It is important to treat such writings with some
caution, however. As early Friends wrote in the heat of the new
inspiration they had found, we may read them hoping to catch a little
of that inspiration. While it may inspire us, however, it is nothing
like the inspiration that led to those writings.
We may gain inspiration and insight from them, as
we might from the Bible, from scriptures of other faiths, and from
other spiritual writing from our own or other traditions. I know many
feel they get a lot from the writings of Thích
Nhất Hạnh; I know I have found value in many quotations from
his work.
The important thing is this: as the early Friends
noted, it is important that we look to the “Spirit that gave them
forth”. Second-hand inspiration is not worthless, but it is as
nothing to the inspiration we can gain for ourselves from the
ultimate source.
Read, by all means. There is much that is written,
by Friends and others, that can help us to approach the source, the
seed, the font of all true insight. But do not mistake one for the
other. The record of inspiration is to true inspiration as the shadow
is to that which casts it, as the image is to the original. It cannot
be passed from one to another, but only found, each of us for
ourselves. None of us shall ever have its full measure, but we shall
each find what we are fitted for, if we seek and open ourselves to
the Light.
Written May 2018
