Simplicity is one of the traditional Quaker Testimonies.  Quakers recognize that “a simple lifestyle is [a] freely chosen . . . source of strength.”[i]  The assertion of freedom to choose is central in Quaker perspectives. For example, Quakers are encouraged to “not be persuaded into buying what you cannot afford” and to “keep informed” as important…

Abe Lincoln, Mark Twain and many others get credit for these words. As the idea has been around since pre-biblical Greek society, it is no wonder many people have said it, or something like it. The opposite seems ludicrous: Our words are more important and honest than our actions and choices. “Deeds are fruits but words are leaves” expresses the same idea with more…

Source: [https://www.afsc.org/blogs/acting-in-faith/letter-to-my-white-sisters-after-women’s-march]

Hello Lucy,

I wish to use the occasion of comment to offer and recommend a different way than the one you offer and will leave it to the conscience of others whether this way is more profitable to spiritual being than the one…

Yes, it is a blessing to testify to the witness that there is a different way than the way of gaining meaning and purpose through identification with outward political and religious ideologies and agendas and those teachers and ministers who profess and promote them. We share this different way with our millions of…

Originally recorded in the 1600s, this proverb has its exact opposite in the phrase, “you can't teach old dogs new tricks.” Both sayings are used more to justify a choice - trying to learn something new or giving it up - rather than to inform a choice with intelligence. Sometimes it is…

Fox repeats this call over and over: "Keep your testimony...for your worship in the spirit and in the truth, that Christ Jesus hath set up" (Works, 8:34); "keep up your testimony in the light, power, and spirit of God, for the worship that Christ set up above sixteen hundred years since, in spirit and in truth,...which is a worship that cannot be shaken." (8:84) This is a testimony that the Quakers had before the peace testimony was formulated in 1660, and I think…

A friend of mine recorded this song that goes on about ghosts around the edges of the moon.  He does a very nice job.  On the surface it doesn't make much sense but the music and his voice touches the soul.  He's a very deep Christian who likes to mingle where the people are: subways, central park, occupy wall street gatherings and small cafes.  What comes out is sometimes hard to decipher and this song is certainly that but as I listened to it and reflected upon it the thought came to me…

I am unaware of anyone completing and publishing a project quite like this one. But I did stumble across an Amazon ad for the best seller, Until Today. I was humbled! The book is described as “365 daily devotionals that support the time-honoured adage, ‘Why put off until tomorrow what you can do today?’” I was inspired! If Iyanla Vanzant can write 365…

The poet Jalaluddin Rumi writes of night travelers who search the darkness instead of running from it, a companionship of people willing to know their own fear. (91)

Pema Chödrön,

When Things Fall Apart

Quaker Universalist Fellowship

What we are learning

Many modern…

First published on The Empty Path.

Many of us are chronically distressed by the suffering we see around us. It confronts us in the 24/7 news cycle, in social media, in what we pass on the street every day. We live with a longing to be rid of the pain and guilt that we experience in witnessing all of this…

This phrase is often identified as a “Chinese Proverb.” However, it was Peter Benenson, who was instrumental in the creation of human rights organization Amnesty International, who used the phrase in connection with Amnesty's symbol: a lit candle wrapped in barbed wire.

Isaiah 9:2

those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them…

A LETTER TO THE BROTHERS AT WESTON PRIORY 1/17/17

Dear Brother Daniel,

I am writing on behalf of our men's Quaker group that spent some time recently at the Weston Priory. We had a Spiritually nourishing time of worship, sharing, insight, and even a little poetry.

We appreciated having the time to work with…

The inshining Light in my conscious and conscience has discovered to me that I am come into the Light itself as the source of meaning, purpose, and identity in this world and has discovered to me that, by the appearance of the inshining Light consciousness will sustain upon the death of my body. I am come into salvation. I am come into the second Life. 

In this Life, the professors and agitators of outward political, religious, and economic forms have no power. Their words of…

This piece of advice is also common in AA circles. The implication is that even when your sobriety doesn't feel right you should not give up as the program will make sense with time. It is also used in other settings such as making a relationship work, going to church, working through depression and staying in school. It is not the same as simply being optimistic. It…

Nike ® found fewer words to say, “Action is the foundational key to all success.” Pablo Picasso usually gets the nod for this longer version but a particular context never appears. In my research, I came across a book of his entitled One Liners. I expected witticisms, but what I got were drawings of his that he made without taking his pencil off the paper. There are a few…

These common words echo the sentiment of other sayings including the Latin carpe diem, which translates in English as “seize the day.” Also familiar is “eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.” (1 Corinthians 15:32) The context of these words means so much. If the focus is on the here and now, then it is a call to make the most of things, perhaps meaning, literally, eat and…

Very similar words, depending on the translation, appear in chapter 64 of the Tao Te Ching written by Lao Tsu over 2500 years ago. It is surrounded by a number of similar phrases all saying that very big things begin with small things.  However, it is the words that precede the proverb which give it particular meaning: “manage before things get out of order.” We are…

While Quaker worship is quiet and patient, that does not imply that  Quakers are to lead lives entirely marked by retreat and reflection.  There is always the call to make a difference; To put action into words.  Quakers ask[i], “Do we partake in the joy of love of God and make our lives a celebration of the sharing of this love?”[ii]  The…

My mother and father

poured out their lives caring for us.

Long after we did not see them anymore,

this caring became our own smiles

that we pass on to our children,

to our students, friends,

to strangers

My parents got their caring power

from distant people

whose names I never knew

in faded unsmiling photos.

My mother's kiss is from a thousand mothers

and the shade of my father's tree is a great forest.

A lady who serves my…