{"id":2902,"date":"2022-04-29T16:37:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T15:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/?page_id=2902"},"modified":"2023-02-09T15:18:57","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T15:18:57","slug":"four-delusions-and-a-plea","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/may-2022\/four-delusions-and-a-plea\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Delusions and a Plea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keith Wilson<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no rules\u201d, \u201cwe encourage you to think for yourself\u201d, and \u201cwe have no hierarchy\u201d: these were among the most strident of the siren songs that drew me to the Quaker faith. Sadly, I\u2019ve come to see all three as delusions. What\u2019s the fourth delusion? It\u2019s believing the first three aren\u2019t delusions! As always, dear Friends, I encourage you to think it possible I may be wrong but, before you decide, please read a little further.<\/p>\n

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”Quaker Meeting in London: A female Quaker preaches” (c.1723), engraving by Bernard Picard (1673-1733).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We have no rules<\/strong>. But see what happens if you speak in business meeting without waiting to be called, you accept an invitation from meeting to go on a course at Woodbrooke but don\u2019t notify the meeting\u2019s budget holder (because you didn\u2019t know there was one) or, as an attender, you decide to go to business meeting without the clerk\u2019s permission. I\u2019ve done all of these and, of course, I\u2019ve been shown the error of my ways. Trivial? Maybe \u2013 but each occasion was very uncomfortable for me and, even now, I never speak in business meeting in case I\u2019m \u2018not in right ordering\u2019. Please don\u2019t tell me we have no rules. Just because we don\u2019t write our rules down and tell people about them doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t exist!<\/p>\n

We encourage you to think for yourself.<\/strong> For me, one of the glories of Quakerism is that we are free to think for ourselves about the big things like whether we adopt a theist or a non-theist stance.
\nBut we must never think we might like a ham sandwich at shared lunch! We have a vegetarian kitchen and our thoughts about what we might prefer to eat are irrelevant. We can think for ourselves about how we worship, but we can\u2019t be trusted to decide on the content of our sandwiches!<\/p>\n

We have no hierarchy<\/strong>. Yet it would be hard to deny that there are some Friends in meeting whose opinions carry more weight than those of others. I\u2019m not saying this shouldn\u2019t be so: many of our most respected Friends have earned their status through their dedication to and efforts on behalf of the meeting, but let\u2019s not deceive ourselves by pretending that their elevated status doesn\u2019t exist. We may not have a formal hierarchy, but that\u2019s not the same as no hierarchy.<\/p>\n

In truth, rules, restrictions, and hierarchies are inescapable wherever humans come together and, although it\u2019s sometimes easy to forget, Quakers are only human. With that in mind, my plea is that rather than attempting the futile task of eliminating our delusions, let\u2019s acknowledge them and act accordingly. Let\u2019s make our rules more apparent and, if they\u2019re broken, resolve the issue with sensitivity and tact. Let\u2019s not be unnecessarily restrictive on thoughts and actions, especially in minor matters like who eats what and when. And, dear Friend, if you are one of those \u2019weighty\u2019 Quakers who have so much power in meeting, please exercise that power thoughtfully and with a tender hand.<\/p>\n

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More articles in this month’s newsletter:<\/strong><\/p>\n