A Response to a piece at Transition Quaker: https://transitionquaker.blogspot.com/2017/02/stories-and-values.html?showComment=1488212565150&m=1#c6609527395080306459

It happens that people's meaning, purpose, and identity, are in relation to outward things like occupation, family, country, political and religious ideology and affiliation,…

This obscure phrase plays itself out in The Trial of Impeachment of Levi Hubbell, Judge of the Second Judicial Circuit. The trial was held in the Wisconsin Senate in June of 1853. The proceedings allow you to read the debate about the meaning of it being time to fish or cut bait which was, at that time, an unfamiliar phrase. In that context, the somewhat archaic term…

Back in the day if you learned the three R's of 'ritin, readin & 'rithmatic you had an education.  If you could read, write, add and subtract you could pretty much handle anything life would throw at you.  That was a much simpler time.  Now you might have to do that in more than one language.  Plus if you can't find your way around a computer don't expect to make much progress on the job.  Inventory?  Bookkeeping?  Sorry!  Adding and subtracting isn't going to do it.  My slide rule from…

Although attributed to Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam, by Francis Bacon in a brief essay entitled On Boldness in 1625; the actual phrase can’t be traced directly to Mohammed. Bacon suggests that Mohammed said these words after being unsuccessful in performing the miracle of beckoning a hill to come to him, showed wisdom with these words rather than admitting…

My father used to use a slightly enlarged version of this phrase. It is commonly attributed to General Patton and when done so. it often begins, “We herd sheep, we drive cattle, [and] we lead people.” Patton’s words also come with more personal wording, “Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.” While I have no particular reason to doubt its authenticity, I do wonder…

I wrote an article for Western Friend:  https://westernfriend.org/article/prophets-field-play

It's about my experiences as a sporting official and what I've learned from them.  Before you figure that sport and competition aren't part of your life, check out these passages: 

....printed rules are just a starting point. Each sport has its own web of tradition and culture that…

This is another slogan that has some traction in the Twelve Step community. On the surface, it appears to encourage people to be open to changing their minds. As information and circumstances change, so ought decisions. Put in a positive light, this quote says, “keep an open mind.” It also echoes the wisdom of living “one day at a time.” It is a reminder that any…

"God –  
let me be silent more clearly,  
since I am not hearing well."

inspired by Psalm 119 “Happy are those whose way is perfect ”

(Own translation from a vocal ministry during Meeting for Worship at SYM retreat at Montmirail, Switzerland, February 12, 2017)

https://ofradix.net/2017/02/13/psalm-119-a-quaker-version/

I first encountered the fact of this in the 1960's, when I was flailing through a life already hijacked by God, reframed by mind-striping drugs, immobilized by conflicting ideas and ideals.

In search of a group I might really belong with, I stayed overnight with people who kept the air thick with pot smoke amid the bewildering sounds of a record I'd never heard of: 'The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter,' by the Incredible String Band. Among many intricate, confusing lyrics, one mad…

President Harry Truman, who attributed it to his friend General Harry Vaughn, popularized this phrase. It is not limited to cooking, but rather a metaphor for any situation that creates challenge or “heat.” If you are not ready to take on a challenge, there is no sense pretending. Truman intended these words for his staff: if they were not up to the task, they had…

In May of 2016, Quaker Universalist Conversations published Winston Davis’ essay “Religion, In a Nutshell.” The following essay was just published on February 5th.

The World After Truth

“You shall know the truth, and the truth will…

There is no real advice in this phrase. However, the fact that it is used to describe a situation that is very difficult with no apparent solution, implies that it is a reality that all situations have to be reckoned with and therefore, when you are “between a rock and a hard place”, it is better to be honest than in denial of your circumstances. The most literal use of…

One of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is “being proactive.” Another way to put this is to choose rather than accept. So often we say, “I have no choice”, when we actually do have options. We may not like the choices and their foreseen results but there are choices. You have a boss you can't stand? You can choose to quit your job! You…

Cicero, Aristotle, Plutarch and Chaucer and others all said words to this effect. A humorous gloss comes from the movie Klondike Annie where Mae West says when given the choice of two evils, “I'll choose the one I never tried before.”

1 Thessalonians 5:22

Avoid every kind of evil.

abstain from every form of…

Source: http://infiniteoceanoflightandlove.blogspot.com/2017/01/in-midst-of-quaker-meeting-fragmentation.html

It is curious to me the author does not recognize the Quaker way wherein those gathered in the sufficiency of the inshining Light in the conscious and conscience are come out of these "types" or forms ("the mystical, the evangelical, the rational,…

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 in Fox’s mind it was the most…