My first experience of Quakers was in the 1970’s when I was about 17.A girl invited me to a village bonfire party, a place called Jordans, but I had no idea she was a Quaker and that this had been a Quaker community since 1688, the burial place of William Penn who founded Pennsylvania. It felt like a great adventure –
“There is inspiration to be found all around us, in the natural world, in the sciences and arts, in our work and relationships, in our sorrows as in our joys. Are you open to new light, from whatever source it may come? Do you approach new ideas with discernment?”
We arrived at a toy like railway station in the middle of nowhere, like stepping into an Enid Blyton story, and she did live close by in Beaconsfield. We were surrounded by Beech Woods and darkness, a single light glowing over the nameplate, “Seer Green and Jordans”. I had never experienced danger like this before, having had quite a narrow upbringing. My friend’s confidence amazed me as she led us over the obstacle course of tangled roots and rotting leaves, the air moist and musty. She seemed so daring and fearless, cloven footed as she picked the path out through the woods. I followed, alive with fear and anticipation, soaking up the moment, making a memory -
“Live adventurously. Let your life speak. Every stage of our lives offers fresh opportunities. Attend to what Love requires of you, which may not be great busyness.”
Eventually the woods opened out onto a green with a ring of red bricked connected cottages, a little shabby, unassuming, quaint. Figures were moving about in the smoke filled bonfire light. In the cottage I met pet white rats and a man who was an inventor, rooms that were dimly lit by an open fire and cosy, not fancy, artisans and artists, a man in an armchair animated in discussion –
“Try to live simply. A simple lifestyle freely chosen is a source of strength. Do not be persuaded into buying what you do not need or cannot afford. Do not let the desire to be sociable or fear of seeming peculiar determine your decisions.”
We walked from cottage to cottage, where we were served sausages or soup, baked potatoes or tea. We were fed conversation too, such as I had never heard before, straight as an arrow and without small talk or loops, looking you in the eye, enquiring, informing, not argument or opinion or assertion, but the collecting of ideas, real food for thought, sustenance. These conversations in small cottages spoke to me in a language I understood. It was like coming home after residing in a foreign country. I don’t remember the subject matter, only the means of them saying it. As a child I had often wondered how it is conversations are held saying nothing when the real conversation remains unsaid inside. These people spoke their Minds and the inside was outside for all to know, genuine conversation, qualitatively different. They made the words mean something and they listened in the gaps. This was such a liberation. It took my breath away-
“Listen patiently and seek the truth which the other person’s opinion may contain for you. Try to sense what has nourished the lives of others. Avoid hurtful criticism and provocative language. Do not allow the strength of your conviction to betray you into making statements and allegations that are unfair or untrue. Think it possible you may be mistaken.”
Later someone said, “Lets go up the motorway and see where it ends”, and off we went in old cars up an empty motorway, across the Vale of Oxford to ascend the Cotswolds. Hours later we stopped, got out and looked back over the journey taken before driving home. There was no reason for this journey. We did it because we could. We were just alive to the moment. In hindsight I realise the motorway had just been opened and that we were embracing the technological advances of the day. It was both exhilarating and exhausting. That night I stepped out of my sheltered safe world into the endless vistas of possibility and in sharing their lives they included mine-
“How can we make a community in which each person is accepted and nurtured and strangers are welcome? Respect the wide diversity among us in our lives and in our relationships. Seek to know one another in the things that are eternal.”
I owe these people an extraordinary memory; the man grasping the armchair with his thoughts, the woman cooking sausages on the stove, the talking faces flickering in firelight, the glance back through the car rear window at an empty motorway as we hurtled towards the unknown, the girl tracking through the woods, all simple and profound. I went on to University and other things but I often revisit that village to remember that it started here when the Mind was fed sausages! That night they showed me courage, straight speech, and curiosity. They showed me another way, and I took it-
“Be patterns, be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations, where ever you come, that your carriage and life may speak among all sorts of people, and then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of god in everyone. Let your life speak.”
(Quotes from “Advice and Queries”)
Cottages round the Green
The Rent House on Village Green
