Do All Quakers Hold the Same Beliefs?

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Transcript:

My favorite metaphor about God is the story of the blind men and the elephant. And each man feels a different part of the elephant and thinks ‘this’ is what the elephant is about. And I think that in a lot of ways, that’s the way we are about God, is that we all see different aspects of God and the totality of God is greater than all of that.

My name is Adam Segal-Isaacson. I attend Brooklyn meeting and my pronouns are whatever you like them to be. I’m not particular. Quakers are very broad in their beliefs. I think it works by getting at some fundamentals of what a lot of religions have preached, which is to bring people together. Traditionally Quakers were Christian. Mostly because in England in the 1640s there wasn’t anybody who wasn’t a Christian. But even in that first generation of Quakers, there was a reaching out to others. And so there was always a sense of it being a larger group, that we could encompass anybody who was inclined to be encompassed. That has meant that people have come to Quakerism from a variety of backgrounds, and that their experiences can help enhance our experiences so that we learn from each other and we can grow from that.

I was raised parallel going to meeting and as a Jewish child. We celebrated certain Jewish rituals at home and I went to temple on a fairly regular basis. And when I was preparing for my bar mitzvah, I would go to Sunday school at the at the synagogue and then I would walk down the street to the Quaker meeting. There’s been no conflict for me between Quakerism and Judaism, because Judaism’s focus is on doing mitzvot, doing good things. And in the context of what is happening at any given time, friends are trying to see ways to make things better for people. I’ve known people who’ve come from a Jewish background, I know people who’ve come from a Catholic background, I know people who’ve come from various other Christian churches. At 15th st meeting in Manhattan, where I attended when I first came to New York, there was regularly a a group of Buddhist monks who came to meeting for worship.

There is a there’s a book by Tom Robbins called Jitterbug Perfume. One of the characters says to the other that, “People who claim to teach you the truth don’t have the truth. Because, if they did, they would know that the truth can’t be taught. It can only be received.” Friends are able to exist with vastly different beliefs because they see each other as being seekers after the truth rather than people who already know the truth. And so that allows for a lot of different approaches. I think that the blending of different things together can, can create something that’s greater. You know, if everybody’s singing the same tune, that’s not harmony. That’s monotony. And when you think about complex pieces of music, you see all sorts of different things happening and and moving together. And they don’t always sound perfectly together, but then they do sort of come together in the end. And I think that’s a metaphor that has been very powerful for me, is a way of seeing how different viewpoints can join.

Discussion Question:

• How have different beliefs among Friends impacted your own?

The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.