Inner Healing, Inner Peace: A Quaker perspective, by John Lampen and Diana Lampen

Authors: John Lampen and Diana Lampen. Review by Tim Newell.

This is a book full of good things to marvel at, understand and apply. So much of it rings bells after the trauma of the pandemic, and its impact on families and loved ones. The issues of tension and conflict are a focus, but there is also a remarkable section called ‘The Practices’. Here the riches of experience are described and explained, so that it is made easy to apply a particular practice to a particular need.

John and Diana Lampen have brought their long experience and special expertise to bear on our everyday experiences of conflict, distress and loss. From international conflict to personal trauma, this treasure trove of hope gives us confident possibilities that things don’t have to be as they are. The book is grounded in the Quaker experience of worship, and we all come back to that for our continuity of balance – ‘That of God’ in each of us.

The authors describe an event, the setting, an experience, the people, and the issue. They then consider what was needed to restore balance and work it through. ‘The Practices’, rich with personal insight, give us responses that are appropriate to particular settings and issues. Such a sharing of wisdom!

So many of the issues speak to us. The section on ‘Forgiveness’, and the explanation of the need for self-forgiveness, connected me to the experience in a community meeting at Grendon Prison, where all forty members introduced themselves by their name, their sentence, and with the acknowledgment that they were there because of the harm they caused their victim (named), for which they take responsibility.

Many of us will appreciate the description of the Experiment with Light as a practice of worship. My own Meeting has had a practice for the past seven years, readily adapted to the Zoom world. Powerlessness is described and respected, for the influence it has on others, bringing tranquillity. Readers are encouraged to take time to look at things around us when walking with no purpose other than with curiosity and marvelling.

There are good things around every page, with encouraging experiences and pertinent quotes. Take this one from Isaac Penington: ‘Give over thine own willing – give over thy own running, give over thine own desiring to know or be anything and sink down to the seed which God sows in the heart and let that grow in thee and be in thee and breathe in thee and act in thee’.

The book ends with a moving chapter on the art of dying. Again this is helped by the authors’ experience of being with people in a hospice, and approaching the end with calmness and without fear. There is a wonderful Practice to help with this.

Quakers have much to offer in the world of conflict and distress. This book will provide Friends with insight and tools to apply as they work through the issues. It is relevant in any setting of need and concern.

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