QUAKER PEACE TESTIMONY

44. Quaker Doctrine of Inward Peace (by Howard H. Brinton; 1948)
           About the Author—Howard & Anna Brinton arrived at Pendle Hill in the summer of 1936 with a solid background of academic achievement at the colleges of Mills & Earlham, & became co-directors of a new sort of education enterprise, a Quaker fusion of school and community. They retired in the 1950s & lived on campus as Directors Emeriti. Anna died in 1969; Howard continues to serve by lecturing, writing, and simply being.
          Pressures of Past Years and the Quaker Way of Meeting Them—We are all suffering from a sense of pressure. It is an astonishing fact that most of our labor-saving devices have not saved us any labor; they have merely increased the number of things we do. [Yearly Meetings are busier]. For some reason we desire to be more active. In former Yearly Meeting far more time was given to spiritual admonitions and silent waiting.
          We sometimes hear a psychological explanation [that] . . . we are trying to escape from ourselves. This explanation does not take us very far. [Part of the answer] is that our interests are spread out over a number of fields in which the standards of behavior are inconsistent with one another. While in a given group we suppress the other groups’ standards, but we do not eliminate them. Perhaps the more fundamental difficulty is our inward world. As long as there is inward chaos, all outward actions will be contaminated by this chaos.
          Such inward references are typical of Jesus' teachings. For the Quaker, outward and inward combine in an intimate organic relation; the inward is primary. A person in danger of being overwhelmed by outside pressures can meet them best by increasing one’s inner dimensions. The Quaker way is so to order the inner life that outer pressures can be adequately met and dealt with. In one sense we become independent of outer tumults, but in another sense . . . we must seek to reproduce in the world around us the inner peace created within ourselves.
          The Attainability of Inner Peace—Is inner peace, free from all sense of pressure attainable? [The Quakers answered “yes”; the Puritans answered “no”]; humankind can never be free from sin. It would be interesting to speculate as to how much of our modern restlessness is due to a Puritan inheritance which demands a perpetual tension between the real & the ideal. By removing peace and perfect-ability from all things this side of the grave, the Puritans have doomed themselves to continual dissatisfaction and frustration. [As George Fox wrote]: “it is a sad and comfortless sort of striving, to strive with a belief we should never overcome.”
          For the Quaker, perfection and its consequent inner peace can be reached when all of God’s immediate requirements as understood are faithfully met. Robert Barclay calls this “a perfection proportionable and answerable to man’s measure whereby we are kept from transgressing God’s law and enabled to answer what God requires of us.” Inner peace comes through obedience to the Divine Voice . . . as a friend complies with the wishes of one’s friend because the two are one in spirit.
          Perfection and Pacifism—The only person who can secure inner peace is at peace with the world around them even though the world may not be at peace with them. Love removes inner conflict which seeks satisfaction in outer conflict. Only when the pacifist attains inner peace do they truly live up to their name.
           Inner Conflict and its Solution as Portrayed in the Quaker Journals—Job Scott writes of his 4 year struggle: “I [often] returned home from many meetings grievously condemned, distressed & ashamed, wishing I had not gone into such company. Soon my resolutions failed me & away I went again. My days I spent in vanity and rebellion; my nights frequently in horror and distress.” There was no sudden change to a state of peace. He came gradually to realize that “whenever [the true and living spirit and power of . . . God] is received and in all things thoroughly submitted to, a reconciliation takes place. . . The one thing needful is real union with God, an actual joining with God in one spirit. Nothing else can ever satisfy his soul or abidingly stay his mind.”
          Job Scott became aware of new requirements, which he must meet to retain inward peace [e.g. vocal ministry; refusal to use the paper currency issued to support the Revolutionary War; a long religious journey] Job Scott frequently underwent periods of aridity, but the search for inward peace was a clearly defined process.
          Conversion is the beginning of a process. When inward peace disappears it is a sign that the next stage of growth is at hand; peace can only be reached if growth takes place. [The call for] curtailment of business when the business has grown [so much] that it interferes with religious duties [is common to] most Journal writers. Rebecca Jones, Catherine Phillips, Edward Hicks, John Rutty, & William Allen [gave up a creative passion in order to] attain integration of personality around a central, [religious] interest by reducing competing interests.
          The Philosophical Basis—Inward peace is the result of inward unity, not just of ideas but of the whole person. We are speaking of unity of will, not of substance. The Light in its wholeness shines into every individual, though that individual’s comprehension may be imperfect. The process of attaining unity is definitely a religious method requiring willingness to submerge individual desires & prejudices & to obey God’s will wherever it may lead. Conflict in the soul arises from refusal to accept the truth [and attempts to “reason” it away].
           The Place of Self-Surrender—“Self-surrender” is often misunderstood [as implying] a attitude of Passivity which is out of tune with our present age’s extreme activism. In Quakerism . . . if the lower is quieted it is only that the higher may have opportunity to assert itself. Thomas Shillitoe writes [that in the face of the overwhelming task before him]: “Divine goodness appeared for my help with the animating assurance, that if I remained willing to become like a cork on the mighty ocean of service . . . willing to be wafted hither and thither . . . he would care for me every day and every way.” In so far as Quietism means the surrender of the human or self-centered will in order that the divine may become active in and through the human, it is a universal Quaker doctrine. George Fox lived a life of tireless activity, but this activity was rooted in inward peace and stillness.
          The Habitation of Peace—Quaker writers sometimes speak as if there were a calm area in the soul to which one might retire as to a quiet room. George Fox, John Woolman, John Pemberton, & John Barclay write of this place, [which is] in Quaker philosophy, that area of perfect unity & peace that existed before all . . . strife.
           Getting Atop of Things—When Fox describes an encounter with an obstruction of any kind . . . he often ends with the phrase “but I got atop it” [(i.e.] many problems aren't soluble on their own level). We can get above the problem, look down on it, & find that it ceases to be a problem. George Fox writes: “Whatever temptations, distractions, confusion the light doth make manifest & discover, don't look at [them] . . . but look at the light which discovers them . . . That will give victory; & ye will find strength; there is the first step to peace. Allowing the light to shine & so permitting higher forces in the background to emerge & operate, there will arise . . . a new life . . . that will surround and overcome the darkness and center the soul in that which is above it.
           Inward Peace as a Test of Guidance—[The presence of] inward peace . . . becomes an evidence of divine approval while lack of it is an evidence that some divine requirement [some concern] is not being fulfilled. The pacifist knows that one’s feelings are just as truly organs of knowledge for certain aspects of experience as is reason. If inward peace is to be used as a test of guidance, the feelings must be sensitized through prayer, worship, meditation or other spiritual exercises . . . and the guidance of the individual must be checked with the guidance of others. Only a very clear and strong feeling should lead the individual to carry out a leading [contrary to the sense of the meeting]. David Ferris writes regarding slaves: “If the Lord requires thee to set thy slaves free, obey God promptly and leave the result to God, and peace shall be within thy borders.”
           The Return to Inwardness—The unique part of the Quaker method is that their meetings expose the soul to the Light from God so that peace is removed if it ought to be removed [signaling a new requirement], or attained if it can be attained [signaling satisfaction of a requirement]. Modern Quakerism has lost much of this inwardness. Modern scientific skill has brought neither outer nor inner peace. In recent years scientific skill has been largely used for [promoting] conflict. Inner life is evaporating out of our culture . . . leaving outer force as a means of providing security and unity. All men everywhere must come to realize that outer conflict results from inner conflict, that inner conflict can be healed only by that Power Divine that descends from on high.
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420. Waging Peace: Discipline and Practice (by Pamela Haines; 2012)
          About the Author—Pamela Haines is active member of Central Philadelphia MM & a long-time Philadelphia resident. She lives manages an extended-family household in a diverse neighborhood. Her paid work is in building community, leadership development, & organizing for policy change among childcare workers. Pamela is active in peace, justice, & environmental work for Philadelphia YM. She enjoys deep personal connections in Poland & Nicaragua, & has helped develop community building & trauma-healing work in Uganda & Indonesia.
          [Introduction]/ A Discipline of Hope—People prepare for war by going to boot camp. What if we applied the same intention, practice, & hard work as boot camp into learning the skills needed to wage war? Peace is increasingly hard to come by. Society doesn’t prepare us to do work that needs to be done to find a way forward together. Times call for courage, action, & deep, deep love. It's hard to learn new skills. But practice could transform Self, community, & world. [What follows] are some of the very practical skills we need to master, the disciplines we need to develop, and the muscles we need to build to participate in this transformation.
          The discipline of hope comes to mind 1st. Practicing a discipline of hope requires something quite different from just being a fan of it. I am braced by the wise person who pointed out that despair is an insult to the future. Those of us who want to bring a new era will need to ground ourselves in hope. I have taken on the discipline in my blog of including some things that nourish hope every month. Our decision to hope affects our viewpoint on the world & remains in our power, regardless of the magnitude of forces arrayed against us. [Times of discouragement] are things to notice & address, not places to dwell in. I know a man who focuses his mind on things about himself and the world that are positive and good, and says them out loud [to resist discouragement].
          There's a difference between recharging our batteries & building our muscles. Remaining relaxed & hopeful [in the face daunting negative images] builds [hope] muscles. Some will see a golden opportunity for unloading built-up discouragement. If we can welcome their need without succumbing either to the contagion of hopelessness or the urge to argue, we may be of real service. Another aspect of the workout is to cultivate our ability to imagine the impossible. [The ease with which we imagine the worst] is a lethal failure of the imagination. The world needs people who can exercise their imagination muscles by practicing stepping confidently, buoyed by hope, into the unknown. We can set ourselves in the direction of unshakable hopefulness, take the next steps in front of us, and make a new decision daily not to give up.
          Reclaiming the Ability to Grieve—To pierce the numbness that allows us accedes to evil, to maintain hope, we must be able to grieve. We can't court great joy, feel fully, or invest in that which may be attainable. The ability to grieve provides a path through that disappointment to the other side. If I held my children in my arms, loved them and just let them cry, after a while they would be done with their grief and would go back to life with renewed enthusiasm, ready to want and love again. No one can heal without grieving their losses. Vengeance is a reliable indicator of aborted grieving. When despair [takes over, and] does move us to action, our protest is tinged with impotence or hopeless outrage.
          Our culture has virtually no tolerance for sadness. Anyone less than moderately happy is urged to find [artificial] happiness in possessions or medication. There is little permission to set aside time to grieve. Our modern information overload has built our tolerance for bad news so high that many of us have a hard time feeling a thing. Jewish tradition has a useful model of support for grieving; for the 1st week Jews who have lost a loved one sit shiva, staying at home and being visited by friends and family who bring them meals and just sit with them, helping them pay attention to their loss. there are laws covering the 1st month, and up to a year for losing a parent. Theologian Walter Wink encourages us to [grieve in] our prayers, to do God's grieving.
          This is a discipline that is good for us & good for the world. As we grieve, we loosen up a hard, tight place to the point where it can dissolve & be gone. With the experience of how this process can free our hearts & minds from attachment to the past, new doors open up & more becomes possible. I was dealing with losses in my immediate family after the Haiti earthquake. An image of a great common sea of grief came mind. If I could join everyone else in grieving, those impossible questions, "Why me" and "Why them instead of me?" would lose their sting in the recognition that we share a common grief. Who or what we grieve is less important than whether we are willing to bring what we have to that common sea, & know that we are connected to everyone & to the grief of the world. I've been helped by a group at our Quaker meeting that gathers for lamentation. Being able to open our hearts to the pain, & cry out our despair like a child in a parent's loving arms, leaves us more ready to embrace the world in all its joys & sorrows.
          Attentive, Curious, Respectful Listening—The bedrock of human interaction, listening deeply, makes growth & change possible. As a lever for change, there may be nothing we can offer of more value & power than our attention. [There is no telling what effect attentive listening will have on the one listened to, even to the healing of another relationship. It's not easy to listen when somebody else has a story to tell. If we listen well, we may find ourselves being the midwives to stories & resultant insights that would otherwise never have made it into the world. Listening with curiosity is a critical habit to be used in situation of conflict or disagreement.
          We all carry deep in our bones painful conclusions that we made about scarcity and possibility long ago. We all have stories of grief and loss lying on our heart. When one is invited with warmth and openness to tell one's story, and is respectfully listened to, one [sometimes] ends up revealing a world of hurt and is opened to new possibilities. Those who are listened to report what a difference the listening made, and may [shift their focus from vengeance to] healing and rebuilding their country. Listening deeply can be a collaborative effort. Our listening to a burnt-out social activist was the key to unlocking the process we came to call Heart School.
          I had 5 hardworking African-American women around my dining room table, & one raised the sore topic of racism & included my organization. [I resisted temptation to do anything other than] listen deeply & respectfully. The 1st woman said that she knew that when she was in my house she could show herself. I'm not sure I've ever received a bigger compliment. As Quakers, we know about listening for truth, [and use it in community]. I would caution us not to rest on our laurels but to reflect on how well we practice this kind of listening in our daily lives. What listening opportunities do I pass up? When do I withhold my attention and why? What would I have to give up in myself to listen respectfully to the person who is hardest for me?
          Challenging the Evil of Separation—I have come to the point of naming separation as a source of evil. I know of nothing that does more damage to our lives and the world around us. Overcoming that separation and learning the skills of connection requires discipline and practice. Where does separation operate in our lives? Many forces in society push us in the direction of separation; individualism in US culture is rampant. Voices in the media and politics grow ever more skillful at setting us apart and pitting us against each other. [But] we are all connected. We are one species, and as a species we are connected to all of life. The [relatively recent] and fleeting belief of the last several centuries that we have mastery over an external environment have created an illusion of disconnection. For most of us, it is connecting with people that we find most difficult.
          In the deepest sense, all the differences that separate us have no reality; our common humanity arches over all. Groups with more social/economic power, easily assume that our experience is the norm, and that everyone else would be fine if they just “got with the program.” [Those who] would wish away oppression are kept separate by excluding all experiences of racial, ethnic, class, religious identity and interaction from the conversation.
          The process of naming our differences begins to take away the power of what separates us; addressing those differences helps us grow more fully together and connect with each other for real. If we aren’t crossing paths with people from whom we’ve been separated by race or class in the course of our daily lives then we need to change course. Rather than the visible mistakes of commission, I was choosing the less obvious and more comfortable mistakes of omission; I passed up opportunities to make connection. Making connections involves learning hard things about the world and ourselves; it takes practice.
          Most of us would name our separation as something we don’t want. When separation involves lifestyle or political choices, we [see] people as “other.” An easy dismissal of those with different beliefs occupies a destructive psychological space. [The following questions don’t involve taking sides]: What are values that give life meaning? What do we believe in deeply enough to sacrifice for? What is at heart of what’s right about this country? What responsibility do we have for our neighbor? What is precious about environment? Building relationships requires asking these questions. Listening for truth can be a spiritual armor that keeps us safe in “enemy” territory. How might we develop a discipline to challenge separation? We can put ourselves in unfamiliar situations, share & savor new cultures. Perhaps even more challenging, we can try be being different ourselves & behave differently. As we practice stretching in all these ways, the separation thins.
        Welcoming Conflict—When faced with needing conflict-related skills, many would opt for conflict-reduction or conflict management, both of which serve the status quo more than it serves the forces of change. Conflict avoidance and wanting to fight are 2 sides of the same fear. Children witness hard things and adopt either acquiescence or opposition as their best survival strategy. I keep trying to get my mind around the concept of conflict as a positive opportunity for growth. Molecules move more freely in a context that is hot than in one that is cold. Conflict warms us up. It makes available things that are otherwise very hard to achieve. Engaging in conflict just raises it to surface so that what was frozen in place can be transformed.
          Just a commitment to believing that conflict is an opportunity for growth is a good start, [perhaps even showing anger as a positive development in a journey toward powerful initiative. Then I can practice staying with people who are angry, hearing out their feelings. Next might be practice returning to situations or relationships where we know that there will be conflict. I hated the anger. I hated the criticism of my behavior. I hated not being sure who was in the right. Yet I kept coming back because there was something for me [to learn.] An even more advanced step might be to practice coaxing conflicts that are unspoken, perhaps buried deeply. I can notice where I have engaged in conflict and survived; learn when and how my fears about conflict come up, and find ways to blunt their impact or dilute their strength.
          Mending and Repairing—Some mending of the world must be done, and ours is not a culture of mending. We are fascinated with and addicted to what is new, immersed in an economic system that focuses on consumption rather than quality [and practices built-in obsolescence and a] short product life. A new age will require enormous attention to conservation, to making things last, to making repairs. To repair something well, you have to understand how it’s put together, and be willing to take it apart to get to the heart of the problem.
          A relationship can get broken, torn, or frayed around the edges as well. We can practice mending here, too, by making the 1st move, acknowledging our part, listen from the heart, address the broken places, say we’re sorry, and ask forgiveness. Mending communities requires more effort. Yet there are models to build on, such as South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. For the environment, the 1st step is to acknowledge that we have a place in the web of life, recognize how our attitudes of separation and mastery have both broken the relationship and damaged the very system that gives us life. What if we thought of mending as a critical activity of the nonviolent warrior in our quest for a truly viable world? Mending mostly requires patience and time. In this light, mending relationship, mending chairs, mending socks, mending the soil builds the skills, muscles, and attitudes that we need to make our world whole.
          Reclaiming Truth from Experts/ Listening for What Rings True—Generals & politicians don’t fool us when they claim to be experts about what will bring peace & security. They base their expertise on flawed assumptions & can never bring peace. [Economists do the same thing & we tend to act as if we believe them]. Even though we’ve never known an economic system that works for everybody, we could hold on to our deepest beliefs & be confident, outspoken, & engaged. People who become experts in one small scientific domain rarely keep track of the bigger picture or the longer view. We need to call science back [from its service of corporate greed & military advancement] to its true vocation of helping us understand this world of which our species is a part. We need to practice & encourage each other to wade in among the experts & say, “I know what’s right.”
          The basic discipline of listening for what rings true involves aligning ourselves with right order; with the Divine, in our daily lives. [I seek to increase those moments when] I find myself engaged with life in a way that just seems right. What if we were to listen more carefully and more often for what rings true [in our daily lives and work]? What clutters our minds? [If the moments that ring true are all too few], we can look for where they happen most reliably. As we develop the discipline of listening for that clear and certain sound, new ways forward will open up. [Much of what we used to have to create] are now bought ready made—and many of them ring with a tinny sound. We separated from what rings true inside of us. I can think of no greater work of art than [a life full of] little moments of clarity, each inhabited fully, and no greater gift to our battered world.
          Risking Internal Disarmament—Another discipline involves dismantling our own defenses. [There is ample evidence that worldly armaments adds to rather than reduces global insecurity & death. I remember the irony that we may call for nations to lay down their arms, making themselves more vulnerable to attack, when we would never consider giving up the defenses that we’ve built up internally to protect or own vulnerability. We have internal bunkers, & patrols on our boundaries If we are armed to the teeth internally, how can we demand that others lay down their arms? Practicing disarmament ourselves reflects our own best interest. We spend time in our bunkers that could be spent out in the open learning, loving, & exploring frontiers. What does it mean to practice, to develop a discipline of disarmament? It involves dismantling inter-person weapons & defense systems [e.g.] blaming, keeping score, [holding] moral high ground, withholding love, martyrdom. It involves abandoning positions that see life as competitive endeavor & compassion & love as limited resources. We need to open ourselves to all these potentially devastating blows we can preach with integrity to the nations.
          Cultivating Courage/ Developing Our Workouts—These are times that call for tremendous courage to face down [towering] evils, to face loss & privation, to welcome chaos, to lead the way with loving confidence into the unknown. It takes courage to disarm. I think we need a courage project that acknowledges courageous moments, & looks where our fears keep us quiet & passive. [We need a place where we can] share successes or grieve failures. Courage in our daily lives might mean many things: tackling conflict in relationships; changing habits; living with less; training to be peacekeepers. We can think about courage projects individually; we can think about them as a family, neighborhood, faith community. What matters is taking that step with the intention of taking the one that comes after it and the one after that. Then ask: "If I felt braver, what would I do?
          Everybody can develop their own workout. My connection and reclaiming truth muscles could always use attention. My workout really needs to focus on internal disarmament, listening to what rings true, engaging in conflict, and cultivating courage. Ultimately powers and principalities must be engaged. How do you engage powers and principalities nonviolently? One of our tasks on earth becomes calling these institutions back to their divine vocation. Imagining being as confident, loving and sure with setting limits for what our world needs, as we are with our children. Much is possible when we work together. But 1st we have to practice.
          Queries: How do you see your role in "an army of nonviolence warriors?" How do you practice hope? What do you want to change about our present economic system and what would you want retain? How can conflict be a positive opportunity for growth?" How can you practice internal disarmament? What would your personal nonviolent training workout include? How can you practice nonviolence skills? Where can you find the strength and perseverance for waging peace?

New Testament and Divine Spirit Influences]—Early Quaker scholars sometimes used the primitive Church Fathers' writings to defend pacifism. In its 1st 2 or 3 centuries, the Church officially opposed Christian participation in war. Early Quakers thought of the whole period between early Christianity & themselves as a dark night of apostasy. They found their spiritual ancestors in an almost unbroken line of heretical sects including: Cathari; Waldenses; Franciscan Tertiaries; & Lollards. [Early Quaker contemporaries in radical pacifism included: Mennonites; Dutch Collegiants; Labadists; Schwenkfelders; Huterian Brethren; and others]. Penn invited all such sects to PA; many accepted, and their votes helped keep the Quaker minority in power. Penn's colony was the main breeding ground for Quaker, Mennonite, Brethren pacifists.
          The Society of Friends believed that the present Spirit of Christ in their hearts would not be at variance with the same Spirit as revealed in the Scriptures. Jesus' "violent sayings" were taken as figurative, [a spiritual challenge to the present spiritual order]. The belligerent commands of the Warrior God of the Old Testament were rejected in favor of Jesus' new religion and dispensation. Jonathan Dymond writes: "He who insists upon a pure morality applies to the New Testament; he who desires a little more indulgence defends himself by arguments from the Old." The Divine Spirit of Truth is the same divine Light which shines into every human soul, creating a bond of unity, of mutual reverence, and of understanding.
          [Early Quakers were not Peace Propagandists]—Not all Friends were pacifists at first. It took time to come to the view that fighting and violence were incompatible with the Spirit of Christ. Edward Burroughs writes to Irish soldiers: "This Light reproves you in secret of violence ... It will teach you not to make war but to preserve peace ... Your sword will be a terror and dread to those that fear the Lord God not."
          Fox and his fellow preachers were not peace propagandists. They were wary of teaching a religion based on ideas rather than on experience. Robert Barclay writes: "Friends were not gathered together by unity of opinion or by tedious ... notions and opinions ... but by a secret want, which many really tender and serious souls in [various] sects found in themselves which put [them] in search of something beyond all opinion which might satisfy their weary souls ... even God's righteous judgment in their hearts."
          Early Quakers directed seekers to life's & truth's source in the depths of the soul, not to the thinking mind's doctrines & theories. Fox took his hearers to Christ their teacher & left them there. It is remarkable how little of the vast sum of 17th, 18th, & 19th century Quaker literature is devoted to peace principles. Barclay devotes less space in his Apology to peace testimony than to oaths; Quakers suffered more for refusing to swear than for refusing to fight. Before the 20th century, Jonathan Dymond's Enquiry into the Accordancy of War with the Principles of Christianity (1823) was the only Quaker book devoted to the peace testimony. The 1st declaration against war was put forth by the Quakers in 1660 to clear themselves of an accusation of plotting against the King.
          [Taking a Stand]—The Quaker objection to war was based primarily on feeling & a dynamic intuition, an enhancement of life rather than a part of doctrine. Fox said that: "it leads out of wars ... of strife ... of the occasion of wars ... out of the earth up to God, & out of earthly mindedness into heavenly mindedness. The Light Within isn't conscience but rather what shines into conscience; training & environment influence conscience as well. The individual must educate & sensitize one's conscience to the Light of Truth. Conscience gives the highest knowledge of Light that we have at any one time, knowledge that becomes clearer as obedience grows.
          How do we choose between taking an absolute, uncompromising stand, far beyond what the average person would take, and taking a stand that is not so far ahead of average people so as to be out of touch with them? Thomas Story writes: "The Kingdom of this world will become the Kingdom of our God and of God's Christ ... As to us, we ... are of those in whom this prophecy is begun to be fulfilled." Isaac Penington writes: "Whoever desires to see this lovely state [of peace] brought forth in the general, must cherish it in the particular." George Fox writes: "The Peacemaker hath the kingdom and is in it and hath dominion over the peace-breaker to calm him down in the power of God."
          [Responding to "that of God" in Others &"War Taxes"]—The same Light shines in every heart however obscured by selfishness & greed. That of God in one person arouses similar capacity in the other; one tends to rise to what is expected of them. Non-resistance & goodwill sometimes fails, but so also does violent methods. [On the self-defense issue, Quakers might respond that they] would meekly suffer in the hope of persuading their assailant to desist or they might use violence if it didn't involve taking life or even not involve serious injury. Thomas Chalkey argues: "If I were killed in my body, my soul might be happy; but if I killed him, he dying in his wickedess would consequently be unhappy; and ... and if I killed him, he would have no time to repent."
          The absoluteness of the Quaker position did not for the most part prevent Friends from paying taxes to support the state. Thomas Story said to Peter the Great: "[We are] an industrious quiet people who readily pay taxes after the New Testament example to Caesar, who [directs and applies] government to peace or war, as it pleaseth him." This way of meeting the problem has not always been either approved or adopted.
          In 1755 a many Friends refused to pay a tax levied in PA largely for the purpose of waging Indian wars. [A committee of John Woolman's meeting couldn't reach unity & issued a non-committal report on the issue of paying or resisting taxes to wage the Indian wars. Joshua Evans writes: "I found it best for me to refuse paying demands on my estate which went to pay the expenses of war. Although my part might appear at best a drop in the ocean, yet the ocean, I considered, was made up of many drops." Most Friends withdrew from the Provincial Assembly, where they held 28 of 36 seats over this issue they opposed.

           Friends gave more than the amount of the war tax to secure peace through their "Friendly Association for Gaining and Preserving Peace with the Indians by Pacific Measures." It actually succeeded in accomplishing its purpose in 1758 at a cost of £5,000. Job Scott writes of the Revolutionary War: "The testimony of Truth & of our Society was clearly against paying such taxes as were wholly for war; many solid Friends manifested a lively testimony against the payment of those in the mixture; it appeared evidently to me to be on substantial ground, arising and spreading in the authority of truth."
          There is a still more difficult problem of keeping clear of preparations for war in a society so complex that it becomes impossible to avoid indirect participation in it. Many Friends have come to feel that their Divine Guide did not require of them more than seemed humanly possible. Friends mitigate their compliance by taxing themselves to support enterprises which aid in overcoming the evil effects of war or avoiding future wars. Civilian Public Service camps provide a place for draftees to perform tasks which do not further the war effort. The camps are supported by pacifist churches and from individual pacifists.
          [Quakers’ Active Pacifism]—Society members have been present on the following battle fronts: Irish War (1690); Revolutionary War (Boston, 1776); Greco-Turkish War (1828) Crimean War (1853); American Civil War (1861); Franco-Prussian War (1870); Boer Wars (1880, 1899); Balkan War (1912); WWI. John Greenleaf Whittier writes of the Civil War: "We owe it to the cause of truth to show that exalted heroism, generous self-sacrifice, [& relief of suffering] aren't incompatible with our pacific principles." War, unlike [natural disasters], is a result of wrong human attitudes such as hatred, greed, & fear & these qualities can only be changed by their opposites." Quakers frequently and publicly declare their desire to live as law-abiding citizens so long as the law did not conflict with the higher law in their consciences. George Washington found that a "Mr. Mifflin" opposed the Revolutionary War "upon the principle that ... all that was ever secured by revolution is not an adequate compensation for poor mangled soldiers and loss of life and limb"; Washington honored those sentiments.
          The impartial exercise of police power was to early Friends' minds different from war, in which there was neither law nor justice. Taking human life or vengeance wasn't a magistrate's right. Friends pioneered in doing away with violent methods of dealing with the insane, & Friends' schools early did away with corporal punishment. Several provisions of Penn's 1696 plan for the union of the American colonies were written into the US Constitution. John Bright was partly instrumental in preventing English entrance into the American Civil War.
          John Woolman writes: "When that spirit works which loves riches ... it desires to defend the treasures thus gotten ... [oppression] clothes itself with the name of justice and becomes like a seed of discord and the seeds of war swell and sprout ... May we look upon our Treasures, and furniture of our houses and the Garments in which we array ourselves and try whether the seeds of war have any nourishment in our possessions or not." Horace G. Alexander writes: "Pacifists are concerned that the community should check and prevent many of the evils that characterize the present acquisitive society. It is not state control, but world control they envisage."
          Quaker meetings undertook, through the religious, social and economic relations of its members, to outline a better social order made possible by its principles. Joseph Sturge writes: "It doesn't become a Christian to examine too closely one's probability of success, but rather to act in the assurance that, if one faithfully does one's part, as much success will attend one's efforts as is consistent with the will of [one's] Divine Leader ..." If a spiritual end is desired, a material means will not achieve it. The Christian way of life is such that to be genuine it must be adopted voluntarily, not under coercion. To assume there is no other way than violence to create a better human society is to assume that reformation is impossible.
          [Quakerism's Spiritual Weapons]—Quaker writings used the phrase "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal" a lot. Quakers considered themselves to be real fighters for Christ's kingdom. George Fox writes: "All such as pretend Christ Jesus and confess him, and yet run into the use of carnal weapons ... throw away the spiritual weapons." William Dewsbury was persuaded to leave the Parliamentary Army by the revelation that: "The Kingdom of Christ was within and the enemy was within and was spiritual; my weapons against them must be spiritual, the power of God." The main source of Quaker pacifism is an intuitive vision of the way which is not of this world, a way recognized as good in itself, regardless of its consequences.
          Edward Burroughs writes: "[The Lord] hath broken down that part in us that is related [to strife and enmity], and being dead in that nature of ... wars how can we live in strife and contention with the world ... Our kingdom is inward and our weapons are spiritual and our victory and peace is not of the world." Barclay said of those choosing "the way of the world": "We shall not say that war, undertaken upon a just occasion, is altogether unlawful to them." The militarist like the pacifist should live up to the highest that one knows. In doing so he may eventually discover a higher way of life than that which he at first adopted.
          In the terrible years of persecution under the Conventicle Acts (1664-1673), Friends, almost alone among Non-Conformists, held their meetings openly, in spite of [being subject to] wholesale arrests & the destruction of their meeting houses. Eventually, through this passive resistance & other circumstances, the right to worship God publicly according to conscience was won in the 4 or 5 colonies controlled by Quakers. The refusal of Quakers as persecuted minorities in the other colonies to pay tithes showed the advantage of freedom of worship, & were important factors in establishing religious liberty and separation of church and state in the US Constitution. There are many instances in Quaker history of the power of non-violence when used in love, and the protection afforded by a peaceable life and good will (e.g. living unmolested among Indians even during Indian raids, and being unmolested and feeding the hungry of both sides in Irish conflicts).
          [Quaker Non-participation in War]—From Quaker history's beginning, Friends suffered fines & imprisonment for non-participation in military service, even mob violence for not celebrating victories. In WWI, pacifists were eventually granted alternative service at home or they were furloughed to relief work in France with Friends Service Council (UK) or American Friends Service Committee. These circumstances & others like them are among elements which have built up a powerful tradition in the Society of Friends. No official pronouncement of any regularly constituted body of Friends has ever sanctioned participation in any war. Over time, Quaker supporters of current war have withdrawn [for the war's duration] or broken away completely. Every war has acted as a purge of nominal members, has awakened old members to new life & has brought in new member

           [Meetings for Worship]—Meetings for worship and worship with attention to business are training grounds in pacific methods. They are to the Society of Friends what the drill ground is to an army. There is no ritual, creed, hymn or liturgy to control religious expression. In silent worship or spontaneous speaking, a deep ground of unity and harmony is unitedly sought. True worship which pierces through the surface of the mind where multiplicity lies, finds in the depths, beyond words and even thoughts, "the hidden unity in the Eternal Being" (G. Fox). Community signifies [at its best this unity] from within, enabling them to work together, rather than external authoritarian means or threats of violence. [For example], at Westtown School, 1818-30, there was no corporal punishment without the Superintendent's permission. When the men teachers were united in a judgment for corporal punishment, 15-20 minutes of sitting in silence with the Superintendent was often enough "to operate upon the minds of the teachers that ... they would unitedly propose a milder treatment."
          In meetings for conducting the Society's business, decision can be made only when those present reach a state of unity. This peculiar method, while slower than voting, is more creative for it gives time for new points of view to arise out of the synthesis of old ones. [The group as a whole is more convinced this way as to the rightness of an action]. Pacifist programs seek for the solution of conflict that arises out of that unity, deep in the soul, which underlies all human differences and which is discovered through humble obedience to one Divine Voice. If time is allowed for the slow process of growth, if people can but refrain from hurried, arbitrary, or mechanical means, the truth can be found behind all the various and partial views of it. This extreme type of democracy in procedure presupposes equality of sex, race, and class. God's Spirit works best in an atmosphere of freedom, and humble openness to new revelations of truth.
          [Peace Testimony and Social Testimonies/ Conclusion]—Peace testimony and other social testimonies form a unit derived from a common source, but they also generate one another; equality and simplicity [when practiced remove] many seeds of war. Today's specialization and [many separate committees] runs the danger of so emphasizing the part that its meaning in the light of the whole is lost.
          Quakers have used authoritarian arguments around tradition and Jesus' teachings; they have used rational and pragmatic arguments about war as futile, stupid, wasteful, and incapable of achieving its stated ends. More often, they have employed arguments based on the direct insight of the soul into the nature of Truth and Goodness from Divine Light and Life. The Divine Light is not only the source of insight, but also the source of power. The Light shines deep within at the springs of the will. The will is not primarily influenced by arguments based on practical, logical or historical considerations, or by creedal statements. Only by drawing upon the inner sources of Truth and Life can a small minority hold fast to a position condemned by the great majority of humankind.
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153. The Mayer Boulding dialogue on peace research (by Kenneth Boulding; 1967)

          About the Authors: Kenneth Boulding—He was Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan; a founder and sustainer of the Center for Research on Conflict Resolution; major contributor to peace research.
          Milton Mayer—Consultant to Great Books Foundation; writes & lectures independently & controversially. He is Jewish and a member of the Society of Friends. This is a transcript of their dialogue in April of 1966.
          Foreword (by Cynthia Kerman and Carol R. Murphy)—These 2 men are well known for their sparkling wit, deep devotion to pacifism and the Society of Friends. “Peace Research” is the study of the causes of social and international conflict, and the conditions for its peaceful, non-violent resolution. The 2 disputants addressed themselves to the question: Is peace research a way to peace? On what shall we rely as the aribiter of Truth: relentless intellectual honesty and science, or the distilled wisdom of the ages informed by the Light Within? As Matthew 10:16 says: “Be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
          The Place of Peace Research—MILTON MAYER: Of my own knowledge I only know that man is corrupt unto death, [born corrupt & corrupted by life]. I know of no evidence that man can think himself out of big, [endless] troubles. [Is reason such that] it will move men to their salvation? [Does] the “executive power of the will lie in the passions, regulated by moral & spiritual virtues? I submit that the peace researcher’s role in relation to the peacemaker, is more modest than that of the general contractor to one building a house.
          I want a peaceable world. The building blocks of a peaceable world are peaceable men. Since I know in general how to build peace, the researcher [is more of a] subcontractor. The peace researcher may think that his role is more consequential because the world is changing. The special complexities of our age are so demanding, that they are leaving less and less time for the cultivation of general [understanding].
          Learning is an Evolutionary Process—KENNETH BOULDING: There is a certain amount of truth in this talk about corruption and original sin, but the plain fact is, we do learn things. There is an evolutionary process which goes on in social systems. Evolution is a learning process, and learning is an evolutionary process. I would guess that in the Paleolithic, knowledge doubled every 50,000 years. Today knowledge doubles about every 15 years. When you have a rate of change of human knowledge as rapid as we have now, this alters your values too. It introduces profound changes into the learning process by which we learn our values. What we think of as human nature develops out of the experience of the individual.
          The social sciences represent a fundamental change in the image of man and his society. They mean the development of social self-consciousness. This is a universe in profound disequilibrium, in constant change, and at the present moment this part of the universe is in explosive change.
          Different Kinds of Knowledge—KENNETH BOULDING: There is a distinction between methods of acquiring knowledge which involves the system’s complexity. The more experience you have the better off you are; but this isn't adequate for complex systems. In social systems, we are often trying to do “social astronautics” with a flat-earth image. Some at the State Department are seeking ancient, classical solutions to modern-day war.
          One of the great problems of the international system is that it is operated by folk knowledge, and by very haphazard images of the world. I think people ought to discover what their own business is and mind it. The progress is not all due to economics, but some of it is. Some of it is just a plain increase in knowledge. We know how to get a reasonable rate of economic development. But in the international system, this knowledge is not there. There is no system of careful collection and processing and world-wide coding. I am optimistic enough to think this can happen in the international system. I don’t really think the problem of war and peace is any more intrinsically difficult than the problem of unemployment. I am sure there are a lot of things like this in which knowledge, or the use of it is the crucial factor.
          Knowledge & Moral Understanding—MILTON MAYER: What are the kinds of knowledge I need in order to contribute to the making of peace? I don’t see any point at which more knowledge would have enabled me better to confront crises. What Kenneth is telling us is that there isn’t very much that we can learn about man from the past. If I accept this view, it seems to me that I eliminate the only body of knowledge that might conceivably be of any use to me in the moral & emotional crises. What are the raw materials I need for peace research, that I could turn over to peace research or social science, [and expect a concrete, useful answer].
          What is it that I could teach or that I could learn that would be of some use to me in my world peace-making efforts? I need peace research to tell me how to influence politics. This is the knowledge I need; this is the knowledge that I haven’t found or that I haven’t even heard about.
          Systems and Society—KENNETH BOULDING: Never underestimate the power of a saint & sacred history. These are things which create great symbolic movements, & affect politics. Sacred histories, which really write the world's history, are very hard to detect in the early stages. I am in favor of [“useless”] knowledge; the pursuit of it has been very important in human history; scientific revolution arises out of it. Most of what we know about the human organism comes from reflection, poetry, insight, empathy, & imagination. Because of the failure to understand [some of society’s principles], very often goodness produces very different effects from what it thinks it is going to. This could be true likewise in the peace movement. If we want to operate in a social system we have to understand it, because a social system represents the interaction of people at an abstract level.
          Decisions which people are going to make depend on their image of the social system and the way it operates. [People are dealing with the present-day world using lessons learned in the early decades of their lives]. Unless you can develop more subtle and realistic images of the world, we’ll just go on doing this. The willingness to do things today that we weren’t willing to do 30 years ago, is a result of a perverse learning process; the only answer to a perverse learning process is a better learning process.
          MILTON MAYER: So far you’ve been assuming that the moral element [we] needed was already there. Isn’t [it rather] that no matter how much morality [and knowledge there] is around, there is a kind of gap between them that we don’t understand and are not likely to fill merely by more knowledge?
          KENNETH BOULDING: I am saying that on the whole people tend to want very much the same sort of right things. They’re just ignorant, they don’t know how to get what they want [or agree on how to get it]. Government is going to be sensitive in the long run to strong and well-founded intellectual criticism.
          MILTON MAYER: “Governments rather depend on men than men upon governments [William Penn].” What do the findings of such peace research as we now have in hand indicate that we should do?
          KENNETH BOULDING: The most important thing we did at the Conflict Resolution Center was the study of the economics of disarmament. After it everybody thought it was a difficult problem [rather than an impossible one]. The last 15 years have seen at least the beginnings of some real theory in the field [of inter-national systems]. Even Kahn and Schelling and other war-hawks are doing some valuable work. It’s hard to get historians to study the processes that lead to stable peace.
          The diagram of the phases of ice and water has striking parallels to that for peace and war. There is a pressure aspect to it [i.e. arms race], and the temperature corresponds to the warmth of the international system. If you’re close to the boundary of ice and water [war and peace], and there is evidence we are, How do you get over the boundary between war and peace? [You can] reduce the pressure (disarmament) or increase the temperature (cultural exchange). We need studies of how we got personal disarmament in various societies.
          I think the most important thing a man can do is to believe that peace is possible; and the second is to say to other people that this is so. It is a social problem of the same order of magnitude as unemployment. Under certain circumstances, relatively small changes in what we call the parameters of a system produce enormous changes in the system itself. There is a social watershed between systems of stable peace and systems of unstable peace. We may be much closer to the watershed on this than we think. What I advocate on Viet Nam is a humiliating defeat. I think this would be terribly good for us; it releases you.
          Do we Know Enough? Is it enough to Know?—BOULDING: What is it that we know that is enough?
          MAYER:
         1. If you keep moving, they can’t hit you.                  6.  The kingdom of Satan is within you.
      2.  It is better to be a live lion than a dead                  7.  It is not a moral, but a scientific assertion, to say
               rabbit.                                                                          that evil should not be done that good may
      3.  Of the 3 goods in life, the most dispensable                     come of it; evil is certain;
               is reputation, and the least dispensable is                  good is contingent.
               money [the other is health].                                  8.  The unexamined life is not worth living.
      4.  It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a          9.  He who would follow Christ must also do the
               pig satisfied.                                                                   things that Christ does, if he can.
      5.  There being no social organism, but only moral- BOULDING:
               ly responsible persons [means] there are no       10.  Nothing fails like success

social sciences, & the social revolution will be 11. Nothing succeeds like failure.

               a moral revolution or it will not be at all.                 12.  God is love.
          KENNETH BOULDING: To make use of these truths we need a new language. How do we persuade people to take the trouble to learn a language? In applying our intelligence to anything, do we apply enough intelligence & in what direction? Insight is the origin of knowledge; insights are mutations, without which you don’t get knowledge. Why did Quakerism fail? They got inward peace, but inward peace isn’t the same as knowledge and outward peace. Truth is both the opposite of lies, and the opposite of error. There’s an enormous need for the marriage of these 2 concepts of truth. Love is not enough. Love without knowledge will destroy us.
          MILTON MAYER: I too think love is not enough; it is only the greatest of these. Inward peace is not the same as world peace, but it is better than no peace at all. The ends of man are moral, determined by will. The means are moral, because of their power to pervert the end, or divert it altogether. If a peace research project proves Kenneth to be right about defeat being the best thing that could happen to a country, what is to be done with the findings of this project? One of the things peace research might do is to measure the effectiveness of action. Which project shall we do if the effectiveness of a morally right project is smaller than that of a morally wrong one? [We shall choose the morally right project regardless of effectiveness]. Whether we are at the beginning or the end of human history is God’s determination to make & not ours. We are always at the be-ginning & always at the end. Under these circumstances I say that I know what to do, and what I need is to do it.
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110. The Covenant of Peace: a personal witness (by Maurice Friedman; 1960)

           About the Author—Maurice Friedman (1921-2012) is a religious scholar. He has addressed Martin Buber & psychology. He worked with Buber’s writing at Pendle Hill during the 1940s, before he got his Ph.D. in 1950 from Chicago University. He taught at California University—San Diego for 40 years, retiring in 1991. He has written more than 12 books. Following retirement, he continued to do dialogical work psychotherapy in Solana, CA. In this pamphlet, the author traces his life & thought from the Biblical covenant to the peace covenant.
               We live in an age of compounded crises, an age of hot & cold war & the constant threat of total annihilation by the weapons that we ourselves have perfected; it is an age more and more bereft of authentic human existence. In our age the great peacemakers Mohandas Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, and Martin Buber have emerged. Gandhi, [introduced us to] satyagraha, “soul force.” Schweitzer expressed a practical “reverence for life.” Martin Buber found in the Biblical Covenant real reconciliation between conflicting claims.
          Pacifism & Social Consciousness—I was chock full of a Sunday-school morality of peace, brotherhood, justice. These values, combined with the anti-militaristic slant of social studies in the 1930s, gave me an active social conscience which applied itself to problems of social reform & international relations. I [had] to tackle the extreme conflict of values that I experienced when I juxtaposed my hatred of the Nazis with my hatred for war.
          Most important for me then was a growing conviction that only good means can lead to good ends. All of my studies combined to teach me that balance of power was not the way to peace. The “war to end wars” only sowed the seed for future wars; the war “to make the world safe for democracy” helped bring on totalitarianism. This new [“cold”] war would [bring] the very militarism that I feared. [The problem with using war as a means is that while we may] want this war to end war, along with the end we have in mind may come 6 or 12 equally important consequences which we do not have in mind. The belief that the means must correspond to the end questions whether that end will be reached by any means that are not like it.
          [I went through hypothetical cases & mathematical probabilities in trying to reach a decision]. My alternatives seemed to boil down to doing nothing [i.e. Civilian Public Service camps] & doing what seemed harmful [i.e.] taking part in a war that was likely to produce new wars; it was a choice between evils. Morality is the tension, the link, the real relation between what in this situation I can do and what I ought to do.
          Mysticism and Humble Love—When I wrote my statement for the draft board, the only religion I was able to claim was the conviction that the meaning of my life lay in doing good for others and that I was not willing to take part in a war that meant denying this purpose. Pacifism for me became absolute and a way of life. There were so many examples of an all-encompassing spiritual unity beside which the immediate goals of my social action days fade into obscurity.
          Along with St. Francis and his Prayer to be an instrument of God’s peace, came the image of the Quaker saint James Naylor. Each morning when I awake [with] Kenneth Boulding’s sonnet [“I ... have seen the day with eastern fire cleanse the foul night away”] is with me and each evening when I go to sleep St. Francis comes to me with his prayer [“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace”]. In Dostoevsky’s Father Zossima, I found an image of active love, [humble love. Zossima says:] “Always decide to use humble love. If you resolve that once for all, you may subdue the whole world. . . If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. . . And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.”
          [Even] though my own grandfather was an adherent of Hasidim—the popular mysticism of East European Jewry, I had never even heard of Jewish mysticism. And I was asked the question: How can a Jew be a pacifist in the face of Nazi persecution of the Jews? I cannot dismiss [the extermination of 6,000,000 Jews] as an unfortunate detour of history. [I am] no longer an absolute pacifist nor a believer in absolute non-resistance to evil.
          The Biblical Covenant—I entered Judaism through the door of Hasidism, with its ecstasy, its emphasis on inner intention, its joy, and its loving humility. In Hasidism I found an image of an active love and fervent devotion no longer coupled with self-denial or metaphysical theorizing about unity with the divine. It is to the Bible that I finally turned for a new foundation for my own witness for peace.
          No one can read the stark happenings of the Bible and the intimate mingling of the word of God with the violent conflicts of men without fear and trembling. For all that, the God of the Hebrew Bible is not a God of war, and he must not be understood as such. This God is the God of the historical situation, of the cruel historical demand. This is the God of the covenant . . . the God through which Israel accepts the task of realizing justice, righteousness, and lovingkindness in genuine communal life that makes it a people. This is the God of the historical demand, but also of compassion, whose covenant of peace shall not be removed from man.
          On Israel is laid the task of initiating the kingdom of God, but kingdom itself will only come into being when all nations have come to Zion to receive the law. The realization of the kingship of God means the realization of peace. Isaiah’s vision of peace is an integral part of the historical covenant between God and Israel, an integral address from God to the people in a new historical situation.
          The Covenant of Peace—Out of the Biblical covenant grows the peace covenant. The Biblical peace covenant isn't a consolation at history’s end or an eternity above it; it is an integral part of history, of the tension between present and future, the dialectic between comfort and demand. A peace witness based on the covenant of peace cannot be an “absolute” pacifism, for in history there is no room for absolutes. The only absolute is God.
          The absolutist knows what is right before he reaches a situation; his action is something imposed on the situation. What is [needed] is the most adequate response possible in a [particular] situation, which is always in need of redemption and never entirely redeemable. Plato and the absolutist sets a timeless ideal that history is supposed to approach. The result is [that] it becomes a temptation to impose the truth on the situation in a way that recognizes neither the possibilities of the situation nor the need for communication with those involved.
          The Biblical covenant implies risk—one responds without certainty as to the result—& trust—if one responds as best one may, this will be the work that one can do toward establishing the peace covenant. If we succumb to the merely political, we shall have reinforced the mistrust between nations that makes them deal with each other in terms of [depersonalizing] political abstractions & catch words. [Education on an issue] must be concerned about real communication with the people whom it approaches [& not with] imposing one’s truth. We must confirm him even as we oppose him, in his right to oppose us, in his existence as a valued human being.
          “Nonviolence” claims too much. To claim that nonviolence is always possible ignores facts of personal & social existence. The violence lying just beneath the surface in so much of family life, civic and governmental administration, give glaring evidence of how much the alternatives “violent” and “nonviolent” falsify the concrete situation. “Nonviolence” claims too little. One may be nonviolent and still offer answers without listening to the other’s questions. They may still be imposing truth on people, placing political abstraction above social realities. [True] nonviolence is grounded in personal existence and genuine relation to other persons.
          Modern Biblical Morality & Reconciliation—[In applying modern biblical morality to the Jewish settlements of Palestine], Martin Buber wrote: “I belong to a group of people who from the time when Britain conquered Palestine, have not ceased to strive for the concluding of a genuine peace between Jew and Arab . . . By a genuine peace we . . . infer that both people should together develop the land without the one imposing its will on the other.” Modern biblical morality, between man and man and between nation and nation, means dialogue.
           Dialogue means the meeting with the other person, the other group, the other people—a meeting that confirms it in its otherness yet does not deny oneself and the ground on which one stands, [a meeting] that heeds, affirms, confirms his opponent as an existing other. Conflict certainly cannot be eliminated from the world, but [it] can be arbitrated and led towards its overcoming. Genuine reconciliation must begin with a fully realistic and honest recognition of differences and points of conflict, [and move towards] a meeting which will include both conflicting points of view. The necessary first step toward reconciliation is recognition of the real claims and differences of interest. Second is the realistic recognition of the difficulties of reconciling these claims (no objective arbitration is possible), and third is seeking new and creative ways of reconciliation.
          Under the Shadow of the Bomb—Self-preservation, the self-understood basic principle of the modern nation, no longer has much meaning where self-preservation means total domination or total annihilation. Martin Buber wrote in 1952: “The human world is today, as never before, split into two camps, each of which understands the other as the embodiment of falsehood and itself as the embodiment of truth.” C. Wright Mills writes: “They search for peace by military means and in doing so, they succeed in accumulating ever new perils. Moreover, they have obscured this fact by their dogmatic adherence to violence as the only way of doing away with violence. We have to ask: [War is] immoral, for whom? What do we mean by moral?
          I do not think we have accomplished very much by saying war is immoral. Our real responsibility is not making moral judgment from some superior perspective but responding to the claim of the present situation. America my country, a country which has occupied the stage as the world power but must now, more seriously than before, take into consideration the real existence of the “other” civilization, culture, values, political power. A positive relationship to this hostile other is the only way in which we can continue to exist as a nation.

Means & Ends Reconsidered—A “good end” is the good that is created again & again in lived relations between persons, within & between groups. A “good means” is the whole of the present situation as it leads to the future. The purity of the means I use is less important than the faithfulness of my & our response. This begins with awareness & responsibility, but it ends with trust. I [went from] circulating petitions or organizing meetings to ... renouncing all action until I should achieve that spiritual realization which would make action “effective.” I set about realizing my spiritual unity with all men through resolutely turning away from them.
My present view of ends & means is thoroughly dialogical. The “inner light,” the stirring, prompting, or leading exists in the between—between man & situation, between man & the message that “speaks to his condition,” between man & divine spirit, between man & “still small voice.” We can't cease to discover & proclaim what steps may be taken toward some relief of conflicts, some first step of communication & cooperation. Though we live under the shadow of the hydrogen bomb, we stand under the cover of the eternal wings.
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412. Answering the Violence: Encounters with Perpetrators (by John Lampen; 2011)
           About the Author—John Lampen is member of Stourbridge Local Meeting (Britain YM). Born in 1938, he served as a soldier during the Cyprus insurgency; he became a Quaker in 1968. He worked 20 years with emotionally disturbed teenage boys. He & his wife Diana lived & worked in Northern Ireland (1983-1994). They have worked in postwar reconstruction in the former Yugoslavia, South Africa, Uganda, Denmark, the former Soviet Union, and the US. One of his books is The Peace Kit: Everyday Peacemaking for Young People.
          [Introduction]—[After hearing news] that “Indians had taken a fort from the English westward & slain … English people,” John Woolman was frightened, & his wife still more so, “but in a few hours my mind became settled in a belief that it was my duty to proceed.” Smoldering ruins of a native village reminded him there were perpetrators on both sides. “Love is the 1st motion, & then a concern arose to spend some time with the Indians, that I might feel & understand their life & the spirit they live in, if haply [we might learn from each other].”
           Quaker peacemakers in our time have gone to meet perpetrators of violence, approaching in a friendly way those commanding or committing violence, [on whatever side]. Speaking truthfully with those who use the power of violence came quite late in Quaker peace testimony's evolution. It began as refusal to fight, but Friends were sensitive to the charge of [letting] others fight for them. [The idea of] Quaker relief work developed.
           The 3rd step was to try removing causes of war. Before the American War of Independence, David Barclay & John Fothergill did shuttle diplomacy between the British cabinet & Ben Franklin in an effort to prevent it. [Similar & unpopular efforts were made] to prevent the Crimean War. I will give some modern examples of Quakers sitting down with “men of blood.” I won’t discuss freeing hostages & will mostly avoid political mediation.
           These examples include single or occasional meetings which seek understanding & accommodation. An individual or family may begin a [long-term] residence, a ministry of presence, without offering solutions [See Ezekiel 3:15]. Listening in a deep loving way is a healing act, [but it can be a] slow, often frustrating process, which may never yield a visible result. Wolf Mendl writes: “In doing this, the means become part of the end. We lose the sense of helplessness & futility in face of the world’s crushing problems … & the craving for success, focusing on the goal to the exclusion of the way of getting there; it cannot be planned; its end can't be foretold.”
           We had been visiting since 1976. I arrived [to stay for 11 years] in 1983 and the family a year later, after a step-by-step process where we were led to make our home there. For 3 months in apartheid South Africa we met people like Desmond Tutu, Ela Gandhi (granddaughter of Mohandas), also a few hardline people on both sides of the racial divide. Everyone had her or his own story, which made sense to them.
           We soon realized in Northern Ireland that normal divisions of society tended to be along the same lines. The terms “Catholic” & “Protestant” are more cultural than religious. When the Irish Free State was formed in 1921, 6 northeastern counties (⅔’s Protestant), remained part of the United Kingdom. The Catholic minority’s civil rights were curtailed. Protestant police resorted to violence, & law & order nearly broke down. The British government sent in the Army. The IRA emerged to challenge police & army. The IRA splintered, & armed groups appeared on the Protestant side. The police & army brought in their own units operating outside the law.
           [With all its trouble], Derry or Londonderry was a beautiful, historic city of about 100,000 that had the strongest feeling of community we had ever known. [Many unemployed], talented people involved themselves in youth work, community enterprise, adult education, music, art, etc. We were immediately made to feel welcome. Years after we left, we still sometimes feel homesick for Londonderry.
           Objections to Dialogue—The idea of dialogue with the perpetrators of violence is a difficult one. How can we dialogue with [groups some consider evil]? It be very painful to their victims to see a group like Friends with a reputation for integrity giving them any credibility. Hugh and Shifa Doncaster say: “To help the guilty requires grace. And to help them one must be in contact.” The International Council on Human Rights reports: “It seems clear from our research that no simple generalization or moral judgment can be easily made about the behavior … of armed groups. Willingness to criticize abuses by an armed group is … influenced by whether [they have or lack sympathy for their cause].”
           A leader in one group immediately challenged me to explain the moral basis of my intervention. When I said that I believed that every act of violence made it harder to build the peace everyone wanted, he seemed satisfied. H. W. van der Merwe writes: “How can concern for the oppressed be expressed without sacrificing this impartiality [of the mediator] and without estranging the oppressor? … Genuine concern can be expressed for a group without supporting any of its particular stands, goals, policies or methods.”
The Derry Peace and Reconciliation Group (PRG) in Northern Ireland was in regular contact with illegal organizations over many issues. Many Catholics deeply disliked the IRA and the smaller republican groups; many Protestants felt the same about the unionist organizations. Both groups of people felt that the perpetrators should not be given legitimacy by groups such as the PRG. It was essential for a few people to engage in dialogue to sort out those problems that could be addressed.
           Another of PRG’s aims was “to narrow the gap between the police and the community,” and it cultivated good relationships with officers in the police and British Army. [Calling the police on unnecessary house raids] helped give PRG credibility with the local IRA. Some of the Quaker Youth Theatre joined a summer play program through housing estates on both sides of the divide. [There were objections to doing shows for] the children of the army camp. PRG saw this view as partisan and did shows for them anyway.
           The local army commander invited PRG members to come and talk to all its soldiers before they 1st went out on the streets. In talking to insurgents, Quaker peacemakers have been accused of “giving support [and credibility] to the enemy” and compromising our witness against violence. Where I lived, the illegal groups, police and British Army, already had plenty of credibility. Trust in me came slowly, through my willingness to talk to anyone on any side in the cause of peace.
           They are 3 ways to meet objections: stay in touch with ones constituency; consult with them; recognize dangers to ones self & those to whom one talks. Friends have to consider if meeting with someone endangers them. Friends have a track record in even-handed peacebuilding. In order to establish ones own credentials, one must 1st avoid preaching. Adam Curle comments on “speaking truth to power”: “A ringing denunciation of policies … might be treated with cold courtesy or hot anger, the message … would have been unheard.”
           [Language is very important in naming] people, groups, and even places without giving offense or showing bias. My soldier experience was an advantage with police and army. I got helpful introductions, but personal trust needs more than that and takes time to grow. Steve Williams was able to pass messages between politicians [who wouldn’t meet under normal circumstances]. There is a dilemma of how to deal with [chance information], deciding whether to keep a secret or save someone’s life. Sydney Bailey writes: “Both sides would like to have Quaker goodwill and support. We are sometimes given incomplete or even false information in an effort to gain our approval; such things are likely to happen in the early meetings; truthfulness grows with trust.
           Toward a Relationship—The 1st objective of Friends who feel drawn to these encounters should be “to feel & understand the life & spirit they live in, if haply I might receive instruction from them.” [Coming with “your analysis” is never helpful]. One must understand with heart as well as head. N. Ramamurthy writes: “In initial stages I spend a lot of time with them … & eat the same food as they were eating … Some of the medical help we gave the refugees played an important part in meeting their immediate needs.” Listening helps grasp the armed group’s philosophy & moral principles.” [I pointed out to an IRA commander that attacking hospitals will ensure that they not be seen as legitimate]. Dialogues can be used to hold perpetrators to their own highest standards, [& can be successful sometimes even with groups who prove to be beyond the reach of human sympathy].
           Sue Williams writes: “[There's a special relationship with political leaders here; they believe I won’t kill them; they accept that I don’t want them dead, even when I disagree.” [Speaking to a leader’s isolation, Adam Curle comments]: “Leaders … need friendship & support from people they know will tell them the truth, who have no axe to grind, & who manifest genuine goodwill.” Will Warren writes: “I have always maintained that I served as a facilitator assisting both parties to meaningful communication & gain reliable information. [I said nothing about what to do with the information]. It was up to them to decide how they would use these insights.”
           Many peacemakers have found that groups have wildly inaccurate views of their opponents, especially that they will cave in with violence maintained or increased. 2 Friends spoke on shuttle diplomacy in the India-Pakistan war of 1965; 1st, Joseph Elder: “We decided we would have a 3-person silent meeting for worship to prepare ourselves … each of us shared our own sense of inadequacy … yet each sensing something like a “Quaker legacy, [a power well beyond us] that we had been drawing on throughout the trip.” And Adam Curle: “The importance of listening then is that we not only “hear” the other in a profound sense but communicate with him or her through our true nature … [Through attentive listening], they not only discover what may be vital to know, but they reach the part of the other person that is really able to make peace, both inwardly & outwardly.”
           [Hearing personal reasons is important]. When poisonous feelings [& loss] are expressed & received in a loving, nonjudgmental spirit, & not countered, contradicted, or blamed, there's a moment of healing. Goran Bozicevic says of meeting with Croatia war veterans: “War veterans have become turned on to nonviolence … In this dialogue of ‘good guys’ (peace activists) & ‘bad guys’ (war veterans)—both sides are changing! [I call this] a real breakthrough…War veterans aren’t virtual creatures, they are neighbors & relatives…We aren’t meeting “them”; we … are meeting some other ‘us,’ some other aspect of ourselves.” [Sometimes a “soldier” or a “terrorist” will share their uneasiness with their role, perhaps even what a teenage son thinks about his involvement].
           [When a young member of an army with a bad reputation for its harsh style of operation] gets a blood-thirsty verbal response from a young woman, he is at a loss for how to respond, & the older soldiers identified with how he felt]. People often don’t realize that leaders disillusioned with violence & looking for peaceful paths may be putting their own lives in danger [e.g. Protestant John McMichael & IRA’s Martin McGuiness]. Will Warren enlisted Martin’s cooperation in mitigating the ferocity of IRA “punishment,” & in negotiating an agreement between armed groups that no one be killed because of his or her religious faith or political views. Will Warren’s work in Londonderry is comparable to John Woolman’s visits to southern slave owners. Both showed how a genuine love for perpetrators could exist alongside deep concern for the victims.
           It's clear to me that true listening isn’t just a matter of informing ourselves. It's an act of love, “the first motion,” as John Woolman said. Will Warren writes: “I’m certain it was only because I treated them as friends that I had influence on them at all, & they had an influence on me … This is how reconciliation works.” His friends included: gunmen & leaders on both sides of the divide, clergy [of both faiths], community workers, politicians, policemen & their commanders. [He was influential with young men who refused to join an armed group].
           One of my own friends in Northern Ireland was Gusty Spence, a former UDF leader. He made an apology to all the victims of their violence and their families. He worked to develop more peaceful attitudes in the hardline area where he lived. For both of us on lonely journeys, it was good to be able to work with a person of very different background. As friendship and trust grow, so does honest speaking. [One American mediator’s burst of anger turned mediation in a favorable direction] because of the trust and respect they already had felt for him.
           There is a danger in friendship, of peacemakers losing impartiality, which is crucial to their role. In South Africa, H. W. van der Merwe’s tactics were to “express disapproval of violence on both sides, sympathy with the victims & the goodwill that existed on both sides, & my intention to make contributions to the victims on both sides; he was attacked by both sides for sympathizing with the other. The ANC in exile had noted & approved his action. The Quakers in diplomacy between East & West Germany adopted the practice of never saying anything on one side of the Wall that they wouldn’t say on the other. Trusted private intermediaries provide communication unlike any other; one should never to agree to carry a threat & be careful of journalists’ speculations.
           Changing Behavior—The International Council on Human Rights says: “Direct dialogue with armed groups by independent actors has brought results on human rights issues in a number of countries on a number of issues. While dialogue on individual cases may produce immediate results … real change in the group’s behavior will take time. [Narrowly focused dialogue] can create the space for a broader dialogue about a just resolution to the conflict.” Sue & Steve Williams say: “What seems appropriate is a working relationship aimed at a shared goal of improving communication & modifying a destructive political process … based on building trust.”
           Escalation of conflict is a process which seems to have a life of its own, directed more by rumors & misperceptions than by deliberate decisions to increase violence. The same incident is often recounted in 2 widely differing & inflammatory versions on either side of the community. Coming to a shared view of what happened was an important way of preventing escalation. PRG operated a telephone service for checking out rumors in the city at times of tension, used by local leaders on both sides. Quaker House, Belfast often used contacts in the local community to defuse tensions, especially when parades or marches were planned. Since no one wants disturbances outside their own front doors, tactical interventions were generally welcomed & can build the trust.
           Alternative strategies to violence. Leaders of insurgencies have sometimes stated that they don’t like violence, but they don’t know of any other way. When no one would talk with the IRA unless they gave up its violent campaign, & IRA wouldn’t give up their main negotiating card, Father Alec Reid gained the trust of Sinn Fein. He persuaded them there was common ground with other nationalists, who talked to Sinn Fein about shared goals to show Sinn Fein violence was obstructing progress toward them. This opened an alternative path. Adam Curle writes: “[To the question] ‘why not try talking rather than shooting? The reply not infrequently is: we would like to but … The task is then to analyze the nature of the “buts” & see if they can't be eliminated.”
           Armed groups always fear that any reduction in violence will appear as weakness to opponents. [The usual escalation process] can be reversed. One side can make a clear & significant, but not irreversible, reduction in arms & signals that it wants a response. If that comes, the side will make a further move. The aim is gradual creation of trust. It is important that the signals of each side are correctly read by the other as de-escalatory moves.
           Soldiers started expressing anxiety about the IRA’s new “coffee jar bomb,” & whether a thrown glass object was full of nails & explosive or an empty bottle. The IRA said we could tell them that these bombs were only thrown by trained adult, IRA volunteers. The commanding officer confirmed the truth of the IRA statement, & parents were educated about the danger to youngsters throwing bottles; these bombs were subsequently not used.
           Exploring the possibility of mediation is the reason for talking to perpetrators that is easiest for the world to accept. H. W. reminded us: “Not all conflict situations call for mediation … Mediation must not be used to hold back the inevitable process of change.” Where Friends discern that it is possible and right to suggest mediation, violent parties to the conflict may have more reason to trust them than other intermediaries, because Friends were willing to meet them when they were pariahs (See Adam Curle’s Tools for Transformation).
           Criteria—Talking to the perpetrators of violence is a small part of Quaker witness for peace. Even in skilled hands the work can go wrong. It has seldom if ever provided the resolution of a major conflict, but it has often been a contributing factor. [Some questions to ask before beginning are: Will the work minister to the needs of the suffering civil population? Do some of the people living in the situation have a fairly clear view of our capabilities and limitations and still want us to come? How accurate is the workers’ understanding of the conflict? Inadequate briefing, preparation, and support can be disastrous.
           Ultimately, talking to people of violence is one way to witness to our belief about “that of God in everyone” [and possibly] reduce the amount of evil in the world. I agree with John Woolman & Wolf Mendl that results are up to God; [small things can matter, sometimes] more than the activity to which I gave the most thought & effort. God can use our mistakes, too. Love must be the 1st motion, closely followed by careful thought about the consequences and a scrupulous assessment of our capabilities. William Penn said: “They were changed men themselves, before they went about to change others.”
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358. Reflections from a Prayer Vigil for Peace (by John Andrew Gallery; 2001)
          About the Author—John Andrew Gallery lives in Philadelphia, PA, where he is a member of the Chestnut Hill MM. This pamphlet was the 1st one written after the 9/11/01 attack on the World Trade Towers.
          Introduction—When NATO bombings of Kosovo began in April 1999, I & other Quakers began a prayer vigil for peace on Independence Mall & have continued it each Sunday since. I was led by God to do so; it is an important part of my spiritual practice & my understanding of what it is to be a peaceful person in this indifferent world. 2½ years later, the US & Great Britain have started bombing Afghanistan. Independence Mall, has a long line waiting to see the Liberty Bell, & 20-25 police standing on the sidewalk for no apparent reason. The reporter couldn't believe we thought a peaceful non-violent response was appropriate. I made a button saying Peace Be With You; many people took one.
          Since 9/11, I found myself questioning the point of the vigil more than I usually do. I've written reports justifying the vigil, but the truth is, in my heart I haven't always convinced myself. In meeting for worship a week or so ago I spoke of St. Francis of Assisi walking through a village and then home again. When asked if he was going to preach, he said, "We did." All St. Francis did was be visible and by doing so showed the village people there was another way to live your life. Today there were only 8 of us. To be visible was enough; to continue to reinforce the resolve of those who share that view. Peace be with you. Stand for Peace.
          Sowing Peace: January 2000—As we maintained our weekly Sunday vigil, I reflected on the parable of the sower whose seed falls on rock, in weeds & on fertile ground. For me, the parable illustrates the characteristics of a man living in God's Kingdom. How does the parable of the sower tell us anything about living in God's Kingdom? When I plant a garden, my planting actions are based on a desire to control the results of my actions—to insure that every seed grows, even though they won't & will have to be thinned out. The sower in the parable takes a different approach. He knows that every seed can't grow. He knows that controlling every seed is pointless. He doesn't try to control his action's outcome; he isn't overly concerned with the results; he trusts God.
          Not being concerned with results is hard; accepting a best different from mine is hard. The "best" or right action out of concern for NATO bombings was to be a visible reminder that peace is the essential goal. I had no idea what the results of carrying a peace sign might be; I didn't care. I was simply trusting God that something good might come of this. A group of Asian tourists had their pictures taken with us. [I wonder what effect those pictures will have on them & on their friends back home]. By standing on the mall, I throw my seeds. I trust God will find fertile ground for them to fall on, & that each seed that grows will eventually produce an great harvest.
          Clouds: March 2000—On this day my eyes & mind drift back & forth between the people & the sky above, mostly a shade paint stores would call "sky blue." Each week there is at least 1 person who catches [my eye]. There is an Asian American on a mountain bike, who glances, reads the signs, nods his head, & holds a fist high in agreement. Except for him it was the sky that held my attention. The clouds, like big balls of cotton, drift from left to right, often changing as they go. They drift across the world with indifference.
          I see these gleaming white, huge puffed-up shapes, sometimes drifting, sometimes racing by on a wind I cannot feel. God put sun and air and water together and provided an opportunity for something unexpected and unplanned to happen. God has put things out there for me to interact with, and when I am in harmony with God these interactions produce wonderful and unexpected results. Being in the natural world gives a sense of me as a small creature, one of many, vibrating in harmony with all the others.
          It inspires my spiritual thought. In Buddhism there is relating to a spiritual life like relating to a stream. One can sit by a stream & admire it; there is putting your toes in the water, just testing it. Entering the stream is making a serious commitment to a spiritual life with a consistent spiritual practice. One more stage for me, is lying down in the water, floating, letting the current carry you as it would a leaf; surrender to God. I'm just getting my toes wet by standing on the mall with a sign. For Jesus on Jordan's bank, watching John baptize: What was it that led Jesus to enter the spiritual stream?
          A Fool for God: June 2000—This Sunday I had a small taste of standing alone at the mall, for 10 or 15 minutes. Throughout my life I've seen individuals on the streets carrying signs with religious messages. Some I admire for their courage and ability to witness their beliefs so publicly. [The rest] I look at and think they've lost a part of their sanity. [I think they are fools] to believe such actions have any value, and impact. That's what I imagine people think of me as I stand alone with my sign. Am I prepared to be a fool for God? The Fool in the Tarot is the prince of the other world on his travels through this one. He is spirit in search of experience. The Fool calls to the child inside of us, the part of us that wants to act intuitively, instinctively, impulsively, joyously, without fear. He seems in totally unity with God, in joyous harmony with all creation. One can easily say that anyone who truly tries to live by Jesus' teachings will be viewed as a fool in the eyes of the world.
          As I stood alone, only I felt different. One African American woman walked slowly by. She read the signs against the wall, then mine. She looked at me and softly said "Bless you" as she walked on. It's easy to become judgmental about the people who pass. It's easy to forget we are called to love them all. Tony said he used to classify people who passed. He decided he would look directly at each person and pray for them as long as they looked at us. We are called to love them all. And if that makes us fools for God, so be it.
          Rain: August 2000—One day, I take an umbrella from the car just in case it rains. I stand there knowing a storm is approaching; if it comes I & the others will still stand peacefully with our signs. I am at peace with that. It pours heavily for 20 minutes. The rain is beautiful & intense. With the umbrella, my hair, legs, sandals, feet get soaked. Other standing without protection get soaked completely. We stand as calmly as the trees, bend with wind, accept rain. The landscape is calm & peaceful as the storm passes; a description of me remaining calm & peaceful in the face of anger hatred, violence, letting it pass through me & only I, at peace, remain.
          When I 1st moved to Philadelphia I would often go out late at night and take a walk before going to bed. This night I decided to see what deserted streets I could find. I got ice cream and met friends I hadn't seen. It started to pour and within minutes I was soaked through to the skin. I headed home, getting wetter and wetter, and feeling happier. I met 4 soaked teenagers, and I liked the idea of being a crazy old man who does things only teenagers would do. Standing motionless, I felt as if the rain was God's nurturing love pouring down on me, cleansing and caressing my body and mind. I felt filled with rainwater, filled to overflowing with God's love; I was in complete harmony with God. My life seemed extraordinary, wonderful, amazing, and blessed.
          This is My Prayer: August 2000—We began with one sign: "Pray for peace in Kosovo." Now, the different signs all revolve around peace in different ways, [in particular]: "There is no way to Peace. Peace is the Way." My own sign has changed from time to time; now it says: "Hear our Prayer: May there be peace everywhere ..." I have found that it is important to include the words "peace" & "prayer." If one asked "How do you pray for peace?" I would be at a total loss. As a Catholic child, prayers were memorized verses (the Lord's Prayer & Hail Mary) while kneeling beside my bed at bedtime. My mother had a natural faith that someone listened to her prayer and would answer them. I lost that faith, if I ever had it, when I became a Harvard-educated intellectual. [I would make deals with God in prayer (If you ... Then I'll)]. These prayers never seemed to work.
          The Quaker phrase "to hold in the light" came as a relief to me. Holding someone in the light means I'm not asking God for anything. Just "be with this person" & "thy will be done." Meister Eckhart's advice is that if you can think of nothing, thank you is enough. [Beyond holding in the light, & "thank you," I haven't anything that isn't] just more of me, what I want, not a surrender to God. My standing here is a form of prayer, something like: "Please, go home, love your children, love your families. Love your neighbors. Don't be afraid ..." If we all decided not to fight, not to let anger take over, to act out of love not hate or fear, then the world would be at peace.
          The Peace of God—Jesus makes a distinction between 2 kinds of peace: the peace of men and the peace of God. Peace is the absence of [military] events, when people are not fighting and killing one another. Such peace, created by treaties, truces, and ceasefires is fragile, easily broken or lost, because the underlying causes may not have changed. The peace of God seems closer to "inner peace," [then the above peace]. [I had tests for 2 life-threatening illnesses, 10 years apart]. The 1st waiting period was filled with speculations and fear of death. The 2nd waiting period was quite calm. Buddhism has taught me that inner peace is not something you can seek; it comes from a commitment to spiritual practice. "Muslim" means someone who has surrendered to God. For a Muslim peace is also a by-product of a spiritual commitment.
          Most mornings I do what I call Tree Energy Tai Chi, using a tree as a partner. A tree is a good analogy for the way I feel. I am rooted, grounded in something deep & unseen that allows me to be flexible, to weather the storms in my life without being uprooted or shattered. This grounding is an unequivocal trust in God. Once that commitment was made & my heart open to God, that was enough for God to come rushing in. I know with certainty that I'm not separate from God. & it is that certainty, that trust, that has enabled me to rest in God's peace.
          April Fools: April 2001—On the 1st Sunday in April, I finally got to do the whole hour alone. My only company are 2 police in a car. I like to think we're under surveillance to be sure we don't somehow create a full scale outbreak of world peace. In the year since the African American woman said "Bless you," I've come to think of that phrase & that woman differently. I've never thought of asking for God's help as asking for God's blessing. To receive a blessing is in a way to be anointed, to receive a transfer of grace & strength from someone of greater spiritual accomplishment. A Catholic would kneel to receive a blessing, a Buddhist would bow or prostrate one's self. Each day I say: Give me your blessing as I try to lead my life this day as a true member of your kingdom. If I had last April to do again, I would kneel before her & ask for hands on my head as she gives her blessing.
              On Timothy McVeigh: June 2001—Not every Sunday vigil produces something inspiring. Some days are boring & time passes slowly. Part of being at peace is being able to live in & appreciate the present moment. It's always a surprise to me to see who acknowledges us, among the many who just walk by. An Italian asked about Quakers, & whether Quakers had power [or influence]. I said that now & historically the power of Quakers to influence public opinion came from what we were doing on the mall—being willing to live our beliefs & bear public witness to them. He said that was good, because the US wasn't a force for peace in the world.
          The Chinese see us as imperiling world peace, and Timothy McVeigh said "If our government is a teacher, if it models the behavior that it wants from its citizens to follow, then the answer ... [is] yes, [violence is the way to solve problems]." Not even the US seems capable of deciding unilaterally not to continue the violence. A Sunday paper headline read, "Should we pray for Timothy McVeigh?" One other and I were led to speak on this question. She spoke 1st, and after I thought of what else to say, I realized that I was not called to pray for Timothy McVeigh. I was called to pray for myself. For the past 11 years, every day of every week, the US has bombed Iraq. So this morning I pray for my own forgiveness, for being silent.
          Grounded: August 2001—I've gradually learned to calm my mind for the hour I stand on the mall. Sometimes I think about the connection between something I hear or see there & other aspects of my life. Now these reflections more often occur late at night. My body has a restless energy that isn't connected to or influenced by the calmness in my head. There are people who do their vigil in a seated meditation position. They looked relaxed & more at peace than I felt. I like the word grounded. It implies relationship to the Earth, to the natural environment, that has been an important part of my spiritual life & moments of experiencing God's peace.
          Loren Eisely, in his book The Immense Journey, is able to combine his scientific knowledge with a spiritual perspective. He describes going out into a mountain stream, lying down in the water and floating on the current like a leaf. He knows his body is 70% water so can imagine it both submerged in and merged with the water that carries him along in an almost mystical way. One night, as I lay under the stars, and among the fireflies, everything shifted. The lights close at hand might just as well been stars, and I was there among them, my arms and legs spread our like a constellation. I was in the universe, and the universe was also in me. In God's peace, my body is calm, entirely in its proper place, grounded, connected to and not separate from the natural world. God's peace comes when I relinquish my sense of independence and separateness and release myself into God's care, becoming insignificant, powerless and alone with God.
          Being Faithful: July 2001—In one meeting for worship, I was reminded of the theme of faithfulness. This sent me into downward spiral. I was a contact person for a separate group for a disruptive visitor until recently. Today would be the 1st time in several years that I was not part of that separate meeting. I concluded that I had not released myself from this responsibility. The act of being faith was an individual calling; what was faithful for me to do. I thought about missing a Sunday vigil, which the "regulars" often did. The question of faithfulness would not go away or give me an easy out. It turns out I was alone at the vigil for awhile, and 1 of only 2 for the rest of it. Were only 1 or 2 people effective on a vigil?
          I was reminded of a story: A bird sat on a branch. A friend asked what the 1st bird was doing. "I'm counting the number of snowflakes it takes to break this branch." "Impossible," said the friend. "Snowflakes weigh no-thing ... You're wasting your time." As the 1st bird counted the 1,347,519 snowflake to land the branch broke. He said in essence as he flew away, who is to know whether it you or I or a person we meet, who makes a commitment and becomes that one final person needed to break the branch of war and violence in the world? Sometimes I feel like the millionth snowflake and that neither my actions nor those of others working for peace have any impact. Most of the time I feel optimistic and full of joy from knowing that I'm acting in harmony with God, doing what is asked of me. Our task is to be faithful. God will do the rest.
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