麻豆社

Good morning.

It鈥檚 the day we traditionally designate as Shakespeare鈥檚 birthday. I was teaching Hamlet recently and reflected again on the line 鈥渢here is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so鈥�. You can see why the idea appeals momentarily to Hamlet, feeling powerless and surrounded by people whom he knows to be acting wrongly 鈥� but it鈥檚 not a position that the Prince, or the play, can really sustain. There is good and bad in Elsinore, and Hamlet will need to confront it.

People occasionally ask whether the Quaker way is a 鈥減ick and mix鈥� religion. Certainly we share a practice rather than an orthodoxy. At my local meeting we had an extraordinary sharing lunch recently where we heard an amazing diversity of spiritual experiences and language. Friends who grew up in the Anglican church, those who draw on wisdom traditions from across faiths, friends who describe themselves as atheist, and friends who use the language of their Muslim faith, each described what they find of God in the precious community which meets to worship in silence on a Sunday morning 鈥� why it matters to them that we journey together.

This diversity doesn鈥檛 mean that anything goes. Our testimonies of truth, equality, simplicity and peace guide our discernment, and we test our spiritual leadings among the community of friends. Hamlet鈥檚 more persuasive observation is that 鈥渢here are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy鈥�.

May I try not to limit myself to the language I already know. May I respond to the promptings of truth in my heart, and check that my words arise from love and light.

Thank you, friends.