“Fifteen-year-old Retford boy, James Parnell, became a Quaker and in 1653 travelled to visit George Fox in prison in Carlisle. He preached in eastern England, was accused of causing a riot, imprisoned in Colchester, and died there after eight months of cruel treatment. Over 450 Quakers died in prison during the early years of the movement.”
“‘When we were brought into the court,’ says Fox, ‘we stood a pretty while with our hats on, and all was quiet, and I was moved to say, “Peace be amongst you!” “Why do you not put your hats off?” said the judge to us. We said nothing. “Put off your hats,” said the judge again. Still we said nothing. Then said the judge, “The court commands you to put off your hats.”‘”
“I began to ask other Friends about their own Integrity witness. What do they do when faced with oaths and oath-like situations? How do they respond?
Interestingly, George Fox and yearly meetings notwithstanding, most Friends I talked to admitted fudging a little when the chips are down. One Friend, when sworn in as part of a jury pool, simply didn’t raise his hand. Another didn’t stand. Some Friends have substituted the word ‘affirm’ for ‘swear’ when repeating after the judge. Others have figuratively held their noses and signed papers that were essentially oaths. Few of us, however, have chosen to make a public witness.”
“Theologically, a scruple is defined as ‘a vain fear of sin where there is no reason or reasonable ground for suspecting sin,’ and I would add, a vain fear of compromise, a vain fear of failure, a vain fear of the judgment of others where there is no good reason to be concerned.”
“The Quaker testimony to truthfulness is central to the practice of its faith by members of the Religious Society of Friends. From the beginning Friends have believed that they could have direct and immediate communication with God which would enable them to discern right ethical choices. They soon experienced common leadings of the Spirit which became formalised into testimonies… Arising from the teaching of Jesus as related in the writings of John and James: ‘Let your Yes mean Yes and your No mean No’, Quakers perceived that with a conscience illuminated by the Light, life became an integrated whole with honesty as its basis.”
“I have long believed that speaking truth is both the simplest way of leading your life and one of the most difficult to achieve.”
“The Quakers thought charging different people different prices for the same thing was morally wrong. So they did this radical thing. In a Quaker store, they said, ‘Each item has one price. The price is just the price.'”
“The practice of Integrity is about both self-awareness and wholeness. It is born out of a community of practice committed to living integrated lives. Practices and language develop out of that commitment that gives tools for understanding the self, my relationship to God and other people, the natural world, and material objects. A practice of integrity provides a kind of self-reflective mirror upon which I am invited to look at myself and my community and reflect upon whether my ‘Yes is Yes,’ and my ‘No is No.'”
“Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one.”
“If we are mindful and self-aware, we recognize in our own lives those moments and places of disconnection. Paul spoke about this in his letter to the Roman community, when he wrote, ‘I don’t understand my own actions. I do not do what I want; I do the very thing I hate.’ We all know that feeling, don’t we? We all experience this disconnection, this lack of integration, and are troubled by it, especially when we notice it in ourselves.”
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