I was 16 years old when I attended meeting for worship for the first time. Also present were a woman marathon runner, several professors, an ancient colonel from World War I, and a man who spoke Navajo and his poet wife. Not all were vegetarians or tax resisters. Not all the men had been conscientious […]
The spiritual consequences of secrets are sudden potholes in integrity, surprises, and struggles to keep a secret hidden rather than open and exposed to wonder- wonder being the most basic posture of spiritual life. Always, certain people will choose to be with something so challenging, to wash and heal the culture and individuals. And knowing […]
Dear Friends, I believe the time has come for Quakers to create a conference on torture. Increasingly, there are corners without Light in American culture and places of American domination where there is no longer simply the threat of abduction, imprisonment or death, but also the likelihood that this includes torture. This calculated brutality has […]
I have been devoted to a spiritual discipline of late whose lessons I believe may help us to bear with some of the difficulties in discussing the important tasks of social change and civil rights. The discipline I’m involved in, of taking the worst from the dark and bringing it out into the light for […]
I like the idea of having a conference on Quakers and sexuality. I think it’s very brave and a little bit dangerous. Of course, the only thing that Quakers talk about less than sex is money, but I won’t get into that. Talking about sex in any context, even a Quaker, one can be dangerous […]
The most sure way to get yourself into trouble is to offer to be of help. It works most of the time. It’s the kind of trouble that teaches the essences of spiritual life and cannot be replaced by reading or prayer. And the more desire you have to serve, the bigger the trouble you […]
My education on healing from trauma is an incomplete, ongoing work which I find continually fascinating and always best suited to wondering rather than collecting hard facts. There are so many parts to consider: life itself hurts; trouble must not only be survived, but learned about; the world seems to know no bounds in its […]