George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, said "that which Friends speak, they must live in." Quakers believe that they should be led by the spirit, allow oneself to be guided. Some Quakers are non-theists with a variety of understandings, including atheists, humanists, agnostics, theological non-realists, Buddhists and those who experience God not as a supernatural power but as 'the ground of our being,' or life itself, or nature, or the supreme symbol and imagined embodiment of our highest human values. With William Blake, we can say that God is 'mercy, pity, peace and love' in action and that 'all deities reside in the human breast.'
In order to allow oneself to be guided, one must take time to listen to that quiet voice of the spirit (the rhythms of life, nature, divinity, a totem, or - you choose). On Sunday mornings, I take time to hike the 4 miles loop departing from home, down the winding trail along a small creek, up paved walkways between houses, across open spaces and circling back through the woods. This is a time to become "centered," to listen for the spirit and to the rhythms of life - the chirping of birds, the rustle of deer in the brush, the cheerful "good morning" from walkers and, as much as possible, any silence that 25 years of tinnitus will allow.
