Page 7 - Edition Summer 22 News and Views revised 31.05.pub (Read-Only)

underpins all organisations. But the one thing they all have in common is culture. They all have
one and they vary widely but they have them. I have seen some firms retain the same culture
through many changes of ownership and management structures and personnel, but the
recognisable ‘character’ of the organisation remains the same. Other firms chop and change and
without a consistency of culture and without a degree of “joie de vivre” they have difficulty in
surviving. This is my fear for Quakers; we have let joy pass us by.

Our obsession with righting the woes of this world, supposedly on a vehicle of compassion and
often egged on by invoking one or other of our testimonies, has been incessant and unrelenting
for at least a decade. This campaigning and politicking has so squeezed the joy out of our
community (that I feel is motivated more by personal issues rather than the love of God.) I doubt
not the sincerity of all the causes and campaigns (although patently, there is a very left-wing
influence within us. It loses no opportunity to abandon discernment and adopt judgement and
partisanship if it can be directed in the direction of a different political colour to its own).

So where is the joy in our meetings? Has it gone out of the door with a departing Friend leaving
in a tiff? Has joy sagged its shoulders in despair at the constant flood of concerns and causes, is
there an overwhelming rise of egos? Has joy just stepped back into the shadows or has it left for
good with departed friends? Have we allowed our Society just to be a home for those seeking a
secular cause or a home for those of a dominant disposition to carry on doing their thing? Some
causes, however good they are, become a vehicle for the dissipation of personal energies rather
than a meritorious objective. (Having an itch to scratch does not make one's fingernails spirit led.)

I look with sadness at those in office and see how the burdens of their roles impact them. Theirs
is not a happy lot although I don’t doubt that there is also a degree of spiritual succour brought
about by their service, it seems to me, to be precious little. This is evidenced by the constant
stream of those laying down tasks and our Meeting now breaching time honoured and proven
practice of the Nominations Process by calling for volunteers. The culture of our organisation has
changed, and I feel that a key indicator for this is that joy has departed. Or might it be said that
joy has been driven out.

In writing this letter I looked back at an article of mine printed in News and Views in 2010. I
warned then about gradual changes in our culture and I am deeply shocked that the fears
expressed then have manifested themselves to such a degree.

There is a remedy of course. We at least, need to bring the joy back into our meetings, to
recognise that WIFM is a reality and not a selfishness, and that if folk are not nurtured by the
culture within meetings then they will not engage. It would help if we were less secular in our
outlook, more spiritual in our practice, and happy in our thoughts?

Well, it’s just a thought.

st
First written1 Feb 2022
Submitted after further thought 10th April 2022

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