Eye - 14 February 2014
From striking stories to seventeenth century houses
Missed a trick?
What does ‘community’ mean? How important are the tiny moments? What impact does the way we treat others have?
Jill Allum, of Beccles Meeting, was struck by a story recently and got in touch to share some of its insights:
‘I’m just reading M Scott Peck’s The Different Drum for the first time and I haven’t got further than the prologue. Wow! Have we Quakers missed a trick? It sounds so simple, but is it? – the creation of “true community”.
‘He tells a story. A monastery is dying with only five old monks, all over seventy, left. In the surrounding woods lives a rabbi as a hermit. The abbot goes to ask his advice. The only thing the rabbi can say is, “The Messiah is one of you”.
‘The abbot returns and the monks begin to ask themselves, “Who is the Messiah?” “Is it the abbot?” “Is it the crochety one, who’s often right?” “Is it the quiet nobody, who appears when you need him?” “Is it me, no, it couldn’t be me?”
‘And they begin to treat each other with extraordinary respect, and to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.
‘And people came to visit, and young monks came, and, thanks to the rabbi’s gift, the monastery became “a vibrant centre of light and spirituality”.’
Enjoying peace
Eye’s app-based ponderings (7 February) inspired Roger Wilson, from West Sussex, to download The Quaker App.
His feedback reached Eye’s inbox in record time, as he reported that: ‘During the installation it says that The Quaker App requires no special permissions, which is unusual and rather nice.’
However, he also kindled Eye’s curiosity with reference to the mobile phone he uses, ‘which uses no conflict materials in its construction’. What could Eye do but dig further?
The recently launched handset is produced by Fairphone, an independent social enterprise that aims to produce ‘a seriously cool smartphone that puts social values first’.
With this in mind, the phone is produced from conflict-free raw materials, the company is working with the manufacturer towards ensuring that workers are paid fair wages, and the culture of ‘planned obsolesence’ is countered with open, flexible design features.
Roger explained: ‘My point in writing is that this phone has a nice Quakerly little app installed as standard… It has a screen slider (labelled “Enjoy some Peace”) that simply puts the phone into silent “airplane” mode for a period of up to three hours. At the end of the chosen interval it automatically and silently returns to normal service.
‘If you, like me, have often turned off a phone for Meeting and discovered hours later that it is still sending calls to voicemail, this is very useful.’
The Fairphone was quietly launched with a limited run of 25,000, all of which have been sold, and a further 25,000 are planned for 2014.
After Meeting…
What happens to a Meeting house when Quakers no longer meet there?
For one seventeenth century Meeting house in Norfolk, it gets a mention in the Radio Times (6 February).
In his interview with Martin Shaw, star of BBC crime drama Inspector George Gently, Andrew Duncan set the scene by describing Martin’s unusual house: ‘[He] lives deep in Norfolk in a low-ceilinged seventeenth century cottage built by Quakers, and we talk in the Meeting Room.’
The house, it is believed, was once owned by an ancestor of Abraham Lincoln.
However, the rural location isn’t quite remote enough for the actor’s liking – his ‘real wilderness’ is a croft in Galloway, with ‘no neighbours or television reception, and minimal telephone access’.
He explained: ‘…there’s a lack of mental noise, and a profound sense of emptiness. I love people, but like to turn off their noise.’
