Not All Peaches and Cream: A Dark Side

All spirituality is not equal is a lesson I learn from studying my own Quaker history, that of its founder George Fox and also from the Puritans. For example, Karen Armstrong in her excellent A Short History of Myth tells of Puritans in New England (1734-40):

“Everybody was attempting to be a mystic and achieve alternative psychic states. But the higher states of mysticism were not for everybody. It required special talent, temperament and one-to-one training. A group experience of untaught, unskilled individuals could lead to mass hysteria and even mental illness.”

A main attraction to Quaker belief and practice for me is acceptance and the mental attitude of seeking. This is the atmosphere (in mostly silent meeting) in which I seek my version of the light. There are no guarantees. Things happen on their own volition. Here is Wikipedia:

“There are two fundamental aspects to Quaker faith. First, Friends believe that all people are capable of directly experiencing the divine nature of the universe — which is known by many names, God or the Holy Spirit or simply Spirit being among the most common. You don’t need a priest or any other kind of spiritual intercessor; you don’t need to perform any kind of ritual. When you need to hear from God, you will. When Spirit has a message for you to share, you should share it.”

That leads us to a second key principle, our Quaker belief in continued revelation. In the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, we read many stories of God communicating directly with people. Friends believe God’s revelations have never stopped, and that God might reach out to any one of us at any time. When Quakers come together to meet for silent worship, we participate in a shared space in which we strive to become better able, and help each other become better able, to recognize such divine messages.”

This is from Wikipedia: Quaker.org — check under What do Quakers Believe?

Let me quickly add that I consider myself a student who does the best she can. For example, the Jones fiasco [all those people in Africa taking poison because their leader told them to] is a continuing example of needing to be careful with cults and gurus. My (our) dilemma is finding teachers who light our path while teaching us to go beyond them. Interestingly for me, fakes and phonies and only-in-it-for-the-money or fame, false prophets fall away. Positive spirituality reaches to embrace me. What I need on my spiritual path is as attracted to me as I am to it. Clarity and “knowings” emerge.

For me, I continue to return to the baseline of experience. Something personally encountered, undergone, or lived through. This is my bedrock. Not what someone tells me. But: how do I feel? What do I think?

“Thinking means that each time you are confronted with some difficulty in life you have to make up your mind anew,” she [Hannah Arendt] wrote in her final book, The Life of the Mind. “It was a lesson learned through experience. But making up your mind again doesn’t simply mean adapting to a new reality by learning to fit in or lowering your expectations. For Hannah Arendt, it meant comprehending what was new about that reality so as, when necessary, to resist it,” p. 24. . . . “She meant a mind that is indifferent to chronological time, that hops about a large canvas of thought and experience, looking again and beginning again, whenever required,” p. 25. (Underlining mine.)

This last quote is from Lyndsey Stonebridge, We are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience, Random House, 2024.

And I’ll close today’s Blog by adding that I gained added appreciation and understanding from Stonebridge and Hannah Arendt, lessons in how to do your own thinking, make up your own mind.

Thank You for reading, JoAnn
[My apologies: Reading, Writing currently consumes most of my dwindling energy.]

Dr. Jo Ann Lordahl is a lifelong author, poet, novelist, and speaker whose work explores empowerment, aging with grace, and the deep questions that define our lives. Her books and reflections — from historical fiction to meditations on creative living — encourage resilience, reflection, and positive transformation.

If this post stirs questions about moral courage, shared humanity, or the work of healing in hard times, consider exploring Dr. Lordahl’s writing — especially her essays and books on reflection and personal transformation. Her voice reminds us that even in upheaval, there is a path toward patience, insight, and compassionate action.