Page 5 - SPRING 2024 News and Views

Thoughts on Discovering Spirituality, continued. Kit Pearce

Introduction:
Thank you to each of the four contributors below, who kindly agreed to share their reactions to and early
reflections about September’s retreat. I hope readers find their replies as interesting and compelling as I
did.

What were your first impressions on arrival?

Khaled Jajaan:
Attender at Bournemouth Meeting *

‘I have a cloud of admiration for Park Place. To me, it is a very wide and deep space. I see many details
that reveal the spirit of history, the spirit of those who have gone before. I sense the spirits of the past,
unseen but felt, who see and hear their visitors. I believe they are happy to see how Park Place welcomes
its many visitors.’

Arthur Charlton: Member of Stoke Newington Meeting House, North London.
Attends the Bournemouth Meeting most summers.

‘I’ve been conscious of feeling welcomed. Sometimes I can feel on edge in groups, a bit disconnected,
you know? Here I feel connected to the people attending. I haven’t experienced social anxiety here, I feel
so comfortable.’

Leesa Lambert: Member of Stoke Newington Meeting House, North London.
Attends the Bournemouth Meeting most summers.

‘I found it very open. It was easy to connect with the community that formed here among us. It’s been
easy to talk to people and I feel part of the Quaker community forming here.’

Izzy Collins:
Attender at Bournemouth Meeting.
‘Every person has been a genuine friend, in the regular colloquial sense of the word. That’s been joyous.’

What thoughts about spirituality – and what it might mean for you – have come to mind so far?

Khaled Jajaan:
‘To me, gathering in our spiritual journey emphasises that the spirit is in all parts and those parts are in
all. Sometimes what I hear others speak [sic] is like a light switched on within me. The spirit-fuel lights
up. Then, when that spirit-fuel is consumed by me, it become [sic] fuel that sparks a light within other
Quakers too, causing them to consume it too. Then all parts become one.’

Arthur Charlton:
‘That’s a hard one; difficult to pin down. I use the word ‘spirit’ a lot. I like to look into the meaning and
use of words… it’s often my starting point. It can mean the spirit of things. Or different approaches to
things, like ‘things done in the right spirit’. And different situations require us to summon a different
spirit. Every place has a spirit, too, I think. I trained as an architect and so I’m often attuned to spaces
and a sense of place…’

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