Who are the Quakers?

 (We had a slight email snafu, get caught up here)

Who are the Quakers? Paulette continues her teaching…

”In 17th-century England, at a time of civil unrest and great religious ferment, the first Quakers found a collective way, through silent waiting, into the radical transformation of consciousness that Jesus invited his followers into. There were a lot of people who were unhappy at the time with the existing denominations, especially the Anglican Church, which collected taxes to pay professional clergy who did not necessarily have a real calling to the spiritual life. There was a hunger for more meaningful spiritual experience, and one such seeker, a mystic named George Fox, had visions that moved him to gather all these seekers together and to teach them that what they were seeking was within them. It was like “a Pentecostal moment in time,“ because as hundreds of people gathered together in centered stillness, they had deep transformational experiences based on their experience of what they called “the Light of Christ within.” This Light opened them to see the truth of their own lives, to see their own ego-based behaviors, and to see how the society they were living in was not in alignment with the ultimate truth of Love. This new seeing, as painful as it could be, ultimately filled them with deep peace and joy—the peace, as Jesus said, that “passes all understanding.” “

Here is what I love love love about this description of the early Quakers (and I so hope it is accurate). “This Light opened them to see the truth of their own lives, to see their own ego-based behaviors, and to see how the society they were living in was not in alignment with the ultimate truth of Love.”

This really speaks to the same kind of things Scott talked about in his Sunday message at Northstar Community on July 12th (posted online somewhere). Their silence, stillness and collective watching for God woke them to their own personal vulnerabilities and limitations. It inspired them to see their part in the disruption of a society that could have been in alignment with love but was, alas, not. This is so helpful. It is the antithesis of cherry picking bible verses to justify our behaviors as holy. How can we support this same quest in our world today?

Silence, stillness, solitude

From yesterday: How does a person become brave, or strong, or whatever, such that they can withstand all of the junk life throws at them?

The first attempt to answer this question had to do with establishing a system of loving support and accountability.

The second has to do with finding the confidence to believe that you have a place in this world, that you belong, and that you are worthy of love and respect. This kind of confidence tells us that we have the right to ask those who we are in community with to uphold our dignity. It allows us to set boundaries when our dignity and sense of self are either challenged or at risk.

Where does this confidence come from?

Well, this may be similar to the kind of strength Paul describes in Philippians that comes from God. Again, we ask, how to find it, or access it? I hope others are willing to jump in with their opinions in the comment section because I do not have the perfect or most complete answer to that question, but I believe it starts with the willingness to spend time in silence, stillness, and solitude.

We need to give ourselves the gift of space from distraction, noise, and negativity to simply sit and reflect on our lives and see what rises to the surface. This does not always feel like a gift. If you’re not used to time alone, it can be highly uncomfortable. It feels like something that must be escaped. But, that’s a feeling to resist, and it’s one that is easily overcome with practice. It’s in (healthy) disengagement that we find God and can learn to relax with ourselves and draw comfort from knowing that we are placed here so we can thrive, not so that we can be destroyed. It’s this perspective that allows us the strength, the perspective, the wisdom, and the discernment to discover our true needs and what is “ours to do” in meeting them.

What else does it take to be brave in the face of adversity? Let us know your thoughts.