Sowing Light

Workshop number: 
27
Jnana
Hodson
Audience
Who may register: 
Open to All (adult & high school)
part time-attenders welcome
Time breakdown
Worship/worship-sharing: 
25%
Lecture: 
25%
Discussion: 
25%
Experiential Activities: 
25%
Description
Leader Experience: 

I gladly accept high schoolers and young adults interested in the topic, especially as we attempt to frame statements befitting a 21st century Quakerism. One of my joys at Dover meeting has been teaching Bible stories to the teens and preteens, where my approach has been to sit on the floor in the middle of the room and get them to wrestle with the text, free of any lenses we normally impose. The kids get the humor the adults overlook, as well as the radical dimensions: “I think God wanted them to eat from the tree; otherwise, he wouldn’t have put it in the middle of the garden and told them not to touch it.” (Yes!)

The key to their participation would be in the small face-to-face discussion groups in the middle third of each session. Here I would prefer to leave it to their choice whether they would want to blend throughout the larger group or to work through the material within their own age range before bringing their insights to the full workshop. Either way could be a blessing.

In leading this workshop, I’m anticipating more participant-to-participant interaction instead of the open discussion I’ve previously employed. In leading a presentation, I probably draw on my experiences teaching yoga in the early 1970s and in giving poetry readings as much as the lessons of serving as meeting clerk over the years or participating on panel discussions. I am especially interested in what the participants bring to light as we go.

Short Description: 

Prompted by the three central expressions of the early Quaker movement – the Light, the Seed, and the Truth – we will explore our own spiritual experiences for insights to deepen Friends’ understanding and practice in the 21st century. Just what makes Quaker thought unique, anyway?

Long Description: 

Drawing its name from a quotation by William Penn and a line from Psalm 97, this workshop will examine the metaphors of the Light, the Seed, and the Truth as they were understood by early Friends and then look for similar energies in our own lives. As we sense the ingenious and profound dynamic embodied in the original Quaker expressions, we may deepen our own experience of Quaker worship and witness, especially as it relates to contemporary fields of discovery. Out of this, we will attempt to produce our own clear-sighted statements to welcome others to the Quaker vision and guide them more effectively in its practice.

Among the topics to be covered:

Day 1: What makes Quakerism different from other faiths? We will consider the importance of direct personal experience in Quaker faith; ways this has been (and continues to be) expressed as metaphor, a particular way of thinking and perceiving; and the impact of the Greek philosophical stream of Logos on the emerging Quaker Christianity. These, in turn, play out in the metaphors of the Light, the Seed, and the Truth frequently voiced by early Friends.

Day 2: Light on the Light: The supposedly distinctive expression Inner Light never appears among early Friends – and their usage of inward Light conveys a drastically different understanding altogether. We will examine ways early Friends experienced this Light and compare it to our own. We will also consider the physical phenomenon of light itself, ways our lives relate to it, and how this, in turn, applies to our Quaker practice.

Day 3: The Soul of Seed: We will reflect on the historic Quaker metaphor of the Seed as a response to the Light, and as the interior place of our spiritual experience itself. Is the Seed what the Psalms address when they say “my soul”? We will then investigate ways this understanding of the Seed touches on contemporary insights from psychology, genetics, literature, the fine arts, and more. Is there, for example, a role of Jungian shadow in an understanding of the Light?

Day 4: Empowering Truth: The third central metaphor of early Quaker expression generates resistance in conventional American thought yet also opens opportunities for an active testing of religious experience. For early Friends, the Truth apparently held a number of meanings – it could be the way we worship and conduct our lives, the teaching we extend, or a criticism of other faiths or social practices. In their usage, we may also sense a dimension of Truth working as a verb rather than the explicit noun. Placing the Truth within their dynamic of the metaphors of the Light and the Seed suggests something ongoing, emotional, and spiritually deepening, as our cherished slogan “Speak Truth to power” demonstrates. What do we find to be true today, and why is that important?

Day 5: New Blueprints of Quaker Faith: With an awareness of the dynamic range within early Quaker expressions of the Holy One, individual experience, and the community of faith, we will try our own hand at drafting personal statements – either as reflections of our own encounters of worship or as insights that may welcome others to sit with us and enhance their encounter. Will these be humorous or solemn, succinct or effusive, idiosyncratic or communal, traditional or off-the-wall? We won’t know until we bring them to light in sharing.

Generally, each day will begin with silent introspection on a set of introductory questions followed by no more than 20 minutes of lecture-presentation of related material and deliberation. We will then break into small face-to-face discussion groups for roughly a half-hour and then return for open worship and/or open discussion for the final half-hour.

Because of the hands-on emphasis of much of this workshop, participants would be encouraged to collect related quotations and insights regarding the Light, the Seed, and the Truth as they encounter them before the Gathering. My bibliography will probably be more useful after the sessions, for further considerations. Friends often come with recommendations of their own meaningful readings, and a general sharing of resources may be a vital component of the workshop itself.

Bring a notebook and writing utensil, or laptop/iPad, to record your emerging thoughts and flashes of brilliance through the week.