Speaking truth to friends
“To see the failings of our friends, and think hard of them, without opening that which we ought to open, and still carry a face of friendship, this tends to undermine the foundation of true unity.”
— John Woolman, 1760
Quaker preacher and abolitionist
Reader Responses
What does it mean to you to live truthfully?
I have two responses. First my own:
I try to rest lightly on what I believe to be true and to be open to revising my “truth” by learning from others.
Then this quotation regarding Gandhi:
He maintained one's "inability to know the truth required that he maintain an unceasingly open approach to those who would differ with him… What appears to be truth to the one man appears to be error to the other.”
— Joan Bondurant, Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict
Patricia M., Newtown, PA, USA
It allows me to live in freedom.
Alaric B., Herstmonceux, East Sussex, UK
To me, to live truthfully is to speak and do honestly as I understand truth in my feelings and mind for the current moment, and to push past fear of any reply from another. To live truthfully is to live my own life in my own personal space fearlessly.
Pam W., Jacksonville, FL, USA
This Week’s Messages
Mon Jan 26
Truth will not lose ground by being tried
“Oh come! be not wedded to your own ways, nor prejudiced against what God hath taught others; but let things be fairly scanned, that all things may be proved, and that which is good held fast; for truth will not lose ground by being tried; but darkness is afraid of the light, because it has a secret sense that it cannot stand before it.” …
Tue Jan 27
Do not fear truth
“I believe there is something in the mind, or in the heart, that shows its approbation when we do right. I give myself this advice: Do not fear truth, let it be so contrary to inclination and feeling. Never give up the search after it: and let me take courage, and try from the bottom of my heart to do that which I believe truth dictates, if it leads me to be a Quaker or not.” …
Wed Jan 28
Truth is something you do
“From the earliest days, Quakers were known for speaking truth as they experienced it inwardly in their meetings for worship. They didn’t make a distinction between belief and action. Truth was almost more of a verb than a noun; it was something which you ‘did’ as you experienced it.” …
Thu Jan 29
Quakers as Publishers of Truth
“Early Friends called themselves many things. One of the labels that they gave to themselves was ‘Publishers of Truth’. They meant that in the most basic form of making truth public. It could mean being what was called in the 17th century a ‘public Friends,’ one who was led to preach, to public ministry, to declare the word of the lord anywhere they could find an audience.” …
Fri Jan 30
Shine as a light in the world
“That none be busy-bodies in other’s matters, but each one to bear another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ; that they be sincere and without offence, and that all things which are honest be done without murmurings and disputings; that they may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, amongst whom they may shine as lights in the world.” …
Sat Jan 31
The spirit is not changeable
“The spirit of Christ, by which we are guided, is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing as evil and again to move unto it; and we do certainly know, and so testify to the world, that the spirit of Christ, which leads us into all Truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the kingdom of Christ, nor for the kingdoms of this world.” …
Read the source of today’s quote
Banner art by Sophie Wood Brinker
