Universal appeal: Daniel Clarke Flynn attends the Quaker Universalist Conference

‘Before all greatness be silent – in art, in music, in religion – silence.’

Last month, Quaker universalists met for our annual conference, the last to be held at Woodbrooke. Our full title – ‘Universalism and Creativity: How creativity expresses and enhances spirituality across the world’ – was ambitious, but the cornucopia of speakers and workshop leaders didn’t disappoint.

Peter Varney is an active but retired Anglican priest, and also a member of Norfolk and Waveney Quakers. He opened the conference on Friday evening by inviting us all to recognise our potential to create. Whether it’s visual art, music, sculpture, architecture or literature that we engage in, it’s all an expression of our spiritual belief and active faith.

Helen Otter, a practising artist with a masters degree in Fine Art, has exhibited in a variety of media in East Anglia, Gloucestershire and London. She followed Peter with ‘An Introduction to Creativity and Spirituality: An artist’s view’. Her talk focussed on the connection between visual creativity and spirituality. She sketched-out the history of human art, from its beginnings to the present day, showing how it has carried cultural, religious and spiritual messages.

Helen’s creative work affords her a spiritual engagement, fulfilling a need to connect with something greater. She believes that all creativity is on such a path. Helen encouraged us to be awake, present, and open when engaged with artwork. It may illuminate something inside us. Examples of her work can be found at https://tinyurl.com/helenotter.

On Saturday morning, the Quaker poet Philip Gross opened a full day of presentations and workshops by speaking on ‘What is Living in the Space Between Us: Poetry, collaboration, listening?’. This was expressed both as a statement and a question. His opening recitation was: ‘The air between us, knows already more about us, than we think we’ve said.’ Philip’s recitations illustrated how the divine can break through in the pauses and empty space between people, when no one imposes their perspective. He has published twenty-seven collections, for adults and young people, and has also written novels, libretti, and radio scripts.

Later in the morning, Jaana Erkillä-Hill spoke online from Finland, on ‘Creativity and Nature in the Nordic Tradition’. She talked about the art, culture and beliefs of the Sámi, the indigenous Finno-Ugric people who inhabit the region of Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Church for the Sámi is the forest, where all animals and trees are respected. Nature is watching us and death is not to be feared. Our ancestors are still living with and in us. Jaana is the vice-rector for Research at the University of the Arts, Helsinki. She is also an active artist and member of Finland Yearly Meeting.

Next, Roger Babington Hill gave an in-person presentation on ‘Daoism and Creativity’, in which he spoke about how creativity is expressed through the process of the Dao. Daoism is the traditional esoteric philosophy of China; it underpins every aspect of Chinese society, along with Confucianism and Buddhism, and has roots in Shamanism. Roger compared how artistic creativity works within the Dao process with that found in western Abrahamic religions. Roger’s interest in Daoism grew alongside his study of traditional Chinese medicine. He ended his talk with a quote from theologian Friedrich von Hügel: ‘Be silent about great things, let them grow inside you… before all greatness be silent – in art, in music, in religion – silence.’ 

On Saturday afternoon, practical sessions were offered twice, once in the art room for in-person participants, and a second time in the Cadbury Room with equipment installed for those online.

David Brown, a British Quaker active with The Kindlers, became interested in Quakerism as a western route to enlightenment. He led a workshop on ‘despacho’ (prayer bundles) in the context of Shamanism. When despacho are created they are filled with intentions and offerings, which are returned in the form of blessings and resolutions. Through the making and burning of despacho we ‘dispatch’ our prayers to the universe.

Philip Gross returned to lead ‘Writing from the Space Between Us: An experiment’ with a simple exercise. With participants in small groups, he gave each of us a haiku and asked us, in rotation, to compose the next verse in silence and read it to other members of the group. No discussion or editing followed. We let our spontaneous sequential verses speak for themselves. Here is what one group produced: ‘A vapour trail, dissolves to pale mist, someone’s holiday… He took off into the blue, high cumulus clouds floating by, not knowing his final destination… Alone, fearful, lost, longing to belong, the sky cries out… To the eagle with wide wings, endless sky earth below, screeching, searching, seeking … Silence is deafening, light breaks through the dark, breathless admiration of creation… In hope we see the heart of God, in fear we feel his hand, we journey on to the spirit world… Where the egg cracks open, where all can live free, forests without fear breathe air… Gratitude replaces fear, partnership replaces isolation, I and thou become one… Love and kindness enter, the oak tree smiles once more, we walk anew… Birth brings joy not pain, breath brings life not death, the world as one again’.

For Saturday evening, Helen Osborn, a retired schoolteacher and Quaker Chaplain at HMP Bedford, invited participants to offer something creative in music, recitation or dance. It brought the day to a sparkling close.

On Sunday morning, Charles Monkhouse, an artist working in public places, led us through an illustrated presentation of ‘Spirituality and Colour’. He went from the legacy of antiquity through the western Middle Ages, to Tibetan Buddhism and nomadic life, to Hilma af Klint, Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Bridget Riley, Claude Monet, and the Quaker James Turrell.

The conference was punctuated by a daily meeting of eight ‘home groups’ – six at Woodbrooke and two online. The whole thing was a tremendous banquet of ideas, some said, and will take time to digest. It closed on Sunday with worship-sharing and silent worship – breathing in, breathing out, breathing the breath of life, discovering the divine-given creativity within each of us.

Daniel sits on the Quaker Universalist Group committee and is from Belgium & Luxemburg Meeting. Recordings of the conference talks will appear at https://qug.org.uk.

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