Page 16 - News and Views Spring 2023

We can now reflect on a chant from the Native American tradition, called ‘May The Great Spirit’.
This is their way of expressing the totality of the Divinity. The words are: May the Great Spirit grant
you peace of Mind, May peace be there in everything you find, may peace be there in all you leave
behind.’

Control of the breath is a huge area, and we can find it in Hinduism, Buddhism, yoga and so many
other traditions. Control of the breath can restore and maintain internal peace, which is a key ideal
for mystics, as of course it is for Quakers. So many groups have a parting blessing such as ‘Peace
be with you’, Shalom Aleichem’, ‘A salaam aleichum’ and ‘Pax vobiscum’. Different words but the
same underlying empathy across ethnic and religious boundaries.

Many if not all of us will have come across ‘The Golden Rule’. Virtually every religion has the same
concept which pretty much translates as ‘Act towards others as you would want them to act towards
you.’ ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ . Jesus and Leviticus.

The parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates this. A man was attacked by thieves on a lonely road
and left for dead. Two self-conscious holy men passed by without helping him, because the rules of
the Sabbath were interpreted to mean that they should not. A Samaritan, a member of a despised
race, came and helped the injured man, taking him to an inn and paying for his care. We can see
from this parable that Jesus himself put love and kindness before the religious laws with which he
had been brought up.

Another key practice of certain forms of mysticism is self-effacement. There is a struggle within each
of us to overcome the selfish self – the vain, greedy one - and to rise above it to become a channel
for the higher Self, the spirit, the soul. What George Fox called that of God in everyone. The higher
Self has a pure desire to realise its unity with the divine reality.

There is a story of a little river which cannot get to the sea because its way is blocked by a burning
desert. The little river would sink and disappear into the hot sands. Then the wind comes and offers
to pick up the river and carry it across the desert and drop it into the sea. At first, the river is afraid
because it has only ever travelled along the ground, but the wind is patient and at last the river
surrenders itself to evaporate into the wind and be transported to and dropped as rain into the sea.
Like all such stories, this is a metaphor on at least one level.

Here is a short Hindu story about self-effacement. The god Krishna married a human woman,
Radhe: a symbol of the love between the divine and humanity. Once Krishna had to leave the city
and later a rumour spread that he had returned but could not be found. All the people but one ran
through the city calling Where is Krishna, where is Krishna? But Radhe was running and calling
Where is Radhe, where is Radhe? Because she so closely identified with Krishna that she knew that
that was what he would be calling.

William Dewsbury wrote: If anyone has received any good or benefit through this vessel called
William Dewsbury, give God the glory; I’ll have none, I’ll have none, I’ll have none. 1688 QF&P 19.33

Another story, this time looking at human fallibility. A prophet was walking in the hills when he heard
a shepherd boy praying. ‘Oh God, I love you so much – if you were one of my lambs, I would wrap
you up and hold you and feed you.’ The prophet stopped and rebuked the boy: ‘How dare you speak

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