So -- my religious upbringing was *not* so newfangled, after all

[capri0mni]

So. As I've been toodling around the Interwebs, searching for the actual historical teachings of Quakerism behind the rather loose and generalized philosophy which my parents taught me, I found a pamphlet, recreated as a PDF file, that retraced the history of Quaker thought from the time of the American Revolution up through the split between the Hicksites and the Orthodox... which was exactly what I'm interested in, at this point. Amazing how, when ye seek ye shall find, isn't it?

Anyway, all my life, I'd thought that the casual approach to theology in my family was a modern, 20th century hippie thing, and then I find this passage, in the section titled The State of Society 1776-1827:

There was practically no teaching ministry in the meetings for worship, and little doctrinal instruction anywhere else. The ministry was largely hortartory: Friends were exhorted to be faithful to the testimonies, to "dwell deep," to "center down," to "mind the Light." Many meetings were held entirely in silence.

The Bible was not read in meeting, for fear that it would become a lifeless form or interfere with the leading of the Spirit. A similar fear of creaturely activity prevented regular family worship. In some families the Bible was frequently read together, but many did not even possess a copy.

After a bit more detail on this, the author concludes: "The monthly meeting minutes also show there was much immorality." This is, of course, as it stands, more opinion than fact. He doesn't bother to elaborate whether the Friends of the time were getting into drunken brawls, knifing each other, lying and theiving, or simply engaging in extramarital sex, and going to the theater.

The Copyright and authorship information (taken verbatim, to be sure I don't leave anything out):

From "The Separation After a Century" by Elbert Russell. Serialized in Friends Intelligencer between October 1 and Deceber 10, 1927, and reprinted as a booklet in 1928.

(Republished in July 2005 on the FRIENDS JOURNAL website www.friendsjournal.org as a PDF file. (C) 2005 Friends Publishing Corporation. Thanks to Helen Fields and Melanie Preston for transcribing this historical document.)

But I like that: "Dwell deep. Center down. Mind the Light." Seems that the biggest thing separating these old-time Quakers from new-age Seekers is that the Light was thought to be inward, rather than out in the ether, somewhere beyond our seventh chakra.

Just from my preliminary reading so far, it also seems that those early Friends, from George Fox (in the mid-1600s) throgh Elias Hicks et alia (mid-1800's) studied the Bible, and their conscience, and came to basically the same conclusions about the nature of the Divine as the Neo-Pagans came to in the mid 1900's, after studying the ancient myths and the cycles of nature.

The big separation between them, of course, is that the rituals, and activities and language of Paganism made the early Friends squirm and squick.

Now, if I could find a group of pagans who'd be willing to sit still in silence for an hour or so, or a group of Quakers willing to accept a devout polytheist, I'd be so happy...

Comments

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

Actually, I've found a lot of the silent listening to the inner light and inner voice stuff in Feri. You might want to check it out. I recommend T. Thorn Coyle above Francesca De Grandis, but both are good. On Thorn's course we are supposed to sit in silence for at least ten minutes every day, or longer. Also, there's going to be an exercise just to spend a day in silence and listen... it is of the good, yes:).

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recommendations! I'll look into it. :-)