I am Meaning; eternal Purpose. I awaken in the thick of things and move inside things. I am eternity. I whisper the unspoken and illuminate the imaginary.

Consciousness is my playground and conscience is my shadow.

I am the Mystery of a consciousness anchored and conscience informed in and through the immediacy of that which I am. I am Freedom from outward religion, government, scripture, practices, ways, and disciplines. I am all these things.

I am living Gospel in the…

The arrogant claim is plain simplicity when it used to be primitive Christianity and egalitarianism. The ignorant rationalization is ascribing to Rationalism, without reason.

The "donut Quaker" is all puffed-up outside, but rather empty of inner substance; embraces the flavoring, but abhors shelf-life; goes well with conferences, but not with nutritional confidence.

Rugged individuals are quick to stake their claim to opportunity, as well as open territory. The "Live and Let…

Now that the start of summer has been formally reached, it’s the time for the young to experience a particularly cherished rite of passage. By this I mean camp. The theories long-propagated by organizers promise the comforting nature of steady, close contact of one’s peers. They envision the sort of constant, positive interaction…

            I have been taking Jacob L. Wright’s Coursera MOOC called “The Bible’s Prehistory, Purpose and Political Future.” Wright is a professor of religion at Emory University, and I’ve joined thousands of others with widely varying motivations in taking this course.  (I hear these diverse purposes in the course’s on-line discussions and forums.)

            Wright uses the course to argue a…

The problem we face today needs very little time for its statement. Our lives in a modern city grow too complex and overcrowded. Even the necessary obligations which we feel we must meet grow overnight, like Jack's beanstalk, and before we know it we are bowed down with burdens, crushed under committees, strained , breathless, and hurried, panting through…

The inner light is so luminous within me this morning. I reflect back on a group of people attacking (both verbally and physically) a man with a dog. I re-cognized Christ's presence in the moment. Then the mother walking her baby in a stroller. I  re-cognized Presence in that moment as in the moment of a female Hairy Woodpecker feeding her recently fledged young. I see Presence in the owl taking a kildeer.

I see Presence in all things. I am Presence embodied and manifested in all…

Mr. Camp, it is my professional opinion that you have bipolar disorder.

Many people who have been informed of bad news like this take it differently than I did. They describe their immediate reaction like a punch to the gut, as though this means that their life is over. My original psychiatric diagnosis was treatment-resistant depression, which…

The Lamb’s War – Christ is here to teach his people himselfThe Lamb’s War – Christ is here to teach his people himselfOriginally published on Quaker Universalist Conversations, 6/13/2014.…

I've completed an immersion study into Penington's use of the phrase 'thing itself." This study demonstrates Penington's faith anchored solidly in the presence of Christ, the inward Light, as sufficient knowledge and experience as opposed to outward rationalizations about Presence and the words of the bible. 

The gift of the thing itself as the sufficient Rule, Principle, Discipline, Code, or Practice in all activities of daily life is the salvation of men and women.

Below is a…

A SPECIAL PLEA

This month your trusty editor did have to dip into his personal bank account to cover the QQ expenses. Please consider giving a one-time gift or $10 monthly support if you are able. Other options are listed on…

Over the past three weeks I sought out and was offered the opportunity to help efforts to support the protection and survival of a federally endangered species. This has been part the ebb and flow of my life; small business and the protection of endangered plant and animal species. 

Over the past two weeks the field work has been physically demanding ... really exhausting. I'm also working with people I've known in different contexts and meeting many new acquaintances. 

The…

Fever: Call us drama-queens, but the Court of Quaker Opinion is fired-up over conventional interpretations of religious life.

Passion: As the human body suffers from inflammation.

Fever: Engagement with diseased perspectives is the war that we wage.

Passion: Rather than compassionate reflection and communal remediation.

Fever: Intentional correctives stem from the heat of the moment.

Passion: Or, the fevered grab, as medicating, for the quick and easy…

New Blog Post: “Quaker Plain VII: A Simple Ministry”

http://wp.me/p1OXtI-3t

Speaking with Buddhist friends this week the topic was benefactor moments. An instance that you recall in your life when someone granted you an act of love, kindness or mercy. Although that…

This summer students from seminaries and divinity schools across the country, including ESR, will visit summer camps and youth corps to talk about their experiences and ideas for both traditional and new expressions of ministry. The event, known as the New Faces of…

I came across a request from Micah Bales for suggestions he could give someone on the best way to study the Bible.  I took a quick look at some of the suggestions and decided there really wasn't anything I could add as they seemed to be pretty good.  However, this morning the inner voice spoke up and made the following suggestion which probably applies to all of us - Bible scholars, neophytes, and bible illiterates alike.

Before undertaking to study the bible, know the bible and know…

ESR student Susan Flynn delivered the following message during ESR Worship on May 1, 2014:

When I pray, I often get answers in dreams, nature or from the people around me.  Very often my answers are found like gifts in subtle places, throughout the day.  Seeing a blue heron fly overhead, right at the moment when my hope was teetering, or hearing a song that carries a phrase I needed so very much to hear.  Or observing the freedom of my 5-year-old niece flying around the…

A Guide to True Peace; or A Method of Attaining To Inward and Spiritual Prayer

Link to Book on Google:

https://play.google.com/books/reader?printsec=frontcover&output=reader&id=Wi5MAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PR3

Recently, Jim Wilson, in a few posts mentioned the book "A Guide to True Peace; or A Method of Attaining To Inward and Spiritual Prayer."…