Posted: December 2, 2024   •   Posted in: Faith, Reflections

‘That of God in Everyone’

I enjoyed taking part in a discussion with Discovering Quakers recently, which asked us to consider the above proposition. It connects with Advices and Queries 1, which advises us to take heed   “…of the promptings of love and truth in your hearts. Trust them as the leadings of God…” This clearly indicates that God can be realised within all of us, and that this realisation is inspired by love and truth. What is less certain, however, is what is actually meant by the term “God”.

What this means to me

The phrase is fundamental to my understanding of people and of our spiritual potential. I think of God, in this context, as being akin to a divine light. A light that exists within everyone, but which is occluded by our upbringing and genetic characteristics. We are all brought up in specific circumstances, to learn how to exist and survive within those circumstances. I believe that the way we do this, to differing degrees, may be benevolent or oppressive, depending on the characteristics of this upbringing. It is underneath such characteristics that I believe God exists. Not in benevolent or “good” actions.

Similarly, it feels misguided to regard violent or oppressive behaviour as being indicative of the evil within the perpetrator. Given altered circumstances and upbringing, the roles of the so called good and evil would, as I understand it, be reversed. Underneath both is where God exists.

From contemplation to communication

For me it is important to try and work towards the development of the understanding that there is that of God in all of us, including, of course, ourselves. That God exists equally in the nominally good and evil, in all of us. It is necessary to my understanding that in realising this we cannot help but act this belief out, behaving towards others in recognition of their inherent divinity. I feel that this represents the opposite of getting caught up in making value judgements of individuals., which may be based on the characteristics of that person’s role in the society they live in.

Within Quakerism

For me, one of the attractions of Quakerism is that it offers the potential and opportunity for experiencing and living according to these beliefs. There is no prescriptive guidance on how this can be done, however. It must be experienced by each of us in accordance with our own temperament, although such experience, when actualised, transcends the means employed by the very fact of its realisation.

For me personally, the practice of Silent Worship offers the opportunity of getting beneath thought and identity to get in touch with a collective unity which, as indicated, I believe is within us all. Other people may realise this in other ways which still exist within the scope of Quakerism, such as through the arts or through caring for others. The unifying principle, to return to Advices and Queries 1, is that this realisation, in whatever form it takes, has to be guided by the promptings of love and truth. Without these promptings, any experience of God, however miniscule, cannot be considered authentic.

David W (Beccles Quakers)