Knowing We Need to Change Is Not Sufficient to Compel Change

“No one is forced to pay attention to what the Light exposes. Just as we can close our outward, physical eyes to those things in the ordinary world that we find unpleasant and don’t want to see, we have the ability to close our inward, spiritual eyes and turn away from what the Light of Christ reveals inside us. 

But knowing that evil is real and acknowledging the spiritual darkness within ourselves doesn’t show us the way out. Knowing we need to change is not sufficient to compel change. Without guidance, we could just flail about, trying one thing after another without improving our circumstances. The Light Within reveals the divine will – what the All-Merciful One hopes and desires for us. Beyond Illuminating that goal, it makes visible the spiritual path we need to walk in order to get there. And when we inevitably stray from that path, it shows us how to find our way back to it.”

— Paul Buckley, 2018 (source)
Quaker historian and theologian