A Quaker Perspective on Mysticism and Activism For Spirit Seekers

I shared this with a group of Methodists who wanted to know more about how the Quaker practice of contemplative worship and mysticism is linked to social activism/prophetic witness. 

What Do We Mean by Mysticism and Prophetic Witness?

Mysticism is the belief that people can directly experience God or true reality, rather than through books, ritual or other people. People who practice this are called mystics. Mystics usually experience this direct connection through contemplation, or silent worship.

The prophet is distinguished first by a face-to-face relationship with YHWH. The prophet then serves as a witness of YHWH and ministers by speaking and actuating the word of God. In an intimate encounter, a prophet hears from God, receives a word to be shared with God's people, then acts.

What do prophets and mystics have in common? How are they different?

Have you ever had a direct experience of the Divine that led you to take action?

Quakers believe that everyone can have a direct experience of God through the practice of contemplative worship. Some Quakers feel called to prophetic witness either individually or collectively as a result of waiting and listening for the Word of the Lord. For this reason, Quaker worship is sometimes called “listening” or “expectant” worship.

When we sit in contemplative silence during times of pain and experience the healing power of Spirit, we can become more compassionate listeners. This led the Quaker peace activist/mystic Gene Hoffman to develop a technique called “Compassionate Listening.” She brought together Israelis and Palestinians and taught them how to listen to each other’s stories nonjudgmentally and compassionately. This has proven to be a powerful tool for reconciliation. Her work is being carried on by Leah Green through the Compassionate Listening Project.

After 9/11, Gene Hoffman’s insights had a profound effect on me:

“Some time ago, I recognized that terrorists were people who had grievances, who thought their grievances would never be heard, and certainly never addressed. Later, I saw that all parties to every conflict were wounded and that at the heart of every conflict was an unhealed wound. I began to search for ways to heal these violence-causing wounds.” [1]

In addition to listening compassionately, Quakers also see themselves as “speaking truth to power” (a phrase coined by the Quaker activist Bayard Rustin), like the prophets of old.

“Like the Hebrew and Christian prophets whose lives [early Quakers] used a models, they experienced God as a living, energizing power that spurred them to confront corrupt institutions and to form communities of believers” (Pacific Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice, 2001,  p. 3).

Have you ever felt Spirit or God leading you to take some action to correct or protest an injustice? Describe what this was like for you. What did you do?

Quakers believe that we can have a mystical/prophetic experience collectively when we sit in contemplative silence together, seeking to hear and do the will of God. This was also the belief of early Christians, as Rohr explains:

 

Richard Rohr on Prophetic Witness

Christianity has given little energy to prophecy, which Paul identifies as the second most important charism for building the church (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11). Too often, when Christians talk about prophecy, we think prophets make predictions about the future. In fact, prophets say exactly the opposite! They insist the future is highly contingent on the now. They always announce to the people of Israel that they have to make a decision now. You can go this way and the outcome of events will undo you or you can return to God, to love, and to the covenant. That’s not predicting the future as much as it’s naming the now, the way reality works. The prophet opens up human freedom by daring to tell the people of Israel that they can change history by changing themselves. That’s extraordinary, and it’s just as true for us today.

The prophets ultimately reveal a God who is “the God of the Sufferers” in the words of Jewish philosopher Martin Buber (1878–1965. I’d like to put it this way: it is not that we go out preaching hard and difficult messages, and then people mistreat and marginalize us for being such prophets (although that might happen). Rather, when we go to the stories of the prophets and of Jesus himself, we discover the biblical pattern is just the opposite! When we find ourselves wounded and marginalized, and we allow that suffering to teach us, we can become prophets. When we repeatedly experience the faithfulness, the mercy, and the forgiveness of God, then our prophetic voice emerges. That’s the training school. That’s where we learn how to speak the truth.

The prophets were always these wonderful people who went to wounded places. They went to where the suffering was, to the people who were excluded from the system. They saw through the idolatries at the center of the system because those who are excluded from the system always reveal the operating beliefs of that system. Speaking the truth for the sake of healing and wholeness is then prophetic because the “powers that be” that benefit from the system cannot tolerate certain revelations. They cannot tolerate the truths that the marginalized—the broken, the wounded, and the homeless—always reveal.

A favorite Bible passage for Quakers:

The story of Elijah from Kings 19:9-13

9 And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Why did Elijah run away? Was he simply afraid? Did he lose faith in God?

Have you ever experienced times when you needed to withdraw from a difficult situation to find clarity? During this time of withdrawal,  did you seek God’s guidance and experience a “gentle whisper” or “still small voice” giving you wisdom on how to deal with this situation?

Elijah is asked the same question twice by God: “What are you doing here?” How do you think Elijah’s mountain-top experience changed the way he responds to this question?

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[1] See Compassionate Listening and Other Writings by Gene Knudsen Hoffman: Quaker Peacemaker and Mystic, 2002, ed. by Anthony Manousos.