There's a word in the title of this post that most
readers probably won't be familiar with. So, let's clear that up
first. Exoteric is simply the
converse of esoteric –
where the latter refers to things that are secret, or meaningful only
to a select audience, possibly highly theoretical, the former refers
to things that are for a general or universal audience. I suppose
that, in wider use of the English language, there is a cultural
assumption of exotericism, so only the esoteric needs to be referred
to as such. However, it becomes clear as one spends time among
Quakers that, in practice, our discourse and our activities are not
really exoteric.
A recent
piece of written ministry on this blog suggests that this is not
essential to Quaker practice or theory; that our spiritual life
should be accessible to all, not without effort but, perhaps, without
bewilderment. And yet we have our own peculiar language, our own
idioms, largely made up of relatively normal words being used in our
own unique ways. This leading to bewilderment of newcomers or
visitors is hardly surprising.
It's perfectly
understandable that we have such a language, of course. Not only does
every community, from cultural to occupational, develop such an
argot, but Quakers have, over our history, been trying to deal with
complex, novel ideas about spirituality, faith, religious practice
and how to live; for whatever reason, rather than develop entirely
new terminology, existing terminology was repurposed. Quaker
neologisms (or, more specifically, protologisms) are few, but the
words and phrases that have undergone semantic shift to take on new,
specifically Quaker meanings, are manifold. To “hold in the Light”,
our practice of “discernment”, even coded phrases such as “that
name would not occur to me”. The roles in our Meetings – clerk,
elder, overseer – are all words that sound like people should know
what they mean, but they won't. Even the practice of signing off
letters and emails “in friendship”, declining to use titles, or
addressing one another as “Friend”.
You might say, at
least we have not made up new words, though that might be preferable
in some cases. After all, if a person hears a word they do not know
at all, they know that they do not know what it means; if they hear a
familiar word used in an unfamiliar way, they may not realise that
they do not understand it in the sense intended by the speaker. On
the other hand, it is my experience that an existing word repurposed
is easier to get into the habit of using – and generally won't
cause confusion in pronunciation.
As with any
argot, or to use the term most Quakers seem to hate, jargon,
there are a number of roles being served, and I'm sure much debate
could be had over which of them are most important within our
community. The two principle roles usually considered for such
languages are the practical, and the social. The practical role is in
expressing ideas or concepts that are unique or especially important
to the group, allowing rapid conversation without having to use
complex phrases to express complex ideas, where those ideas are
generally understood by members of the group. The social role is
simply to mark membership, to differentiate the in-group from the
out-group; members of the group are identified by their fluency with
the terminology.
I am sure that
most Quakers would react defensively at the suggestion that this
social role plays any part in our use of unique language. However,
one shouldn't dismiss this role as purely a matter of exclusion. The
use of language as a marker is a subtle, relatively accessible way of
people being able to mark themselves as being part of a community,
and being accepted as such. In a sense, while it excludes those who
are not part of the group, it gives a way those who wish to be part
of the group to indicate their self-inclusion implicitly. This is not
a trivial benefit.
However, our free
and frequent use of our Quaker argot does render even our everyday
conversations among ourselves esoteric. If we believe that we have a
message, a spiritual path, that should be open to all, if our
Meetings for Worship are public in any meaningful sense, that
esotericism is counter to that goal. If we wish our Meetings to grow,
if we wish more people to be convinced, we must become more exoteric.
Even if, like me, you don't want to get people in at any cost, if you
want us to be found by those who would benefit by finding us, it
makes practical sense that people can come in and understand things
as easily as possible – preferably, even to those who are not
beneficiaries of advanced education (yes, I know, the language I use
on this blog, pot, kettle, black – I never said I was perfect).
This time, I
don't have any clear ideas how to do this. It's something we need to
think about, discuss, and work out together. Get enquirers and the
recently convinced involved, and find out what they struggled with.
Look at how we can make our language more inclusive without losing
its expressiveness. We have a wonderful message to the world, and a
path that is rewarding. Our experience and our methods are our pearl
of great price. Let's make it so those who seek after it aren't
scared off by obscure language and strange phrases – but see if we
can't find ways to do that without losing our unique and characterful
use of language.
