Search

Dear Friends: To be poor in spirit is not the same as to be poor materially or socially. Even so, material wealth and social authority tend to obstruct our view of the long arc of history that bends towards a world of justice and kindness. Although anyone is capable of recognizing justice and kindness as fundamental purposes of humanity – even persons with wealth and authority –  all too often, wealth and authority masquerade as justice and kindness themselves, a tricky sort of bait-and-switch that distracts us from keeping our eyes on the road.

Not by My Strength Alone: Laboring Together Beyond Our Comfort Zones

Dear Friends: Almost anything can serve as a weapon, even life-giving water. All living creatures on earth have evolved (are evolving) fortifications against attack. Cellular life is fortified by membranes, and human societies are fortified by lines in the sand. Nutrients and attractive ideas gain access through those fortifications. Poisons and slander are rebuffed. Inside our fortifications, ideally, scarcity and excess are minimized as we “give us this day our daily bread;” but in actuality, scarcity and excess are the pumping pistons of empire, trampling our planet today.

“Tell me a story.” How often we said that as children! “Tell me a story.” Narrative has the power to shape our world; indeed it is how we understand the world and our place in it. “Tell me a story.”

Dear Western Friend: I can't tell you how much it means to me to be able to join Quaker meetings for Sunday worship! As a relatively Isolated Quaker at the Oregon coast, your easy website connection, not only for my home meeting of Eugene Friends, but for many meetings, is such an anticipated delight now on First Days. I look forward to it all week and relish being able to see Friends I haven't been in physical proximity to for years. I also appreciate the Extra! Extra! that comes out to keep up with other Quaker events and concerns. I can only hope that other Isolated Quakers who are scattered throughout the West will take advantage of the unique opportunities presented to us by the current requirement that virtually everyone must practice physical distancing. I wish this kind of Friendly connectivity for Isolated folks could continue, way beyond when this virus fades and we are back to normal life. We Isolated Friends will need other Quakers then, as well as now. Thanks to Western Friend for doing this extra work during our time of physical distancing. You continue to be a blessing to us all as you continue to fulfill your mission of bringing Friends in the West together – now through Zoom!

A sense of belonging is a blessing. Whether we are animal, plant, bacterium, fungus, or protozoan, each of us has a place in our biosphere. If perfect justice existed, every creature would enjoy a feeling of belonging in whatever place it found itself. But actual creation is riddled with imperfection, trial and error, justice and injustice, an ocean of darkness flowing beneath the ocean of light.

The allegory of the cave, attributed to Socrates by Plato in The Republic (375 BCE), depicts human knowledge as emerging from a struggle between our senses and our reason. In this story, prisoners are chained inside a cave so that they are only able to see one wall. A fire behind them projects shadows onto the wall, and all the prisoners’ knowledge derives from those shadows, known through their senses.