Weirdest Way I've Been Religious Lately

[amalnahurriyeh]

In the course of mediating an ethically sticky and potentially explosive conflict about a project I'm working on, I ended up explaining what clearness is, because what I really wanted was for all of us to be clear before we move forward. (Faith and Practice of the New York Yearly Meeting, which is my yearly meeting, defines it as such: "A condition in which there are no perceived obstacles to a proposed course of action by an individual or meeting," but it is also a process used to help individuals or groups who are struggling with difficult issues to prayerfully find a way to work through their issues.)

Now I'm curious. Have any of you ever found yourself reaching for a term or framework or concept that's central to an ethical or religious system of yours, that you suddenly realize isn't one that's going to be collectively understood? Which ones?

Comments

[bookblather]

Mindfulness is a big, big one for me. Like, HUGE. I keep having to explain it and not being sure how to.

[amalnahurriyeh]

I can see that--it's got a kind of "obvious" meaning, but you're going for something specific, and if people don't get it, they're just going to be, like, why is this a deal? Yeah. *nods*

[bookblather]

Yeah, exactly. I imagine "clearness" has the same difficulty; everyone imagines simple clarity, but it's more than that, as I understand you.

[starlady]

Trying to explain consensus to people who don't know Quakerism can be really difficult. Ditto for the peace testimony and situations in which holding it conflicts with the U.S. culture of violence (frex, I don't think the campus police should have guns. You'd be surprised how many people disagree with that statement. I was).

[amalnahurriyeh]

Especially because there is a secular version of consensus, and it's almost-but-not-quite the Quaker version, and explaining the difference requires drawing on a whole lot of background info. *nods enthusiastically*

The peace testimony is hard. I have a lot more personal difficulty with simplicity, but the peace testimony is definitely one of those things that you have to wrestle with a lot when you're among non-Friends.

(Are you actively Quaker, or did you go to Quaker school, or are you just a Philadelphian, lol? My wife is all three, I'm just the first and last.)

[starlady]

I did go to Quaker school for 13 years, and my Quaker high school was in Philadelphia, so I do find myself saying that I'm from Philadelphia at times. I am actively Quaker, though not formally convinced, largely because I find programmed meetings give me the heebie-jeebies and I have not yet sought out a meeting here in the Bay Area that isn't programmed.

I agree re: simplicity.

[amalnahurriyeh]

Totally agree about programmed meetings. If I wanted somebody else to organize my experience of the Divine, I'd still be a Catholic.

I didn't know there *were* programmed meetings in the Bay Area! Our friends go to San Jose Meeting, which is unprogrammed, and I think the one in Cupertino is too--but those are quite far for you. We don't go to meeting up here, because the local meeting is 8 people meeting in a college conference room at 9:30 am with no childcare, and the closest meeting that's kid friendly is an hour away. It makes me sad, though, both for me and for Isk.