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Quaker Culture: Right Action

For Friends the most important consideration is not the right action in itself but a right inward state out of which right action will arise. Given the right inward state right action is inevitable. Inward state and outward action are component parts of a single whole.

On Countries (January 2016)

Ministry of the Wolf

One summer afternoon, I sat with a dozen other folks in the White Mountains of Arizona, listening to Aldo Leopold speak of witnessing the green fire fade from the eyes of a Mexican gray wolf, after he had shot it on the very spot where we stood. He spoke of that green fire as an image he could never forget, an image that brought him to an epiphany, challenging his belief in the superiority of man over nature. This experience left me with goose bumps and a wish that we all could face that fire (the Light?) within all animals, to become more (less?) human.

On Limits (May 2016)

No Tengas Miedo

Dear Editor: We just received the March-April issue of Western Friend, “On Beginnings.” Thanks for including my “recipe” for peanut butter cookies! One clarification: Multnomah Meeting does not “support” Amigas del Señor in any financial or legal way. Rather, we “spiritually share in a Covenant of Caring.” It is a promise to stay in touch and hold one another in the Light.

On Limits (May 2016)

Spiritual Steps on the Road to Success

I am a huge fan of the self-help genre. I have turned to self-help books when I wanted to heal from trauma, to let go of guilt, to be more nurturing of myself, and to be a better parent.

On Limits (May 2016)

Simple Foods, More on

Dear Editor: I write in response to “Rich People Won’t Eat It” by Jane Snyder. Modern Quakers in the communities I am familiar with (PYM and Australia YM) have a wide range of dietary needs and preferences – probably much wider than the general population. I posit that, far from joining modern fads, Quakers are actually ahead of the wider society in tuning into our bodies. We are (or were, and hopefully are returning to be) a somatic religion, which means we tune in to our bodies. Food intolerance can arise not just from medical issues, such as being celiac, but also as a result of trauma and environmental sensitivities, which highlight the plight of our earth. Others make careful choices on what they eat from deeply held ethical positions.

On Heritage (July 2016)

Quaker Culture: Speaking Up

“Have you anything to declare?” is a vital challenge to which every one of us is personally called to respond and is also a challenge that every meeting should consider of primary importance. It should lead us to define, with such clarity as we can reach, precisely what it is that Friends of this generation have to say that is not, as we believe, being said effectively by others. What, indeed, have we to declare to this generation that is of sufficient importance to justify our separate existence . . . ?  (1956)

On Media (September 2016)

The Message is the Message

Marshall McLuhan, the late Canadian media philosopher, famously proclaimed, “The medium is the message.” For Quakers, the silent presence found in worship has no medium for its message. The message IS the message.

On Media (September 2016)

Peace Tax Fund Advocates Needed

Dear Friends: The National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund is seeking a volunteer in each congressional district to communicate with their representative about the Peace Tax Fund Bill and urge its passage. Time commitment is two to four hours a month.

On Flesh (November 2016)

The Dazzle of Day – Review

Here’s a challenge: Write a novel in which a Quaker business meeting is the dramatic pivot point . . . and make it a compelling read.

On Flesh (November 2016)

Quaker Culture: Contributing to Decisions

Decisions [among Friends] are not made based upon how many agree most and most loudly, but upon whether the speaker has caught the Sense of the Meeting and articulated it well. Speaking twice does not give your words more weight. . . . We may have to train ourselves out of some of the attitudes we have learned from the cultures we grew up in. We may have to leave behind a need to always be right, to be obeyed, to be “the best.” We may have to leave behind a manner of speaking (either too softly or too loudly) that doesn’t communicate well what we have to say.

On Competition (January 2017)