Metaphor and meaning: Jan Arriens has words

‘We have to rest in the cloud of unknowing.’

Sometimes, it is what’s behind a word. Early Friends used some fifty terms to denote God or the inward presence. Familiar examples include the Inward Light, the Light of Christ, the Seed, the Root, the Spring of Life, the Living Water, the Teacher and the Truth. 

The widespread use of such metaphors indicates a humility before the unknowable, and an acceptance of the limitations of language. We see, as Paul said, through a glass darkly. 

Digging deeply into the nature of reality can rapidly lead to the conclusion that nothing is quite as it seems, and that everything is metaphor. This reminds me of the time I climbed Winder, the hill behind Sedbergh, reaching what had looked like the peak only to find that there was another one beyond that – and several more again! The Truth becomes elusive. We have to rest in the cloud of unknowing. As Penington put it, ‘All Truth is a shadow except the last.’

The 2026 Epistle from Yearly Meeting states that: ‘We became aware that our spiritual language over the weekend showed a return to our roots. Maybe we are becoming more comfortable with living with the tension between theistic and other language. We shared a greater willingness to hear the meaning which underlies our words.’ This strikes me as significant. Does it mark a return to the wonder of early Friends? The sense of presence may be real, but what does it signify? To adapt an old joke, ask two Quakers about the meaning of God and you will get three answers. Or, as we once found in my Meeting when we were invited to share our own answers, there were none, only a resounding silence.

Many of us have little difficulty treating God as a metaphor, and can readily translate the term into something subliminal. Except, perhaps, where God is approached in a highly literal manner – but even then, we can recognise that people have different needs in approaching what is ultimately beyond words. 

Jesus often made use of metaphors and similes: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like…’ In the Old Testament, God is often portrayed not just as transcendent but also as beyond comprehension. In Judaism, it is even forbidden to pronounce ‘Yahweh’ aloud. In Buddhism we do not find an equivalent for ‘God’, while the ancient Greek and Hindu gods may be regarded as manifestations of aspects of the ultimately unknowable divine. 

As we finalise our book of discipline, and wrestle with terms such as God, Spirit and Divine, may we bear in mind what the Epistle has to say about hearing the meaning under our words. This may involve discipline. As Papunahung said to John Woolman, as they struggled to communicate: he loved to feel where words come from. 

Does approaching the term ‘God’ metaphorically matter? I think so, because it goes to the heart of our Quakerism, as reflected not just in the early metaphors used by Friends, but also in the simple fact that we meet in silence. The stillness is an implicit recognition that our deepest truths cannot be put into words. And so also ministry arising from the silence becomes a metaphor. In that recognition, we can truly meet one another and those from other faiths and persuasions.

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Comments

Perhaps I have misunderstood the above article, but I feel it is misleading to suggest that Early Friends understood the concept of God to be nothing more than a metaphor.  Isaacs Pennington is quoted in Quaker faith practice (19.24) as having said “Some may desire to know what at last I have met with. I answer I have met with the Seed. Understand that word and you will enquire no further. I have met with my God, I have met with my Saviour”. The language Pennington is using may be metaphorical but he is describing an experience that is real. The concept of God for Early Friends was not just a metaphor for their deepest values and aspirations.

By Richard Pashley on 4th June 2026 - 18:36

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Correction
The above quote from QFP is from 19.14. Not 19.24.

By Richard Pashley on 4th June 2026 - 18:37

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Thank you so much, Jan. This morning I read the passage below from the New Zealand Quaker Faith and Practice (c) 2024.  Dan https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/people/daniel-clarke-flynn/
“There’s a beautiful area of native bush in the central North Island
called Ohinetonga Scenic Reserve. The many massive rimu, tawa,
matai and kahikatea are an imposing presence. Some of these
trees have stood there for more than 500 years and as I spent time
with them, I imagined the comings and goings of many human
generations they had witnessed over their lifetimes. These
encounters with giants in the bush elicited a palpable sense of
awe and wonder and I realised I had no sense of awe and wonder
for the image humans have used to try and explain what might
have created these giants.
As I reflected on that, it occurred to me that whilst humans have
worshipped such an image, they have continued to destroy trees
at an alarming rate. The significance of my story is that my sense
of wonder and awe was focussed entirely on the natural environment
rather than on the image of God as the creator, a separate object
or force.
Murray Short 2022”
Page16, Section 2.02
Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in Aotearoa New Zealand, Te Hāhi Tūhauwiri. On These Islands I runga I ngā motu nei, Quaker Faith & Practice 2024. ISBN 978-0-473-68888-2. https://quakers.nz/

By Daniel Clarke Flynn on 5th June 2026 - 9:13

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