My attention was brought to a quote from the gnostic Gospel of Philip today: "This is how it is in the world - men create gods and they worship their creations"
There have been times when I have heard Friends recite words from George Fox, and it has reminded me of the way some of the more fervent television evangelists quote from the Bible. There seems to be an almost unquestioning acceptance; an assumption that the mere fact that the quote comes from that particular source makes it in some way unassailable. Surely, as Quakers, we are seekers after truth? Not blind acceptors!
Is it possible that sometimes we are guilty of making a god out of George? That we treat him as the Jesus of our Society? We do not accept the supremacy of the Bible as a fount of wisdom; we should not do so for the words of George either. Or those of any other weighty or venerable Friend. By all means we should use those words that "speak to our condition", but use them wisely and appropriately, and not as some reflex response. I strive to look behind the meaning of the words, evaluate their sentiment and then see what I can say for myself. But sometimes the words of George, or whoever, do just put it better than we can hope to.
I read another quote today, which went along the lines of "a Quaker meeting is a place you come to have your answers questioned". I like that, and I don't think I can do any better. Well, not just now, anyway!
1 day ago
Lucretia Mott often said that we should take truth for authority and not authority for truth. I am interested in the idea of source of authority. It seems to me that there is a danger of idolization when we fail to look at our sources within their historical contexts and when we neglect to consider other perspectives, both related perspectives and challenging perspectives. Why we should elevate George Fox above other early Friends or early Friends above contemporary Friends is beyond me. And I say this as an historian horrified by the idea of forgetting our past. But we don't live in our past, do we? We study it for inspiration but also so that we can avoid its pitfalls.
ReplyDeleteHystery,
ReplyDeleteThe Lucretia Mott quote is a favourite of mine, and I keep it next to the computer on which I'm writing this, along with quotes from Gandhi and William Penn.
It is important to me that we balance respect for the early Quakers with realism about their flaws and their context. I feel we will learn more from them in that way, and from all those whose wisdom inspires us.