Aphorism 1

Divine Wisdom

We treasure wisdom. Wisdom is not the amassing of knowledge and the ability to recall it at appropriate moment. Wisdom is not the understanding of diverse fields of study. Wisdom is not the ability to predict the outcomes of different courses of action. Wisdom is more, and less, than that.

Wisdom is not intellect, for great wisdom may come from those who cannot claim any great intelligence. It is not reason, for it need not follow any line of thought or logic. It is not intuition, for we can often see its sense once it is revealed.

What Is The Real Crisis In Masculinity?

There are those who talk of a crisis in masculinity. When those terms are used, it seems that it is usually to refer to an erosion of what some see as traditional masculinity – a feminisation of society, or particularly of men.

To some today, it might not be clear what some of those terms mean – particularly “traditional masculinity” or “feminisation”. Gender expectations are shifting, and weakening, in much of the global economic north (and in many other parts of the world, albeit in different ways). This is actually what some of the people who speak of a crisis in masculinity are talking about, though I'll explore what it means in some more detail later on.

Maxim 1

What I Fear

I have fears, when I write things like this. When I write down what I am led to write, or when I sit down to write deliberately, certain worries are always on my mind.

There are the usual worries of anyone writing things others will read, of course. Have I written this well? Is it understandable? Will people criticise harshly, perhaps even mock me?

When writing down ministry, there are extra worries. Have I faithfully rendered that which has been given to me? How sure am I of the leading?

Thoughts On Outreach

You may be aware that I recently posted some written ministry concerning outreach, asking why we are so quiet. I didn't mean in worship, of course; silent worship with contributions moved by the Spirit is at heart of the Quaker way. I mean how we are in the world beyond our little Meeting communities. I have written somewhat about this before, concerning the spiritual and moral imperative I see in outreach. It seems timely to put down some other thoughts on the matter.

I can understand a lot of reasons for reticence to engage in outreach. I can understand less the reticence I have seen among some Friends for others to engage in outreach, in general. You might be unsure of how to talk about Quakerism. You might not be generally socially outgoing. You might feel awkward at the idea of talking about your faith tradition as being a good thing. These are all valid. Some of them can be overcome, but none of them are things that you should feel you must overcome. Just because outreach is something that should happen, doesn't mean that everyone should be engaging in it. Indeed, I've sometimes seen people doing outreach who I would much rather weren't, but that's a whole other matter.

Coming Soon – Maxims and Aphorisms

Thanks to everyone's feedback, largely on Facebook, I've come to a decision about how I'll be sharing the very short ministry I mentioned recently.

For the next 16 weeks, or longer if more come to me, I will be sharing one of these pieces, what I call “maxims and aphorisms”, each week. I will aim to do them on Saturdays, around lunchtime (UK time). Hopefully this will mean a lot of you get to digest and reflect on them at the weekend, though that of course supposes that Friends (and others who are interested) tend to have Monday-to-Friday jobs, which is a bit of a problem. However, I have to pick some particular time to do them, and that's it.

The Personalness of Morality

Ethics and morality are odd things. Sometimes it's clear that an ethical belief is something we hold to be universal – that there can be no question that something is wrong. Sometimes it's clear that it's a personal thing – that we hold for ourselves that that thing is completely wrong, but do not expect others to share that belief.

This isn't just a matter of different beliefs fitting different categories, though. It's also a matter of different people or ethical systems having different views of relativism. Very few people would extend moral relativism to murder or slavery in the modern context (though there are those who do), but many people (though far from all) are ready to see ethical beliefs about drugs, alcohol or sex as matters of personal morality.

What To Do About Very Short Ministry?

Good things in small packages?

What originally drove me to start this blog was my written ministry. This came to me, as I have previously written, with as much compulsion as any spoken ministry in meeting, and after writing it down in obedience to that leading I was led to share it. Once I came to the conclusion that a blog was a good way to do this, it made sense to write what I chose to write as well. I refer to this as “deliberate writing” in order to differentiate it, on the basis of the primary differentiating factor. Such writing has become slightly numerically dominant on the blog, though it swings the other way when I'm going through periods, as recently, with not much time for deliberate writing. Written ministry comes as it will, and I write it down and share it when I have it. Deliberate writing needs me to choose to do it rather than something else.

There is a set of written ministry that I have not yet shared, however, and the leading to do so is generating a considerable amount of discomfort. The problem is that I also know that I should share it in the most effective way that I can, and I have no idea what that would be.

Morality, Action, and Inaction

The moral value of a course is determined by both motives and outcomes, and that value is attached to us by our decisions – whether that be a decision to act, or not to act. Inaction holds no inherent moral superiority over action.

Written July 2018