Thought for the Week: David Lockyer on a big ask

‘I am on a spiritual journey, but it is no package tour.’

I was asked the other day what Quakers believed – or, more precisely, what I believed. I realised that I was completely unable to answer this apparently simple question. I was left floundering.

I could have given a formulaic answer, something on the lines of ‘being guided by the light’ or ‘answering to that of God in everyone’. I could also have pointed to the Testimonies. But instead I had to admit ‘I don’t know’. And then ‘I don’t do belief.’

That answer came from quite deep, from knowing that I needed to be honest in response to a genuine question. I feel deeply uncomfortable about claiming any form of belief. But I had not until that moment formulated why.

I know what I experience. I know what comes to me in the silence. I know what moves me in the words of others. I know what makes me reflect and feel compassion. I know what challenges me and makes me feel uncomfortable. I know that I have blind spots and prejudices that are far clearer to others than they are, or ever will be, to me. But belief? No. I don’t do that: it pretends to certainties where there are none. I think that is because it is a substitute for the hard work of not knowing, of being open, of being receptive, of discovering. 

I do know that, marinated in our collective silence, in attending to the words that arise, sometimes in the mouths of others, sometimes, even against my will, on occasions in my own mouth, I become more mellow and less hasty to judge; more inclined to listen, and to see different sides; to be less partisan. This makes me understand why we speak of Quakers being ‘seasoned’, much like we season timbers before they are fit to use. Quakerism is not a slate of beliefs to be acceded to, but a process of putting aside and untangling, or unplugging; of simply being in the presence of being; of being with others and what envelops us all.

The more we name and label what we experience, the more we diminish those experiences. The more we package them and put them into boxes, the safer and the less demanding they are: packed, wrapped and contained. For me this lacks integrity and authenticity. It takes us away from the raw stuff of simply being, and the honesty of not knowing.

In some ways I feel as if beliefs are like Christmas wrapping paper – tinselly and appealing, but insubstantial. The real gifts are inside, and what you might do with what is inside.

I am on a spiritual journey, but it is no package tour.The point is the journey, not any supposed destination. Is that why I do not ‘do belief’?

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Comments

I think David describes the dilemma that I experience and welcome. David has not metioned the life of Jesus of Nazareth as described by the existing texts of the New Testament. I find his life increasingly interesting and challenging and I think I know what Jesus would probably have said to the same question but his words, his actions and his interactions suggest something much less straightforward to me than some interpreters of the texts would suggest. I like the early description of ‘followers of the Way’ as those early Christians would have called themselves. Jesus was a listener and a listener not just to words but to feelings and emotions and to circumstance. He responded, when asked, as honestly and directly as he could, it seems. I find that my reflections on his life as we know it and, dare I say it, as we experience it…in the sense that our reflections become alive and have a life of their own…the better I understand why I am a Friend…or as we were mockingly described…a Quaker.

By Colin S on 29th July 2021 - 9:57

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I wonder why in paragraph 6 David changes from “I” to “we”. It leads me to disagree. I think an effort to name what I experience is worth it, as it helps me to think about exactly what the experience is. I am happy to describe faith, even though the word “belief” might take me closer to certainty than where I am. I like David’s notion of untangling, which is what I often feel led to work at. The peace of a Quaker meeting supports that activity.

By RayHarris on 31st July 2021 - 21:19

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