Short Review of the Scholarly Biography of George Fox by H. Larry Ingle

First Among Friends by H. Larry Ingle

This is a very important historical study for all Friends and other readers! Probably, First Among Friends is the best book on George Fox and early Friends. (See below for other detailed histories and biographies.)

Unlike so many studies of the religious past, his book isn’t hagiographical but emphasizes verified facts. At some points it even errs to the side of trying to be so objective, that I wondered whether or not Ingle is even a Quaker.

While pointing out many of the outstanding good actions and perspectives of George Fox, Ingle goes into detail showing Fox’s (and other early Quakers) bad characteristics and acts, their major failings, warts and all. Keeping a scholarly tone, Ingle seldom deals with Fox from a spiritual point-of-view.

The volume focuses mostly on outward actions and is more of a cultural biography. And at times, the text comes across almost too academic and skeptical. For instance, the last paragraph of the biography is disconcerting from a transcendental/spiritual perspective.

Still, it seems that this is a must read for all modern Quakers. First Among Friends has given me new awareness of how all moral and spiritual truth is conditioned by culture, time, and other events. Tragically, even the best moral leaders are still weighed down by pettiness and squabbling.

A good companion history to read is Cavaliers and Roundheads. That outstanding history of the England in the 1600's helps readers to understand that though the secular governments of the period persecuted, oppressed, even killed the early Friends, the authorities weren't necessarily evil but often mistook Fox and Quakers for dangerous violent revolutionaries.

It is also strange seeing in Ingle’s account how at times Parliament vs. King varied in their behavior toward the Friends, not always badly.

How very strange it was that James II, a Roman Catholic (who the early Friends opposed) should be the first to really grant Friends and others religions tolerance, while in stark contrast, Parliament in 1683 was so against Friends and other nonconformists that hundreds were sent to prison.

Such intriguing facts show how complicated real history is versus the myths and over simplifications that most people hear about and think is the truth of their movement.

Other powerful histories on Friends:

Primitivism, Radicalism, and the Lamb's War

Quakers in California

Quakers in Conflict


In the LIGHT,
Daniel Wilcox

Stephen King on Pandemic Tragedy: (THE STAND) How Humans Ought to Respond...and Not

Looking back now, King's famous story, a mini-series and 1,141-page science-fiction opus seems prophetic,
especially in how such a crisis brings out

the Moral Best
and Immoral worst
in humankind
/unkind.
(Of course,
The Stand's
fictional flu pandemic
is far worse
than the Corona Virus Crisis).

Before we look at the outstanding themes in The Stand, here's a brief plot summary
of the powerful story to remind everyone of the basics and the main characters.

The central plot shows us how a pandemic could easily start, because of human negligence and immoral priorities. In the miniseries, most humans quickly catch the weaponized flu and suffer horrific deaths. The unwalking dead.

A few remaining humans--who somehow are immune--unite in two contrary groups:
One is led by a 104-year-old Black lady, Mother Abigail Freemantle, who seeks to lead them to the Good, the Just, the Right, the Kind.

The other led by Randal Flagg, a demonically inspired sociopath, sets up his kingdom of the world to bring about Evil, Injustice, and all that is Wrong.

From the first scene/opening page, the narrative hooks readers with the epic story.

For those who haven't seen the miniseries or read the long tome, I recommend the former, mainly because in the movie version some obscene minor parts not central to the plot are cut out.

Central Themes of How We Ought to Respond to Pandemic Tragedies:

#1 Don't spend trillions of dollars on weapons of mass destruction (biological, chemical, and atomic weapons) like the U.S. and many other nations do, and have done in the past. (Are you aware that President Obama, and now President Trump have committed more than 11 billion dollars for maintaining and upgrading U.S. weapons of mass slaughter?! The total cost will be almost 1.7 trillion dollars according to the Arms Control Association.)

#2 Set priorities putting humanistic spending first.

#3 Listen and observe what humans DO, not what they say. For instance, NIck Andros, when confronted by Mother Abigail to choose the Right and the Good, says to her, "I don't believe in God."

Mother Abigail bursts out laughing, "That don't matter! God believes in you."

Nick is a caring, compassionate, conscientious individual. Those actions are what matter, not abstract notions.

#4 TO BE CONTINUED...time to grandkid sit:-)

Prof. James F. McGrath: "Never lose site of the humanity of the oppressor..."

--

Are Those Opposing Us Corrupt, Vicious, even Vile?

Intensely Popular at present in American politics (as unwell as elsewhere) is the demeaning and name-calling of individuals on the other side. Each side makes extremely negative statements against the character and worth of persons of the opposition, those blanketyblanks----fill in the blanks from the daily news.

For instance, President Trump gives negative names to his opponents, "Crooked Hilary," Wacky and Deranged,” “a crazed, crying lowlife” and comparing another to a “dog.”

And individuals on the other side return the disfavor: Trump is "dumb, "an idiot surrounded by clowns," and so forth. Just read the daily news accounts.

Hmm...I doubt that most leaders on either side of the current huge chasm in American politics between Republicans versus Democrats (or Christians versus Atheists, or of whatever other stripes) are themselves bad individuals, nefarious, destructive, etc.

But here's a few snippets from the media:
Against Trump: "...corrupt politicians deserve no love. They inflict greater harm, death and destruction than any one person calling them a ________[twisted obscenity] will do to them.
Civility is for those who live in a fairy tale dream that somehow you can hope the tyrannical evil will suddenly grow some empathy. It won’t work.
Call him a _________. He deserves worse but will likely get less.
Jesus can love him all he wants. The rest of us can energize righteous anger and use it to oust him and any other mad tyrants who think they can trample on the constitution and the people it’s written to protect."

Against Democrats:
"You don't hand matches to an arsonist, and you don't give power to an angry left-wing mob. Democrats have become too EXTREME and TOO DANGEROUS to govern," Trump tweeted, "Republicans believe in the rule of law - not the rule of the mob. VOTE REPUBLICAN!"

BUT, what we need to do instead is condemn actions, NOT attack the worth or intent of humans in opposition to what we think is true, good, and right.

Most humans of the historic past--creedal Christians including the ones who slaughtered millions in the Great War (First W.I) the U.S. and British Civil Wars, the 30 Years War, French and German Religious Wars, etc., most orthodox Muslim jihadists in the past and now, many doctrinaire communists, most Napoleonic soldiers, etc. weren't corrupt, vicious, or vile.

On the contrary, most true believers of whatever religion or ideology tend to be almost exactly like all of us! As I recall that was one of the central points of Eric Hoffer's famous book on the true believer.

When I stayed with a Muslim family in Nablus, Palestine, they were very generous, kind, and considerate.
Ditto for the Jewish people on the kibbutz where I worked,
and ditto for the Christian Baptist leader from Jerusalem with whom I spoke,
YET they all were involved in the intentional slaughter of each other because of their religion.

Even some Jewish secularists and Palestinian secularists were in favor of intentionally killing civilians.

Most humans aren't vile. It's their dedication to nation and ideology or religion that is.

Yes, there are sociopaths. When I worked in a mental hospital, I worked with at least one.

But generally most of the evil in history and now comes about because normal, somewhat civilized, humans go to war for their evil beliefs, and abuse, oppress, and slaughter millions in the process.

The most evil in American history (and German, and British, and Russian, etc.), for instance, came from conscientious, dutiful, honorable humans doing their best to serve their nation.:-(

Look at the horror in Syria, where all sorts of ideologies are battling each other--secular Arabs, orthodox Muslims, Shia, Sunni, Russian, American, Turkish, Kurdish, Iranian, Saudi, Gulf States, Israeli (secular Jews and orthodox Jews), etc.
have caused the death of 1/2 million people, the wounding of millions more, and the displacement/refugee status of many millions.

As wrong and destructive as Calvinism, Roman Catholicism, Islam, Marxism, Hinduism, Atheism, etc. are I doubt that the actual individuals who grow up in those horrific religions and ideologies are they themselves vile, evil in intent. Many of them really believe they are doing what is good and right.

One of the most fanatical creedal Christians I ever met was a very mild, courteous, kind individual who was an airplane steward. If he hadn't happily consigned billions of us other humans to eternal torture--without any sense of guilt or sadness--
I would have never guessed that he would hurt a mosquito.

Vile ideas, not usually vile people.

At least that is my experience and my view.

Remember the essential words of Martin Luther King:
"Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Thich Nhat Hanh (the Vietnamese Buddhist nominated for the Nobel Prize), Bayard Rustin, and many other moral leaders point out what leads to harm, division, and destruction among humans is the claim of each side to be the good, dutiful, patriotic, honorable side.

But when one side claims to their enemies that they are are the only ones who are tyrannical, corrupt, and they deserve no compassion, no civility, then they have become like those enemies that they condemn.

I saw this when I lived in Palestine-Israel (where both sides demean, harm, and attack the others). And one can read of this lack of civility in American history and world history.

There are many tragic examples from American and world history where both sides held to be righteous and treated the opposite side as not deserving civility, kindness, hope because they were so bad.

However as the Russian great writer wrote, good and evil aren't on opposite sides, but both run through every human heart.

It appears that President Donald Trump bullies, constantly lies, intentionally harms millions, defends a murderous regime, the Saudis, etc.

But it is probably that Trump honestly thinks he is doing what is best, what is good. At least about 80% of Evangelical Christians think he is God's man for this troubled hour!!

Attacking the President personally, calling him bad names, etc. isn't the answer to this time of crisis.

Instead, our moral answer needs to be a very detailed documentation of all immoral and unjust actions. We need to work to bring good change based in human rights, not curse others.

One of the first rules of debate is that no matter how unfair, unjust, even evil the other side's views are, speakers should never attack the opposing speakers' inherent human worth. To do so is a denial of human rights.

In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

Of Moose and Men

Of Moose and Men: Redux

Like moose drool down from his jaw
Liquid drip of much after thought,
The human chews his abstract cud.

Drooling brought-back cussedness

This brainy mammal with his huge
Mental jaw ruminates and masticates
Difficult philosophical concepts.

He chews and chews and chaws
Minding repeatedly, and pondering
Into his daily life for good or ill

Drooling, brought-back cussedness

The meta-conundrums, the ones
He can't stomach, that ethical gristle
Imponderable quandaries.

Like the massive moose of yonder glen,
Man stands as king and all get out
In this damned lake he calls civilization;

Drooling brought-back cussedness

Then walking admidst verbal tall trees, he
Rummages through this forest of ideas,
Philosophical redwoods towering above.

And he peers up searching the heights, but
Stands sludged mired in his soggy morass,
The moral muddle of his shallow bog.

Drooling brought-back cussedness

What festering future, or fertile destiny
Awaits this drooling race of primate
Caught in the quagmire, a hypocrite?


Any St. Bernard dog, as Thoreau said,
Has more basic moral sense than
Most men who swallow gross wrong whole,

Drooling and drooling and drooling...


--Daniel E. Wilcox

First pub.
Dark Energy,
by Diminuendo Press

It Is the Set of Our Sails...

You can’t learn to sail
if the weather is still.


Neither hurricane nor calm will provide a good life.
But the daily stresses and challenges, like the Trade Winds for so many sailors, give us the energy for which we can choose to set our course.

In the Light of the Trade Winds:-),

Daniel Wilcox

Purity of the Mind and Heart

From Purex laundry soap to Pure Silk, ads emphasize the importance and beauty of purity.

But with so much negative emphasis of late on the destructive “purity culture”
of Fundamentalist Christians and Muslims
—especially where girls and women are shamed, persecuted, abused, even executed
simply for what they wear or don’t wear,
how they choose to express themselves, and so forth,
one hesitates to use the word “purity” because it’s
often now misunderstood.

But no other word really suffices.

Purity in its denotative meaning is essential for humanity. Think of purity in water.
Even the slightest infestation of bacteria or dangerous chemicals in drinking water can cause severe illness, even death quickly.

That’s why when backpacking in the Sierras
and the Grand Canyon, we always used water purification tablets.

Nobody wants pollution in water, air, or food, except the crazy or the greedy. Think of the many cases
of food poisoning in the news in the last 3 months including 80 students in New England.
That's why there are high standards in food preparation and store products.

Also, ever hear of pure gold?
Who wants gold if it’s mostly scattered in amidst other minerals which will make it hard to extract?

So what is Purity of the Mind?

Purity of the Heart?

Probably, first, it’s easiest and quickest to show what it ‘ain’t’ (to quote Huck).

#1 Think of the illusions and delusions of the mind.

Many Americans are convinced that the earth is only
a few thousand years old and that evolution is false!

Yet there is plenty of hard evidence and scientific
conclusions which show that evolution
is a fact and that the earth is billions of years old.

When we humans stop seeking what is true, but stay only
with what we learned in the past, and with what is
accepted by our culture and society, we will harm others
and ourselves eventually.


#2 Consider many of the salacious ads that appear on the Internet
(and on TV, Cable, etc.) every time we search for an article, product,
movie, idea, or to look up an old friend.
Ironically, even when I was looking for images of purity,
a few morally sick graphics came up on Google.

Even when anyone stops at a philosophical or ethical site
to read about goodness and justice,
there will be ads not only for food, health, and travel, but often also--

“20 Stars Who Clearly Aren’t Wearing Underwear”

“See What Short Skirt Kim Wore”

--ad nauseum...

#3 Who the hell cares?
(Sorry for that unpure expletive; it's intentional to emphasize the spiritual sheol
so many humans obsess in.)

#4 Unethical advertisers do. They create these clearly salacious, prurient, lewd
(whatever term you want to call it) ads to hook young adults (or not so young)
into clicking and viewing each ad which may give them a voyeuristic jolt,
and then get them to buy some product.


That is NOT purity of the heart or mind—
not for the immoral advertiser,
the idiotic sponsor,
or the morally foolish individuals who click on them.

Yet millions of humans do all the time.

#5 And the Internet--which was supposed to help bring people together,
to enrich their intellectual and emotional lives--
is instead used to make billions of dollars through pornography.

Why have we as a human species so twisted our sexuality, gotten so licentious and prurient
that we use brilliant technology to con humans into descending into a subhuman level.

Well, no, not "subhuman"; as Mark Twain wrote, that's besmirching animals.
Rather salacious ads and pornography and immoral media are anti-humanistic.

Whew...

#6 Another example could be given of impurity of the mind by studying the speeches and statements of the presidential debates
and related comments.

Contrary to what all we literature teachers taught students about the danger and destruction of propaganda
(via Animal Farm by George Orwell), the current media focus has been one endless bag of informal fallacies and ad hominem.

--ad hominem,

you uneducated blob;-)



To be continued

Got rid of a little of the muck...

next the good--

In the Pure Light,

Daniel Wilcox

The First and the Last

Of course, this is a famous ancient quote from the Bible. The symbolic statement is still very important for humans, a vivid reference to their conviction that God--ultimate reality--is eternal, that God is, was, and will become, that God existed before the Big Bang billions of years past and will exist after the demise of the cosmos in billions of years future. (See several of my posts on philosopher Charles Hartshorne and others for more on that.)

Today, let's bring the image down to where our very finite shoe sole meets the ground in front of us, now, here, this second.

Think of yourself now, and others now, individuals you personally know now--the transcendental reality here at this moment, this hour, this very day.

Cosmology is fascinating, but so much of it is abstraction
and hypothesis.

In contrast, our conscious moment, right now, is an actual
fact--you and I exist right now
(except for atheists such as
Sam Harris who claim we don’t,
that each of our “I”s is an illusion).

This next second, minute, hour, day is our first step into the future. With that typed key, I did step.

And possibly it could be our last second, last minute, last hour, last day (and eventually some finite moment, depending on when we were conceived in the past, will be our last). 150,000 humans died today and many thousands were conceived.

252 births, 107 deaths per minute.

All we have for sure is now, this next moment.

So live as if this is always true—this moment, this minute, this hour, this day—is our first of what is to become.

Because this moment is all we have.

Why do we so often become preoccupied with superficial stuff, choose wrongly, let our inner self be twisted by immoral media or our dark side? Why do we focus on resentments, hurts, fears? Do we have time?

This next moment, sooner or later, in the not too distant future will be the last of who we have been.

So live NOW! Every moment in one sense is our first and last--never to become again.

Live for what is transcendent in this present now.


In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

A Last Loss

Lost?

Lost?
Seek the moral compass
Round the world ringed that
Bleeds directed compass-ion;
Don’t pass by on the other side;
Be passionate
And encompass
Love’s Sphere
Found.



First pub. in The Mississippi Crow

--

A Last

Alas, grieving sorrow, tribulating
Don’t ask from where—
Yes, selah; “Across the Euphrates;”

Welted eyes, shadowed tears,
Wind-cuffed face with ‘fulled’ lashings

Of more less and less,
Wiping away
With wept wetness
In a downward swirling wet sweep,
The torn sky in
A multiple series of weeping losses,

The fall of all welling reveries
In the wreck--aging.

How long, how many tomorrow’s tomorrow
This a las—ting loss lostness?



First pub. in The New Verse News,
also in selah river

--

Sign of the Loss


The big multicolored circus tent
Of the termite company
Ballooned
over
their vast church

and its vaulted bell tower;

Only the broken point of the cross

Showing,

Apexed alone


While below on the green,

A large cloth sign of striking letters

Whipped in the wind,

C e l e b r a t e R e c o v e r y—

A 12-Step Program




First pub. in Rubber Lemon
in different form, United Kingdom

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Through this time so sorrowfully past
We dropped countless explosions, flesh-blossomed,
So clever pushing the brainly-designed pods
And now comes far more tomorrowed smart bombs.


Oh, this endless scientific avarice,
To discover again our ghoulish genius,
We who launched a million ships
Since golden Ilium burned with Greek fire
Through the time so sorrowfully past
And dropped countless explosions, flesh-blossomed
Lightning the sky like Zeus in a righteous rage.


Shrewd cunning slithers through our high-tech success,
Swallowed until our gorged stomachs implode
Through the time so sorrowfully past
Like the golden apple thrown to the Three
And dropped countless explosions, flesh-blossomed,
Slashing the moral sky like Gorgoned hubris,


Leaving Sophia cut up like the Levite's concubine
Through the time so sorrowfully past
In this vast historical ever forgetting,
Thundering the sky like fallen messengers
Where we squander mind blossoms in this
Moral smart-aleck Hell of tomorrow.



by Daniel Wilcox
First pub. in The Medulla Review;
also in Unlikely Stories 2.0

True Confessions

Sometimes the negative genie just won't stay in one's psyche, but finally explodes out in fury.

That happened to me today--for many different reasons--while I was trying to finish up a good article on science versus religion. (That post will go partially incomplete for a while.)

This afternoon, I read another excellent and honest article on life and loss of faith.

Here's what I posted to Neil Carter's website in answer to his questions on loss of faith:

Neil Carter: "What did you once have that you lost upon leaving your faith?"

Daniel: All of the items you pointed out except not "belief that everything happens for a reason." I was strongly opposed to that idea.
When a young child dies of leukemia like happened here recently or the tsunami killed hundreds of thousands of people in Indonesia several years back, I never thought that such tragedies were part of a divine plan, never thought they were somehow necessary.

The main quality I lost 3 years ago when I came to the conclusion that Christianity can't be true, is the loss of hope. True, I had been losing hope as I gradually lost faith in religion over a period of years, but 3 years ago, it was like the nail in the coffin, right into the bleeding heart liberal...

Now, I continue to work for human rights, for justice and equality, and won't quit, but I really wonder if humans will ever overcome war, inequality, hate, prejudice, dishonesty, religious delusion, horrific beliefs, etc. One of my favorite aphorisms was from Martin Luther King Jr.:

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."

Now, at present, I wonder if that is really true. I don't have as much hope in such thoughts as I once did.
--


Neil Carter: "And more importantly for moving forward, how have you learned to cope with the loss of it?"

Daniel: I don't think I have learned to cope. Some days are better than others. Some much worse.

Talking about such issues online has helped. And continuing to work for groups I am a member of such as Amnesty International also helps encourage me.

So far I've been unable to find a group in my city on the central coast of California that has a passion for human rights and justice, but I am still looking. Our city tends to be very fundamentalistic in religion and politics.

And I belong to a book club where another individual, like me once was involved with SDS in the late 60's and still is concerned with justice and equality for all. That's important.

--

For those who would like to think further on this issue, consider reading Neil Carter’s vivid article at
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/godlessindixie/2015/08/19/things-you-dont-get-back-after-you-leave-your-faith/

I disagree with some points that Neil espouses—such as his view of “Godless,”—but he is a real humanist, compassionate, reasonable, and is an excellent essayist, lucid and well-organized in his prose.

In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

Part #1: Stories of Truth

Unlike so many Christians and other religious people of the present time who fixate on how they belong to God and are good Americans (insert your own nation) unlike "them out there"--whoever that "them" happens to be: undocumented workers, those preordained to eternal torment, people of enemy countries, heretics, those of other races, creeds, or ethnic backgrounds, the down and out, homeless transients, druggies, criminals, prostitutes...

Jesus was just the opposite--he spoke of how he had come to call all the "thems," all the lost. If anything, he tended to criticize the very religious us'es, the ones who outwardly look like they are good. Notice in the story of the rich young leader in Mark 10:17-22 and Luke 18:18-23 that Jesus reserves the adjective "good" for God alone. He won't accept the term for morally upright religious people or even for himself!

Jesus, the Son of Man loves the rich young leader who is so morally upright, but he is not impressed! Shock of shockers! It isn't enough for a human to keep all the 10 Commandments from his youth up!

Imagine the consternation and chaos and church splits, if the ministers at some of the mega-churches in the U.S. got up and said "Jesus is calling all rich Christians to give their money away for outreach to the countries where most people only earn less than a dollar a day, where millions of children die for want of basic clean water and food, where many don't even have one Bible to read"?

Of course, some individuals do heed Jesus' call to live sacrificially for God. The millionaire founder of Habitat for Humanity gave sacrificially of his large resources. R. G. LeTourneu the inventor of earthmoving equipment, allegedly was giving 90% of his income away by the time of his death!

Then is the meaning of the story of the rich young leader that we are "in" if we give up all our money?

No, Jesus is speaking much more broadly and much more deeply than that. He is speaking to our inner heart, our deepest motivations, our ultimate concern (to use the phrase of the theologian Paul Tillich). Until each of us gives up putting some finite thing, interest, person--including ourself--as ultimately important...and give our all to God, we are lost and have no opportunity to live in God's presence, the ultimately Good.

God the Truth and Love must come first. Even nice people fail to measure up to such Truth, even those who try and keep all the 10 Commandments.

Some of us, if not all of us, at this point may feel that this is an impossible demand of Jesus.

But it's not. Jesus says we must come to Truth like a little child comes to her loving father or mother--openly, sincerely, spontaneously, humbly... We need to realize that such little children are what God's reign is like. And we need to remember, contrary to how most religious people spend much of time putting down others different from themselves, that Jesus is not willing that any human should perish, be lost. Jesus is seeking those who are are spiritually needy.

And he emphasizes that God rejoices when even one person "changes his mind" (metanoia in Greek). This is far more important than all the seemingly nice people in the Christian churches who seem to, at least outwardly, need no repentance.

To emphasize this, Jesus tells the story of a rancher who has lost a cow and is trying to find it.(Well, that's my version since I used to work in Montana and grew up in Nebraska--the beef state;-)

To be continued

In the Light of the limitless love of God,

Daniel Wilcox

The Nature of Reality: Step #1

What is the true nature of Reality? Notice the capital R. I'm not talking about the finite observable present day-to-day temporal world of basic facts which includes humans as one form of primate undergoing evolutionary change.

Rather, I am speaking of the ultimate category of reality of which philosophers, physicists, and cosmologists refer to, and what religious people and mystics say they experience--the ultimate objective source of Being and Becoming.

Where does "all this" come from and eventually go to?

After this cosmos in so many trillions and trillions of years either stretches out space to infinity or implodes back to a singularity, what will still BE?

Why are we here? Are there eternal truths?

Of course some philosophers and scientists declare there is nothing "out" there beyond matter and energy. The cosmos-- maybe universes beyond universes--has no Meaning or Purpose, only IS for no reason.

Scientists such as Richard Dawkins claim that even to think there might be some Meaning behind it all is to be deluded in the worst sort of way. He wrote The God Delusion to try and demonstrate this central non-theistic thesis.

And Stephen J. Gould the famous Darwinian biologist, in a magazine interview, said humankind itself is only a "fluke" of evolution that probably wouldn't show up again if evolution were re-run another time.

Other famous scientists in this chorus of non-meaning include Coyne, Harris, Cashmore, Hutchens, Monad, Dennett, and Provine.

Dawkins' most famous statement against religion and the transcendent is probably his declaration in River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life:

"The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be so."

"If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored."

"In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice."

"The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference."
--

So there is the first option as to the true nature of Reality: Matter, Energy, and Chance or Cosmic Determinism. The natural, indifferent Cosmos itself is all there is.

We humans are an accidental species or "meat puppets" who construct our own illusions.

Then die. Eventually we as a species will go extinct.

In strong contrast, Enlightenment figures argued that consciousness, reason, human rights, justice, equality, and so forth show evidence of the essential nature of existence--the Deity.

And Friends have trusted for 300 hundred years that Ultimate Reality is Loving Relationship, Equality, Purpose--
that at the very center and heart of Reality are eternal truths, everlasting ideals, absolute love.

Some other faiths agree with the Society of Friends. Transcendent Love is the Center of the Cosmos.

Martin Buber, the Jewish mystic wrote a book on God, titled, I-Thou, which speaks of a love relationship between God and each human.

The Baptist minister and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., (despite his own moral failings), strongly held to Ultimate Reality being loving and good and true and just.

In his speech "Rediscovering Lost Values," King said, "The first principle of value is that we need to rediscover is this: that all reality hinges on moral foundations."

"In other words, that this is a moral universe, and that there are moral laws of the universe just as abiding as the physical laws..."

"I'm here to say to you this morning that some things are right and some things are wrong. (Yes) Eternally so, absolutely so."

"It's wrong to hate. (Yes. That's right) It always has been wrong and it always will be wrong. It's wrong in America. It's wrong in Germany..."

"It was wrong in 200 B.C. and it's wrong in 1954 A.D...It's wrong in every age and it's wrong in every nation."

"Some things are right and some things are wrong, no matter if everybody is doing the contrary. Some things in this universe are absolute."
--

No doubt early Friends would have ascribed non-theism to the "ocean of darkness" that threatens humankind. So how is it then that some Friends in the last 40 years have come out stating there is no God to worship, no Ultimate Reality to "quake before"?

They say God is a fiction, a word which does not represent anything real.

It is uncertain why such Friends deny God's existence. We are all doubters to one degree or another, but when humans, especially Friends, claim for certain that there is no God, it is puzzling and distressing.

After all both names--"Friend" and "Quaker"--are in reference to God. And the vital central focus of a Quaker meeting is worship of the Truth, the Light, the Divine.

If there is no One--no Center--to worship, then it would appear that such individuals are consciously choosing to pretend, what other non-theists such as Dawkins term "delusion."

Before I continue with an introduction to the Friends view of worship, let me emphasize that ALL humans are invited to come to commune in worship, even those who don't think there is any Ultimate Reality to live in and commune with. Hopefully, they will encounter the Truth, the Light.

After all, remember what Stephen King that famous Quaker horror writer;-) wrote in his novel, The Stand. In response to an atheist's statement that he doesn't believe in God, the heroic leader in the novel laughs and says, "But that don't matter. He believes in you."

To be continued


In the LIGHT,

Daniel Wilcox