Committing to the Quaker Spiritual Path
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- Quaker author Lloyd Lee Wilson believes that there are many paths to God, but that once you’ve picked one, you have to be “all in.” What does that look like for the Quaker path?
SUBSCRIBE for a new video every week! fdsj.nl/QS-Subs...
WATCH all our videos: fdsj.nl/qs-all-...
Filmed and edited by Jon Watts: jonwatts.com
Music from this episode: jonwattsmusic.com
___
Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28
fdsj.nl/FJ-Subs...
Find out about Quakers in PA, DE, NJ and MD
fdsj.nl/pym
FCE: deepening intimacy, finding peace, building community. Curious? fdsj.nl/fce
Learn about how Friends Fiduciary witnesses to Quaker values on Wall Street fdsj.nl/friend...
___
Transcript:
I think one of the things that many spiritual traditions share is the teaching that the eye cannot see itself. In order for us to make even the individual spiritual growth that we desire, it’s necessary to have some other eyes than ours looking at us objectively and telling us truthfully what they see, or what they don’t see.
Committing to the Quaker Spiritual Path
I’m Lloyd Lee Wilson. I’m a member of Friendship Friends Meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina, which is part of North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative).
Immersing Yourself in a Faith Tradition
It is, I think, impossible to get the benefit of any faith tradition without immersing one’s self in it. I believe like the Sufis that where thee digs thy well and where I dig my well may be on different creeks, but they come from the same living water and they flow to the same ocean. I feel that there are in fact many paths to God, but they are distinct paths. If one is intent on making that journey, the best way there is to follow the path of the faith tradition thee has chosen.
The temptation if we don’t is to avoid those things we don’t like. If we begin to treat our spiritual growth as a buffet or a salad bar-we’re only human, we take more than we need of the stuff we really like and we shy away from the stuff that doesn’t taste good or that gave us heartburn. But it is the nature of the faith journey that it’s often those things that we don’t like the taste of that are making the growth in us that we need in order to go forward.
Exchanging Individualism for Corporate Discernment
We live in an age of rampant individualism. It’s all around us, we breathe it in with every breath. I think that one of the hardest things about committing to the Quaker faith tradition is exchanging that individualism for a sense of corporate discernment and corporate wisdom. We go through our meetings and we’re asking, “My meeting is not giving me the things that I need for my spiritual journey.” It’s a question that I hear all the time. But I think that the real question-the question that will help us more-is to ask, “How can I be the member my meeting needs me to be in order to do the spiritual work God has given it to do?”
So to make that switch first of all requires a great deal of courage. To give up the fact that I’m going to be my own defense here, I’m going to look out for myself and be responsible for my own spiritual journey. It takes a lot of trust to feel safe and secure, to feel that yes, these people are seeking to discern God’s will, that together we can discern it better and I have nothing to fear. That’s very hard, very hard.
Committing to the Quaker Tradition
Quakerism has not been a perfect journey for me. I have never sat down in the perfect Quaker meeting and never expect to. But even those difficult places are places where we grow and we grow as a community. So that’s the concept I’ve been trying to articulate in my writings and my talkings about Quakerism: that it’s not a salad bar situation. You have to step inside of the tradition: commit to the tradition. Commit to something larger than yourself and then you begin to understand, “OK, this it the part of the tradition that’s real for me, I can take this in.” But you can’t stand outside the tradition and even understand it, much less critique it.
___
The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
SUBSCRIBE for a new video every week! fdsj.nl/QS-Subscribe
WATCH all our videos: fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos
FILMED & EDITED by Jon Watts: jonwatts.com
This video deeply resonates. When I was student and visiting Hong Kong, a Philosophy of Religion professor told a small group of us, "there are many paths to the summit of the mountain, but you have to choose one."
This resonated with me so much that I've written it out longhand, to keep in my planner, to carry with me and think about.
As a student of many years of Islam and the mystical tradition, once flowering within it, and now withering inside it, such wise friendly talk lifts up a heavy heart.
I find the tricky part is understanding how to immerse yourself in Quakerism, particularly given the unprogrammed nature of meetings. The lack of preaching is welcome, but it comes with a certain lack of direction that's challenging. These videos are a big help, though.
Don't worry about the direction. Its always given to you just be quiet and listen
I just want to say this video had an impact on me. He basically laid out the concept of the third eye (that looks inward towards the self/mind, but remains closed for almost all of us), and then went on to use an analogy borrowed from Sufism. I had to stop the video and think for a moment about how wonderful this guy is. It's a beautiful message that even Billy Graham shared years ago that started my journey of exploring religions and seeking ultimate truth. There are different paths that lead to the same place, and he is so right that one must at least choose a path. I'm at a point in my life where I've grown weary of local sanghas and megachurches that appear to be 98% in the world. There is something to be said for the full commitment to a path. I have no idea what to expect from my local Quaker group, but I know it is a path of non-violence and non-dogma, based on what I've read. I believe I'll give it a try this weekend.
I find Quaker's to be the truest examples of Christian's the United States has ever produced. I went to a couple of meetings in Alaska years ago. I was going through a dark time though, and I felt guilty bringing my sins into the room. Maybe someday I'll be able to try again.
You should try again.
We all have sins.
When we focus on our sins, we burden ourselves with guilt. When we focus on the Light, our whole body becomes full Light.
Christ's yoke is easy, because He is Love (full of Grace and Truth)and commands us to love; love covers a multitude of sins and mercy triumphs over judgment.
I understand your feeling towards your sins, but hope my take on it may be of help. If not, ignore this ramble ;)
To accept that my body is a carrier of Spirit like every other human being, even the greatest of war criminals, is for me an absolution from, or way to find peace with, the sins I know I have committed and know I will commit. Sin is embedded in our humanness, not because we are evil by nature but because we are fallible by nature. And for us who live in the West, sin is blatantly obvious in our continuous failure to do away with an economic system wherein our own comfort depends on others' sufferings. Knowing and feeling that Spirit nevertheless lives within me and permeates the whole of this creation, leaves me with a certain absolution that also demands action for the good in the world. Although I see myself as Christian, I am not inclined to use some typical Christian phrases like "washing away of your sins" or "Jesus took my punishment". I believe that we are, in part, the sum of our histories and choices and we have to make the best of that. We always carry our sins and fallibilities with us, into every room we enter. But the fact that we also carry in us Spirit - the Holy Spirit or Christ, if you will - which has the potential to lead us to a better life and better relations with others, feels like an ongoing absolution to me.
Quakerism originated in England :) Though many quickly moved to the US to avoid persecution (which unfortunately did not work - and in fact got much worse in the US due to their sharing of the land with Puritans).
Thank you. You are speaking to my condition, Friend.
Beautiful.
I like their oats the best
Delete this
Sublime Failure
I love erasure as an art form, thanks for the delete this comment!
Trim those eyebrows!