From: Wim Nusselder (wim.nusselder@antenna.nl)
Date: Sun Mar 28 2004 - 22:39:47 BST
Dear (potential) fans of at least one religion (-: ,
High time to present as my favourite religion: Quakers alias the 'Religious
Society of Friends', or rather the European variant, which I know best.
Platt explained 17 Mar 2004 07:38:22 -0500 the difference between his
religion of 'pursuing Dynamic Quality by creating and contemplating art as
well as by pursuing beauty in all my endeavors' and 'other religious
activity' with:
'No need for intermediaries (church, rituals, priests, gurus) to experience
DQ.'
If you substitute 'God' for 'DQ' this was the exact starting point of
Quakerism in 17th century England. And to cut a long (hi)story short: every
Quaker I know would probably agree with Platt's statement after some
explanation of the role of Dynamic Quality in the MoQ.
In 1643 19 year old George Fox was shocked by the failure of alleged
Christians to live up to their Christian standards and (as he describes in
his 'Journal', which we might now call 'memoirs') was 'called' to leave home
and search spiritual help. Consulting without success priests, vicars,
dissenting
preachers, so-called experienced people and everyone else he could find, he
at last (in 1647) 'heard a voice' which said: "There is one, even Christ
Jesus, that can speak to thy condition". He became an itinerant preacher
himself. He met people and religious groups with comparable experiences and
spoke in services of more established churches, sharing essentially this
message of the possibility of unmediated inspiration.
This message became a unifying force for a growing group of people.
Consequences drawn were a refusal to take oaths, refusal to pay 'hat-honor'
(taking your hat off for a 'superior'), refusal to pay church taxes for the
upkeep of a 'hireling' clergy, equality of status between members of the
movement, refusal of state authority over religious life, 'thee' and 'thou'
language etc. etc.. In this time of civil war there was some political space
in England for the emergence of Quakers and other dissenting groups, but
they nevertheless faced persecution from the side of political and religious
authorities feeling (rightly) threatened. (A lot of them emigrated to
America, where now live larger numbers than in the whole of Europe.)
The form Quaker 'meetings for worship' took derived mainly from the groups
and individuals called 'Seekers', who joined Quakers in large numbers. Being
disappointed in existing churches and human endeavours to reform them, they
already had developed a discipline of waiting in silence, alone or together,
for some sort of 'Holy Spirit' experience, like -according to the New
Testament- in the early Christian church.
The organization of this movement under persecution can be credited to
Margaret Fell, the (younger) wife of an elderly judge (who after his death
in 1658 married George Fox). She organized the writing of letters, keeping
track of people 'travelling in the ministry' and supporting Quakers in
prison. Local 'meetings for worship' organized themselves in regional
'monthly meetings' where decisions on mutual support could be made and sent
representatives to a London-based 'meeting for sufferings' (referring to
inprisonments and other
persecution).
George Fox and his contemporary Quakers spoke traditional Christian language
and did agree on what contemporary Christians considered essential Christian
doctrines: the Unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Divinity and
Humanity of Christ, the reality of Sin and then need for Salvation, the
resurrection of Christ and his redemption of Sin, the Bible being divinely
inspired etc.. George Fox was said to know the bible almost by heart and
quoted it often. They refused to hold each other to the words in which they
were expressed though. In the words of George Fox as quoted by Margaret Fell
in her description of her convincement experience:
'He is not a Jew that is one outward, neither is that circumcision which is
outward, but he is a Jew that is one inward, and that is circumcision which
is of the heart. ... The Scriptures were the prophets' words and Christ's
and the apostles' words, and what as they spoke they enjoyed and possessed
and had it from the Lord. Then what had any to do with the Scriptures, but
as they came to the Spirit that gave them forth. You will say, Christ saith
this, and the apostles say this; but what canst thou say? Art thou a child
of Light and hast walked in the Light, and what thou speakest is it inwardly
from God?'
The religious practice Quakers (or 'Friends' as we call each other)
developed was one without ordained ministers, without the 'outward' kind of
'holy' rituals called 'sacraments' in other churches (baptism, mass,
eucharist and so on), without 'confession of faith' as requirement for
membership, but with a strong sense of being able to experience God directly
and intimately and to get guidance from that experience for everything from
everyday behaviour, via special tasks (called 'concerns') you find on your
path, to the general direction of one's life. 'Bring the whole of your life
under the ordering of the spirit of Christ ' as an advice from 'Quaker faith
& practice, the book of Christian discipline of the Yearly Meeting of the
Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain' still reads. The main
collective religious practices are 'meetings for worship' (silent, usually
sitting in a circle, in which anyone can rise to share a limited amount of
words when feeling 'called' to do so) and monthly (regional), yearly
(roughly national) etc. 'meetings for business' (interspersed with silence
when necessary, guided by a sense of seeking together for 'God's will for
the meeting', open to all members and usually attenders of the 'meetings for
worship' in that area). They can be seen as methods to practise this
'getting guidance'. 'Meetings for business' are also used to test individual
guidance against collective guidance (including tradition and written
sources of accepted wisdom) and vice versa.
Accepted language in Quakers meetings is much more diverse now than it was
in the 17th century. I know of no real limits. You can combine being Quaker
with being Buddhist or Universalist (recognizing what David B. called 27 Mar
2004 18:14:46 -0700 'the values that are common to all religions or the
mystical core of all religions') or even agnostic as far as the existence of
'God' is concerned. Personal experience and practical application is
preferred over theology however. The defining characteristics of Quakers are
more in the (extreme simplicity and practicality of worshipping and
decision-making) methods than in any content, except for that original
idea -worded in very diverse ways, however- of the accessibility for all of
direct Guidance.
Despite Platt's objections (13 Mar 2004 08:59:41 -0500) Quakerism IS based
on 'faith', but only in 3 out of the 4 senses identified by Steve Peterson
and Sam (21 Mar 2004 17:12:43 -0500 resp. 22 Mar 2004 07:16:59 -0000): trust
(in Guidance), loyalty (to Quaker methods of ascertaining Guidance) and
conviction (the decision to live by it), but not factual belief (willingness
to believe ideas that cannot be proved).
Despite Platt's objections Quaker morality IS based on continuing 'divine'
revelation. It is also given an intellectual basis in lots of contemporary
writings of Quakers, however, which have equal status as the Bible (and when
applicability counts even more). These are loosely latched in anthologies of
quotes and guidelines (like the above-mentioned 'Quaker Faith & Practice' of
British Friends) that are revised roughly once in every generation.
A life devoted to pursuing Dynamic Quality through art (Platt's religion)
would certainly fit a modern Quaker. Quaker religious practices can add (to
that religion) the opportunity to share with others what you find in an
environment that is sympathetic to any 'seeker' or 'student of religion' and
skeptical of anyone who pretends that religion (that re-connects us with our
source, DQ/God) can be a simple practising of existing methods that
'reliably precipitate a mystical experience'.
Quakerism is BOTH profoundly mystical, experience-based, AND practical, bent
on 'letting your life speak'.
Let me know if you have any questions.
With f&Friendly greetings,
Wim
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