Article:
Centering Down with Quaker Meditation
by Rev. Sue Annabrooke Jones
Excerpted from an article appearing in the April-May 2005
issue of The Isis Scrolls. Copyrighted by the author.
Who Are the Quakers?
The Society of Friends, more commonly called the Quakers, is a religious body that originated
in the 17th Century, under an Englishman named George Fox. Raised in rural Leicestershire by respectable Church of England
parents and trained to animal husbandry, young Fox chose shepherdry as his livelihood, because it supported his need for
solitude and spiritual reflection.
At age 22, during one of his contemplative moments, Fox had a profound mystical experience,
which convinced him that a person requires no spiritual intermediary but can receive direct understanding and
guidance through one's own "inward light," which is supplied by the the Holy Spirit.
Fox soon quit the state church and began preaching his inward light doctrine,
along with the tenets that every person has an equal ability to interpret and bring truth to a meeting, regardless of age,
gender or station in life, and that all members of a religious body should have freedom of expression.
One need only contrast these convictions with those held even by contemporary religious
beliefs and practices to appreciate how radical Fox's ideas were for his time. Persecuted and even imprisoned,
Fox nevertheless persisted and managed to attract many followers. A few years later, he founded the Religious
Society of Friends of the Truth. Today they are known as the Society of Friends, or the Quakers. They refer
to themselves simply as "Friends."
In the 1600s, Quaker meetings consisted entirely of silent meditation. Because members
refused to take oaths or bear arms, they were persecuted, and many fled England seeking religious freedom.
Quakerism in America
In 1682, one group of Quakers arrived in Pennsylvania colony, which
had been established for them as a religious and political haven by English Quaker William Penn. Another group settled
in Rhode Island. The American Friends later split into various subgroups, but what remain today are two main branches of
Quakerism: the Christian and the universalist, or "noncreedal."
Noncreedal Quakers, the branch we are concerned with here, hold open to a wide variety of experiences
of the Divine and, like their forerunners, offer "unprogrammed" meetings consisting of silent meditation. They believe that by
sitting quietly, God will speak to the individual in his or her heart, and the Quaker unprogrammed service provides a nurturing
environment to facilitate this experience for both members and visitors. Participants assemble informally at a Friends
Meeting House and sit on benches or meditate in a circle, on chairs or floor cushions.
Centering Down and Deepening into Silence
Meeting actually begins when all are joined in that silent "waiting upon God" that the Quakers
call "centering down." With mind and body stilled, members sit in deep contemplative silence together for one hour, each
person attuned to his or her own inward light.
During a meeting someone may feel moved to speak. When this happens,
it comes from a deep religious experience and a conviction that this experience must be shared. This spoken ministry, which
is usually brief and simple, requires no response, and is intended as meditative seed for everyone else in the group. This unique
cross-fertilization component distinguishes Quaker meditation from other forms of meditation which, even when practiced
in a group, remain ultimately a solo activity.
Community is integral to Quakerism, so much so that Friends believe
that while one can hold Quaker beliefs and practice the teachings in isolation,
it is only possible to practice Quakerism as part of a group.
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