~ Jul 2006~
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Dear Friend,
Welcome to the QFAS Newsletter. I apologise for the delay in getting this too you. This was due to email problems. I hope you find it worth the wait. Forthcoming events The next QFAS event will be a residential weekend at Claridge House on “Living Between Two Worlds” from 10-12 November, cost: £140. (Bursary help is available from Claridge House, and also from QFAS). This weekend, will be led by Ros Smith and during it we shall look at the meaning of being ‘in this world but not of it’ and try to come to a deeper understanding of the spiritual dimensions within which we live. Contact: The Manager, Claridge House, Dormans Road, Lingfield, Surrey RH7 6QH. Phone 01342 832150. The Quaker Retreat Group (QRG) who printed a notice of our 6 May London Conference, are having a Quiet Half-Day at Woodbrooke on Sunday 30 July, in preparation for their AGM on 31July. They are also holding a Retreat on Ignatian Spirituality at the Emmaus Centre, West Wickham, Kent from 24-26 November. We have several QFAS members who are also QRG members, and we would like to encourage an interest in their activities. Subscriptions for QRG are £18 or £12 for Concessions. Details of QRG membership are available from Rosalie Bridge, 13 Mount View Rd., Chingford, London E4 7EF. A strong element in QRG is their discipline of Listening, on a one-to-one basis. Likewise many of us in QFAS are finding we need the help of others on our journey, with, of course, our perennial plea that we need to be heard ! Why not consider being heard within a QRG setting? Spreading the QFAS Message Both QRG and The Friend and The Friends Quarterly have recently been publishing QFAS material. A piece by David Britton and Angela Howard on “A Quaker Taboo?” appeared in the 9 June issue of The Friend. This asked for more tolerance towards the subject of an After-life among those Quakers who cannot themselves accept that there is one. David Britton had an article on 'Early Quakers and Immortality' printed in the Quarterly which was followed by a response by the Editor, David Blamires, to which QFAS member, Joan Benner (author of 'Beyond the Music') has herself responded. Look out for it in the near future QFAS Membership This currently stands at 75. Our Membership, however, remains rather static. We tend to gain 10 to 15 members each year, while losing roughly the same number. Our funds stand at around £1,650, which is very healthy considering the bursaries we have paid and will continue to pay and considering that our subscription remains unchanged at £5, with only £2 for Concessions. However, there are some 20 or 30 Subscriptions still outstanding. If you think you are one of these, we would appreciate it if you would pay as soon as possible or let us know if you wish to cease your membership. QFAS Spring Conference held at St. Pancras Church Hall on 6 May. The main theme of the Spring Conference this year was Quaker Taboos. This choice of subject arose out of the resistance felt by many QFAS members from their Meetings to any serious discussion on the possibility of life after death. Beth Allen, a life-long Quaker recently retired from Friends House, gave an encouraging talk on concerns which had been shunned by the mainstream Quaker movement in the past but which later gained respectability among Friends in general. 50 years ago, the subject of healing was not regarded as intellectually respectable and was often kept out of public discussion among Quakers. Friends Fellowship of Healing events were not announced in Meetings. Now the Fellowship is one of the largest special interest Quaker groups as a result of a great surge of interest in healing in the last few years alongside that of wider society in the holistic approach to health. Beth also reminded us that the increased acceptance of beliefs and life-styles which had once been on the margins has sometimes led others to feel marginalised in their turn. Friends who find homosexuality hard to accept now find it hard to express their views. Members of the Christian Quaker Renewal Group have been hurt and bewildered at negative comments from others in Meeting after giving a Jesus-centred ministry. While seeking more tolerance among Friends for our beliefs in immortality, we need to understand why some Quakers find the subject difficult. If we want to bring greater understanding and dispel fears among the doubters, we need to have confidence in ourselves as a group and be willing to spread our message in the wider Society. Beth had not had many psychic experiences herself but had occasionally felt “presences”. She wondered whether healing and, in particular, the ministry of the psycho-pomp, accompanying people through death, might be something she would feel called to do as she moves on in retirement. Although believing in an After-life, Beth was unsure what form it takes. Is it, she wondered, like Valhalla or more like Hampstead Garden Suburb! David Britton gave a talk about “Margaret Fell and the Next World”, which reminded us that belief in an After-life was commonly accepted by early Friends. His talk mirrored the article of the same title reproduced below. The afternoon was given over to some thought-provoking discussions in small groups and then in the whole group together. It was generally agreed that the day had been an inspiring event and a good opportunity to share with people of like mind. Angela Howard had made copies available of a transcript of her communications with her husband, Martin, through the medium Paul Lambillion. A copy can be obtained from Angela, whose address is in the heading to this newsletter. Please send a large stamped addressed envelope with stamps to the value of 37p. Margaret Fell and the Next World – talk given to the conference by David Britton Margaret Fell, as we hardly need reminding, was one of the truly great founders of Quakerism. Her warmth and broad humanity reach us today, where the over-refining of Quaker culture in later periods can leave us feeling a little chilly. Her acute spiritual discernment was vital to the early movement, as was the “Liberty Hall” of her family home at Swarthmoor, a place of refuge during the years of persecution, and also a kind of secretariat for the Society. It was her discernment which enabled her to see the special quality of George Fox at their first meeting. This, as she records, was not a detached “assessment”, but came as a profound shock, stirring her to the roots of her being, and setting in motion her dedicated life. As for Fox himself, the warmth of Margaret and her daughters was a blessing, giving him back his emotional life, which had been too much subsumed and repressed beneath his sense of spiritual calling. Their humanity was not, however, a modern humanism, and this is shown in their easy acceptance of immortality and another world. Yet again, Margaret does not argue for it, but simply assumes it – which is actually more impressive evidence for the firmness of early Quaker belief on the issue than much argument would have been. I would hope by now to have shown incontrovertibly, in my various articles in the Newsletters, that early Quakers all took the next world for granted. All that our modern Quaker deniers can now say is that in some things the early Friends were wrong. As a general principle of approach there is nothing unreasonable about this, but on such a huge issue as our eternal destiny, one cannot simply fault our ancestors without engaging in real debate. One cannot simply drop the “Soul”, without a word. For its absence makes a enormous difference to all our other attitudes and beliefs -- or would do had the other been faced. Not facing it has created instead a confusion that makes a queasy atmosphere in our Society. A deep Friend once wrote these words to me – “Woodbrooke - such a puzzled place.” Exactly. For as the great Dostoevsky wrote in his Writer’s Diary, “ Without immortality not a single human problem can be solved.” Margaret Fell’s confidence about the heavenly world is shown in several places in her writings, but in none more impressively than her Testimony to her second husband, George Fox, on his death in 1691. (She outlived him by 11 years). Here she said: “It has pleased God to take away my dear husband out of this evil troublesome world, who was not a man thereof, being chosen out of it, and had his life and being in another region ….. so I am now to give my account and testimony for my dear husband, whom the Lord has taken unto His blessed kingdom an glory ….. Now he has finished his course and his testimony, and is entered into his eternal rest and felicity.” On another note is Margaret’s dialogue with a Ranter. The Ranter says: “What pre-eminence hath a man above a beast?”. Margaret replies: “Thou art as the beast which perish …..Thou knows not the spirit of a man that goes upwards … thy portion is with the beasts of the field ….” In her 1656 Epistle to Meetings she talks of Christ giving “eternal life” to “his sheep”. Many modern Friends will of course say that eternal life is lived only in the here and now but this is not what early Friends believed, as is shown by Margaret Fell’s 1659 “Pastoral Letter to certain Friends” in which she writes: “the Spirit of the Saints in light savours the eternal life in all, and loves it in all, and sees and feels it in all.” She is here referring to the departed spirits of “the Saints”, and she goes on to say: “…. And so here is the resting place that you must all meet in where the true fellowship is one with another, which all the Saints in light was gathered into since the beginning, and all meets here from Eternity to Eternity…”. And if there should be any doubt about her meaning, here is a passage from her 1656 “Epistle to Friends” – “Therefore, if you love your Soul, which is immortal, abide in the Light and live the Light and walk in the Light, where the Fellowship and the Unity is.” In an interesting letter to the Jews in 1656, sent to Spinoza in Amsterdam, she writes “Our soul’s desire is that you might be gathered and come into the Covenant of Light and partake with us of the everlasting riches and inheritance that never fades away.” Many things point compellingly towards an experience of what Anglicans and Catholics and Orthodox celebrate as their Communion of Saints. For early Quakers it was clearly a vivid reality, not least because of the many Quaker martyrs in that first generation. The presence of the departed in those early Meetings must have been very important, a comfort and an inspiration for those struggling against persecution on earth. This is something that has been neglected in Quaker historical studies. And what a loss it is to Quakerism that those living presences are no longer welcomed in Meeting for Worship or elsewhere. An openness to them would transform our Society. Here are decisive passages from the Testimony of her children to Margaret Fell after her death in 1702: “And the blessed God of Heaven and Earth preserved her in a good understanding to the last ….. and we believe she is inheriting a Heavenly Mansion, prepared by the Lord Jesus Christ, for all His faithful followers.” Even more telling is the Testimony of George Whitehead, in that it clearly reveals the sophisticated early Quaker understanding of the relation between eternal life on earth and eternal life in heaven: “She retained a sincere and constant love to all faithful Friends and brethren to the end, which was a true evidence of her being passed from death to life, while here [my emphasis] and her portion in eternal life and felicity in the heavenly kingdom…” A phrase such as “passing from death to life” while on earth is of course eagerly seized on by modern “spiritual” Quakers as proof that the early Quakers saw no need for life after death. But Rex Ambler and others have read their Quaker documents carelessly and self-servingly and need to go back and do their work again. In support of this there is a passage from Thomas Camm’s Testimony to her: “… and now she is rewarded with the full fruition [my emphasis] of eternal life and Peace with her God.” A little before her death this was among the Sayings reported of her: “Oh! My sweet Lord, in your holy bosom do I commit myself freely, not desiring to live in this troublesome painful world. It is all nothing to me: for my Maker is my husband. Incarnation Vows At the QFAS weekend in November last year at Claridge House, I gave a talk about my NDE and how it affected my life. In this talk I mentioned the Life Review which I had experienced during my NDE. At the beginning of the ‘review’, I was taken back to a planning meeting in the After-life. This meeting had apparently taken place just before my moment of conception. At the planning meeting, there was a confirmation of the parents I had chosen for this, my present incarnation. Then I was shown my ‘Meaning and Purpose’ for this time round – what tasks I was expected to a achieve for that next life (i.e. the ‘now’ one) on Earth. I then made solemn vows – promises about my intention to carry out these tasks. I was surprised at our Claridge House weekend, when mentioning the above, that for several people it seemed a new concept. I had thought that everyone realises that we are each given a unique plan and raison d’etre before arriving and so I am now filling in the details of my personal planning meeting, as it may help others to ‘remember’ their own incarnation vows. We apparently need many reminders (at least, I did!). As well as having my NDE reminder during the life review, I have also, during my years, had dreams and flashbacks. These have all returned me back to my planning meeting before I was ‘launched’ into this life. Also, one of the people present at the meeting came to ‘visit’ me (see below) – another fleeting reminder of my incarnation vows. When being given my tasks, I was told that the most important one was that of healing. Now, at last, 70 years later, I am just beginning to understand what this really means. As well as earthly learning about healing, we also need to ‘remember’ how to tune into the Holy Spirit and thus to become a channel for that creative and healing power. I am beginning to be able to do this more consistently and more often (instead of just occasionally). I am finally fulfilling my incarnation vows. There is a postscript – the ‘visit’ mentioned above. In the middle of giving my talk, I suddenly remembered something that had happened at the first QFAS residential conference at Claridge House, I remembered that there had been a demonstration of mediumship during which my Uncle Lionel had ‘come through’ for me. Although I feel strangely close to him, I never met him. He was killed on Armistice Day in World War I, whereas I was born in 1935. But at my pre-conception planning meeting, my father’s brother, Lionel, had been guiding the proceedings – a bit like an Elder at a Meeting for Clearness. His later ‘visit’, seen by the medium and named by her, was, perhaps, another awakening for me of my incarnation vows. Thank you, Uncle Lionel! Elizabeth Angas “…… and mere oblivion”? I was moved to write the following poem on finding a skeleton when I was working on an archaeological dig at Winchester. It is a statement against the atheistic idea that all the consciousness and understanding we develop through our earthly life experience falls away to nothingness at physical death.
Book Review - Elizabeth Angas. “A Celtic Book of Dying – Watching with the Dying and Traveling with the Dead” by Phyllida Anam-Aire. Publisher – Findhorn Press (2005) ISBN – 1- 84409 -048 -5 Anam-Aire is Gaelic for “soul carrier”. This is the healing work which Phyllida does – easing the transition of a dying person from this world to the next. She enables the process, supporting family and friends as the soul prepares to leave and for some hours afterwards. In this beautiful book, Phyllida – the Anam-Aire – combines her own Celtic tradition – the ancient wisdom of her ancestors - with the more modern knowledge and experience she has acquired through her hospice work. She trained with Elizabeth Kübler-Ross and now runs workshops herself on “Conscious Living, Conscious Dying” and “Celtic Spirituality”. The book is divided into 4 main parts – 1. Death and dying in the Celtic tradition; 2. Dealing with your personal death and dying process; 3. Helping the dying person and their relatives; 4. Stories from the Heart of Death. Each part is further divided into short sections, containing both prose and poetry, with songs which Phyllida has recorded on CD. Phyllida used meditation (an altered state of consciousness) to receive the knowledge (earlier written down as ‘the Wisdom of the Cauldron’) of how to accompany the person as they die and on the initial stages of their journey after death. She received these ‘teachings’ from the energetic field of the Irish archetype – Brigit. Her apparent knowledge of the soul’s progress during this transition rang true for me so that I found it comforting and confirming of what I believe – my Quaker experiential faith. Phyllida’s compassion and gentle humour shines through her writings so that I felt I would trust her to accompany me when I have my last journey and prepare for my next possible re-incarnation. Meanwhile, before that, I shall certainly be using many of the creative ideas in this book, as I ‘watch’ and ‘uphold’, as a Quaker spiritual healer, those who are in transition to the After-life. A Story of Communication - Cherry Simpkin I am grateful to a QFAS member for this story, which is taken from an article by Danny Penman which appeared in the Daily Mail on 22 June 2004. It concerns Montague Keen who collapsed and died aged 78 at the Royal Society of Arts shortly after taking part in a debate on the paranormal. This seems appropriate as this subject had been Montague’s life’s work. He had served on the Council of the Society for Psychical Research for 55 years. Before he died, he promised his wife Veronica that he would try to communicate from the “other side”. Since Montague’s death, Professor Gary Swartz of the University of Arizona has been investigating various mediums who have claimed to receive messages from Montague. Professor Swartz, an eminent and disciplined scientist with many academic publications to his name, is convinced that the data he has gathered points to the messages being genuine. One medium claimed to receive a request to Veronica to convert Montague’s ashes into a diamond for her to wear as a necklace. This, unknown to anyone but his wife, had been discussed by the couple shortly before Montague’s death. Through another medium, Montague, who had been a farmer on earth, reminded Veronica to plant the spring barley. Many other communications were received concerning things that were known only to Montague and Veronica. Professor Swartz, then decided to carry out a controlled experiment to distinguish Montague’s messages from those believed to come from other ‘spirit voices’ channelled by the mediums concerned. The various taped ‘voices’ were played to Veronica who was asked to pick out the messages which came from Montague. 90% of the information believed by the mediums to come from Montague was verified by Veronica as accurate. Professor Swartz then decided to find out Montague’s experiences of the After-life. Montague communicated that he was impressed how easy it was for him to be close to those on earth. Time does not exist in the next world in the way it does in ours but Montague could experience time because it affected those he came close to on earth. Professor Swartz intends to extend his work further to discover what we might expect after physical death. He says his researches have led him to adjust his own thinking. The way we experience in the next world, he believes, is determined by our beliefs and attitudes in this. If we can be opened minded we will be able to take full advantage of the After-life and not be restricted by our biases and assumptions. As for Montague and Veronica, the bond of love between them remains as strong as ever. She says she is consoled by the fact that he has said that he looks forward to showing her the next world when her time comes. More QFAS news - Angela Howard Since the article by David Britton and I, appeared in “The Friend” on June 9th, over 20 readers have contacted me to order the Anthology (“The Not Unfamiliar Country: Communication Beyond Death. An Anthology of Quaker Experience.”) which was mentioned, and in many cases to express support and interest in this subject. I do not have permission to quote but here are a few extracts from the shorter letters: “I have often been rather sad and puzzled by the lack of reference to a further life in our ministry. Thanks to you and David Britton, for not ignoring the topic.” “As a new Quaker I presumed we all believed in life after death! I still have a lot to learn, of course.” And from a Friend who read the Anthology and then wrote again: “The Anthology is fascinating, and also a relief. It’s not comfortable to think one is out on a limb but clearly there are quite a few of us on this particular branch.” There have also been some very interesting longer letters. In two cases Friends who were going to lead discussion groups at their Meetings wrote requesting QFAS material. Another Friend sent a wonderfully expressed summary of his belief and experience which he was going to deliver to his Meeting and which I hope we can print in a future newsletter. One writer is going on a cycle tour to introduce the subject of NDEs to Meetings! Another writer who expressed some misgivings about spiritualism nevertheless believes he has had some strange experiences which can only be described as coming from the spirit world. Here is one of them. In desperation because he was developing inoperable cataracts he contacted a group of Christian spiritualists … “The group favoured distant healing, and no money was requested. I was instructed to sit quietly at 10 pm for a week or so, and meditate, and the first night I tried this, two loud knocks came from the dining room table, bang on 10 pm. This was repeated the following night. Shortly after, I had a routine appointment to see my optician, who said ‘that’s strange, your cataracts seem to have disappeared!’ I had not told him of my spiritualist healing, but he went on to add, ‘I have never known that to happen before.’ He was quite astonished. That was some years ago, and although there is a hint the cataracts may be returning, the eye condition I had has also disappeared, so it will be possible to operate on them!” More Contributors Please! The next QFAS Newsletter will be in December after the Claridge House Weekend. We want to encourage more people to share thoughts and experiences so please do send in your contributions. These can be about your own or others’ experiences or something you’ve come across in the media. Also poems and other writing on the QFAS theme and book reviews would be welcomed. We are limited for space (Newsletters can be no longer than 8 sides if we are to keep costs down) so please try to keep contributions within 500 words. I cannot guarantee to publish all contributions immediately but I will try to publish them all eventually. (Signed) |