One of the allegations made about theologically
pluralistic liberal Quakerism is that it feeds ego; that if we all
have our own path that may look dramatically different from another
Friends, we may become dominated, each individually and the Meeting
and wider community of Friends collectively, by the worst sort of
individualism. If we are all following our individual leadings, at
least in terms of our spiritual development, it is all too easy to be
led astray by our subconscious (or conscious) desires. Where a
regimented, hierarchical faith community with a central authority can
be a check on individual development through doctrine and review by
the clerical hierarchy, a levelled faith community such as that of
Friends can only apply any such check through a sort of collective
supervision.
This is, frankly, obviously true in a logical
sense. What is less obvious is how much of a problem it is in
reality, and – related to that – what level of supervision, or
even collective control, is appropriate.
