Well, frankly it had been a bitch of a week at work.
We were finishing off a three week module about networking - a subject about which I know a little of the theory but next to nothing of the practice. So, Dave had been doing most of the teaching with me hovering in the background. We had completed the syllabus and, in a move suggested by the students, had decided to cover all of the four hour assignments in one day - all 18 of them. With 20 PCs in the room, this meant allocating two sittings as each candidate required two machines (you can't network with only one machine).
Anyway, we did it - thus royally pissing on our other colleagues who said it couldn't be done.
By 4pm, I was in our car and heading up to the Lake District to take part in an
Attenders' Gathering at Swarthmoor Hall. So, you ask, what does he mean by this?
Well, as you know I have been attending Quaker Meeting for a time now. Although
I would say that I am a Quaker, I am not a member of the Religious Society of Friends.
I currently occupy a special niche as an Attender in that I enjoy the Meetings for
Worship but have no official recognition within the Society itself.
I was at Swarthmoor Hall to find out more.
Let me say that, as a result of the weekend, I feel it is more likely that I shall, in the fullness of time, enter membership. But I ended up with more questions than answers.
There are many, many things that I like about the Quaker stance on matters spiritual. Access to the divine is not defined. There is no spiritual gatekeeper in the form of a priest. Everyone is a spiritual conduit. There is no such thing as a laity. You are judged by your actions as well as by your words. Quakers have an admirable history of being involved in some of the greatest social reforms of the past 200 years.
There are a number of things that I don't like. There is as much bluster and fudge as there is openness. And there is a lot of arrogant complacency. Part of the attitude is that people find the Quakers when they are ready for us. But that doesn't seem to be good enough to me. How can people find you if they do not know that you are there? How will people be drawn to you if the do not know what you stand for? How will people seek answers from you if their questions lead them elsewhere?
I found that, over the weekend, there were equal parts of joy, hope, anger, frustration, laughter, bewilderment, etc. I've come away with a sense that I want to understand more about what it is to be a Quaker. I may get involved nationally with their training programme. And I may become a member. I certainly felt very different as I drove home from the feelings inside me as I drove up there.