A reckoning for the Global North, Pt. 2
Speaking truth to power: 1, 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8a,8aFR, 8b, 8c, 8d, 8e, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 15a, 16 & 16a
Part 1 lamented the fact the Global South tries to emulate the Global North… the exact reverse of what should be happening! Let me extend into the religious framework raised by Cambridge Quakers in light of my own spiritual renaissance. This is the last for now of this series on the Climate Emergency.
The final exhortation in Part 1, “The Global North must admit the possibility of being wrong, that others may have better ideas to tackle the new regime imposed by the Climate Emergency”, came from Quaker Faith & Practice Advices & Queries (A&Q) 1.02.17, last sentence: “Consider that you may be mistaken” (QF&P).
One of the ministries on the topic was that “This beautiful, delicate world in all its infinite wonder is threatened with extinction” (A&Q 24:27): this was in the context of protest against nuclear submarines as weapons of mass destruction (my words); is this not applicable today in light of the Climate Emergency?
And 30 years ago, in a Re-evaluation Counselling (here & here) workshop in Texas I learned “not to head for the hills, we are needed here and now”. At the time I ‘knew’ William Penn not via Quakers — I was Unitarian in TX & CA then, & became Quaker here 15 years ago — that he said in 1682:
“True godliness don’t turn men out of the world, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their endeavours to mend it… Christians should keep the helm and guide the vessel to its port; not meanly steal out at the stern of the world and leave those that are in it without a pilot to be driven by the fury of evil times upon the rock or sand of ruin.” (A&Q 23:02).
Considering that Quakers came from the crucible of the mid 17th c. British Civil War (Wikipedia), and the persecution they were subjected to from predominant Protestantism — just as Catholics were at the time — it is no surprise that the faith is grounded in social activism often against the status quo. Indeed see here (§1) the connection between Extinction Rebellion and Quakerism as a protest movement. And let’s not forget the EarthQuakers organized the screening subject of the previous post.
As posted elsewhere, I myself reconnected with my original Catholic faith on the spiritual side, whilst maintaining Quaker activity on social activism. What attracted me as a youth, aside from being raised Catholic in SW France, was the social outreach work in various parts of the world. Without going into details — go to Disclosure in this post — let’s say that:
- today I learned to surrender to God’s will in an act of humility that has both guided me and liberated me after being a white middle-class male manager in the upper 5–10 percentile most of my career
- a decade ago my tenure in Kuwait (blog) made me aware of the distinction among religion (outward act) and faith (inner belief) thru my direct exposure to Islam, where both are woven into the day-to-day
- and that followed on with integrating faith and science written up here — warning: as that series develops, it diverges significantly from Quaker practice in a singular personal aspect —that grew out of all of the above
Thanks for following me down the path of religion, faith and activism weaving in&out of my life, as do the testimonies of all faiths I attended, each in their own different ways. As I said elsewhere, in this world of ‘doomism’ (BBC) “it is hard to be awake”: We need all the help we can get to frame our thinking from the head, through our beliefs from the spirit, to our feelings from the heart.
