highly relevant. However, please remember that there are many more sites than what I have listed. In fact, realize that if you put a hundred Quakers in a room you will get a hundred different opinions about the nature of Quakerism. This is one of the strengths of the Quaker movement… dialogue and respect for diversity. I hope you find this list helpful. The item descriptions are largely borrowed from a leaflet distributed by Friends General Conference. Many thanks to them.

Quaker Universalist Group
www.qug.org.uk/
Extemely imporant site concerning Universalism and the direction that many Quaker Universalists are going. A must read for anyone who is interested in the ideas presented on this website.

Friends General Conference (FGC)
www.fgcquaker.org
FGC provides resources and opportunities that educate and invite members and attenders to experience, individually and corporately, God's living presence, and to discern and follow God's leadings. FGC reaches out to seekers and to other religious bodies inside and outside the wider Religious Society of Friends.

Quaker.org
www.quaker.org
This is actually a list of Quaker links. It’s very useful and will provide you with hours of reading material. Please thank the gentleman who maintains it.

American Friends Service Committee
www.afsc.org
Provides Quaker service to those in need at home and around the world.

Friends Bulletin
www.quaker.org/fb/
The official publication of Independent Western Quakers.

Friends Journal
www.friendsjournal.org
An independent magazine serving the Religious Society of Friends.

Pendle Hill
www.pendlehill.org
A Quaker study and retreat center, includes a bookstore.

Quaker Earthcare Witness
www.fcun.org
A spiritually-centered movement of Quakers and like minded people seeking ways to integrate concern for the environment with Friends long-standing testimonies for simplicity, peace and equality.

End War

2005-01-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

There is no war or famine or other human created tragedy that did not come first from our minds.

Some may say that famines and wars happen because of resource scarcity. There is no resource scarcity. We have the global capacity to feed every human being more than adequately. We have enough land, water, and other resources for everyone to live, if not richly, much better than the poorest one billion of us presently do. Resources are not the problem.

Others will state, very simply, “they started it.” Well, this is true to some degree. What is even more true is that “we” started it.

War and famine come from our assumptions about ourselves and others. They come from our beleifs. They come from the idea that there are humans who are “other.”

Others cannot be trusted.
Others want our destruction.
Others want our land.
Others are inferior to us.
Others are not deserving.
Others are not civilized.
Others will attack us.
Etc., Etc.

The list of what others do, are, and are not is very long in human history. What is largely missing, but exists in the hearts of the great teachers and many who try to walk the path of peace, is the realization that there are no “others.” We are one.

We are one.

Wherever a child goes hungry, my child goes hungry.
Wherever a human is oppressed, I am oppressed.
Whenever a person must give up their dream, my life is diminished.

We are one. Violence against another is violence against ourselves. Whatever dream another has harbored, lives in our hearts. Whatever greatness exists in the children of the world, is our hope for the future. We must nurture that greatness in others just as we have hope for our own lives.

Life is continuity. Our beleifs about what is great in humanity are passed from one generation to another through our actions. That is the sacredness of our place in the world. This is the divine blessing.

War can showcase bravery. It can demonstrate our technical prowess. It can teach us about sacrafice and grief. It can give occasion to demonstrate tremendous compassion in the face of brutality. But, it can never demonstrate the complete nature of God that exists in each one of us. To do this we must create, we must understand, we must love and stretch to see beyond ourselves. We must see beyond our family, beyond friends, beyond tribes, beyond nations, beyond classes, and beyond cultures. When we embrace the totality of our humanness, we achieve unity. In all our diversity, billions of unique lives, we are one.

In summary: what is not in our hearts and minds cannot exist in the world. Begin inside, the world reflects our beleifs. When the human race feels and understands unity as the principle that extends beyond our differences, there will be no war.

Universalism- Quote by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

2004-12-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

"If your path teaches you to act and exert yourself correctly and leads to spiritual realizations such as love, compassion and wisdom then obviously it's worthwhile."
– Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Quaker Universalism- Quote by John Woolman

2004-12-07T18:04:00.000-07:00

There is a principle which is pure, placed in the human mind, which in different places and ages hath had different names. It is, however, pure and proceeds from God. It is deep and inward, confined to no forms of religion nor excluded from any, where the heart stands in perfect sincerity. In whomsoever this takes root and grows, of what nation soever, they become brethren.

-John Woolman, "Considerations on Keeping Negroes," 1746

The Sharing of Dharma & Making a Living

2004-12-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

In silent worship Quakerism, there is no paid ministry. Not in the traditional sense. There is an informal ministry, a ministry of the called, and people who support ministrarial work. Examples of these are those who write books, share teachings at retreat centers, and are employed by organizations like Friends General Conference and Pendle Hill. Many of these people make a portion or all of their income from activities related to these actions or organizations. Thank goodness. These people make the Quaker Dharma, in many of its forms, available for those who seek it.

However, I want to examine this issue in more depth. It can be argued that the lack of a formal paid ministry in silent worship Quakerism came from two places. First, it is an outgrowth of the idea that waiting in silent expectation makes the body of the faithful the ministry also. People will share in worship as the spirit leads them. This makes Friends a ministry of all for all. It could also be argued that a ministry of all was partially or subconsciously motivated by experiences with a paid church hierarchy. This hierarchy had vested interests that were sometimes at odds with parishioners. At its worst moments, some clergy could be accused of creating church doctrine that supported their material needs more than it supported the spiritual needs of those they served. In fact, issues of this nature helped create the Catholic/Protestant schism.

What this points to is that human nature and the need to feed and clothe ourselves can be corrupting. This is true in any human endeavor, but it demands particular consideration when people make their living in part or in whole from sharing Dharma regardless of what kind of Dharma it is.

In some religious traditions and among some individual spiritual teachers, those who are called have accepted no money for sharing the Dharma. Often these people have been held in very high esteem because the absence of any money motivation is so clear. These people have often made their living at trades such as weaving, throwing pottery, carpentry, etc. In the modern era some have been writers and other professionals. The benefit of this approach is, again, the motivation appears to be clear. The downside is that these people rarely spend their time teaching on a full-time basis. This can deprive some seekers of teachings and perhaps frustrate the teacher who feels called to do nothing other than share Dharma with those who seek it.

For the reasons above, some of those who have been called have created religious professions that set them apart from others with a purpose in mind. These are monks, nuns, priests, ministers and other religious devotees who choose to live and teach Dharma full-time. The upside is that they can now fulfill a calling in a way that speaks to them. The downside is that they must now find some way to feed and clothe themselves while avoiding as much as possible any corrupting influence this may have on their example or teaching. In part, this is the reason why so many monastic orders and religious workers take vows of poverty. It is a demonstration that their motivation to live a religious life and share Dharma is not motivated by financial gain. To a great degree this is effective in demonstration a good intent, but the world still gets a class of people who must demonstrate their value and the value of their faith to others in order to sustain themselves. This is true even if they are sustaining themselves at a very impoverished level.

There is another group of Dharma teachers that are in a class by themselves. They are those who have amassed wealth through being examples and teachers of Dharma. There are instances where this is completely valid. There is no doubt that certain gurus, ministers and writers have benefited countless individuals through their teachings and the value of this has returned to them as personal wealth. Indeed, it could be argued that part of their example to others is to demonstrate the creation and sharing of abundance. This is what the minds of some may need from these teachers. To look at it from another direction, these teachers divorce suffering induced by poverty from the Dharma. Some people really need this because living Dharma should not be about suffering; yet the association with poverty creates this association for some. Having this association never allows them to seek Dharma. Teachers of Dharma who have very clear intent and amass wealth can be of true service to seekers. The problem is some of those who amass wealth from teaching what they call Dharma do not have clear intent. To know the difference between those of good intent and those with mixed motivations requires discernment on the part of those who would learn with and from them.

Having discussed the previous examples of those who share Dharma, I find myself very attracted to some traditional ideas surrounding Quaker ministry in the 17th and 18th centuries. In that time, there were many who felt called to Quaker ministry. An idea arose where individual meetings would equip the called with letters from the meeting that would vouch for their good will and the soundness of their spiritual practice and knowledge. These ministers could then use these letters to move from meeting to meeting allowing them to seek lodging and food with other Quakers. This, and perhaps some traveling money provided by their home meeting, would sustain these ministers on their journeys to share the Quaker Dharma with Quakers and non-Quakers alike.

Im attracted to this model because it opens ministry to those who are sound but without full divinity training. This is an important in some respects because divinity training, through its expense and other requirements, might require the teaching of Dharma as a vocation for those who choose that route. This model also allows them to be supported on a temporary basis to serve others even when they have no individual wealth. Further, it strengthens the bonds of fellowship among seekers as the called found food and lodging among fellow seekers. Lastly, most of the called had professions and occupations that provided their livelihood when not in service to sharing the Dharma. This last point is an important consideration.

Often it seems that people believe the only way for them to make spiritual progress is to withdraw from the world. In fact, for some, they are entirely correct. However, there are those that believe this only because they have no examples otherwise. Part of what is valuable about those who share the Dharma also making their living in the world is that they are being of the world. Too often people think they cant practice unless they are apart from the world. I think the reverse is true. The deeper our practice, the more fully embedded in world we will become. The more fully we understand the nature of what is, the more we will appreciate it, the more we will merge with the creation and move in unison with it. For some of us, this is part of the value of having a trade, a profession, a business, friends, and a family. Our Dharma practice is not apart from these things. Our Dharma practice is to allow us to embrace and be enriched by these experiences and to enrich others through being fully wedded to the world. This is part of traditional Quaker service in the world. Not only do we see the light of God in every human being, but also salvation is now. Salvation is how we choose to move in the world, this world, in the here and now. Part of the object of practice is to integrate our lives, to live from the center out. When called to ministry, to share Dharma, we can offer an example that we live in the same world that every one else lives in. Everyone can walk this path if they choose to. Everything that is common to us as humans is common to the experience of the path. We should not deny our humanity, but instead elevate the best of what are. For some, ministry can be a calling to more deeply integrate our lives, to make Dharma and our daily life with all its exuberance and frustrations one. In this way, this model of ministry can be important for those whose minds and hearts seek to reconcile a life in the world and a life of spirit.

Religious Truth & The Quaker Dharma

2004-11-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

There is no inherent Truth in the QD, just as there is no inherent Truth in any religion. Religions are a collection of tools to deepen our wisdom experience of the world, our understanding of God and make this understanding clear to us and sharable with others. Religions attempt to ground our experience of the divine in a language our mind can grasp, to give us tools, symbols and words to share our experience of the now and the world we wish to create. This is why there are so many religions. Given the rich diversity of human experience and culture, there is no one religion that can speak to all of us. However, God does speak to all of us. God exists before and without language and the experience of God is available even if we have not the words to fully understand or explain what we have experienced. Therefore, we create words and symbols to help us understand what is beyond words. The creative nature of God and our unity with God helps us create languages, symbols, and contexts that help us understand our experiences and helps those who are seeking God by providing a path for them to follow. As some Quakers say, “God finds us in the place that we are.”

Ideally the QD and the Quaker fellowship lay out a framework of tools and a community of worship to facilitate the individual’s experience of God. It should always be remembered that an individual can have wisdom experiences without religions and in fact religions come from the wisdom experiences of individuals. Religions and the QD simply exist to help individuals access the unifying experience of God and provide some way for them to understand what they’ve experienced and how it affects their lives.

With all of this in mind, the QD exists for the betterment of humanity. If the QD does not serve to deepen the wisdom experience and enrich the lives of its practitioners, then we should let go of it. It does not exist for its own sake. No religion does. Religions exist for our sake.

Outreach

2004-11-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

The inner journey and the way we choose to live our lives are ideally linked and reflect one another. In fact, good works based on the belief in the Inner Light has been a hallmark of Quaker life since the very beginning. However, understanding how they differ can be important to our understanding of how we interact with one another within the Religious Society of Friends. This understanding becomes even more important as we attempt to reach out to others that have expressed an interest in the Society.

It seems that it is not uncommon for an individual who is attracted to the Society to say they found God, the source, or the light long before they found a community of belief. What this suggests is that the inner journey has been ongoing and that the purpose of finding community among Friends is indeed to experience fellowship. Often Friends express this fellowship through community service and charity. However, we should not assume that because a new Friend has been convinced of their belonging in the Society that the inner journey is now in any way complete; that the focus of the individual is now their expression of common values through the Society. Indeed, while the expression of common values through activism and charity is part of what attracts new Friends into communion with the Society, to make this expression primary or can overlook the greatest value and nature of being in the Society.

For the Society to successfully offer itself in service to others, to conduct outreach, and yet be true to the greatest gift of fellowship, we must not become overly attached to the outward manifestation of beliefs that are often gratefully seen as the hallmarks of being in the Society. Put in other words, we should not look at outreach as a means to attract or create more people who look at the world the same way that many of us do. The source of outreach must come from a desire to share a commitment to the inner journey, to share the experiences and the leadings that have enriched our understanding of the light. This must be true even if the person in question chooses to walk another path and does not share in the fellowship of the Society. In this way, we offer what is of value to others, to their path, what they seek. And, our outreach becomes a manifestation of our love and compassion for the light and those who feel its presence and wish to experience it either apart from or as a member of the Society. Being in community can deepen and, in fact, should offer a commitment to deepen the inner awareness of spirit, to foster the continuing journey for others and ourselves.

The danger of outreach is when it comes primarily from another motivation or place. This other place is not without merit, it is not without compassion, and it is not without value. However, to begin outreach from this other place is to neglect the value and beauty of sharing and supporting the inner journey as the primary function of being in Society. This other place is the place where we reach out to others in order to gain the strength of numbers and resources to express our values in the world. It is a temptation that comes from a noble urge, to create social change in line with our belief that the light of God is within each being. Yet, to begin outreach from this place creates within us an urge to see new Friends as a means of assisting the Society in its work for social justice. Therefore, we can fail to see within a new Friend the opportunity to share and experience the beauty and value of a unique spiritual unfolding; an unfolding that can be fostered within the openness of a group that is committed to the inner journey of each individual.

In fact, the differences that we each experience in our unfolding and our sharing of it in Society are what inform, guide and enrich the process of becoming and give meaning and richness to fellowship. That we agree to sometimes disagree, that we are open to the differing experiences of that which is one, and that we are open to the process of coming together to share experiences through listening and practice; these are the hallmarks of a Society that nurtures our individual unfolding through shared experience and worship. The sharing of this, should be our primary aim in Outreach. Through the intent to share the experience of God, as best we understand it, with those who seek it, we become a Society whose light shines brightly in the world.

The Quaker Dharma & The Buddha Dharma

2004-11-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

For the past two years, I have worked for an international Buddhist organization. It’s been one of the best experiences of my life. To be so thoroughly exposed to another faith tradition has greatly deepened my understanding of Quakerism and myself.

Further, I have become deeply aware that many Quakers, such as myself, are choosing to study with Buddhist teachers and practitioners. Many Quakers have gone on retreats or teachings with Thich Naht Han and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The question becomes what is it that Quakers seek by studying with Buddhist practitioners? I think there are many answers to this question, many of which I don’t know. But, I wish to discuss some of my ideas.

In my own case, I have found a number of reasons to study with Buddhists. They are:

1) To engage in comparative religious studies to understand our common ground and enrich mutual practice.
2) To understand a new vocabulary that can illuminate familiar concepts in new ways.
3) To practice analytic meditation techniques that were not taught to me through Quakerism.
4) To have access to a formal student/teacher relationship unavailable in silent worship Quakerism.
5) To see a structured or programmed path for mental improvement that is not clearly defined or widely available in Quakerism.
6) To approach mysticism from a new cultural perspective.

I bring this up because I believe that studying Buddhism is highly beneficial for many Quakers and yet I feel that much of this is available through the Quaker Dharma. It’s just not defined or widely available. To state this more clearly, I believe the Quaker community makes its views on right action and good behavior widely known. However, there is not a strongly delineated path for those who seek mental tools and practices to deepen their understanding and experience of God. Yet, I believe these tools exist within the Quaker tradition or can be made part of the Quaker Dharma. The question becomes how to compile a program and make it available as a methodology within the broad scope of the Quaker Dharma itself.

In stating all of this, I am not discouraging anyone from Buddhist study, but rather trying to encourage the formulation of a distinctive Quaker path that can offer depth and structure for those who wish to deeply explore our possibilities as beings animated by the light within. With this in mind, I ask with great curiosity the following:

-Are there tools of meditation and prayer that can be taught and practiced to Quaker practitioners that extends beyond the classic silence?
-Can non-violence be taught and experienced as part of a Quaker psychology that will help people systematically explore their mind?
-Can different or comparative cosmologies be discussed within The Quaker Dharma as a foundation for Quaker thought and action?
-Can Quaker history, values, meditation and prayer techniques be taught as a unified course?
-Would the Quaker Dharma benefit from teachers that pass on the Quaker Dharma through coursework sessions?
-Would the Quaker community benefit from the presentation of the Quaker Dharma in a retreat setting where people can be immersed for days or weeks at a time in this setting? Something more intense than the weekend or week long Pendle Hill courses?

I ask these questions in the hopes that others will comment.

Universalism and Non-violence

2004-11-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

In trying to understand why there are so many religions, so many cultures, but that their seem to be similarities in all of them I have come to a four part theory. There is the religious experience, our perception of the experience, our sharing of the perception of the experience, and finally the culture that is created around the sharing of the perception of the experience. I refer to these respectively as the vision, the communication, and the culture. Interestingly, you will notice that I only named three parts, because as human beings we have the religious experience and perceive the religious experience simultaneously. It is both active and passive. It is both happening to us and being perceived by us. This combination is what is referred to so often as a religious vision.

The culture that grows up around a religious perception often says a great deal about the place that those people are in. Also the vision often says allot about them too. They are dependent upon each other. Often in societies that have perceived resource scarcity or on-going violence, the culture that grows up is hierarchical. There is fear. There is a need to control.

I believe there are two primary forces in the world fear and faith. Strangely, I have come to realize that fear is actually faith, it's simply faith in things that we think are unavoidable. In believing in fear, we give it power. We make our fears manifest sometimes because we believe in them.

The religious experience is not invalidated because we perceive it through the lense of our own experience. In fact, in seeing the experience we must understand that it is about us and where we are. It's about the place in which God has found us. It's, in some ways, a mirror held up to us and it reflects us. It is not invalid for this. In fact, it is more meaningful for this.

Metaphors are extremely powerful for human beings. You find them in all religions. To explain what is beyond our current knowledge, you must find something familiar to help bring people along. It is a powerful tool. In this way, God again finds us in the place that we are. We have the experience and then we must make sense of it, then we find some way to communicate it. We take the unfamiliar and we create it into a form that we can digest. We create it into a form that transforms the current culture.

In medieval Europe, the stain glass windows of the major gothic cathedrals told stories. This was done because people couldn't read. It was a medium of communication. A way to tell the story. That's all any religion has tried to do. It's trying to tell the story. What we have to understand is that there are a thousand stories and thousands of story-tellers. Each of us has different ways to tell the story. What we have to realize is that concerning the basics it is much the same story being told to us again and again.

I am not trying to say that there are not differences. There are very real and genuine differences between religions and this is important. You and I are not the same and if God spoke the same language to both of us, he might not find one of us.

A very real question is that differences in religious opinion create very real differences in culture. These cultures speak to different people. The question becomes are they divinely inspired or are they acting from a cultural need or perhaps both. I can't answer that definitely for any culture. I have my beliefs and I work to create what I consider justice in the world. However, the real point is that I ultimately cannot judge for another and force them down another path. This is the point of non-violence. It is not the avoidance of conflict, but rather a recognition that we as human beings often have created enormous suffering for ourselves and others because we have created an oppressive culture. We have chosen for others. Violence cannot correct this and is in fact at the root of our delusions. Violence creates fear and fear often creates delusions and misperceptions. However, even in the mist of them, God is here with us.

Introduction to the Quaker Dharma

2004-11-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

I’m interested in the Quakerism and what I call the Quaker Dharma in two ways. Originally, I was drawn to liberal Quakerism because it reflected, as a community, my values. I said for a long time that I had found God, but I had not found a community of worship. With Quakers, I feel I have found that community. My second interest in Quakerism was the Quaker Dharma as a path to deepen my understanding and experience of God. I say this interest was second, because I had already come to God outside the boundaries of a faith community. Therefore, at the beginning I wasn’t seeking community as a means to deepen my experience of God. I was simply looking for like-minded people with whom to share the experience of God. For this, Quakers have been wonderful companions in my attempt to walk with God. However, as I have continued to walk with Quakers I have become interested in the limits or lack of limits that the Quaker Dharma may have in helping me deepen my love for God and through this my love for the creation itself and my experience of it. For these reasons, when I speak of Quakerism I am speaking of the community that calls itself Quaker. When I speak of what I call the Quaker Dharma, I am speaking of the tools, experiences and interactions that help us dig deep into ourselves and see the greater reality of ourselves and our union with God.

For most Quakers, I think they would find this division to be artificial. After all, the community that calls itself Quaker exists to help individual Quakers deepen their spiritual practice. It is the act of silent worship in community that is the most essential characteristic of Quaker practice. Many Quakers, it seems, find the act of worshipping in silence together opens them to a place where they can feel God. Quakerism is a mystical tradition, and unlike mystics who have found God in solitary retreat, Quakers find a living power in their shared experience of worship. For many, this is the special meaning and purpose in coming together to worship. However, for me, making reference to the community of Quakers as distinct from the tools and experiences of seeking communion with God is very important.

First, this separation allows me to consider how I feel about the community of Quakerism. Why do I seek their company? What do I expect in walking with this community? Is it important that this shared culture exists for myself and for others? Does this community, as a community, carry a unified body of knowledge that is “Quaker” and is important for myself and for others? Does the culture of Quaker community represent the shared values and beliefs with which Quakers often identify themselves? Could Quakers live a different culture that still expresses their core beliefs? Is it important that a Quaker community exists to press for social reform in the world as Quakers? For me, these are all questions that allow me to consider what I seek in worshipping with Quakers.

Second, in talking about the Quaker Dharma, I can actually talk not about what Quakers do as a group, but what individual people are doing when they try to utilize the body of knowledge and experience that the Quaker community has accumulated over the past 400 years. Instead of identifying as Quaker, the Quaker Dharma allows me to simply consider the tools of becoming more unified with God, the universal flow, the source, or whatever term you may wish to use. Does Quakerism have a body of knowledge that can be transmitted and experienced that will allow individuals to deepen their experience of God through a “Quaker” process? Is this process readily available and easily transmitted? Are there those who would benefit from experiencing this process whether or not they came to identify as Quakers?

In part, I ask these questions because while I choose to experience community with Quakers, I am a Universalist at heart. I believe that God existed before creation in matter, that intention has created everything that we experience and that our understanding of God comes both through our direct experience of God and our attempt to understand or process this experience. This attempt to understand has created a host of terms, languages, concepts and religions that all try to explain what we have experienced both for ourselves as people who have some experience of God and for others who wish to experience communion with God. In this way, religion and spirituality, as attempts to explain the inner experience become very important. And, religious or spiritual communities, as vehicles of knowledge that attempt to explain the inner experience, become the primary institutions of human experience as we attempt to understand ourselves and our place in the world.

For me, these issues are the foundation of the Quaker Dharma and my approach to it. What I hope is the Quaker Dharma reaches those “to whom it may speak.” I hope the Quaker Dharma itself becomes more transparent and accessible for those who seek it. And, I also hope Quakerism as a movement will continue to evolve in a way that offers a haven of hope to Quakers and non-Quakers alike.

I hope you will join me in exploring these issues so we can all, in the words of George Fox, “Walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone.”