Quaker Spiritual Experiences in History and Now

    Historically Quakerism has been a tradition that invites us to experience the presence of the Spirit, then live our lives in holy obedience to Divine leadings. It is helpful to study the foundational spiritual experiences of leaders such as George Fox and John Woolman.  Not only do they shed light on our roots and sense of good order, they also make it apparent that the vital center and very existence of Quakerism rest on spiritual experiences.

    Some modern Friends maintain that Quakers are a community of people who share a number of practices such as sitting in silence until they feel moved to speak a message, doing business through consensus, and living by the traditional testimonies of integrity, equality, simplicity, peace, community, and newer ones such as earth stewardship.  They say our practices are a sufficient framework to define who we are, and it is no longer necessary to talk about the Divine entering our lives.

    By contrast, we will make a case that spiritual experiences were necessary for the origin of the Religious Society of Friends and all its definitive practices.  Spiritual experiences keep the community evolving and being a vital faith for our time.  They also provide the ground of true spiritual meaning to individual Friends.  Margaret Fell described her profound spiritual experience in which she was convinced to accept Quakerism while hearing George Fox preach:

And then he went on….”You will say, Christ saith this, and the apostles say this; but what canst thou say?  Art thou a child of Light, and hast thou walked in the Light, and what thou speakest, is it inwardly from God?”  This opened me so, that it cut me to the heart; and then I saw clearly we were all wrong…. We are all thieves; we have taken the Scriptures in words, and know nothing of them in ourselves. (quoted in Brinton, p. 20)

Clearly, the “father of Quakerism” asserts that it is important for us to experience the inspiration of the Spirit guiding our practice, and the “mother of Quakerism” came to understand that words and forms alone do not breathe life into religion.  Only the Spirit can do that.    

    Today this experiential/experimental basis gives rise to our core belief in continuing revelation.  Quakerism rests not on creeds or belief alone but on personal experience of the Divine working in our lives.  Guidance received during spiritual experiences can give direction to our efforts toward moral action in the present.

    In this workshop we will focus on six areas of spiritual experiences:

1. In worship, especially during the gathered meeting.  This may be the most frequent way Friends today have spiritual experiences.
2. Guidance and leadings.  Through these spiritual experiences, a Friend receives direction for action.
3. Mystical experiences.  Quakers have a unique form of “ethical” mysticism.
4. Spiritual emergencies.  These are powerful experiences often combining mystical elements with ego breakdown.
5. Healings and other miracles.  While it is unusual for Friends today to talk of miraculous events, they were fairly common among early Friends and helped build Fox’s credibility as a spiritual leader.
6. Intimations of immortality.  Many 19th century Friends were deeply intertwined with the Spiritualist Church and accepted personal immortality based on direct experiences of communication with departed spirits.

   For these somewhat overlapping divisions of spiritual experiences, we will briefly describe examples from major historic Quakers and a few published modern ones.  Historic information will be given in short written study sheets for out-of-workshop reading, with a minimum of in-group highlighting in lecture form.  Emphasis will be on small group work with queries and worship sharing or discussion. There will be an opportunity to share spiritual experiences from our own lives.  Quaker author Phil Gulley urges us to share our spiritual experiences to inspire one another and raise hope that Spirit lives and continues to move among us.  We will look at some conditions that seem to promote or prevent spiritual experiences.  Gulley notes, for example, that often our deepest spiritual experiences come when we are most broken.
   
   Finally, we will study ways to open ourselves to Spirit.  Early Friends lacked a body of specifically Quaker spiritual literature to guide prayer, meditation, and worship.  They depended heavily on contemporary sermons from Fox, the Valiant Sixty and others, and later on Friends’ journals.  They also continued to use literature of spiritual direction from the broader Christian tradition. We will engage in practices from some of these early sources such as Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God.   We will also use selections from the wide variety of literature available today both within and outside the Quaker tradition for creating a space in our lives for spiritual experiences.  Some of these modern sources are Thomas Kelly’s A Testament of Devotion, Michael Wajda’s Pendle Hill Pamphlet Expectant Listening:  Finding God’s Thread of Guidance, and Neale Donald Walsch’s Conversations with God.

   This workshop is shaped by both Christian and Universalist influences.  I hope the workshop will feel welcoming to individuals from a variety of backgrounds.  Please feel free to come whether or not you consider yourself to have had any spiritual experiences, or whether Spirit has spoken to you with a bang or a gentle whisper.  Although you may find it useful to read ahead from this reference list, it is not crucial.  Some short background readings, historical outlines, and directions for practices to facilitate spiritual experiences will be supplied to you during the workshop.
     
  Some References Available through the FGC Book Store
   Howard H. Brinton. Friends for 350 Years is excellent on worship, general background.
   Jennifer Elam.  Dancing with God Through the Storm:  Mysticism and Mental Illness for spiritual emergencies.
   George Fox. Book of Miracles.
   Thomas Kelly.  The Gathered Meeting.
   Michael Wajda. Pendle Hill Pamphlet Expectant Listening:  Finding God’s Thread of Guidance for guidance and leadings.
     
   Any of the following describe ways to facilitate spiritual experiences:
   Thomas Kelly.  A Testament of Devotion.
   Brother Lawrence.  The Practice of the Presence of God.
   Neale Donald Walsch.  Conversations with God.