The Light Within

Quaker Voices on Spiritual Universality

The Light Within is Wisdom or Awareness itself. This is all that is real, and it is truly Love, that which is known to some as God. Any who seek to know this Light, or who are called to commune with others who dwell in its recognized presence, are welcome in the Religious Society of Friends. Quakerism is, at its core, the radical acceptance of Love in all of its forms, for there is but one Light within all of us, being here, now, at hand, in our midst. The inner Light and the outer Light are the same Light. There is only one Light; the world being within God, and God being within the world.
People of all traditions may take part in and benefit from Quaker practices. As a universalist faith, our branch of Quakerism at Luray Friends Meeting views all people as holding one Light of the Spirit, that of God, within them, regardless of their location, ethnicity, or religious tradition, and acknowledges that there are many paths to the One Truth. Quakerism provides a method of realizing a personal experience of this Truth, one which is open to all people, of any faith, and one which may be employed in conjunction with other methods or systems of personal insight. It is important to note that many Quakers believe that the Spirit or Light which was embodied by Christ was not unique unto him, but that it dwells within everyone; that there is that of God - the Eternal, the Absolute, the Source, the Universal - within everyone, and that Jesus of Nazareth's example as incarnation of the Word, while being one of the most profound, influential and important sources of spiritual inspiration, is not the only such one that humanity has experienced.
Certainly, there are invaluable spiritual lessons from other traditions, such as other forms of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Daoism, Islam, Hermeticism, Indigenous Religions, Sacred Plant/Psychedelic Religions, Shamanism, Paganism, and others, which are in agreement with and can be of great benefit to those practicing Quakerism. In fact, many members of the Religious Society of Friends borrow and share aspects of their faith directly from other religious or spiritual traditions, and many consider themselves as devoted adherents or followers of various practices or teachings of said traditions, which they integrate as part of their Quaker Faith. Each Quaker is free to follow their own path, the path of the Heart, which was originally bestowed upon them by their Maker and is ever guided by the Spirit, the Inward Teacher, regardless of where it leads them. This unswerving devotion to the Light Within is the defining feature of Quakerism, and truly anyone who attends to such is worthy of being counted amongst the number of this faith, if they deign themselves to be.

"And the deepest thing about man is the fact that he is self-conscious spirit - made in the image of the divine Spirit - in reality unsundered from God as the stream is unsundered from the fountain which is its source, and that true 'life' begins when man finds that eternal Reality to which he 'belongs.' This inward junction of the soul with God, Fox and the Quakers after him called 'the Light within,' 'the seed of God,' 'something of God in man.' If it is true, it is universally true." - Rufus Jones, Quaker

"The paradox of Quaker fundamentalism is that nothing is compulsory: toleration of a plurality of ideas and actions is the hallmark of Quakerism." - Christopher Bagley, Quaker
“Now the Lord God hath opened to me by his invisible power how that every man was enlightened by the divine light of Christ; and I saw it shine through all, and that they that believed in it came out of condemnation and came to the light of life and became the children of it, but they that hated it, and did not believe in it, were condemned by it, though they made a profession of Christ. This I saw in the pure openings of the Light without the help of any man, neither did I then know where to find it in the Scriptures; though afterwards, searching the Scriptures, I found it. For I saw in that Light and Spirit which was before Scripture was given forth, and which led the holy men of God to give them forth, that all must come to that Spirit - if they would know God, or Christ, or the Scriptures aright - which they that gave them forth were led and taught by.” "That which is of God within every one, is that which brings them together to wait upon God, which brings them to unity, which joins their hearts together up to God." - George Fox, Quaker
"The humble, meek, merciful, just, pious, and devout souls are everywhere of one religion, and when death takes off the mask, they will know one another though the diverse liveries they wear here make them strangers." -William Penn, Quaker
“I recognize a change to have taken place in myself, from a certain assumption that mine was really the better way, to a very complete recognition that there is no one better way and that God needs all kinds of people and ways of living through which to manifest Himself in the world.” -Henry Theodore Hodgkin, Quaker
"The central theme of Universalism is that spiritual enlightenment may be achieved by everyone everywhere. It may be experienced in the teachings of all the great religious systems or in the personal and private experiences of the individual seeker who may have no religion at all." -Ralph Hetherington, Quaker
"God enlightens every soul that comes into the world, communes by his Holy Spirit with all men everywhere, illumines the conscience with a clear sense of the right and the wrong course in moral issues, and reveals His Will in definite and concrete matters to those who are sensitive recipients of it." -Rufus Jones, Quaker
"My membership in the Religious Society of Friends has fueled my desire to act as a bridge of understanding and acceptance between Quakerism and persons of other faiths and persuasions. I aspire to live a faith clearly enough to make others recognize the similarities between their faith and mine... I choose to use my energy associating with and supporting other persons and movements who try to live out the Quaker Testimonies of Peace, Community, Equality, and Simplicity. It matters not whether these persons are members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Christian, or of any other faith." -Judith Brown, Quaker
"Would it be true to say that Quakerism is not so much one specific sect of Christianity, or one specific religion, as the core that makes the center of every religion? Hence both the ease with which we make contact with men and women of all religions, and the impossibility of describing what our distinguishing marks are. Is it that we hesitate to claim anything for ourselves alone because it belongs to everyone by nature? Do our experiences and attitudes indeed imply that what we profess and practice is basic religion? It may be that Friends did not discover anything new at all but only what is at the heart of all religions if free from their cultural trappings. Although this discovery was given a Christian framework by Friends in the seventeenth century, now that we know more of other religions many Friends feel that this supporting Christian frame is not our distinguishing mark." -Katherine Wilson. Quaker
"There are other special locations beyond the meeting-house, where I have this same sense of belonging to all others. These are where it is evident that those who have preceded me have themselves reached out to that which is universal and divine. These sites are those of the great cathedrals of Christianity, the Acropolis of the pagan Greeks, the olive tree under whose branches Socrates taught, the carefully currycombed Hindu ashram of Gandhi and the pre-Celt Stonehenge. I cannot believe since I feel such unity with those who created these places special to their faith, that their God and my God are not one and the same. We differ only in our interpretation and cultural understanding, not in grace." - Sally Rickerman, Quaker
"If we examine the great religions of the world we will find that there is a great common core of attitude and of action in which they are in harmony. In Christian literature the general character of this common core may be illustrated by the Sermon on the Mount, in the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew, although it would seem that there have been some interpolations which are foreign to the spirit of the whole. A similar way of life is presented by nearly every other great religion, reflecting the longtime conclusions of the spiritual leaders of the race." -Quaker Universalist Fellowship
"Inter-spiritual approaches are not perceived as threatening to the Quaker tradition, but can actively help one grow in it." - Chris Mayo, Quaker

"Even in the apostles’ days, Christians were too apt to strive after a wrong unity and uniformity in outward practices and observations, and to judge one another unrighteously in those things; and mark, it is not the different practice from one another that breaks the peace and unity, but the judging of one another because of different practices… but he that judgeth the other because of either of these, errs from the Spirit... and so breaks the bond of unity." "This was the apostle's rule: that everyone perform singly unto the Lord what he did, and not for one to meddle with the light of conscience of another (undervaluing his brother, or judging him because his light and practices differed from his....) Everyone was to keep close to their own measure of light, even to that proportion of faith and knowledge which God in his mercy had bestowed on them. And here is the true unity in the Spirit, in the inward life, and not in an outward uniformity. Such an outward conformity was not necessary in the apostles' days, nor is it necessary now, and the eye that seeks it overlooks the one thing which is necessary.""This which God hath placed in man, to witness for himself, and to guide man from evil unto good (in the pure breathings, quickenings, and shinings of it), this is the seed, which is freely bestowed on man, to spring up and remain in him, and to gather him out of himself, into itself."-Isaac Penington, Quaker
“There is a principle which is pure, placed in the human mind, which in different places and ages hath had different names; it is, however, pure, and proceeds from God. It is deep, and inward, confined to no forms of religion, nor excluded from any, where the heart stands in perfect sincerity. In whomsoever this takes root and grows, of what nation soever, they become brethren.""As the mind was moved by an inward principle to love God as an invisible, incomprehensible Being, by the same principle it was moved to love him in all his manifestations in the visible world.”-John Woolman, Quaker
"There may be members therefore of this catholic [(universal)] church both among heathens, Turks, Jews and all the several sorts of Christians, men and women of integrity and simplicity of heart who are... by the secret touches of this holy light in their souls enlivened and quickened, thereby secretly united to God, and there-through become true members of this catholic [(universal)] church." -Robert Barclay, Quaker
"The great Creator is in everything that he has made.” -Elias Hicks, Quaker
"Every religious system has its ‘Quakers’—those who turn from the outward and the legal and the institutional and focus their attention on the Divine that is within. There is much fellowship between Friends and the mystics of other religious systems. Let a Mohammedan or Hindu mystic teacher come to this country, and we realise at once how much we have in common with him. We believe that we have something to give him, but we realise also he has something to give us." -Gerald Hibbert, Quaker
"Thus we may answer the question ‘Are Quakers Christian?’ by saying that it does not matter. What matters to Quakers is not the label by which we are called or call ourselves, but the life. The abandonment of self to God means also the abandonment of labels, of doctrines, or cherished ways of expressing the truth. It means the willingness to follow the spirit wherever it leads, and there is no guarantee that this is to Christianity or to any happy ending except the love, peace and unity of God. Like the sword which Fox told Penn to wear as long as he could, we take our religion and beliefs as far as we can, we take our morality and our notions of goodness as far as we can, we take our ideas of truth as far as we can. All these are good. But they are not what we seek. In the end, we place them into the hands of God, in trust, to make or break, to crown or destroy, for they are nothing in themselves, but God is all in all." -Janet Scott, Quaker"Friends maintain that expressions of faith must be related to personal experience. Some find traditional Christian language full of meaning; some do not. Our understanding of our own religious tradition may sometimes be enhanced by insights of other faiths. The deeper realities of our faith are beyond precise verbal formulation and our way of worship based on silent waiting testifies to this. Our diversity invites us both to speak what we know to be true in our lives and to learn from others. Friends are encouraged to listen to each other in humility and understanding, trusting in the Spirit that goes beyond our human effort and comprehension. So it is for the comfort and discomfort of Friends that these advices and queries are offered, with the hope that we may all be more faithful and find deeper joy in God’s service... Obedience to the Light within, however that may be described, is the real test of faithful living." -Britain Yearly Meeting"The theistic mystical experience (also called prophetic or numinous) is 'an awareness of a ‘holy other’ beyond nature, with which one is felt to be in communion.' It may be called Krishna or God or Allah or Yahweh. It’s the direct experience of the Spirit or of God. In Quakerism, mystical experience is usually thought of in theistic terms. Hearing the still, small voice of the Spirit is an example of this. "-Donald W. McCormick, Quaker
"The Light is universal, reaching all men everywhere... It is not a unique possession of Christians or Quakers, but a gift to all mankind." -Howard Brinton, Quaker

All Religions Are One by William Blake

Quaker Universalism in Diverse Spiritual Traditions

The Quaker way is to accept that all paths are ultimately God’s, and that no particular way is needed to be followed to realize God in our lives other than looking within ourselves, by means of whatever method inner silence may be attained, and through which the presence of the Light of the Spirit is most readily felt.
The following statements reflect the views of Quakers who find that the Inward Light has led them to recognize itself within a multitude of religious traditions, and some of these Friends identify not only as Quakers, but also as members of said traditions. While several of these traditions are represented here, there are surely many more about which Friends have shared their recognition of the presence of the Light within, which have not been collected on this page. The Light may be known anywhere that the Truth resides, and where the Heart comes to realize its Maker.

Christianity

"[I am] a Christian universalist. In other words it is through Christianity that I develop and maintain my spirituality, but I accept the authenticity of all the other faiths ... I see God as pure love, unconditional love ... God draws the devotee to himself and the idea of grace is very important in Hinduism and Sikhism as well as Christianity. - Owen Cole, Quaker"Friends’ Christianity, however, has a strong universalist stream. That is, Friends believe that others besides them – in fact, all human beings – possess the Light Within and therefore others’ religious teachings also likely contain elements of religious truth. " - Sallie King, Quaker"And oh, how sweet and pleasant it is to the truly spiritual eye to see several sorts of believers, several forms of Christians in the school of Christ, every one learning their own lesson, performing their own peculiar service, and knowing, owning and loving one another in their several places and different performances to their Master, to whom they are to give an account, and not to quarrel with one another about their different practices (Rom 14:4). For this is the true ground of love and unity, not that such a man walks and does just as I do, but because I feel the same Spirit and life in him, and that he walks in his rank, in his own order, in his proper way and place of subjection to that; and this is far more pleasing to me than if he walked just in that track wherein I walk." -Isaac Penington, Quaker
“I am both a Christian and a Universalist Friend. I see no theological contradiction between Universalism and Christianity because the Gospel of John makes it clear that the Logos/Christ Spirit is present in everyone and everything. … The true light … that gives light to everyone was coming into the world … This was the basis of early Friends’ belief that the Inward Light is universal, present in all people…” -Anthony Manousos , Quaker
“...Christian Quakers have to accept the fact that Quakerism is radically universalist in its interpretation of Christianity. Universalist Quakers, on the other hand, have to accept the fact that Quakerism is radically Christian in its interpretation of Universalism. … Christ, in Quaker theology, is the Light. … ‘There is One, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition,’ said the voice to George Fox … That Christ Jesus … was the Eternal Risen Christ, the Light of the World, come to teach all people who would hear his voice, not just professing Christians. To be Quaker is to be a follower of Christ, Who witnesses Within each one of us as we walk through life.” - Sam Caldwell, Quaker
“From the beginning the Quaker Christian faith has had a universal dimension. George Fox saw the Light ‘shine through all’ and he identified it with the divine Light of Christ that ‘enlightens every man that comes into the world’ (John 1:9). … individuals who had lived before the Christian era or outside Christendom … had responded to a divine principle within them. In these terms, all Quaker Christians are universalists. Obedience to the Light within … is the real test of faithful living.” - Quaker Faith and Practice, UK
"Thirty years ago, driving home from a Catholic charismatic prayer meeting, I heard the inner words, 'I want you to become a Catholic.; I protested that I was already a Quaker, that my Catholic friends in the Body of Christ were happy with me as a Quaker, and that it would upset my wife, Betty, who’d had enough trouble getting used to my Quaker peculiarities. But the voice persisted; and eventually, after taking instruction, I became a Roman Catholic." - John Corry, Quaker“If we pray 'Our Father' we have a responsibility to treat everyone we meet as our siblings. Or, if we recognise the light, or 'that of God', in everyone, we have a common bond. And, as Quakers, we are encouraged to live our testimonies alongside other faiths and religions. While working with those of different beliefs, work gladly and be aware that our direction of travel is more important than the words we use to define our spiritual framework. While we use and relate to Christian terminology, we need to acknowledge this is not the only faith language, and, as Quakers, our direction of travel is more important than the words we use. That said, the words we use are important, and particularly in interfaith work, we need to ensure that we speak with the intent to be understood and listen with the purpose of understanding. If we notice historic Quaker language, we must feel free to translate it into any spiritual tradition or non-theist language, whatever speaks best to 'that of God'. As Friends, our gift to interchurch/faith work may be to help each other look for - the light - 'that of God' in everyone. We need to join others on our faith journey when we have a common direction of travel and be prepared to stand for our testimonies when we need to disagree. As Quakers, we have a light to shine into interfaith spaces that no other group has. We have no creed, so we can find common ground to share with others. This is a gift, and the QCCIR would encourage us to get involved and live our testimonies. That said, a powerful statement was made that the answer to bad theology is not no theology; it is good theology, and we are encouraged to get involved not just in living good theology but writing it." -The Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations (QCCIR)"It is my own view that Quakerism is neither exclusively Christian, as some Quaker Christians would have it; nor is it exclusively Universalist, as some Quaker Universalists would have it. The fact is Quakerism has always been a powerful amalgamation of both. My thesis is that not only is it possible to be both Christian and Universalist at the same time, but it has always been the very essence and peculiar genius of Quakerism to join the two in holy matrimony!" - Rachel Findley, Quaker

Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism

"Quakerism is often seen as akin to other traditions labelled as mystical, such as Vedanta Hinduism, Sufism, Kabbalah and Buddhist meditation. Quakerism’s focus on this mystical essence is thought to make the Quaker meeting a theologically inclusive space, holding different surface beliefs whilst worshippers are mystically united." - Mark Russ, Quaker"My context for coming to Quakerism is entirely through Hindu religious practice and Hindu and Buddhist religious ideas.'' - Kim Knott, Quaker"The mystical part - the Upanishads, the Gita -I love. You can take something out of the mystical side of Hinduism ... My religious experience has been bhakti and advaita." - Shirley Firth, Quaker"My spiritual line developed because I read part of the Bhagavad Gita on the terrace of the Gandhi Peace Foundation and I was also reading Gandhi's commentary on the Bhagavad Gita ... and Vinoba Bhave 's. " - Rex Ambler, Quaker"Similarities may be found in Hindu and Quaker thought in many areas that transcend language, such as pure principle, the light, unity, silence, simplicity, and guidance." - Martha Dart, Quaker
“Gurdial Mallick, a Hindu known to many Friends... became a Quaker while remaining a Hindu. He insisted on this condition … claiming that there was nothing incompatible between his Hinduism and Quakerism, but was nevertheless admitted to membership of the Society.” - John Linton, Quaker
“The beauty is that neither Hinduism nor the Friends need to be exclusive of each other or any other tradition. They can be two parts of the same whole.” - Mahanth, Quaker
“Curiously, this spiritual practice has led me back to the Society of Friends: the more I practice Zen, the more thoroughly Quaker I become.” -Steven Smith, Quaker
"Both George Fox and the Buddha experienced a transformative, liberating awareness through the dedicated practice of quiet contemplation.”“Learning Buddhist meditation techniques taught me how to sit in Quaker meeting.” -Peter Taylor, Quaker
“The Buddhist distinguishes the ‘self’ — name, form, body, feelings, thoughts, mental objects — from the ‘awareness’ and answers the question ‘Who am I?’ with ‘awareness.’ If the Quaker founders had tried to make this distinction they would have identified with the ‘self’ and would have called the awareness the Teacher, or the Christ, or the Light.” - John Cowan, Quaker
"So why do I remain a Quaker-Buddhist? What gifts does Quakerism bring to Buddhism? One thing is compassion. Yes, compassion is a fundamental concept of Buddhism, too. It follows directly from silence and equanimity... So in today's global world we see these two traditions drawn together and strengthened by each other. It is not only the obvious parallels — their rejection of divisive creeds and dogmas, their shared precepts and testimonies of peace, compassion, simplicity, right livelihood, and right speech. Quakers turning back to their own mystical roots have been drawn to Buddhism by the vitality of its practice and its direct link with living silence; Buddhists pulled from monasteries by the modern world have turned to Quakerism for its example of compassion in action and viable spiritual community." - Rhoda Gilman, Quaker
"Taoism has had a deep and enduring appeal to those who value peace and simplicity, like the Quakers, because it portrays a way of life free from violence and open to the Spirit—a life guided not by ego, but by compassion and Truth." “The Quaker embraces 為無為, ‘actionless action,’ even by another name... The silent meeting is mother to action, as the Tao is an obscure mother to ‘the myriad creatures.’” - Anthony Manousos, Quaker
"There is in each of us a deep-flowing River. Some call it Tao or Life source, others the Indwelling Spirit, still others simply Energy. Our life rests upon It; we are carried and cradled by It, as the child by its Mother." -Teresena Havens, Quaker

Islam, Judaism, and Nontheism

"In Quaker meeting I silently recite the Muslim prayers; after prayers in the Mosque I seek the spirit in myself and others in silent worship, as I do in Quaker meetings... I dream of a time when every Quaker Meeting will have a Muslim member, who links across the religions, and occasionally ministers in Quaker meeting through reading a Hadith, or reflecting on the Quaker jihad of walking 'cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.' " - Christopher Bagley, Quaker
"There is within Islam a sacred saying called a 'hadith,' in which God is speaking and God says, 'I was a hidden treasure, and I desired to be known.' This was one of the motivations of the act of creation itself: 'I was a hidden treasure, and I desired to be known.' If that desire—that deep desire—is imprinted on the very fabric of the universe, then our coming to know one another across religious boundaries is a sacred task and a holy opportunity. " "Here I might share a story. At times I have been invited to join Muslims in prayer... I joined in the intimate gestures of praise and submission, feeling the sanctity of motions that were not familiar to me. I was not pretending to be a Muslim, and my hosts understood this. I was receiving the hospitality of the Muslims who invited me to participate, and in their hospitality, I experienced the hospitality of the Divine Host who drew all of us together in a moment of holiness. Reading the Qur’an as an outsider and a guest can be a similar experience. Maybe I can sum up my experience with the Qur’an like this: at times I have had experiences with the Qur’an that help me to feel closer to God. At other times, the Qur’an helps me to feel closer to my Muslim friends, and they in turn help me to feel closer to God. I am grateful for both.""Here I recall an occasion when a Muslim said to me, 'I can see your noor,' which is the Arabic word for 'light.' Muslim spirituality speaks of an inward noor, which is a manifestation of Divine Presence. As a Quaker, I could hear resonances with my own tradition. His light beheld my light in mutual recognition. My experiences among these generous Muslims give rise to a yearning to continue and deepen the encounter, to perceive the beauty and noor, and to be further transformed. " - Michael Birkel, Quaker
"...I have learnt something every Quaker and Muslim should know: we all have our own path to the Light.” - Naveed Moeed, Quaker
"...I learned something of Islam – submission to God – in a way that no Christian had ever taught me… It was not the Mosque or the Qur’an addressing me, but the living God I know in Christ speaking through her." - John Punshon, Quaker
"As Friends, we know that there are multiple, legitimate ways to the Light, and personally I don’t see a conflict between that and what Islam teaches." - Naveed Moheen, Quaker
"Jews and Quakers emphasise the centrality of God’s revelation to humans. Faith is regarded as a willingness to listen to a voice that is not our own. God’s voice speaks continuously, but we cannot hear it due to the noise and distractions around us. Silence helps us hear. Jews have the Torah as God’s teaching, Quakers have the Light as an inward teacher (a Torah of the heart). Both are available to everyone. In each community, divine commandments or leadings are followed because we hear a personal calling to do them that comes from God. " - Stuart Masters, Quaker
“I am a Jew... but I am also a Quaker, and perhaps a few other things besides. It does not seem inconsistent to me to belong to many religious groups and at the same time hold membership in none. I believe that honest-to-goodness religion must be above all denominational bounds.” - Bernard Gross, Quaker
“Although I remain a Quaker to this day, I am also proud of the ancient religion of my ancestors. … I also believe from firsthand experience that the potential for human kindness is inside every person, everywhere … the Jewish and the Quaker, believe that this ‘spark’ or ‘presence of God’ is both a gift and a responsibility to help our fellow humans in need.” - France Pruitt, Quaker
“I am a nontheist Friend. I find no need to posit a supernatural being. What I call ‘God’ is simply the deepest reality I can experience, the creative, connecting, evolving mystery in which I and all things exist.”"Nontheism unites: it recognizes that whatever we mean by ‘God’ is not separate from the universe but is the universe becoming aware of itself in us.” "My nontheism is not a rejection of Quakerism, but a fulfillment of it. Quakerism has always been about direct experience, about that inward Light which needs no mediation. I simply decline to personify that Light.” - David Boulton, Quaker
“For me, to be nontheist is to see that the universe is not divided between sacred and profane, spirit and matter. There is only one reality, endlessly expressing itself.” - Don McCormick, Quaker“I am a nontheist Quaker, not because I lack faith, but because I see faith as trust in the wholeness of reality, not in a being outside it. In Meeting, I sense that wholeness holding us — not God above, but presence here.” - Sheila Green, Quaker

“To be a nontheist Quaker is not to be without Spirit, but to recognize that Spirit is the life of everything.” - Trevor Thurston-Smith, Quaker

Indigenous, Sacred Plant, and Psychedelic Religions

“I am an Indigenous Quaker. I need both my faith communities for me to connect deeply with God, whom I also call Creator and Lord.” - Gail Melix (Greenwater), Quaker
“We Friends say there is that of God in everyone. Our Native elders might say, there is that of the Creator in all beings.” - Paula Palmer, Quaker
"It is just possible that God, in His inscrutable Grace, may wish to shatter all our Pharisaic pretensions, and through these remarkable [psychedelic] chemical substances gracefully provide glimpses of the realm of the Spirit precisely to those whose path would otherwise never have come near it. ...Seldom has the demand for the rethinking of the nature of mystical, experiential religion been so insistent. And this demand rests with unusual weight upon the Society of Friends, because of its claim to be a religion of immediate experience, of the inward Christ." -Joseph Havens, Quaker
"Why do people use [psychedelics]?... For many reasons: the honest search for another reality, a higher reality - not an escape from "this" reality, but a reaching out, a looking, for what was once summed up by the word "God"... Does Quakerism have some sort of historic role to fulfill here? We believe in an Inner Light, and that men seeking together in this Light will find guidance and answers. Could we try the Quaker approach on the what and why of drugs? Could we go to young people - our own and others - with humility and love and ask them to share with us their insights, their criticisms, their unanswered needs? Could we show ourselves human and available to them so that we may reason together? Could Friends be the "mind-openers" of our day on this vitally important matter?" -Barbara Hinchcliffe, Quaker
“...I wonder why [psychedelic] people don't look for some of the good things in Western traditions which might be pertinent to the psychedelic experience. Among these I would suggest the traditions of the Society of Friends, with their simple meditative form of worship, their love of peace, and their belief in the Inward Light…”“Well of course, God does not “come from” a bottle. If the divine spark is not present in a human being, no chemical will produce it. If, however, one accepts that every man has the capacity for a direct encounter with God, there should be nothing shocking about the observation that some conditions are more favorable than others for such an experience, and that the chemical state of the brain and nervous system may have a great deal to do with it… There are probably a large number of individuals for whom [psychedelic] drugs are the only means by which they are ever likely to experience a religious encounter. Traditional means may be closed to them, because their intellectual set is turned away from religion. The more drastic assault of the psychochemicals can break them out of this rut. Persons who are naturally mystical, or who have been brought up in a deeply religious home, and who therefore have no need of chemical aids, ought not to despise their use by others less gifted, but should help those struggling with new and little understood revelations which they have gained through drug experience.”“I did not always experience the near-psychedelic state that I had found in my first [Quaker] meeting, but it still happened often enough to make me suspect that, more than all the vaunted methods for achieving that state without drugs, the way of the quiet Quakers came closest to it. Not that I considered abandoning the chemical to rely on this means alone; I knew that I had found Reality in the meetinghouse only because I had found it first on drugs, and that the drug continues to provide a peak perspective that was not obtainable elsewhere. But I entertained the thought that some of those I worshipped among did not need the drug as I did... I expressed a belief in God, unity with Friends’ testimony on peace and simplicity, and the autobiographical fact that I had been led to the Quaker fellowship through religious experience triggered by psychedelic drugs.”“...I was already a member of the Society of Friends when I measured three doses of [psychedelics] into three glasses... I had during our session a convincing experience of the Reality of God, as the ultimate and absolutely permanent Being upholding me and the entire creation, and also a person of infinite wisdom and goodness with whom I could talk, and who had heard me and responded."“The following night, while still in a very uplifted frame of mind, though not under the influence of the drug… I felt that God was calling me to make a commitment, and I said ‘Yes’... If that One called me to a deeper commitment - I was extravagantly ‘high’ and I had no idea what he was getting at - what could I say but ‘Yes’? I don't know how many times I said it. At the first ‘Yes’ something like a steel rapier went through the center of my chest and pinned me. I said it over and over again to a piercing rain of questions, the same question, addressed to every pocket of my consciousness. The Other did not speak English, but he made himself understood; he said to every call: ‘Receive your Lord.’ And I said ‘Yes’ until I was yessed out. Then I said ‘Christ’... And knew simultaneously that it was Jesus Christ to whom I was committing myself. I met Him as a living person, the same One who lived in Galilee and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and is still alive and eternal. His life and mine became United in a way that I lack metaphysical categories to explain… I said ‘Christ’ several more times, for practice. It seemed to involve jaw muscles not normally used. This experience was an utter surprise to me. It had never before occurred to me that I needed to be converted or was ever likely to be. It threw me into an ecstatic state such as I have never experienced in such intensity off [psychedelics] (though it was not quite of the same quality as [them]) which lasted for about three weeks, during which I spent several sleepless nights through sheer elation. This period of excitement passed, but Christ didn't go away…”-Lisa Bieberman (Kuenning), Quaker

The End of All the World's Religions

Through their Essential Union as One Universal Truth

The Choirs of the Angels by Hildegard von Bingen

The end of all worldly religions is the dissolution of all concepts which falsely separate us from our inherent Divine Union with God, revealing the eternal and infinite perfection of all Being. The Light is Awareness itself, and although it creates them, it is beyond the conceptual bounds of all the various forms of the world, including those of worldly religion and ideas of God. A central message of Friends to the world is that while all personal forms of religious practice, be they prayer, worship, devotion, meditation, study, communion, or service, through which we feel closer to or in union with the Divine are acceptable, none are ultimately, exclusively, and universally necessary, other than a centering down and surrendering of one's self to the the promptings of the Light of Spirit within us, however this may come about or be practiced. All that is needed to realize this state of awareness is to release the world to the point of inner stillness and silence, wherein we may see what the Light of the Spirit has written in our hearts. This Light is always present, always helpful, always loving, and always accessible to us, if only we give up outward searching for it, and realize its inherent and eternal presence within us.
The Quaker way, that is, giving over of oneself to the Spirit by turning to the Light within, is at the heart of all religions, and Quakers believe that, no matter what else is done, this is all that is truly necessary to attain everlasting peace; and that the Gospel's purpose is to bring about the metanoia necessary to realize that the Kingdom of God is at hand, that is, all is God's perfect will, and that all there truly is to do is love, for Love is God, being Ultimate Reality. All icons, idols, prayers, symbols, and worldly religious forms of any kind are merely signposts to God; signposts which we leave behind the moment that we no longer need them, in accordance with God's Will.
The heart of Quakerism is deeper than doctrines, creeds, or methods prescribing how one should experience the Light, but it is concerned rather with the Light itself, and its message of omnipresent Love, in all its forms. The silence is always the same, no matter how we come to it, and only when we are aware of this silence is God, or Love, clearly heard and felt. The Spirit alone may guide us to this silence, and if it is our intention to come to realize God, then all that we need do is follow the promptings of this Spirit, wherever they lead.
The end of Quakerism is a return to the natural universal religion, wherein we are not separate from God. The following quotations by various Friends reflect a deep realization of the Absolute, Transcendent, and Immanent nature of God, who is beyond the confines of form or conception, but is within each and all, and also the means by which such a Being might be recognized by the people the world.
"The Heaven in which its said God dwells, is neither onely above the Firmament, nor onely under the Firmament, but both above it, and below it, and even every where; where he manifests himself in his love and mercy, goodness, grace and glory: And as he dwells in no place, so as to be any where (circumscriptively) included, so in every place; he is so, as to be no where at all excluded. So that if ye ask, Whether it is above the Firmament onely and not otherwise? I say, No; for it is also under the Firmament, or else the Son of Man could not have been truly said to be in Heaven (as he is John 3.) in that self-same juncture of time, wherein he was standing bodily, and speaking to Nicodemus here on earth; neither could the Beast be said (as he is, Rev. 13.) to blaspheme the Saints that dwell in Heaven, if they were not in Heaven whilst here on earth; For even He and His Worshippers (superstitiously) adore whatever they deem to be above the Skies, and blaspheme it not. Likewise the Apostles dwelling [ . . . ] was in Heaven, Phil. 3. whilst they were bodily here on earth. Therefore Heaven is as well under, as above the Firmament; yea, it is in very deed in his peoples hearts, in every humble, broken and contrite spirit."-Samuel Fisher, Quaker

"Great things did the Lord lead me into, and wonderful depths were opened unto me, beyond what can by words be declared; but as people come into subjection to the spirit of God, and grow up in the image and power of the Almighty, they may receive the Word of wisdom, that opens all things, and come to know the hidden unity in the Eternal Being.” "I was to bring people off from all the world’s religions, which are in vain; that they might know the pure religion... In the dread and authority thereof was I moved to declare against them all, and against all that preached and not freely, as being such who had not received freely from Christ."“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?” "Nay, we are nothing, Christ is all.""According to the spirit I am the son of God and according to the flesh I am the seed of Abraham which seed is Christ which seed is but one in all his saints.... According to the spirit I am the son of God before Abraham was... the same which doth descend, the same doth ascend and all the promises of God are yea come out of time from god, into time to that which is captivated in the earth in time, and to it the seed which is Christ, they are all yea and amen fetched up out of him, where there is no time... and as many received the word, I say unto ye: ye are gods, as it is written in your law [John 10:34].... Now wait all to have these things fulfilled in ye, if it never be so little a measure wait in it, that ye may grow to a perfect man in Christ Jesus.""Let him have room in your hearts, for he has but a little room in the professors without possession who will not receive his light, for he hath no room in the proud, lofty mind."-George Fox, Quaker
"George Fox laid down no rules for his followers. He formulated no prohibitions. He was easy and lenient toward those who were in the army or the navy and who nevertheless wanted to become ‘Children of the Light.’ He always left them free to ‘follow their own light.’" "If God ever spoke, He is still speaking. If He has ever been in mutual and reciprocal communication with the persons He has made, He is still a communicating God, as eager as ever to have listening and receptive souls. If there is something of His image and superscription in our innermost structure and being, we ought to expect a continuous revelation of His will and purpose through the ages. . . . He is the Great I Am, not a Great He Was." "The social mission is, and must always be, a great feature of real Christianity, only it must not take the place of the primary function which is revealing God." “New dispensations may await us; the Kingdom may come in ways we never dreamed of; the beyond may be more momentous than we have ever expected, but always and everywhere 'the within' determines 'the beyond,' and character is destiny.” -Rufus Jones, Quaker
"So one approaches, by efforts which call for the deepest resources of one’s being, to the condition of true silence; not just of sitting still, not just of not speaking, but of a wide awake, fully aware non-thinking. It is in this condition, found and held for a brief instant only, that I have experienced the existence of something other than ‘myself ’. The thinking me has vanished, and with it vanishes the sense of separation, of unique identity. One is not left naked and defenceless…One becomes instead aware, one is conscious of being a participant in the whole of existence, not limited to the body or the moment…It is in this condition that one understands the nature of the divine power, its essential identity with love, in the widest sense of that much misused word." - Geoffrey Hubbard, Quaker
"There is a Presence, a form of Being which is beyond our understanding. It is Good and it is Loving. When we surrender to it, we are loved by it and we are drawn to love it. Given the limitations of our knowing, we begin to endow this Presence with personality, for that is what we find in ourselves, And then, for comfort, we call it God. But the moment we do so, the moment we seek to name it, we begin to limit it, to make it less than it is... Love is Divine Presence, and this Presence is the energetic force that shapes all relationships when they are most natural and at their best. Love is the primal impulse, and it is no 'thing', but rather a 'movement' from and towards. We have to 'be' in Love."-David Cadman, Quaker
“Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, the Light Within, is the beginning of true life…Here is the Slumbering Christ stirring to be awakened…The Divine is within us all."“Is religion subjective? Nay, its soul is in objectivity, in an Other whose Life is our true life, whose Love is our love, whose Joy is our joy, whose Peace is our peace, whose burdens are our burdens, whose Will is our will. Self is emptied into God, and God in-fills it.” “The Living Christ within us is the initiator and we are the responders. God the Lover, the accuser, the revealer of light and darkness presses within us. … The basic response of the soul to the Light is internal adoration and joy, thanksgiving and worship, self-surrender and listening.” -Thomas Kelly, Quaker
"As to the life and substance of it, there never was but one true religion; nothing has ever been such but the immediate inward work of God in man. And this, on the one hand, can take place and proceed no further than God is livingly the continual mover, worker, and efficient cause of all that is rightly wrought therein; nor on the other hand, any further or faster than man comes under the holy influence of the spirit, grace, or power of God, whereby he worketh in us."-Job Scott, Quaker
“In stillness is fullness; in fullness is nothingness; in nothingness are all things.” - Spoken by a Friend in Quaker Meeting

“God dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is he worshipped with men’s inventions, for whatsoever man inventeth, God will confound… For God is to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth, and such worship only he accepteth.” “God dwelleth in the hearts of his obedient children: He is in them, and they in him, and they are one in him.” -Robert Barclay, Quaker
“Our work is not to lay down or prescribe rules of our own, or to walk by the rules which others have prescribed, but singly and nakedly to wait for the teachings of God’s Spirit, and to walk therein… For the Spirit puts life into what it teaches, and leads into the living, powerful exercise of what it teaches.” “Religion is not a notion, but a thing. The true religion is not a traditional form of words, but a living principle of life received from God, and living in God.” “Whoever would be able, in the life, to do all things, let him sink into that in himself which is not, that it may bring to naught all things in him that are; that so it alone may be: and he by it being brought to nothing, will easily become all in it.” “There is a Life hidden with God in the Spirit, which when it is revealed puts an end to all notions and disputes about religion, and brings into the pure sense and enjoyment of what is beyond them all.” “The kingdom of God is not in words, nor in outward observations; but in being leavened into, and comprehending, the nature and power of life itself.” “This is the true ground of knowledge, — to feel the mind turned from the creature, from self, from all that can be comprehended in the creaturely understanding, and turned to the Lord, to wait for the daily springings of his life in the heart; and then the soul knows the living God, and feels the virtue and power of his truth.”“Be still, and wait for light and strength; and desire not to have the understanding opened in thy own will, but in the will of the Lord. … Thou must be nothing in thyself, and know nothing in thyself, but wait for the pure springings of life in the will of God.” “Be still and silent before the Lord, not putting up any request to the Father, nor cherishing any desire in thee, but in pure silence, resting in the Father, to feel his will, and to be gathered into the sense of his life.” “This then is the way of redemption; to wait to feel the appearance of the light of the Spirit in the heart; and, at its least or lowest appearance, to be turned from the darkness towards it.” "All Truth is a shadow except the last, except the utmost; yet every Truth is true in its kind. It is substance in its own place, though it be but a shadow in another place (for it is but a reflection from an intenser substance); and the shadow is a true shadow, as the substance is a true substance."-Isaac Penington, Quaker
“A man may read the Scriptures, and yet never know Christ with the Spirit that gave them forth… for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” “True religion is an inward, free, and feeling thing, not a form, nor a notion. It is Christ in the soul, the hope of glory; a principle in man, working godliness, righteousness, holiness.” “As to the life and substance of it, there never was but one true religion; nothing has ever been such, but the immediate inward work of God in man.” “This world is a form; our bodies are forms; and no visible acts of devotion can be without forms. But yet the less form in religion the better, since God is a Spirit; for the more mental our worship, the more adequate to the nature of God; the more silent, the more suitable to the language of a Spirit.” -William Penn, Quaker
“Center down into abasement and nothingness. … This is what I labored after: to be empty, to know nothing, to call for nothing, and to desire to do nothing.” “For if thou willingly surrenders thyself as an offering to God — to do his will, as by the Light in thy own heart and conscience he is pleased to manifest it to thee — thy understanding will be more and more opened into those things that concern thy present and everlasting peace. ” “For it is God that worketh in the willing and obedient soul, both to will and to do of his own good pleasure; but this can only be witnessed by such as experience their own wills to be mortified and slain by the power of the cross inwardly revealed, whereby the true spiritual atonement is made.” -Elias Hicks, Quaker
“Quaker silence is not an emptiness waiting to be filled by speech, but a fullness in which words fall away. It is not absence but presence — presence that cannot be contained in language.” -Rachel Muers, Quaker
“… together we are the Body of Christ. And being the Body of Christ leads me to an understanding of advaita/non-duality/unity that is a core belief—expressed in myriad ways—of so many spiritual traditions: Everything is in God, and God is in everything.” - Mary Linda McKinney, Quaker
“Prayer is not a discourse. It is not a request, but an openness, a waiting. To pray is to let go of all the images of God which our minds and hands have formed.” -Douglas V. Steere, Quaker
"Christ is not divided; for if he be, he is no more Christ: but I witness that Christ in me who is God and man in measure.""...none come to Christ but babes, such as are of the new birth, not flesh and blood, but of water and the Spirit ; such only enter into the mystery of the kingdom, by the door in all, the strait way through the cross, where your serpent’s wisdom would not willingly come; for if it do it must be slain, and you must become fools for Christ’s sake that that you may be wise; you must enter as a little child or else you cannot come there, for it is revealed to babes only."-James Nayler, Quaker

THE ETERNAL GOODNESSby John Greenleaf Whittier, Quaker

O friends! with whom my feet have trod
The quiet aisles of prayer,
Glad witness to your zeal for God
And love of man I bear.

I trace your lines of argument;
Your logic linked and strong
I weigh as one who dreads dissent,
And fears a doubt as wrong.

But still my human hands are weak
To hold your iron creeds:
Against the words ye bid me speak
My heart within me pleads.

Who fathoms the Eternal Thought?
Who talks of scheme and plan?
The Lord is God! He needeth not
The poor device of man.

I walk with bare, hushed feet the ground
Ye tread with boldness shod;
I dare not fix with mete and bound
The love and power of God.

Ye praise His justice; even such
His pitying love I deem:
Ye seek a king; I fain would touch
The robe that hath no seam.

Ye see the curse which overbroods
A world of pain and loss;
I hear our Lord’s beatitudes
And prayer upon the cross.

More than your schoolmen teach, within
Myself, alas! I know:
Too dark ye cannot paint the sin,
Too small the merit show.

I bow my forehead to the dust,
I veil mine eyes for shame,
And urge, in trembling self-distrust,
A prayer without a claim.

I see the wrong that round me lies,
I feel the guilt within;
I hear, with groan and travail-cries,
The world confess its sin.

Yet, in the maddening maze of things,
And tossed by storm and flood,
To one fixed trust my spirit clings;
I know that God is good!

Not mine to look where cherubim
And seraphs may not see,
But nothing can be good in Him
Which evil is in me.

The wrong that pains my soul below
I dare not throne above,
I know not of His hate,—I know
His goodness and His love.

I dimly guess from blessings known
Of greater out of sight,
And, with the chastened Psalmist, own
His judgments too are right.

I long for household voices gone,
For vanished smiles I long,
But God hath led my dear ones on,
And He can do no wrong.

I know not what the future hath
Of marvel or surprise,
Assured alone that life and death
His mercy underlies.

And if my heart and flesh are weak
To bear an untried pain,
The bruised reed He will not break,
But strengthen and sustain.

No offering of my own I have,
Nor works my faith to prove;
I can but give the gifts He gave,
And plead His love for love.

And so beside the Silent Sea
I wait the muffled oar;
No harm from Him can come to me
On ocean or on shore.

I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care.

O brothers! if my faith is vain,
If hopes like these betray,Pray for me that my feet may gain
The sure and safer way.

And Thou, O Lord! by whom are seen
Thy creatures as they be,
Forgive me if too close I lean
My human heart on Thee!

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