Craig Barnett on types and sources of power for Friends, modern and classic.
Modern Quaker culture places a strong emphasis on what Shinran would have called ‘self power’ — political activism, the effort to embody ethical values in our daily lives, and the conscientious performance of social responsibilities.… Perhaps surprisingly, the original Quaker inspiration was strongly focussed on ‘other power’. It was faith in the Inward Guide, rather than their own efforts, that early Friends relied on to guide their lives and to endure suffering and persecution. This Inward Guide, Teacher, Light or Christ was understood as something apart from our own resources: it was the presence and activity of God within each person.
In a surprise to no one, I’m a fan of using the inward power as a guide toward outward action, but of course they’re two sides the same coin. As we find our inward spiritual teacher, our lives begin to conform to right living, which in turn helps us to be more sensitive to spiritual prompts. It’s a virtuous circle that brings us closer to the Spirit and also changes what us moderns call our “lifestyle.”
I started off as a peace advocate in my late teens, spurred into deciding issues of violence and force in part because of family pressure to enlist in the naval academy. As I started to explore communities of peace I kept running into Quakers. I sensed that there was something more to their motivation than just right-politics and it was that spiritual grounding that drew me in. Nowadays I see a lot of Quaker political action that doesn’t use a vocabulary of faith. I trust that the Friends engaged in the work are being guided and strengthened by what Barnett describes as “the other power” but I worry that we lose the moral force of spiritual witness when we don’t articulate the spiritual underpinnings. Are we embarrassed by the weirdness of our spirituality? Do we think it will put off potential supporters? Unpracticed in its articulation?