So, Poodledoc, what is a Quaker?

I get asked this question a lot, plus a hundred variants. More on that later. But I did happen across this quick explanation of Quakers. One thing missing though: we're NOT Amish! (click on image to make it larger)

Quaker Poster of the Day

I liked this poster......click on the image to make it larger, if you like....

A Visit to Washington, DC Friends Meeting, a Death and Martin Luther King

Meetinghouse main entrance (above)


Last weekend, I had the joy of attending the Washington, DC Friends Meeting (Quakers). This was my second visit and I enjoyed meeting the variety of folks that make up a typical Quaker Meeting.

During Meeting, it was announced that a much loved and integral member of the Meeting had just died an untimely, sudden death from a heart attack. Much sadness. I found it powerful to watch this spiritual community deal with this in a supportive, loving manner.

After Meeting, there was an event in the Meeting House celebrating Martin Luther King. We sang many songs of liberation, love and protest. I don't consider myself much of a singer, but I really got into this and belted out some of the songs. No windows broke. I had goose bumps during some of the songs. They were very empowering. We also listened to some of Dr King's words and had a time of silence, as is the Quaker way. I have been to past MLK celebrations and found them to often be, at least for me, the creation of an icon with little power to inspire, or perhaps more importantly, empower people to make change. These other gatherings often look at him like one looks at a photo or a statue. Like a moment in time. When his words and actions were directed at the present and ALSO the future, after he was gone. The combinaton of songs, his words and the silence while within my spiritual community felt different. Much more energizing. Now...........I want to be clear that Quakers aren't partiularly "better" at this than other groups nor do I want to in any way diminish other King celebrations. But for me, at that time, it felt different and I noticed that difference.

It was a wonderful day.

On the Road..............

Poodledoc, Jr and I started out on our annual pilgrimage to visit the Poodledoc family in Chattanooga, TN. It is kind of nice that they are all conveniently located in one place. So there's my mom, Grandma Poodledoc, brother Chris Poodledoc and his family and my sister, Carol Poodledoc. We're spending Christmas and New Years with them. Should be............interesting. Guess we'll go to the Christmas Eve service at their Methodist Church.

Apparently they perform the Eucharist. My mom asked me if I "took communion any more now that I'm a Quaker". Interesting question. I said, well, it depends on how it's "presented". This could be another post. Do Quaker's take communion? Hmmmmmm. The short answer is that I see it as a communion with all living things, all the creatures, that have God in them. And all the other parts of creation that aren't living. But still have God in them. Then I feel moved to "take communion". It also feels more meaningful to me if it is presented to me/us as a communion with our community. But community is a big word. For some, it can be an inclusive word. And for some, it can be an exclusive word. So, the Eucharist can be a powerful symbolic ritual, even for me as a Quaker, or it can be a hollow exercise in which we get to eat little pieces of white bread and grape juice and repeat the same old same old. For me, as a Quaker, looking back on my Methodist upbringing, Eucharist and all, digging just a little deeper into the ritual can bring me feelings of connection with the Divine. The stuff behind the ritual. Stuff that got lost, at least for me. Which ultimately led me to become a Quaker. So, we'll see what choice I make on Christmas Eve. Or maybe I need to be open for a nudge from God, make space for God. Sometimes I don't leave room for God at my "spiritual table".

Anyway, I'll go to the Methodist church with Poodledoc, Jr on Christmas Eve and then go to Quaker Meeting the next weekend. I've been to the Chattanooga Friends Meeting once before and enjoyed it a great deal. I'm sure it will be ..........interesting....

Off to the Quaker Gathering Tomorrow

Tomorrow morning its off to Friends General Conference, the yearly gathering of The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). There will be about 1600 Quakers descending on University of Wisconsin-River Falls. The vast majority of these, including myself come from the "un-programmed" branch of the Quaker tree. That is, we have no pastor or priest, no liturgy, no singing. We sit and worship in silence. If God gives us a message, we may,if we choose, stand and share our "ministry". Otherwise, all is silent. This feels good to me. But at these gatherings (this is my third year in a row) there is a powerful feeling of the Spirit. I come away feeling renewed spiritually. And I have a lot of fun! Quakers do talk! And laugh! And sing! My workshop which I'll attend is called "Worship with Attention to Healing and Laughter". This is the first year Poodledoc, Jr is going. He's working with other kids to build some huge puppets for the show Wednesday night. If my computer cooperates, I'll write more on this blog about the Gathering in the coming week. Now I'm done packing, I read about the Cubs who've just won 7th straight and I have a long day of driving. I have to go pick up Poodledoc, Jr at his first "away from home" camp, then drive for five more hours. Sounds like an adventure to me!

Gandhi and the Quakers

WHEN THE BRITISH Cabinet Mission went out to India to try to settle the Indian question on the spot, there were two or three interesting Quaker Meetings. Each of them was attended by members of the British Cabinet Mission, by prominent Indian Nationals, including the sister of Pandit Nehru, and by leading Moslems, including Sir Hassan Suhrawardy. Mahatma Gandhi attended the second.

Mr. Gandhi, at his evening prayers, spoke highly of the calm atmosphere which prevailed there. "I greatly admire the silent prayers," he said, "We must devote part of our time to such prayers. They afford peace of mind."

He also said: "Emptying the mind of all conscious processes of thought and filling it with the spirit of God unmanifest brings one ineffable peace, and attunes the soul with the Infinite."-- William H. Sessions, 1952.

Mysticism and Mental Illness: A Quaker Book Review

Book Review written by Poodledoc:

Dancing with God Through the Storm: Mysticism and Mental Illness
by Jennifer Elam

When a person has a profound, life-changing psychological experience, sometimes there is confusion as to whether this is a mystical happening or the person is “crazy”, as though what happened is a manifestation of mental illness. How do we, as Friends, support the individual, help them to become clear about the distinction between something wondrous and something that may be pathological in nature. And, in terms of support, does it really matter what we “label” the experience?

Jennifer Elam, a Quaker psychologist, explores the differences (and similarities) between mysticism and mental illness in this book through interviews with over 100 individuals, mostly Quaker, who shared their very moving personal experiences.

As you might imagine, these experiences varied quite a bit. For some, there was a diagnosis of mental illness and the person struggled through hard times, but eventually reached clarity on the spiritual aspect of the experience. Often this struggling occurred alone. For others, their Meetings were very nurturing as the individuals explored these difficult things. Often, with loving support, the individuals were able to share their experiences with the Meeting without fear of being labeled “crazy”. There is a stigma about both mental illness and mystical experiences in our society, and that stigma, unfortunately, carries over to Quaker Meeting. As one of the interviewees put it: “Some see it as a reaction to stress, saying, “You need to take care of yourself.” Others see it as a spiritual experience, saying, “Wow, that’s amazing.”

Ms Elam makes a distinction about what she regards as mental illness and what she regards as spiritual experience. She contends that there is a small area of overlap. However, pathology and mysticism appear very distinct in most of the people interviewed here. She shares many of the stories of her subjects, in their own words, and talks about how these issues are part of the individual’s life journey. For example, Elam suggests that depression is not “bad” or a “breakdown”, but part of a transformation in our lives. While she does not minimize how difficult and painful depression can be, she opens up new ways of seeing the experience. She has a gift of being able to help the reader place these experiences in the context of their life. Or, for those accompanying people on this kind of journey, the same wisdom can be useful as well. And, she discusses how to determine if it is safe to share these experiences with specific people.

There are several things I enjoyed about the book. Although she provides her definitions of mysticism and a mental illness, this book is a query for us to make a personal decision about what may be two sides of the same coin.. I enjoyed reading about the wide variety of experiences people had as they “wrestled with God”, as the author puts it, and about how these experiences inform our lives. And how do we, as a Meeting, stay open to member’s experiences, messages, and struggles in these areas, without being fearful and placing a label to keep the person, and their experience(s), at a distance?

In closing, here’s a story from one of the other interviewees:

“When I was eight or nine, I had a profound experience. It was very important and real, but I have not shared it until now. I was scared it would be ridiculed.
My dog was ill. I wanted it tended, but it was too late. It had to be put to sleep. As a youngster, I was quite upset that I hadn’t been able to stop the dog’s death. I went into the woods, cried, and then fell asleep. Later, an enormous light awakened me; it illuminated the woods and comforted me. I did not hear voices as such, but there was a knowing: ‘You are loved. All will be well.’
I had to walk fifteen minutes to get home. As I walked, remembering the light, feeling the knowing, I resolved to help the rejected and neglected people of the world.
It has taken until now, at age 65, for me to share these valuable experiences in my life.”

Had this person felt safe to share her story earlier, who knows how many others it would have inspired?

Sometimes the Light comes from the darkest places in our lives. This book explores how we can share these experiences to become spiritually stronger and in the process, bring gifts to our community, making it more loving and spiritually accepting.

Is it Ok for Quakers to Boo?

I was watching the Cubs play baseball the other night, as I often do. I’ve watched the Cubs for over 40 years. There have been ups. There have been downs. Mostly downs. But I never booed “my team”. The other team? Yes! The umpires? Sometimes. But my team? Never. No matter how inept they play (which is most of the time!) I just don’t boo them. So back to the other night. I was watching as the Cubs loaded the bases with nobody out. Incredibly, they were unable to score even one measly run. Now, I’ve seen this before with the Cubs. I groaned. But people at the ballpark booed. Loudly. It bothered me a lot. It seemed unfaithful. It seemed……unquakerly.

So I started wondering: is it ok for Quakers to boo? Because if we believe that “there is that of God in everyone”, aren’t we booing God? Is this at all acceptable? So, if there’s a natural disaster, for example, are we all supposed to go out and boo God?

Then I thought when IS it ok to boo? Well, today I’d like to boo the people in our Congress for some of their decisions and non-decisions. I mean an advisory bill on the Iraq war is like not running out a routine grounder to second. It’s lame. Perhaps we should boo.

So then I imagined that Congress could be moved out of the Capitol and re-located in a baseball stadium. When a member of Congress had to make a speech about a particular bill, he or she would have to come to home plate, and say what they had to say, in front of 50, 000 people! Then people could boo or cheer, depending on their political leanings. Then these folks in Congress would get the message. Maybe. All their votes would be displayed on the huge electronic scoreboard in center field. When a congressperson came up “to bat”, an enormous photo of them would appear on the same scoreboard, showing their past voting records, any interesting scandals, any “conflicts of interest”, etc.

But why stop there? Let’s move the Supreme Court sessions into a ballpark. Clarence Thomas might get booed a lot.

Or we could move those Presidential Press conferences, along with the Rose Garden, into a baseball stadium. How many people would like to boo Mr Bush? Well, a lot, I suppose.

So, IS it ok for Quakers to boo? My feeling is: sometimes! What do YOU think?