George MacDonald in his 'Cross Purposes and the Shadows" writes:

... for many things we never could believe, have only to happen,  and then there is nothing strange about them.

The awakening into a new way of being through the illumination of consciousness and conscience by the inward Light is unbelievable outside the experience. However, when the Light shines within the soul it is as natural as the former life outside the Light.

Lately,  as I…

John Barclay 

Hastings, in Sussex, 8th mo. 1837

Many there are, who have retired from all other persuasions and systems, and walk much alone in religion, and these often say, Friends are not what they once were; that they unite with G. Fox, Barclay, &c, but not with modern Friends. Many hidden, precious, seeking characters there are, scattered up and down ; so that I have been ready to think the messengers will have to go more into the highways…

As a young man, I had a number of  natural history mentors. These men and women were woods-people who organized their lives in such a way that they experienced the natural world to the fullest. They didn't read about the natural histories of the various species in the natural world, they experienced the natural histories personally. They knew the natural history of a species because they observed a species' natural history directly ... immediately ... without borrowing their experience from…

I have spent much of my time, mostly voluntary, helping preserve and restore natural areas. I do not expect that people share my conscience in this matter. Many people might wish to pave over a natural area I wish to see preserved.

Presence experiences any number of ugly and horrible things will happen. Presence experiences any number of wonderful and pleasant things. They happen in Presence and always will; as they always have.  In Presence, it is not that you…

I observe the habits of the male Allen's Hummingbird on territory. 

Sometime, as I watch, he turns his throat in just the right way so that his gorget blazes forth in brilliant hues of orange.…

The early Quakers declared it:

And we found this light to be a sufficient teacher, to lead us to Christ, from whence this light came, and thereby it gave us to receive Christ, and to witness him to dwell in us; and through it the new covenant we came to enter into, to be made heirs of life and salvation. And in all things we found the light which we were enlightened withal, (which is Christ,) to be alone and only sufficient to bring…

When this testimony was shared with me around 30 years ago, my personal experience of the sufficiency of Presence was affirmed.  These words testify to the Rock of Ages, inwardly experienced; starting me on a lifelong journey toward and struggle with a consciousness anchored and a conscience informed by the immediacy of…

Is not Presence a blessing when illness discomforts? We deepen down into the Quiet and invisible nurseries of healing open in and anoint consciousness. These invisible spaces of healing comfort consciousness with an inward peace effusing the dis-ease of the body with…

Yesterday I spent time observing the territorial and migratory behaviors of the Rufous and Allens Hummingbirds.

It happened that I came across this beautiful species of lichen commonly called Candy Lichen. The scientific name is…

Early in John Wilbur's labors against those who did not have faith in a consciousness anchored in and a conscience informed by the immediacy of Presence, Betsy Purinton wrote these words to him in a letter:

The longer I live, the more I feel the necessity of a deep indwelling with the spirit of Divine life, and as my dear, aged kinswoman, (Comfort Collins,) used to say, neither ' borrow nor steal,' however in want ; and this is not all, but to be content with our little,…

Political Activism: A Lack of Faith in the sufficiency of a consciousness anchored in and a conscience informed by Presence ... the seed of Christ in human being.

Political activism is the agitation of human being to anchor consciousness and inform conscience in outward political agenda. It is a lack of faith in the immediacy of Presence as the anchor and guide of human being in human and worldly events.

Political and religious professors and activists seek to avert human being…

The Living Gospel unhinged from outward worldly and bodily religious forms.

Or

The Message of Christ free from canonical testimony in Immediacy.

Or

The Message Unmediate

Normally, consciousness is anchored in and conscience is informed by external forms or by externalized borrowed experience in the form…

There was a time in my life when the observation of the natural world was Sanctuary (among other outward activities like the Church, or teachings of others, or political activism) and the immediacy of Christ was secondary.…

Happenings in Presence.

Much of life was spent relatively speaking, outside the Presence. Life is now, relatively speaking, in the Presence. Here is how life, relatively speaking, manifests, for me, in daily life.

I recently re-upholstered a wing-backed recliner for a family member. She has lower back problems so a bolster was created (tailored to her needs) to support her lower back and give…

There is another way:

Short-form

A consciousness anchored in and a conscience informed by the activity of intuition.

Long-form

A consciousness anchored in the activity of observation and thinking (not anchored in the things observed and thoughts about the things observed); and a conscience informed by the activity of intuitive imagination (not the morals or ethics from sources outside pure intuition).

To experience such a consciousness and a conscience is…

Jesus is a noun, Christ is a being verb.

Not me, but Christ in me

Not me, but I am in me.

Not anger, but I am.

Not joy, but I am.

Not peace, but I am.

Not ideals, but I am.

Not morals, but I am.

Not occupation, but I am.

Not community, but I am.

Not institution, but I am.

Not individual, but I am.

Not politics, but I am.

Not theology, but I am.

Not ideology, but I am.

Not agenda, but I…

I acknowledge those who have no or fragmented faith and trust in the immediacy or direct experience of the Presence anchoring consciousness and informing conscience. 

While I acknowledge there are those who hold to outward form to anchor or help anchor consciousness and inform conscience, the Presence within me has, from the age of 16, …

Note: Conscienceness is a term I’ve coined blending conscious, self-conscious, or consciousness with conscience. …

The Church-State and way of worship not the knowledge or the faith in the Life ...

I have smarted deeply for these things, and have been taught by the briars and thorns of the wilderness, whereby my ears came to be opened, to hear the sound of the everlasting gospel, to which they were before through ignorance stopped.…