The Quaker way was  grounded in George Fox’s search for truth and his belief in  “that of God in every man”. His path embraced mysticism grounded in silence and social action challenging the world’s insensitivity to creation and to the experience of the divine.

This issue brings together a number of strands that all speak to this richness in the Quaker way. There are articles on the mystical experience and several poems that speak to the divine in nature and in human experience.

The poems include two poems by local Quakers and an important poem by Pulitzer prize winning Mary Oliver (1935-2019). The Australian Friend has gratefully been granted copyright to publish one of her poems. She is America’s favourite contemporary poet of the spiritual and the inner life. As Mary Oliver’s  poem and the other poems in this issue reveal, Poetry is a powerful antidote to all the interference that modern life, especially the media, places between us and an experience of the divine. This is also the central theme of the book by Stan Grant noted below.

In this issue there are also articles on significant social action,  articles on fine tuning Quaker practice, and articles on the wider context of Australian Quakers working at home and overseas.

Here is a brief summary of the key offerings:

MYSTICISM

Reg Naulty, in an outstanding book review, has written a powerful celebration of Stan Grant’s new book Murriyang: Song of Time. Reg gives a wonderful depiction of how a man who was so caught up in the world of modernity (the battlefields of Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza and Pakistan) has found a path back to the mysticism and spirituality of the Wiradjuri religion.  This was mediated partly by his affinity for the poetry of David Mowaljarli, a Ngarinyin Elder from the Kimberley region, whose visions have kinship with the poetry of William Blake. Reg writes “Grant’s description of Wiradjuri religion is something of a triumph… [he] reminds us that the Wiradjuri tradition is older than Christianity”.

This is clearly a book for anyone who wishes to deepen their  own understanding and experience of contemplative traditions at the heart of the Quakers. Stan Grant shows how Indigenous spirituality can help to  transform our narrowly rational and mechanistic experience of reality.

Reg’s article is complementd by Noel Staples’ account of his mystical experiences of Grace. Noel,  a one-time truck driver and now an active member of Quakers in Criminal Justice, UK,  illustrates that in our complex contemporary world there are still possibilities for mystical enlightenment.

This theme is strongly carried forward in poems by Andrew Brion, Rose Griffith and Mary Oliver.

SOCIAL ACTION

Rae Litting, in her piece Forgiveness, draws on the wisdom of Jesus’ parables, and the wisdom of Desmont Tutu’s definition of living the spirit of Ubuntu, the theme of the first Quaker World Plenary Meeting in South Africa in 2024.  Rae writes a beautiful article on the healing power of forgiveness in our “broken world”. She provides real insight into the fear that lies behind the recent failure of the Aboriginal Voice to Parliament.

Greg Rolles in  What is Peace? in the context of his involvement in the protest to war exercises on Indigenous land, is challenged to understand the word “peace”. He powerfully raises the key question whether we as citizens of privileged nations are pacified by our culture and our privilege so that we mistake being passive for peace. He asks is there a concealed violence in our pacified lives in the way we implicitly support a system that is doing damage to people of colour and to the environment?

Christine Venner-Westaway , in Reflections on the Disrupt Land Forces Campaign: Melbourne September 2024, portrays how Earthcare,  not Warfare,  was at the centre of this successful effort to disrupt the biennial Land Forces 2024 International Land Defence Exposition largely sponsored by the Australian Government. Thousands of supporters around Australia were involved in this event, with a tangible Quaker presence at its centre.  Christine gives a rousing sense of the real importance of this kind of social action in our times. As English war correspondent Robert Fisk wrote in 2021: “Follow the weapons. If you do not cut the weapons off, wars will never end.”

Fleur Bayley, Project Manager, Cambodia, in her QSA NOTES FEBRUARY 2025, reports on a case study of a young woman given the courage to overcome disabilities through a QSA project partnering with the Khmer Community Development workshop.

QUAKER HISTORY

There is a wonderful piece by Liz Field on Early Quaker History in Australia, the story of a young teenage convict who, was influenced by James Backhouse into becoming a Quaker. It is an intriguing,  quirky narrative culminating in a wonderful portrait of a convict boy who was revered by Quakers at his passing in 1901 at the age of 91.

Jan Blakeney, TRM and FORM, in Finding Dear Friends, explores the history and significance of that favourite Quaker song “Dear Friends” and discovers that it also has a place in the tradition of Plum Village Zen Monastery founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, a community whose focus is on love and peace. Jan discovers the possible source of the song at the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp in the early 1980s.

QUAKER POLICY IN A COMPLEX WORLD

Tim Gee, General Secretary, Friends World Committee for Consultation, World Office, in So We Need a Quaker Testimony on Social Media, confronts us with the challenge that we as Friends face in the context of abuse and misinformation in the realm of Social Media. As Quakers, some of us aspire to use social media as a platform for connecting our vision -based on silence- to the world (as presented by Jon Watt’s Backhouse lecture in 2023: https://www.quakersaustralia.info/resources/backhouse-lectures.  Tim takes us through a range of questions that we need to confront about social media, for example: could appropriate use of Social Media make Quakerism the antidote to Twitter?  Tim argues that we need a Quaker testimony on Social Media to manage the realities of our world today.

Adrian Glamorgan, in Seekers, Attenders and Members Amongst Us, presents a thorough reflection on the reasons why Attenders may choose not to become Members. This is a thought-provoking article which asks Quaker Meetings across the nation to give serious consideration to the path towards Membership. This is especially important at a time where Membership across the nation is declining. What are the causes and implications of this- especially amongst younger Attenders? Might this have anything to do with the way the idea of Membership is framed in our community?  This is the first part of a series in which Adrian raises many questions for us all.

Michael Griffith (incoming Editor): caustfriend@quakersaustralia.info