#gone quaking

[an-ruraiocht]

i know there's light / that of god / goodness in everybody but damn it can be fucking hard to see sometimes

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

Quick question; are Quakers allowed to have piercings or tattoos? (I don't mean any like....weird piercings, just like a helix/tragus ear piercing or nose stud) Thanks!

quakers can do whatever they like, there are no rules, there's no set creed, it's just you and your conscience and how you feel led

i guess i can see how some people might be concerned about the cost of tattoos when the money could go to help people, or see it as a needless extravagance (and therefore not aligned with the testimony of simplicity), but other than that i can't think of any reason why quakers wouldn't get tattoos or piercings? lots of younger quakers i know have piercings, a few have tattoos. the whole simplicity thing is about not letting things be a distraction, not engaging in consumerism or wastefulness for the sake of it, rather than being about showing no individuality

i guess if you only know the plaindressing type of quakers it might be different but i've never met one of them in the uk, whenever i come across them on the internet they're usually us-based i think

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

the most pressing needs of our time demand community in response. How can I participate in a fairer distribution of resources unless I live in a community which makes it possible to consume less? How can I learn accountability unless I live in a community where my acts and their consequences are visible to all? How can I learn to share power unless I live in a community where hierarchy is unnatural? How can I take the risks which right action demands unless I belong to a community which gives support? How can I learn the sanctity of each life unless I live in a community where we can be persons not roles to one another?

Parker J Palmer, 1977 (Quaker Faith and Practice, 23.48)

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

that awkward moment where someone in your meeting wants the meeting as a whole to complain about something when (a) that’s not really how we do things without spending ages thinking about it first?? and (b) most people didn’t have nearly such strong feelings about the issue in question... also i’m glad someone else pointed out that they didn’t own a tv or know about the issue in question and imagined others were in a similar position because. yeah. way to assume everyone else shares your experiences and opinions

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

thinking about this statement from a member of the quaker women’s group from the vigil at greenham common in the 80s

“you won’t change anything -- why do you come?”

[full passage here]

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

stardustloki replied to your post: someone straight-up just came into my DMs on...

I’m sorry that happened to you. I really dislike those types of christians. God loves you and you’re not going to hell.

the ridiculous thing is, i don’t even believe in hell anymore

to get a message like this, oh, i don’t know, eight years ago? that would have messed me up. i’m not sure i’d have believed them, but i’d have paused for thought, and it would have haunted me, worrying at the back of my mind as i tried desperately to squash myself into a box, keeping all my heresies hidden and suppressed (even the soft ones. even the kindest blasphemies)

but like. now??? after i’ve spent the past eight or nine months finding faith again for the first time in years??

dude. i’m a fricking quaker. i’ve got god IN ME. god’s RIGHT HERE, whatever god is, however i make sense of god. god ain’t some judgey overlord passing down arbitrary judgment on humanity according to ancient rules and horror stories. god’s the way you smile when you see your friend get something they really wanted. god’s the moment you pause and decide to swallow lies and tell the truth. god’s the tears you’ve cried over people you never knew. god’s the rage and passion that makes you want to change the world. god’s unclenching your fist and taking someone’s hand instead, putting down your weapon and picking up the threads of a kinder life. god’s the small still moment of peace you feel at 3am as you wrestle with all the darkness of your own brain

god is my innate goodness, my call to truthfulness, my love, everything that drives me to be better than i am, the light that exposes all the shadows inside me and reminds me to keep on lighting candles to chase them away. god is fear not and live adventurously and be open and wait with me

not hell, whatever hell is. not weighing my soul in the balance and finding it wanting. not turning away from someone for not conforming to creeds and articles of a human religion, imposing rules and cutting away that most human unorthodoxy that gives us our tenderness

god is love, they say, and i don’t know what god is, but i know what love is, and it doesn’t look like this

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

i've never felt so very Quaker as i do right now sitting in a midnight communion service on Christmas, listening to the sermon, and just feeling myself increasingly disagree with everything they're saying

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

i wish my quaker meeting met on fridays.

i just want to feel held like that today. i know that someone would have something to say that would be some comfort. i know that i would feel less abandoned to know that i have these people here like a safety net when everything is going to shit.