Quaker Practice: General

 QUAKER PRACTICE: GENERAL

145. What doth the Lord require of thee (by Mildred Binns Young; 1966)
           About the author—Mildred Binns Young has been the gadfly of Quakerdom ever since she wrote her 1st Pendle Hill Pamphlet, Functional Poverty (1939). Prodding the complacent to insight & action is her concern; she is Quaker both by birthright & conviction. 30 years ago, her family left Westtown School to live & work with sharecroppers; they stayed for 19 years. This pamphlet was given as a 2-part address to the 1965 Young Friends of North America Conference.
           WE MUST OPEN OUR HANDS: 1—The best sermon I ever heard preached on the text “What doth the Lord require of thee?” (Micah 6:8) was the speech of a Quaker lawyer who being installed as a county court judge in a large, populous and notoriously corrupt county. He faced the fact that there was no way to fulfill the affirmation he had just made; he intended not to forget the Lord’s requirement of him.
           What does it mean for us now to do justice & love mercy? Do we know anyone who walks humbly with God? How do we connect creatively with the crying needs of our time? Whenever we have conferences to consider the life of Meetings the questions are: What ails our spiritual life? Why do we so rarely experience the real power of a Meeting gathered under a corporate sense of Presence? Why is our ministry often scanty or thin? As individuals we ask: Why do outward expressions of religious life exhaust us rather than fulfill us? Modern folk no longer know the holy. Where shall modern folk look for the holy?
           2.—In reading early Christian or Quaker history, I get the impression that neither the individual nor the corporate experience of being met and claimed was [as rare then as it is now]. From John Woolman and other journalists of that time I gather that the change to the current condition started in the 1st 100 years. [Their endurance under persecution drew people to them, and] their necessities [of caring for one another] kept them together. Without any theories of non-violent resistance, they practiced it. With no peace testimony to be true to, they saw that of God in every one; [that would not permit them to fight anyone].
           100 years later, they were not only wealthy but also powerful in some places; they controlled the Assembly of Pennsylvania. John Woolman wrote: “In departing from the true Light of Life many, in striving to get treasures have stumbled upon the Dark Mountains.” This describes [the times from John Woolman’s life to ours]. In 1756, enough Friends withdrew from the Assembly so that the control of the colony was relinquished to others. Pennsylvania ceased to be a Holy Experiment in government.
           John Woolman wrote: “Being thus tried with favor & prosperity, this world appeared inviting; our minds have been turned to [improving] our country, to merchandise & science, among which are many things useful, if followed in pure wisdom. Now, I believe a carnal mind is gaining on us. If some see their brethren united in paying a war tax, it may quench the Holy Spirit's tender movings in their minds. By small degrees we might approach so near to fighting that the distinction would be little else than the name of a peaceable people."
           John Woolman saw that the poor often prey upon the even poorer [e.g. the wealthy would prey on white settlers; white settlers preyed on Indians]. The Southern poor, white & Negro, were neglected & ignored for decades while Southern wealth went northward. The poor white’s only basis of self-respect was his notion that the Negro was lower than he; northern exploitation of cheap, unorganized Southern labor confirmed this notion.
           3.—The fortunate must ask themselves: What is our responsibility toward any misfortune caused by society’s indifference, if not exploitation of certain of its elements? I take it that Friends have never borne their testimonies according to logic or expedience but according to inner compulsion. As long as inequality exists among the family of nations, some cannot feel at ease in a preferred status; others’ acceptance of that status will not excuse some persons from an opposite obligation. I think we are as a religious society, deeply ill at ease in our preferred status. It is in this split, this need to maintain ourselves in a sharply felt contradiction, that I find the root of most of the causes of our spiritual decline.
           Quaker schools are the apple of our eye; I can't hide my pride in them. A fundamental contradiction seems to have crept into Quaker education above the elementary level. Friends schools are for the gifted & for those well prepared from kindergarten on; all of that means cost. If parents hope they can devote their lives to some poorly paid service to humankind, they will feel they have to forego it until their children are educated. Is there anything Quaker about educating for success, while every “success” is taking us farther from human goals? We seem to be asking young people to recognize that everything is wrong with the way the world is going, at the same time that we ask them to succeed in that world. Quaker education should say more than it does to the problem of those for whom 1st-rate schools & colleges isn't the best option [i.e. craftsmen & missionaries].
           4.—Has our practice with regard to travel become extravagant, and self-indulgent rather than productive?      How much of the use of our resources is genuinely productive in international contacts and peacemaking?      What relation should exist between spending on ourselves or our families and our giving?      Should our job be given up “by reason of the evil therein?”
           John Woolman touches on unrighteous use of other human beings, unrighteous use of one’s own powers, irresponsible use and waste of land and other natural resources. For Woolman, the means by which a man got his living and the ways he spent his money, and the ratio of his prosperity to the prosperity of his fellow men, whether it was greater or less, were aspects of the religious life. It hurt him to see the whole life of any person pre-empted by business of any sort, [whether in pursuit of survival or opulence]. “May we look upon treasures, and the furniture of our houses, and the garments in which we array ourselves and try whether the seeds of war have any nourishment in these our possessions or not.”
           Are we short of time because we are greedy of experience for its own sake? What judgment upon persecutors? The penalty for “hardness of heart & blindness of mind” is increased “hardness of heart & blindness of mind.” It is working to close the gap that exists between faith & works, between religious insight & what's done in secular lives, that I see possibility of deepening our insight & gathering our scattered forces.
           What then of Personal Success?: 1—Personal success, in terms of our contemporary culture, is no longer a legitimate goal for a Friend; personal success and a concerned Quakerism are incompatible. I mean success as the world measures it [i.e. treasures laid up on earth]. [Our success can be useful and important work excellently done (recognition is superfluous); responding to the authentic call of God, and remaining faithful to that guidance (seeing the results is superfluous)]. Both Christianity and Quakerism are a radical criticism, going to the root of the sickness that presents itself to us as progress and prosperity, threatening to make us inhuman and leave us alive and surrounded by the artifacts of “progress.”
           2.—Technology is sometimes personified as having a life, goals, & plan of its own. This plan seems to rival God’s plan. We all enjoy singing the spiritual: “He has the whole world in His hand.” Yet most of us are convinced that man now “has the whole world in his hand,” [including the ability to self-destruct]. Large groups of people, are very close to indifference about what is going to happen next to humankind; they feel helpless.
           Is life an open road or a blind alley? Where are we to find at the beginnings of a justification of life? Teilhard de Chardin was a French Jesuit priest , a paleontologist who worked in China a large part of his life; he died in 1955 in New York. He was a passionate Christian who wrote so as not to be disloyal to Christ. [For Teilhard, technology’s gift and threat of enhancement of life, and destruction of life, respectively, is a “pitiful millenarianism” distorting “all that is most valid and noble in our expectation of the future appearance of an ‘ultra humanity’ … It is not any question of well-being, it is solely a thirst for greater being that by psychological necessity can save the thinking world from being weary of life.”
           3.—Abundance of goods, flawless, economic security, easy mobility, or boundless leisure will not save us from weariness of life. “The world will never be vast enough, nor humanity powerful enough to be worthy of God who created them and is incarnate in them.” Let us be critical, and say “No” to what is discordant, ugly, unwholesome [in technology]. Even God abandoned many lines of creation that promised well for a while. Technology is but one line of our human creativity for which God has empowered us. I hope that most of us reject the use of nuclear weapons as threats, mostly called deterrents. While the sword hung on a thread over Damocles, I suppose he never thought much about anything but the sword.
           Father Daniel Berrigan wrote: “A radical, permeating change [occurs] in those who must live under technology in military uniform … Breathed long enough, the war atmosphere may be said simply to work a change in the heart of man. We come to accept our [war] climate as a normal and coherent attitude toward life and human beings … In such an atmosphere, the order of reality is altered. Our capacity for goodness and truth is impaired. Our convictions become illusion of what we once were or wish we could be… We hang suspended above a world we can no longer bear to live in.”
           4.—What then of Personal Success? What about technology’s hand with its mixed offering of good & ill? How are we to detect the point of diminishing return where the good merges into effects that reduce one’s potential rather than increase it? Orwell says that the critical faculty in men is too weak to warn them & pull them back at the boundary line where conveniency, abundance, pleasure ceases to be a good and becomes sheer evil. How is humanity to judge and discriminate between the good and bad fruits of progress?
           Even civil rights revolution's goals are flawed, being limited to equal status & equal opportunity to compete for [worldly] prizes that are likely to fall to dust with each new conquest of technology. Thought habits normally limited to production of material goods have penetrated throughout society & entered religion's sacred citadel. Radical revision of institutions is being done by technology not committed to serving human ends.
           Jacques Ellul writes: “In education, the child is being educated in and for the society. And that society is not an ideal one, with full justice and truth, but society as it is ... If each of us abdicates his responsibilities with regard to values, if each of us limits himself to leading a trivial existence in a technological civilization, with greater adaptation as one’s sole objective, everything will happen as I describe it.” The Catholic Worker writes: “The problem is to remain in the society but not of it. And we must flourish like weeds in the cracks of the carapace… It seems we should sustain ourselves both physically and spiritually on technological [excess] … [Spiritually], the poor, the unemployed and the unemployable are the offscourings of the system … It is only by serving them that we shall attain the Kingdom of God.”
           5.—So long as we have the suffering poor in our society, we needn’t be at a loss where to begin to resist. [When society has taken care of the underprivileged]; when the brilliant have been educated for responsibility rather than personal success; when we have outgrown the thought of controlling people by [technology], then it will be time enough for Christians and Quaker Christian to consider whether the world offers any positions of power and success compatible with their convictions.
           We can't refuse to be killed; if it happens, it happens. We refuse to kill others & we can clear ourselves of nearly all activity that prepares for killing them or contributes to it, or any activity that dehumanizes. Little groups of students or recent students live in near-want in city districts, where they are in the midst of all the problems, seeking to start the poor moving [so that] the “power structure” will acknowledge their existence.
           The new Catholic Worker groups are perhaps more like the French worker-priests of a decade or so ago, who shared the lives of the poorest workers to find out by participation what the people need and want; the Peace Corps and VISA volunteers do similar work. The Italian aristocrat of the late 15th century, Ettore Vernanza, friend of St. Catherine of Genoa was described by von Hugel as believing: “… that only by actually living amongst and with the poor, poor yourself; only by doing the work … with such might and thoroughness that the whole man, body and soul, are drawn into and are, as it were, colored by it … only such service can have the fruitfulness begotten by life directly touching life.”
           6.—There is in every human being some part that is of God, an inward Christ through whom every man has direct access to God and may be directly moved by God; through whom also each man has community with every other man. This is not to deny the possibility of dimming that unique light up to the point of extinguishing light; it remains while life remains. The Inward Light implies unlimited responsibility of every soul, and the unlimited responsibility that each soul bears to any other soul does not let us rest in postures of conformity. Before Jesus was a long line of people who could not be fitted in. Jesus could not fit in and had to die. After him was another long line down to ourselves. It is through cherishing this immortal diamond, this image of God that we ourselves are immortal diamonds and become what Christ was.
http://www.pendlehill.org/product-category/pamphlets
www.facebook.com/pendlehill?fref=ts

387. Turnaround: Growing a 21st Century Religious Society of Friends (by Benjamin Lloyd; 2006)
           About the Author—Benjamin Lloyd is an actor & teacher based in Philadelphia. He teaches acting, & acts as member of the Artistic Company at People’s Light & Theater in Malvern, PA. He wrote The Actor’s Way: A Journey of Self-Discovery in Letters. He is a member Haverford MM of the Religious Society of Friends.
           [Introduction]/ Promote Quaker Identity—I had a vision of a colorful poster across the side of a city bus of an attractive-yet-funky couple [with the caption] “Your Friendly Neighborhood Quakers. Come worship with them … www.quaker.org .” [I imagined similar bus posters. Not one of them] features a stout, older man wearing a Puritan black hat over white curls. For some of us, advertising Quakerism seems like [a loud interruption] in meeting for worship. The vestiges of 19th century quietism still cling to us 200 years later. [2 concerns are here]: shrinking numbers & reversing the trend; most new Friends [will join as] convinced adult Friends attracted by what Quakers have to offer. I offer some strategies for nurturing a robust & growing Society of Friends in the 21st century. Let us engage with the world more, & become the beacons we are called to be.
           I do not proselytize and neither do any of the Friends I worship with, but that is not the same as announcing our presence, a concept I feel we need to become more comfortable with if we are to grow in the 21st century. How will we draw others if they don’t know where we are? We need to move Quakerism into public consciousness through innovative marketing & public relations. About 2 years ago, I created t-shirts & buttons to identify the wearer as a Quaker. The t-shirts say: “Peaceful/Truthful/Simple” on the front & “Quaker” on back. [I was not comfortable wearing them at first. I worried about the lack of response. I did have a few brief encounters and conversations inspired by them].
            I am alarmed by the dwindling numbers of unprogrammed Friends in North America; NY and Philadelphia had losses greater than 20%. I challenge every Quaker who is reading these words to find fun and creative ways to mention their religious affiliation occasionally. As you let your life speak, you are our Society’s greatest advertisement. [With Quakers], God is involved in discerning the sense of a meeting but not necessarily in reaching consensus. Fearing that we will sound like evangelicals and fundamentalists is a sure sign that the fundamentalists have successfully co-opted language which is rightfully ours as well. When I explained to non-Quakers what “sense of the meeting” was during a conflict, the debate moved into a more meaningful realm.
           There is rightful authenticity in such language, & when it comes from the heart it is felt as true by those who hear it. Good ministry is felt, & we mustn't confine it to the meeting house during our meetings for worship. I have been gently eldered using “thee,” and it provided a useful distancing function for the delivery of a difficult communication. I am calling for an ongoing public celebration, not only of who we are as Quakers, but that we are Quakers. Many Friends feel bitter, defeated, disillusioned. The world is not hospitable to Quakers.
           But it never has been. What can your meeting do for the world? What housing can you provide for recovery groups, civic meetings, or parent gatherings? I believe it is important that we Quaker parents raise Quaker children. We should not be shy about articulating to those children about what Quakerism means. My son sees and feels God everywhere. He came into the world ready to live with God (whom he calls “She”). I want Griffen and Ella to be Quakers into adulthood, both for what I believe it will bring to them and for what they will bring to the Religious Society of Friends.
           Promote Membership—Patricia Loring writes: “In this era of rampant individualism, there are many people who feel either that there is no need for formal membership or that membership involves too much sacrifice of personal autonomy. We must respect declarations of independence, praying that the quality of our own lives in community may open others to transformation.” I have recently discerned that what some people call freedom is a kind of vain isolation. We are meant to be deeply knit into the fabric of each other’s lives. A willingness to work through conflict, to meet challenges and problems with good will, emotional honesty, and demonstrations of love and care for each other, are features true communities share.
           [Newly-joined Friends express disappointment about process when it seems to lack substance & meaning. The clearness sessions in which readiness to join is recognized should be wonderfully rich & deeply felt spiritual experiences. From the 1st, Quakers have been invested in big feelings. For me, it has always been in the presence of the big feelings that God has felt closest. In the face of the big feeling you will know what to do if you listen for God. These are occasions when we must trust both God & our Quaker traditions to show us the way. Why are attenders not members of the meetings where they worship?      Have they considered the consequences to your community of not joining?      [What] fears have been invented which keep them from joining?
           Some say that an active attender is the same as a member, but a Quaker [belongs] to a Friendly meeting, has made an official commitment to that meeting. I propose that we begin to nurture a relationship to membership that is special. [How it is special], is up to each meeting to explore. A Quaker is a person who has committed their Self to a radical way of behaving in the world. A Quaker is a person who lives in a constant conversation with God. What are the meeting’s requirements for membership? What must the meeting know about a person before we know that we are clear to ask him or her to join officially in membership?
           Unprogrammed Friends today seem very wary of standards and the debilitating hierarchies they occasionally give rise to. Patricia Loring writes: “The consequences of having no standard [for membership] is that the meeting conforms to the vision of the people who have been admitted, [rather than transforming new members into Quakers]. I reflected on how fragile our Quaker process is, how vulnerable to abuse by those with personality disorders, how easily hijacked by individuals with ulterior motives.
           We stand for our testimonies. Certainly we should be clear that those who wish to join us will stand for them. Who wants to become part of a group that does not clearly articulate and celebrate the qualities that make it unique? How often does you meeting community do things together just to have fun? I am talking about pure fun, not incidental fun. These kinds of gatherings should be thrown open to attenders sitting on the fence. One of my meeting’s most successful innovations recently has been an annual arts festival. We use this gathering as a form of community outreach, inviting friends and neighbors to join in the fun. If we make membership something special, creative, enjoyable, we might develop ways to make Friends meetings more attractive to the middle-aged folk who may be heading towards convincement.
           Promote Pastoral Care—Contributing to the tendency for pseudo-community may be the lack of focused pastoral care in our meetings. Pastoral care is the glue of interpersonal spiritual connection. I think our wariness of being “intrusive” is problematic. In a nurturing and attentive meeting community, we experience the work of communal love in our lives directly. How is a nurturing and attentive meeting community accomplished?
           Good pastoral care requires focus on individual or small group within meeting. I have felt deeply changed by gathered love of my meeting, when 5 Friends sat with me in clearness committee worship. They often presented me with life queries, or reflecting back to me something of interest to them, but never trying to “fix” problem. They have become my ministers, counselors, elders. Perhaps our committees on care & counsel could provide workshops on “meetings for counsel.” Early Friends lived in an on-going meeting for counsel with each other. More meetings for counsel might be a way to make more room for the Spirit in our Quaker communities.
           [On a more personal note, a Friend who felt blessed by my vocal ministry wrote a letter to my children, expressing the hope that I would write the words down, and share them with my children] “that someday you [children] will know that what God has spoke was truth.” With these words, my friend confirmed her place as my elder, nurturing my ministry with words of affirmation and encouragement. [Griffen and I spoke about my ministry, and] there was instruction; I was not the Instructor. It was God, [working through people].
           Another way to enhance pastoral care is to elder each other lovingly. It is vitally important that we retain the ability to advise each other with love & purpose. I believe that we are called to these awkward yet spiritually binding encounters. [Not all elders are old]. Eldering is best accomplished after the “elder” has sought counsel. Patricia Loring writes: “Eldering is a kind of spiritual parenting that is reflected in the current term ‘spiritual nurture.’ Like a loving parent, the elder works from her or his own experience of being loved.” It takes a Quaker meeting to raise a Quaker child. [Perhaps] my meeting could evolve into some kind of childcare collective in the future. There might be a small Quaker “village” ready to help raise the children as their parents negotiate the realities of 21st century living. Developing our meetings in such ways could be a powerful form of outreach.
           Promote Quaker Leadership—Griffen has been a part of this essay because he is my son and I adore him and our relationship contains God. Also I wish to represent a potential future Quaker leader. To get to the Religious Society of Friends of the 21st century, we need to turn our attention away from the past and focus on our youth. Leadership within my Quaker community has become a suspect idea. Some of us have equated leadership with oppression, as if the one who stands and says, “Follow me!” must have dark designs and malevolent intent. I have witnessed meeting communities brought into states of disorder by a blanket mistrust of the simple act of making a decision. The original idea is lost in a sea of paranoia and micromanagement.
           1 cause of disorder is reluctance of clerks to be leaders. Arthur Larrabee points out: “Leadership from the clerk encourages corporate discipline that makes it easier for the meeting to sense & respond to Spirit. Absent the clerk’s leadership, domination of some, inefficiency & exhaustion may take over.” The clerk is called upon to bring order & direction to the slow, deliberate discernment of corporate will in Quaker business meetings. A clerk is a role model & should live demonstrably in our Society’s testimonies & be knowledgeable about its practices. Meeting members should be able to trust the clerk to speak truthfully as a witness to our testimonies.
           Patricia Loring writes: “We often move appointments discerned by the community in order to answer & develop spiritual gifts & callings of individuals, to a process of self-selection by inclination, not discernment.”
           Absent a solid nominating committee, leadership roles may be left to those with the most dominating personalities or the most charm. [As Quakers], all of us, but our clerks especially, should lead by loving examples. Leadership is certainly a gift to be noticed and nourished in our meetings. [If there is a “hyper-egalitarianism” in our meetings], we have sacrificed the safety of our communities for the right of individuals to behave in harmful ways. Let us [instead] ask those with gifts of leadership, to be our clerks.
           The most important issue is who will lead us in the future. The older generation which guided our Society through the 20th century is diminishing. We must be more present in the world so the world can find us and so new members will worship with us and support us. The key to this transition is the nurture of young Quaker leaders. Our survival depends upon handing the “keys to the kingdom” over to young Friends. We who are older must not presume to know either what young Friends want out of their meetings nor what is good for them. How can we help you organize as young Quakers without forcing models onto your worship that seem outmoded to you? Then we must look for way to open for us to join in their vision. The vision they create must become our vision, and then we who are older will be creating it, too.
           Let us not pretend that this generational shift is comfortable or easy. History is rife with unsuccessful generational transfer of power. I urge our meetings to think creatively about intergenerational events, projects, and committees. It is critically important that young Friends be invited to create these events. What kinds of spaces do our young Friends need for their gatherings, concerts, or coffee houses?
           I propose we create mentoring relationships, with the objective of nurturing younger Friends toward a sense of empowerment grounded in Quaker principles. In turn, our older Friends will become curious and inspired by the energy and new ideas of our youth. The success of ideas like this one and the others proposed in this essay rests on the deep and confident witness of continuing revelation. Quakers are called to live in the modern age in the great and confusing here and now, and not to cling to old customs or nostalgic attachments.
           As some of us begin to rest in the comforting twilight due us, others must step forward and engage the world in the vital witness of our testimonies. The work of the young will include creating online Quaker communities. They will dance in the fervent Spirit as they feel it, not as we think they should feel it. Nothing is static in Quaker theology. Let us see the new Society growing up around us with a sense of awe at God’s work brought to life through us, young and old alike.
http://www.pendlehill.org/product-category/pamphlets
www.facebook.com/pendlehill?fref=ts

320. Leadership Among Friends (by Ron McDonald; 1995)
           About the Author—Ron McDonald became a Quaker in 1979 as a member of Housatonic Friends Meeting in New Milford, CT. In 1985, he moved to Memphis, [where he eventually became part of a new Memphis Friends Meeting]. The genesis of this essay came from his work as Junior Yearly Coordinator for Southern Appalachian YM and Association (SAYMA) and in leadership training and coaching.
           [Introduction]—There is a leadership crisis in Quakerism today. We send forth persons with uncommon vision and courage. Within our society we hold back vision and courage. [Our cherished] waiting has become that which bogs down meetings and inhibits leadership. Also, hierarchical and authoritarian styles of leadership don't work anymore. By hanging on to a serene and cerebral, European-American style of worship and of calming conflict, we haven't kept up with the ferment our culture is producing in new ideas about leadership. [Here is some of what occurred to me around the issue of Quaker youth and leadership]: "There are a few kids who are virtually unmanageable and who seem to have the tacit support of Quaker adults. There is a [non-interference] attitude among Friends that enables kids to roam free and get away with destructive behavior. Rebelling and becoming conscious of self without developing skills of leadership is my concern. We need to be training our kids in leadership. We need to be willing to rein in the spirit when its expression is detrimental to community.
           LEADERSHIP: [PROBLEMS AND STYLES]—I believe we have a leadership problem within Quakerism, and the children's behavior is a symptom of this problem. On a continuum of leadership styles, there is charismatic on one end and consensus on the other. Charismatic leaders deal with conflict authoritatively and easily, but run the risk of [becoming] like David Koresh, Adolf Hitler, Jim Jones. For consensus leaders, community building comes first & making decisions comes second; efficiency is also secondary. The most disturbed spokespeople dominate attention, while [potential] leaders spend more energy with conflict resolution than with developing ideas and a new vision. A good leader finds middle ground between charismatic and consensus. Such a leader would be a great respecter of tradition, community, vision, conflict, and decision-making.
           Leadership among Quakers typically is consensus. Decision-making based on finding the "sense of the meeting" occurs out of the community in ways that create uncommon community strength. Leadership also includes having vision. The sense of the meeting normally follows an articulation of a new vision. Without vision, there is only struggle and law-enforcement. Thus, if our children are breaking the rules and people are wanting better enforcement of rules and discipline, perhaps we are suffering from a lack of vision.
           Tradition, "in the manner of Friends," might be revered to the point where we are afraid of [charismatic] visionary change within our own community. I sense a dire need for charismatic leadership, which emerges out of the community in response to a vision that captures the people and moves them forward. Quakers tend to call people into a deeper sense of community. What we are doing now is allowing individuality [from kids onward] to be expressed without it being rooted in the vision of the community, [because] the vision of the community is lacking. We need a new vision.
           THE VISIONING PROCESS/A Church that Revisioned Itself —When a person or community has a common moving experience and articulates what happened, they are creating the ground for a new vision. Doug interviewed for the minister's position of the downtown Memphis Calvary Episcopal Church, which was a church with older members in severe decline. There was no vision. Doug [had strong feelings about what a downtown church could be, and some people resigned as a result of changes resulting from hiring him]. Today, Cavalry is a beacon of light in downtown Memphis, [with several community programs], and many internal ministries. It is a voice for several liberal causes in the city.
           Doug said: "I challenged people to take the name seriously, to be willing to risk Cavalry [suffering] & provide ministries that would stretch our means & challenge our courage & comfort. [In considering our] Episcopal name, we affirmed our roots, taking how we worshipped seriously. We looked at what it meant to be a church, worshipping as a community, reaching inward & outward to deal with pain & suffering. Rather than wishing we weren't 'stuck' with a downtown location, we sought ways to root ourselves in downtown Memphis, [to minister to the downtown people]. We laid claim to being a liberal church while many other churches were avoiding the 'L' word." Doug helped Cavalry create & articulate an attractive vision that people flocked to. The visioning process needs a personal vision, & it must have others who are open to that vision, desiring a similar experience.
           A Meeting that Began with a Vision/ Clear Vision in Teaching—Like many other Friends, I knew after that 1st meeting at Housatonic Friends Meeting in CT, that I had found my spiritual home. I became enamored with the consensus process, Ministry & Oversight, the Clerk's role, the method of managing money. In Memphis, I found a worship group. I suggested that we organize like Quakers, which we did in 1985. In 1986, we connected with a Yearly Meeting, followed their process, & became a monthly meeting in 1987. By 1991, we had rented a space we could call our own. We had begun with a vision of establishing a Friends Meeting in Memphis and have accomplished that vision. Clear, shared visions come together to become a community vision.
           At SAYMA, [there were 2 groups creating short plays on Quaker history, one led by a drama teacher. I was in the other group, & while we had fun, the children weren't fully involved, & the play wasn't very good. In the professionally led group, kids & adults were mesmerized, committed, & sold on their teacher's vision of good drama. They presented a wonderful play & example of what leadership with clear vision can accomplish].
           VISION AND CONFLICT/ SEEKING A NEW VISION—Vision develops out of conflict. Larry Engle pointed out that a major failing of Quakerism in dealing with Revolutionary War issues is that they could not embrace the needs of the American people for radical change and so provided little leadership in making change, and none of their ideals of nonviolence. Leaders must be willing to be involved in conflict.
           Where and what is our Quaker vision? How can we discern an emerging vision from growing concerns about 1st-Day School and the yearning for spiritual depth that convinced Friends have brought with them in joining the Meeting? Meetings are now predominately made up of convinced Friends. We can discern a vision—if we are willing to let meeting for worship change. [Inward conflict is a part of the process of sharing an emerging vision; that is where quaking comes from]. What happens to us in meeting for worship?
           SHARING VISION IN MEETING FOR WORSHIP—Our worship reflects diversity only in its content, not in its process. Like it or, we function in a sedately European-American style, which quells enthusiasm and stifles leadership. We err on the side of carefulness. We so carefully avoid conflict that it goes underground and pops up in symptoms like the "Quaker kids." How do we look intentionally at new ways of expressing ourselves? Leadership that draws us towards a new vision will have to risk something that might not be true Spirit, might be a challenging Truth, or might risk a schism. The vision must be dynamic and must inspire a person of courage and initiative to smile and say, "Yeah, I'll try that."
           I am sometimes asked to preach and lead worship in a Protestant church, where I mix up their order of worship, and am required to speak whether I am moved by the Spirit or not. Each time I preach I am surprised that the Spirit moves also out of something other than silence—out of my vocal attempts at a prepared message. We have made silence into an idol. Silence is not God, but merely a medium for inspiration like preaching, dancing, and other modes of expression. The plague of idolatrous silence is discouraging Friends from preparing for speaking and taking the risk that their prepared speaking will become spirit-led.
           I advocate preparation for ministry in worship without programming the meeting itself. We need to encourage Friends to share ministry in meeting for worship, [& to speak more than once in meeting if so moved]. "Popcorn" or "too much" vocal ministry happens all too often in meetings where inwardness & the power of silence is exalted, & little vision is conveyed. [A lot of] messages in meeting about how great we & our worship is are symptoms of circling the wagons, going nowhere, excluding the conflicts of the world, keeping the spirit in.
           VISIONARY/ LEADERSHIP QUESTIONS—What are we to be?      What are we to do?      What vision do you have regarding Quakerism?      How will you share your vision?      [How will you deal with the consequences of shattering treasured idols]? Inherent in the disciplined search for answers to these questions is the assertion that we no longer know what good we are for. We think we are God's gift to the world. If we do embrace that idea now, we are arrogant & off on tangents where leadership remains bankrupt. We are stuck in worship that is too strict in its method, thereby not inviting diversity. Worship experience [has become] a sacred cow, & our meetings have been unable to embrace necessary cultural changes needed to bring diversity to meetings. I am advocating that we prepare ourselves rigorously for spoken ministry, & encourage uninhibited messages full of feeling. We are a lost Society, [without a vision]. Admitting this is a place for a humble beginning.
http://www.pendlehill.org/product-category/pamphlets
www.facebook.com/pendlehill?fref=ts

365. The Authority of our Meeting is the Power of God (by Paul A. Lacey; 2003)
           About the Author—Paul A. Lacey was born in Philadelphia in 1934. He and Margaret have 3 adult children. He joined Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1953, having first met Quakers through weekend work camps. He has been active in civil rights, peace and East-West concerns, while his profession is teaching literature. He is serving as the Clerk of the American Friends Services Committee.
           [Introduction]—"The search for continuity in the Society of Friends is a fascinating & frustrating task. One generation's emphasis can be completely transformed by the next, while both see themselves as faithful to unbroken tradition of continuing revelation" [Hugh Barbour; J. William Frost]. Roger Wilson says, "George Fox & wise early Friends devised administrative methods which left spirit free, yet preserved a sense of group order." Those who created them saw them as founded in "ancient testimonies." The more effectively an organization carries out its responsibilities, the more likely it is to have duties added on. Human desire for efficiency pushes us to make good temporary committees permanent. What are the ultimate sources of power for religious faith & practice? How have divinely-inspired, human institutions been created to serve & express God's will?
           Authority, Power/Answering that of God in Everyone—In George Fox's years of wandering, before receiving his [well-known] pentacostal "opening," he had preparatory openings. 1st, no one is truly a believer who hasn't passed from death to life. 2nd, something more & other than university training was needed to "qualify" one as Christ's minister. 3rd, the church is the God's people, not building. Fox said: "It was needful that I should have a sense of all conditions, how else should I speak to all conditions; in this I saw the infinite love of God."
           Direct experience is not enough; it must be tested for its truth-bearing value and [the truth of it] lived. Even with Scripture, we must learn how to read it "in that Light and Spirit which was before Scripture was given forth, and which led the holy men of God to give them forth ..." [Fox]. "The God of light is not a God who tells, but a God who shows" [John Punshon]. Christ will turn people away from the world's religions "that they might know the pure religion ... [serve others] and keep themselves from the spots of the world" [Fox].
           "Be a terror to all the adversaries of God, & a dread, answering that of God in them ... gathering up out of transgression into the life, the covenant of light & peace with God" [Fox]. Answering that of God in God's adversaries meant reaching "to the principle of God in [them] which they have transgressed," & addressing the witness within them which would confound them, show them their internal conflicts & throw them into confusion. Christ is within us as a suffering captive until we know our condition & hear the witness in us addressed or "answered."
           Organizing and Institutionalizing—In the midst of persecution, the early Quaker fellowship had to ad-dress visiting the widows & orphans in their affliction & keeping from the spots of the world. "Visiting widows etc." involved families of prisoners & captives, ministers & their families, relieving the poor, apprenticing young people, lobbying Parliament, regulating & documenting marriages, inheritances & wills under the care of the meeting; money had to be raised for these purposes. Arnold Lloyd says: "the evolution of Quaker church government can best be understood in terms of the communication of advice and help in solving practical problems."
           "Keeping from the spots of the world" concerns keeping fellowship's spiritual discipline, which early-on meant local Friends groups would correct "ranters" & "disorderly walkers"; Friends had procedures for ["admonishing"] & "disowning" inappropriate behavior of self-proclaimed Quakers well before it had canons of membership. [Quakers discovered the hard way] a Quaker community's vulnerability to individual excess. Fox began establishing monthly meetings [over a decade]. The Seeker groups Fox met with were already meeting regularly [to solve practical problems]. Fox made recommendations & suggestions to autonomous, self-governing groups.
           Needs for National Organization—Quakers needed to distinguish themselves from the violent, militant 5th Monarchy Men to avoid more persecution. This led to a document written by 12 prominent Friends "in behalf of ... the Elect People of God that are called Quakers. There was no way that they could legitimately speak for the local, autonomous communities; there was no central authority. The 12's action opened the door for Friends to become a Church with central polity; central divine guidance was substituted for local. The belief that the infallible Spirit could be infallibly understood by individuals was replaced by individual and community discerning the Spirit together. John Perrot was for radical individualism. His movement attracted and kept many adherents; it allowed for external conformity with governmental religious decrees.
           Discerning the Spirit/ Tests of Leadings—Richard Farnsworth's response to John Perrot's radical individualism was: "if any differences arise in the church ... it, with the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, has power, without assent of such as dissent from their doctrines and practices to hear and determine the same." This epistle does not emerge from any delegated authority to speak for the Society.
           Tests which Friends applied to leadings were: moral purity, patience, the self-consistency of the Spirit, and bringing people into unity. Moral purity would be obeying calls which were difficult humiliating, and contrary to self-will; self-will is impatient of tests. How consistently does an individual keep faith with their leadings? When in unity, a sound leading to action will enrich the spiritual life of the whole worshipping community.
           Gospel Order—Lewis Benton defines Gospel Order as "the order that God gives God's people when they gather to experience Christ's living presence in their midst & to be governed & ordered by him." Ultimate authority was given to the worshipping community's discernment of the Spirit. Quarterly and Yearly Meeting [QM; YM] came to be in a predominant position; some Quakers had institutional power over others, which inevitably changed Quakerism's character. As Sandra L. Cronk understands Gospel Order, it describes a covenantal relationship with God, a new order with "personal, [familial], communal, societal, and even cosmic dimensions."
           It is striking how often crises threatening the early Quaker movement's death produced defensive reactions & bold new affirmations & initiatives grounded in the Spirit, "... answering that of God in everyone" grew out of Naylor's misbehavior. The Peace testimony declaration is in response to the 5th Monarchy Uprising. With setting up men & women's monthly meetings, Fox pushes the Society to a new conception of its calling; Gospel Order recovers patterns before the Fall. Women had significant roles to play in the primitive church & in the Society of Friends. The authority of men's & women's meetings over individual Friends leadings was affirmed.
           The Meeting for Business—Edward Burrough describes it as "not deciding affairs by the greater vote, or number of men ... [but] in the wisdom, love, & fellowship of God, in gravity, patience, meekness, in unity & ac-cord, in assenting as one in the spirit of truth & equity, & by the authority thereof ... The meeting consists of just & righteous men, all believing in truth, & walking in the same ... [anyone] out of truth & ... contrary to Christ's faith ... such aren't members thereof, but are excluded from having their advice & judgment taken in matters of truth ... [When unity is difficult] on such occasions the judgment [should] be suspended ... 'til more Friends that are anciently grown in the Truth have understanding of the matter ... that a general concord & assent may be among the ancients of them, for the government of the whole." Unity is sought in what is later called "the sense of the meeting." Burroughs also specifies the procedure of Matthew 18, used to resolve strife between 2 Friends.
           The Authority of the Believing Fellowship/ The Institution of Elders—Barclay says: "Some are so great pretenders to inward motions & revelations of the Spirit, that there are no extravagances so wild which they won't cloak with it ... they are so for everyone following their own mind, as can admit of no Christian fellowship & community ... the spirit of Christ, by which we are guided, is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil and again to move unto it." One can be confirmed in an action by Christ's commandments and primitive Christian practices. He also says: "The Lord ... hath and doth raise up members of his body, to whom He gives a discerning, and power, and authority to instruct, reprove, and command in some cases."
           The many facets of Quaker life, from government, to spiritual, to business meeting, have depended heavily on the meeting elders' work. Elders "had oversight over worship, the spiritual life of the meeting, the daily life of the meeting-community, & having accountability. Their gift was an "attitude of deep listening," which helped the meeting center. Roger C. Wilson says: "They are responsible for maintaining a system, which in the living waiting of the group the 'leadings of the Spirit' may find expression through a [free-flowing] range of human agents. Barclay said: "Infallibility isn't necessarily annexed to any persons, or places, by virtue of any office, place or station anyone may have, [past or present] in Christ's body. The practice of authority passing to weighty elder Friends opened up possibility of the devout exercising oligarchical control, which led to more than one schism.
           Leadership & System—Early Friends believed in leaders but not a system; 2nd period, Friends believed in leaders and a system; later Friends believed in a system & no leaders. In the 18th century, there is an attempt to keep order by ever more rigorous application of the system of governance. In 1704, Philadelphia compiled its 1st book of Discipline; London approved its first in 1737. By 1800, all American YMs had published Disciplines.
           From the late 1700s to the early 1800s and its Separations, the Society saw itself in danger from the world, worldly success, and worldliness. The Society shrank alarmingly as it purified itself by disowning members for the tiniest offenses. Doctrine, especially with regard to scripture's authority and tradition, was more rigidly defined. In the 1820's, came the Separation between Gurneyites and Hicksites, and then Gurneyites and Wilburites.
           H. Larry Ingle says: At the most fundamental level, the conflict was over who in the Society would decide the disputed questions; who would exercise power and moral authority ... [Hicksites] stressed the mystical and inward rather than the formal and outward; they insisted on individual interpretation of doctrine. By around 1900, there were 4,000 Quaker families in England, and 4,600 Orthodox in Philadelphia. In the US, Quakerism underwent the development of the pastoral system of hired ministers. Pastoral Friends now comprise a large majority of Quakers in the world. "Slowly ... Friends learned to live with, respect, and even love Meeting individuals with whom they had profound differences" [Barbour and Roberts].
           Modern Liberal Quakerism—Barbour & Frost identify 4 sources of Quaker liberalism: Friends traditions; New England transcendentalism; European intellectual developments; creative response to new science & history. Liberalism, like evangelicalism "originated outside the Society of Friends ... & could be adopted because of tenets compatible with existing Quaker emphases." [Barbour & Roberts] New institutions came into being [e.g.] Woodbrooke [England], Pendle Hill [US], & American Friends Service Committee & Friends Service Council.
           In the 20th century the greatest challenges to traditional Quaker understandings of authority and power, which come from scripture, tradition, reason and continuing revelation, started from the most liberal meetings—unprogrammed, largely Hicksite in origin, urban and college town in location, largely composed of "convinced Friends, attracted by the social activist aspects of Quakerism, and their sense of alienation from other church traditions. H. Larry Ingle says: "The Hicksite principle ... put little stress on unity or authority. It allows freer range to individualism and encouraged each Friend to interpret faith and practice in the light of each one's unique experiences." With many members focused on social sciences, liberal Quakerism tends to become "a needs-centered movement with an essentially harmonizing and reinforcing role in the life of its members" [John Punshon]. It is like a supermarket where Quakers may pick and choose what configurations Quakerism will take. "Supermarket Quakerism can dispense with the idea that the testimonies are each part of a greater whole" [Punshon].
           Gospel Order or Quaker Process?—For theologically conservative Friends & evangelical Friends, authority & power would cluster around scripture & tradition & those who interpret them. Among theologically liberal Friends, reason and continuing revelation [i.e. radical authority of passionate inner conviction] are the greater sources of authority. Gray Cox believes that the Quaker ethic is a process meant to be practiced, rather than a theory or set of dogma; it is open-ended in ways that lead to "openings," born of commitment and concern.
           For Cox, Quaker attitudes are rooted in: "truth, meaning, reason and self ... Truth is constructed or cultivated; Meaning is communal and mind is a social activity; feeling and reason are viewed as continuous with one another; self is social and transitional, becoming. At the heart of community is a spirit which grows out of each of us and yet grows into each of us ." The Quaker ethic process involves: "quieting impulses; addressing concerns; gathering consensus; finding clearness; and bearing witness. Quieting impulses prepares us for "addressing concerns," which will result in a leading that must be clarified by "seeking consensus" until we find a view of the concern and reality that does justice to the complexity of reality and rightness". The trick is to keep differences in dialog until a genuine consensus is reached. "Finding clearness" is a moment of resolve, a truth known by direct revelation. Social activists, feminists, community organizers, peacemakers are practicing methods requiring participation and a gathering of consensus for understanding and transforming social order.
           The chief authority for Quaker process would seem to be that it embodies social wisdom, and is rooted in human political and social natures, and can be described in intellectual, rational and secular language. Gospel Order grows from a covenant with God; Quaker Process seems to rest on progressive political convictions and knowledge of social sciences. The traditional tests to discern true leadings would not seem to carry any particular weight in the process. "Quaker process" seems uneasy with any form of leadership except that of a clerk who tries to gather and express consensus. Unanimity is a strong value in participatory democracy; unity in the Spirit is central to Gospel Order. Obedience to Spirit is not the same thing as arriving at a mutually-satisfactory decision. Michael J. Sheeran argues: "The real cleavage among Friends is between those who experience ["gathered meetings] and those who do not." "The sense of the meeting" is something different from "consensus,"
           In Lieu of a Conclusion—Quakerism has always struggled to find the right balance between affirming the autonomy of the individual following his or her own conscience and the authority of the group to determine what a true leading of the Spirit is. Liberal Quakerism is still reacting to the imagined trauma of 19th century separation and wholesale disownments. [Some single-issue activists] become frustrated by the failure of the Religious Society of Friends to speak with a single voice on their concern. Others find a wider spiritual vision for their social or political concerns, but are frustrated by many voices trying to interpret the Spirit's leading.
           Some who come to Quakerism because it is "mildly religious & fiercely tolerant," discover that mild religion doesn't satisfy them. The fiercely tolerant & the deeply committed can make each other equally unhappy. The greater the commitment to tolerance, the less likely that a meeting can unite on corporate actions. [An individual could make use of a clearness committee]. Inviting such help is to acknowledge that one's own insights can be enriched by consulting the group's wisdom. Issues which trouble & divide Quakers arise, to greater or lesser degree, in both programmed & unprogrammed meetings alike. In the light of Quaker struggles to discern the true sources of authority & power, ["the more things change, the more they stay the same"] isn't a happy motto.
http://www.pendlehill.org/product-category/pamphlets
www.facebook.com/pendlehill?fref=ts

7. A Quaker Mutation (by Gerald Heard; 1940)
           About the Author—Born in 1889 in London, Gerald Heard, was a British-born American historian, science writer, public lecturer, educator, & philosopher. He wrote many articles & over 35 books. Heard studied history & theology at the University of Cambridge, graduating with honours in history. Heard became well known as an advocate for pacifism, arguing for the transformation of behaviour through meditation & "disciplined nonviolence." In 1942 he founded Trabuco College as a facility where comparative religion studies & practices could be pursued. It was a cooperative training center for the spiritual life. He died in 1971.
           INTRODUCTION—Pendle Hill Pamphlets are Tracts for our Times, written by persons competent to quicken thought on current issues; they deal in a practical way with practical problems. Their purpose is incentive or illumination. "A Quaker Mutation" is a critical evaluation of the Society of Friends and of Pendle Hill (PH) by a brilliant, forward-looking thinker, with a revolutionary theory on education. He concludes that such a mutation as PH is evidence of new life in spite of failures. PH will find it hard to fulfill his high expectations.
           ["... not equal to their own promise"]—[To many people], the Society of Friends is a charming body of genuine antiqueness. Something like the gingko—that living-fossil tree. The Quaker are admired when it is dis- covered that it can prove useful as well as ornamental. The Quakers are also peculiarly harmless, and rare as Ebionites. We have sympathy for what may be an expiring species, [and it's found remarkable] that New York's numbers have increased by 27 members in 1 year. Antiquity is praise-worthy, and well enough for authoritarians whose belief rest on historical proof and apostolic succession; the Friends are not authoritarian. Are a quaint and honored peculiarness in worship and considerable social service enough? [Can we make worship contemporary and relevant and keep its original force]? Friends are aware that their achievement is not equal to their own promise. The 1st Quakers felt that their movement was religion reissued. Early in their 2nd generation, they were probably the 2nd most numerous religious body in England.
           [escape into busyness]—Minimizing the importance of numbers, & highlighting its social service organization aren't answers. Social activism can't be its reason for being. When that becomes justification, it is a sign that the basic energy—the power to explore the spiritual world—is failing. The Quakers rejected subconscious guides for the spirit [i.e. rituals & sacraments] from the beginning. Today subconscious guides are failing & have to be replaced by intelligent understanding. Religion needs to be restated in modern language, so as to make it something that can rebind the self-conscious individual to the common Eternal Life flowing in others & in creation.
       The feverish social busyness in nearly all denominations is an escape from the problems of figuring out their position and purpose and how they see Reality. The Society of Friends has not escaped this escapism; the shrinking body symptomizes an evaporating spirit. The 17th century founders thought that the priest-pastorate and sacramentalism stage was over. Pastoral Quaker church membership in 1935 numbered 86,339 out of world membership of 136,757. Pastoral church service tends to be indistinguishable from Methodist or Baptist services, and some expect them to merge with those denominations.
           [peculiar pattern in contemporary terms]—There are a number of Friends that feel what is required is an enquiry into our peculiar pattern's actual nature and how it can be stated in contemporary terms. Is it possible to find the psychological equivalent of its 17th century phraseology? In the 19th century, a scholarly Friend, knowing the history of his Society and Christianity, might submit a series of helpful suggestions. Not so today. The problem of religion has become immensely complicated and enriched. What is called for is a course of study, a school of research, experience and experiment. This pamphlet puts forward what needs to be studied; the terms of reference; the type of institution in which the research could be undertaken.
           The Quakers as a religious body which refused to have a theology, must at some time create a psychology, [a description of characteristic behavior patterns], or it will mislay its essential discoveries. A religious body's actual choice is whether to have a psychology which attempts really to understand the Spirit as it directly manifested or to fall back into earlier forms (i.e. theologies), which expresses an archaic psyche in archaic phraseology. The problem of having a psychology or relapsing into a theology is vividly illustrated in Friends history. It may well be the explanation of their Society's present condition.
           [George Fox's Method]—George Fox & his followers demonstrated that nearly all the traditional props & procedures of religion was unnecessary. The Quakers were able to show that "the fruits of the Spirit" could be produced in their Society. Fox instructed in 17th century language as to how certain spiritual states could be produced. His words gave Seekers the assurance to try whether the Spirit, the Light, might not be directly experienced by every believer. He then gathered them into groups. In these groups, where the up-flow wasn't interrupted by logical argument, they experienced a direct & intense discovery of awareness, of comprehension & compassion, of the intense corporate "field" of the like-minded group, bonded & blended in common contemplation.
           For George Fox the problem of the historic Jesus was resolved by containing him within the dazzling nimbus of the Christ of experience, the Spirit, the Light. The Quakers weren't concerned to discover how, where & under what conditions this power worked. [If God's presence worked for 2 or 3, it would work the same for 200 or 300]. Due to their lack of knowledge & observation of group psychology, the pristine experience, enthusiasm & energy waned. They needed authority to take the place of experimental awareness; they fell back on the Bible and rational argument. Some of them relapsed into evangelicalism, the sudden deliverance by an external Savior. If your own experience was so faint that you needed historic authority and logical argument, the churches, with creeds, proofs, and sacraments, [could provide that better than a Society that never had those things].
           [Revitalizing Quaker Silence/ Quietism or Evangelism]—Their original silence was more fruitful than speech, & this silence will be covered over & lost if its nature isn't understood. Friends might have been saved their loss, if they had noted the actual conditions under which they had obtained their remarkable results. The silence, to produce its pristine results needs a: small group; small group of simple, intense, like-minded people; small group of unlimited liability, undistracted by worldly concern. Even archaic knowledge might have prevented a tragic reversion. The ancient & medieval contemplatives would have taught them the essential value & difficult technique of mental as well as physical silence. They would have been able to make an accurate distinction between creative silence and a mere pause to collect one's thoughts. [They would have been] able to decode the earlier contemplatives in contemporary language and define the limits and functions of their own process.
           Accurate thought is present where trained minds holds back silting sands of random thinking from silting the well sunk into water-bearing subconscious levels. When Friends did discover ancient spiritual guides, they were unable to decode the paradoxes & relapsed into [the passivity of quietism]. Quietism springs from ignorance of ways of experiencing supra-personal consciousness. [Quietism or evangelicalism seem to be the only choices].
           [Researching a Third Choice]—Today, out of the clash of empirical science with traditional religion is springing a new experimental religion. A blend of western experiential observation & eastern metaphysics & psycho-physical exploration is building the framework on which a contemporary, universally applicable religion may rise. If a religion is based solely on argument from historic proof, that religion will become untenable when proofs are undermined, [therefore] Quakerism's retreat into evangelicalism is untenable. & if we would know about real fact, the thing in itself, we must take into account that the subconscious controls apprehension of the outer world; we don't perceive things as they actually are. We must make allowance for the mind's severe limitations & grave distortion as a [measuring, imaging] instrument. We need to train, clear & focus the spirit's lens.
           The Friends, through research into the use and development of their specific technique (silent group contemplation), could with trained members produce a contemporary religion, the only religion with a future. It would [repeat its role as] the reissue of religion today. Such research would 1st state the aims and demonstrate the ultimate objective of such a way of life and development of consciousness, through an outline of the contemporary cosmology from which a contemporary ethic may be deduced. The world picture given by contemporary science must be presented as a coherent and proportioned whole. 2nd, There must be worked out methods and procedures, techniques and inter-relations of mind and body, of individual and group, of psychology and economics. Such a task calls for an institution, a Quaker mutation of the collegiate systems.
           [II: Educational Crisis and Religion's Helpful Contribution]—The crisis which increasingly concerns the West is the educational crisis. The problems of lack of progress, integration, and community-minded individuals must be referred to education. It is obvious that individualized democracy, based on mutual self-interest does not create a society strong enough to resist totalitarianism. The old rationalism method of education is inadequate for fusing conflicting desires of individuals into a common social cause. The social teaching that it is economically most profitable for the individual to serve the community is neither true nor efficacious.
           Both sociologists & theologians are asking the same question: What is wrong with democracy? Why is humanity deserting us for false but wonder-working prophets? The problem for religion is educational. Humankind needs to permanently & progressively alter one's nature, reconcile conflicts, & balance deadly knowledge of means & outer nature with knowledge of inner nature & ends. Extricating humanity from social & political impasse may come from new growth in religion. Democracies depend on education to preserve themselves. Only drastic change, mutation in teaching, will prevent education from collapsing & with it a free way of living.
           [Education's Difficulties, Symptoms, and Evolution]—3 findings in education are now obvious: (1) In a changing world education must be lifelong, [beginning with re-education]; (2) A system which stocks the mind & mobilizes the will through surface areas of the will and mind is utterly inefficient; (3) "Individual" is an arbitrary division of humanity. We can only live and learn appropriately as an organic social unit.
           In evolutionary terms, teaching has gone through 2 stages. The neotechnic [stage and] method, extending almost to the 20th century, consisted of attempting by punishments and rewards to compel the mind to store and the character to acquire information, opinions and conduct. The paleo-technic stage, known as the progressive method, [operated under an assumption of freedom]. The technique was to give the child liberty to acquire their desired information and to naturally display positive latent moral characteristics.
           The child isn't a creature arriving with a stock of faculties moral & intellectual. It is a plastic, suggestible being which needs support just as much as freedom. Psychologically acute dictators [have been manipulating the progressive system]. There is nothing particularly or suddenly wrong with human nature, only with the progressives' diagnosis of it. [We are now at the neotechnic stage]. The method is based on the fact of the subconscious. Study has shown that subconscious isn't a residue of untamable instincts. It is the storage area for impressions & suggestions. We can unstore & restore this reservoir with desirable impulses. This profound & creative depth of consciousness is deaf to argument & ordinary rationalistic instruction. Contacted properly, it is as easily touched, trained & cooperated with, [through suggestions & impressions] as the mind's most rational surfaces.
           [Resistance to & Development of the Neotechnic Method]—Many people thought that unconscious' discovery & the recognition of it as the seat of memory & will was the end of education. At best you could set free deeper will from conflicts & inhibitions, & live as a healthy animal. When it became clear that the subconscious wasn't simply animal but widely suggestible, & that it could be made to respond to the right methods, still progressives resisted. To use an irrational method, they would be vulnerable to the religious, whom progressives had mocked as superstitious. The subconscious is at least as open to constructive suggestions as it is to destructive. If it has any preferences for particular actions, it would be for cooperative effort & inquiry. People in education should immediately start on neotechnic development of teaching, or risk leaving to reactionaries & tyranny a power, a discipline, & a devotion which democracy lacks, not because it is untrue, but because it is untaught.
           The problem remains how to work out a technique which will make this method something other than a tool of reaction. Can we, using the neotechnic method, produce a progressive mind & will as comprehensive as the present world requires & as expanding as the future demands? [Most likely], the subconscious mind favors humane rather than militaristic suggestions. We must see to it that teachers won't infect their pupils with that basic egotism which is the source of all conflict, persecution, & war. This new method gives the teacher a new power, and although it is a power which can and would "make for righteousness," it can also be perverted.
           [Educational Revolution; New Way of Life]—What is required of education today is a new: way of living; vocation, religious outlook on making contemporary minds that shape the future. The neotechnic stage is ready to be born, but it will require travail if there is to be delivery. If we are to effect this educational revolution, we must understand that free education's challenge didn't spring up in a night. The trained wills of the free countries are too weak to resist the dictators' constant encroachment. Civilization has long lacked certain vitamins & so today we are in the grip of a social disease, that had to lead to hedonism & despair. Education is the only answer to social chaos, but it must be an education which educates the whole person throughout their whole life.
           Throughout history, in times of breakdown, a few men, aware of the real contemporary issue & social disease, created lifestyles in which civilized life's essentials, discipline, economy, & culture, might be learnt, & preserved. The answer to the Hellenic Roman civilization's collapse was the monastic system, an educational life in the fullest sense of the word. When that way of life broke up, monastery was succeeded by university. With the psychological mutation of our age, the sudden discovery of the subconscious, we require in education & religion a Copernican revolution of the mind. We need a radically new psychologically-based education. This psychology is direct knowledge of consciousness at all levels. The only practitioners who have found any mastery of psyche such that the subconscious became obedient & superconscious could be contacted have been religious directors. We need to learn this technique without accepting the same restricted ends western religion sought.
           [Neotechnic Education's Tasks]—From the effective religious disciplines, trainings, exercises, yogas, etc., of the past we have to extract essential active elements, & then, having found them, we discover how we may generate these among ourselves. When we have these essentials ordered & ready for application, we must make a school, & be ready to initiate a scholastic system in which the curriculum is arranged to develop such practices & techniques. The 1st need is a center of research where pioneers who have collected & applied to themselves some of the knowledge may gather to pool & order their findings. They would share such provisional rules & techniques as they may have worked out. We need both to decode past knowledge & make new discoveries by test & experiment. [I can understand doubts & can imagine someone saying that] your proposal is a fanciful hybrid bred out of an ashram by a laboratory. Such crosses aren't viable. Religions won't share their technique with you; you will never able to master it. Yet the nucleus of such a new center of the neo-technic center does exist.
           [Pendle Hill; Problem Restated]—The tendency of the age is away from religions of authority to those of experience. We should expect an age of keen religious experiment. The elder churches are bound to immutable and inflexible creeds. [Friends do not have these restrictions]. It might be expected that we should discover among Friends a specific organism which could answer to the need for the neotechnic to emerge and express this function. The sociologist is now aware where between religion and education, one may look for the [right combination of exploratory experience and instructional technique]. Friends, while keeping the techniques on contacting the Divine, have not shut them in hermetically sealed creedal containers. To one observer, Pendle Hill seems the only completely contemporary effort to answer the educational question and problem of today.
           The problem is that, successful as the analytic method has proved in giving us power, it has failed to give us insight. Certain that values could be analyzed, this false assurance led materio-humanist teachers to imagine you could estimate a student's insight and creative understanding by giving grades. [It was assumed that] the art of living could be taught by lecturing professors. Mostly these assumptions are now realized to be false. We now know that the neo-educational method is training of the mind evolving the character, and enlarging the apprehension and awareness through cooperation with the entire reunited psyche, subconscious and conscious.
           The new method needs to rouse whole-hearted interest & [undivided] attention. Grades, credits & degrees are distractions. Pendle Hill gives no marks or degrees. The deeper mind has the power to remember & create but doesn't see why it should except for love of doing so. When memory is crammed with facts, without the subconscious' natural interest & curiosity, such impressions don't remain. Attention & interest must be roused by the whole mind's seeing the relevance of the knowledge being given to a complete creative way of living.
           Pendle Hill aims at curriculum which deals with a complete way of living. The instruction at Pendle Hill centers in 3 vital concerns: healing the [fractured] consciousness of the individual; [healing the class-fractured society with a just economy], seeking a policy for international order not resting on physical violence. The student should try to live out in miniature what one is learning. The student along with staff will practice the psychiatry, the economy, & the policy about which one is learning intellectually. Life divides itself into intellectual work, cooperative housekeeping, & psychological training, which includes Quaker silent group meditation.
           [Learning and Application Combined]—Pendle Hill has laid foundation for a new research center, a laboratory for working out intentional living. The subjects studied are being practiced under laboratory conditions. The question of whether behind the forms of dogmatic religion, there is a real method of controlling the self & extending the consciousness is being discussed & tried at Pendle Hill. The task of learning is to detect & disclose this force as it has made possible man's psychological or spiritual evolution. The task of practice is to put it into group & individual work with experimental faith that there is a way of creative being which will lead to a new way of dynamic living. In the same spirit the economic problem is approached: informed lectures & corporate discussions on the contemporary economic crisis & issues, along with living a miniature but life-size cooperative community. The whole problem of world policy, of statesmanship in the noblest sense of the word is faced. Pendle Hill must look upon its training centers both as places from which graduates go out into the world with a new technique, & as centers to which the graduates return to refit, readjust & retake their bearings.
           Among researching Friends there is a rare combination of a channel of profound spiritual experience flowing down to the present & also critical intelligence & freedom from dogma to render that experience in modern terms, to turn the few's art into the many's science. Such is the original creative & comprehensive plan & policy of the neo-educational system & technique which is working itself out at Pendle Hill. It is a precipitation of new power & order which uses whatever channel lying nearest its flow. It is sprouting seed, new plant, which when grown will be the tree for the nations' healing, a new mutation which ushers in a radically new step in evolution.
http://www.pendlehill.org/product-category/pamphlets
www.facebook.com/pendlehill?fref=ts

103. The Character of a Quaker (by Henry Joel Cadbury; 1959)
           About the Author—Henry Joel Cadbury is Emeritus Professor of Divinity of Harvard where he taught for 27 years. He is a student and writer on early Christianity and the history of Quakerism. He was on the committee who prepared the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. He is a birthright member of Philadelphia YM.
           A Quaker is a scroundrel Saint of an Order without Founder, Vow, or Rule, for he won't swear, nor be tyed to any Thing but his own humor. He Vapours much of the Light within him, but no such Thing appears, unless he means he is light-headed. Nothing comes so near his quaking Liturgy as the Papistical Possessions of the Devil, with which it conforms in Discipline exact. His Devotion is but a Kind of spiritual Palsy, that proceeds from a Brain Distemper. The general Ignorance of their whole Party make it appear, that whatsoever their zeal may be, it isn't according To Knowledge.—Samuel Butler (1612-80), Characters and Passages from Notebooks.
           [Introduction]/ Characteristic/ Selection by Attraction—What makes a good Quaker? Some pamphlets of each generation of Friends have attempted to set forth an answer. William Penn wrote a short, unpublished (?) piece called “A Description of a Good Quaker, where he says “what kind or manner of people are they who obey the Light.” Here I will deal with the question directly and indicate the criteria that have emerged in our history.
           In a bibliography of the 17th century, I find about 15 which either are or might be called “The Character of a Quaker. They are hostile, and belong to “Antiquakeriana.” 3 of the earliest begin: “A Quaker is a vessel of fanaticism. A Quaker is an everlasting argument. A Quaker is a spawn of anarchy.” We should cherish honest criticisms from sincere and temperate sources [(e.g. Baron von Hugel, Bishop Henson, Bishop Wand), which would help us with] our own complacency as to the value of our denominational traits.
           Early Friends were convinced not birthright members. They found Quakerism by their seeking, [& went from] seeking to finding. Adherence wasn’t a formal matter: it was recognition by one's self & others of an accomplished fact, [how the message fit] the inner experience & conviction. The Friend's function to the non-Friend was to discover what was already there, to disclose, not change or persuade. Fox told followers that their lives should speak, that their conduct should answer that of God in others. The anti-Quakers answered “What makes a good Quaker?” superficially & inaccurately. Pro-Quaker answers are often equally unsatisfactory.
           Criteria of Membership/Conflict and Contrast with the World—For nearly a century no systematic method was used for identifying its adherents; there was no such thing as formal membership [before 1737]. Non-Friends, and some Friends fall into historical errors when they ignore the long absence of formal membership. How was a true Friend recognized in the days of Fox and Penn? There were external evidences of convincement—“speech, behavior & apparel.” Such marks of Quakerism are recognizable—too easily recognizable, I think. We need in ourselves the qualities behind [choosing those marks]—sincerity, integrity, dedication.
           In some ways the reasons behind Quakers’ persecutors are as hard to understand as are those behind the persecuted. One can almost say that our criterion of a good Quaker in the 17th Century's last half was whether he was in trouble with authorities. [The list of things that got him in trouble was long]. Joseph Besse in 1753 condensed Original Records of Suffering & similar material into 2 large folio volumes of Sufferings. It is these volumes' index with over 20,000 names & similar volumes that are the nearest thing we have to membership lists of Quaker adults in the century. The sufferings recorded were those recognized as “for the cause of Truth.” During the Revolutionary War Friends who refused to pay war taxes or handle the money weren't counted as suffering by their monthly meeting. The recording of suffering showed: what persons were regarded by Friends as members; whether their loyalty when tested stood firm; & what actions counted as suffering “on Truth’s account.”
           Admitting/Disowning Members—Terms under which people have been admitted or rejected in applying for membership or have been dismissed from membership might provide definitions of at least a tolerably good Quaker. Disownment goes back to the 1st decade of our history. [Whenever a person somehow associated with Quakers did something that seemed scandalous even in the eyes of the world, faithful Friends “disowned” him]. Disownment for marrying a non-Friend was not done for public relations. The disowned person could continue to attend meetings for worship and could continue to espouse the bulk of Quaker practices and testimonies.
           [Questions of right standards for admission to membership never arose in early days]. Even today clarity & unanimity of practice aren’t to be found. The membership applicant takes the initiative. One's own judgment of the Society’s suitability to ones needs & aspirations is the initial & frequently decisive factor. Since a member joins & belongs to a Monthly Meeting, [& then] to Yearly Meeting & the whole Society, uniformity of standard isn't to be expected. Much less than in the past are new members expected to have already attained final certainty. The Society of Friends can be looked upon as the favorable place in which individual & corporate growth can take place. Inactive members neither offer to withdraw from membership or welcome the suggestion they do so.
           Queries/Changes in Queries—Queries have had a long & influential if varying role in our past; Catholics list questions in manuals of devotions, while Protestants have nothing like them. Very early the Society became organized in a framework that permitted or invited collecting of information, [used for contemporary & later historical use]. Monthly meetings were asked for a history of local Quakerism. A series of questions gave guidance for the desired answers’ contents. [The 17th Century saw practical & statistical questions asked along with]: “How Truth hath prospered … since the last Year Meeting & how (far) are Friends in peace & unity.”
           Slowly the list was enlarged to refer to matters of personal faithfulness. The Queries of London Yearly Meeting have been revised, I am told, 14 times since they were 1st printed in 1783 in the Book of Discipline. Between 1859 and 1928 questions beginning “Are Friends …” now began with “Are you …” Modern changes in the queries include an emphasis on the positive side.
           The whole function of the queries has undergone a changed understanding. Beginning as a technique of collecting from all localities information that would permit knowing the condition of the parts, they became an inquiry to the authorities of the local meeting with respect to their duty of keeping the membership in line. Now that written answers are frequently dropped the reading of the queries has come to have exclusively the intention and effect of a reminder, a “silent confessional.” In all their varying forms and functions they have served as a partial definition of Quakerism and some of its special requirements.
           Advices/Lives of Individual Friends/ Variety—Another condensed section of Quaker books of discipline is called the Advices. The Advices do not cover “the whole duty of man,” nor is their content exclusively Quaker. They generally inform their readers of what is expected of a Friend. Some were expressed metrically (e.g. (4) Be strictly honest in thy dealings/Discouraging all greedy feelings/ And do not speculation choose/Or thou wilt very likely lose. (8) On furniture and dress expend/ No more than may become a Friend/In all thy actions lay aside/ Whatever tends to worldly pride. (10) Let living plain and thinking high/Be the good rule thou livest by/And, if thou shouldst prepare a feast/Ask not the greatest but the least. (11) So, when thy earthly course is run/And all thy work below is done/By living thus thou yet may’st end/A “tolerably consistent Friend.”
           One of the most effective criteria for Quakerism’s definition is the example of individual Friends, both living & long deceased. This acquaintance with Quaker ideals is illustrative rather than prescriptive. The older Quaker Journal, the modern biography & the living example have been effective molders of Quaker character. The purest influence has often been the unplanned by-product of conscientious spiritual living.
           A particular asset of the biographical definition of Quakerism is the variety which it permits; variety should be tolerated and even encouraged. The earliest Friends were not all alike. We ought to admire some Friends more for their way of balancing the prevalent type than for their conformity to it. While old duties remain, new ones may be more important to anticipate and prepare for.
           Quakerism as Worth Loyalty—Within Quaker membership there are those who see no special function that justifies our continuance; [for them church bodies are interchangeable] because they claim “a higher loyalty.” [On the other hand, fully convinced Friends] can be loyal to the Society & to larger Christendom. With Whittier we can say, “The world needs the Society of Friends as a testimony & a standard.”
           Rufus Jones helped more than one generation of Friends come to an understanding of a possible role for Quakerism in the contemporary world. The good Friend recognizes the classical significance of this particular section of society and sees the importance of maintaining it—its inner harmony and fellowship, and its adaptability to the needs of our time. He will not despair of the Society; he is alert to its unrecognized opportunity at various levels. A high theology about the Church is abroad in the institutional, dogmatic bodies, and in the “Free Churches” that is not especially appropriate to our tradition. In the present mood, [developing] a theology about the “Body of Christ" is not likely to replace or strengthen the kind of loyal belief in the value of our Society.
           2 Strands in Quakerism—There is today in some Quaker circles a strong emphasis upon high Christology, or Christo-centricity in the modern sense, a definition of Christ's place. This evangelical viewpoint has long been present to Quakerism. It has always had in Quakerism an alternative or rival emphasis. The alternative emphasis often called “Inner Light” is not really negative. It has been positive. It too goes back before the rise of the Society. It can find sanction in the Bible and in notable figures or movements in Christian history.
            What needs to be observed of these 2 strands in Quakerism is that they are both compatible with a good Quaker's character. After the Great Separation of 1827-1828, the 2 sides reduced their positions to polemic or to catchwords, and even today they have not thought their positions through. If the need for a Quaker theology is to escape partisanship it must deal with both strands and the relation between them in the following 3 ways:
           1. We shall need to recognize both of them are part of our heritage. Several notable figures shifted position on these strands. George Keith went from universal immediate revelation back to Anglican orthodoxy. John Wesley 1st accepted, then rejected William Law saying: “The strongly evangelical person is seldom happy with the mystical emphasis.” The Unitarian James Martineau admitted: “The literature to which I turn for nurture and inspiration are almost exclusively Christian religion's orthodox versions.” In our own time we have 2 simultaneous movements, due to our emergence from sectarian and provincial seclusion. Our relief service has shown us how much we have in common with non-Christian social and religious philosophy. Our contact with ecumenical or un-denominational Christian bodies, have reminded us of our common Christian heritage.
           2. We need to recognize that “Christ Jesus” is an ambivalent term. Evangelicals can say that the Inner Light is the Light of Christ; Inner Light folk can say that Christ is Christ of the Inner Light.
            3. We need to recognize Christo-centricity is also of various sorts. The NT itself is regarded as centered in Jesus or Christ, but between its several writings and even within them there is a diversity of Christ-relatedness.
           Each side tends to criticize the other as wrong-headed, or at least missing the highest. I think both parties would feel less anxious if they could see the nature of religious expression & their several relations to it. [The sides are using different symbols & different emphasis in their imaginative construction of experience]. Perhaps the “demythologizing” of biblical-religious staging needs to be carried into Quakers’ imaginative construction.
           Independence/Economic Order/Ministry/Conclusion—[There is in] good Quakerism today a sense of independence and a willingness to be different. Along with this willingness must go the judgment as to where to be different. [And without conformity as guide] we must be obedient to individual duty as though we were conforming to broad standards. I have a feeling that our preoccupation with problems of war and of racial injustice, have prevented us from as continuous attention to economic order as it deserves. Improvements have been made, and the problems that remain are partly the result of success: excessive possessions, consumption, and leisure. Neither more state intervention nor escape into detached communities can provide the whole solution; imaginative penetration into these issues is called for.
           The ministry in our meetings for worship is inadequate; it is often too chatty, too casual, too superficial. This does not mean more prepared sermons, but the spoken and silent effect of lives and minds at leisure from themselves. Thoughts of spiritual interpretation and application should resolutely be cultivated [by all]. Individually and collectively this worship is the symptom and the result of really good Quakerism.
           My purpose has been to suggest “what makes a good Quaker?” should be taken to heart by all of us. “If we ask what our society inspires in the way of high performance we are led to the conclusion that we may have … lost the gift of demanding high performance of ourselves. Emerson said: ‘Our chief want in life is someone who will make us do what we can.” [From The Pursuit of Excellence, Rockefeller Report on education, 1958].
http://www.pendlehill.org/product-category/pamphlets
www.facebook.com/pendlehill?fref=ts