How to Let Your Life Speak

by Alexander Green

I had never been a Peeping Tom before...

But last week the clerk at a local bookstore in Nantucket suggested I walk a few blocks over to see the historic Parliament House, a Quaker Meeting House built in the 1700s and now situated at 10 Pine St.

Since the front door was locked and no one answered, I walked around the building and stood on my tiptoes, peering in the windows. Only later that day did I learn that the Parliament House is no longer a museum but rather a private residence and that I'm lucky no one called the authorities to report a tall, middle-aged man outside with his nose pressed against the windowpane.

Oops.

I was on Nantucket as a break from an investment conference on Cape Cod twenty-nine miles north. The ferry ride over is an easy trip and poking around the downtown art galleries, museums and bookshops is a fine way to spend a late-summer afternoon.

The island is beguiling - and full of history. (If you go, don't miss the Nantucket Whaling Museum, listed by international travel writer Andrew Harper as "One of 10 U.S. Places to Visit Before You Die.") Nantucket has one of the highest concentrations of pre-Civil War structures in the United States. Both its mid-nineteenth century charm and architectural beauty are well preserved.

The first settlers to formally organize on Nantucket were Quakers. Let me confess that, unless I'm looking at a box of oatmeal, I don't generally think much about Quakers. But they have a fascinating history.

Quakerism originated in mid-17th century England. Members called themselves the Society of Friends, since they were "Friends of one another, Friends of Truth and Friends of God."

Their religious practices conflicted with the Church of England, however, and they were aggressively prosecuted. Their leader George Fox - who believed all people are guided by an "Inner Light" and don't need a minister or priest to act as a spiritual intermediary - survived eight imprisonments and numerous beatings.

Many Quakers left for the New World in search of religious freedom. But they didn't find it, at least not initially. Puritans and other New England Protestants - many of whom had arrived to escape their own persecution - were highly intolerant.

And not just for theological reasons. Quakers refused to take oaths. They wouldn't serve in the militia. They wouldn't pay taxes to the established church. They wouldn't remove their hats except for worship. And because of their belief that every person is of equal worth, they refused to bow in deference to aristocrats and public officials.

When two Quaker women appeared in Boston in 1656, Governor John Endicott ordered them searched for signs of witchcraft. He let them go but laws were soon passed to keep Friends away. First-time Quaker visitors to Boston were "whipped out." If they had the audacity to return, they were to be hanged. (And some were.) Fines were imposed for even communicating with them.

Nantucket, however, was remote, tolerant and secular. Quakers there were free to manage their affairs - and to leave their stamp on the island.

On Fair Street, I visited a Friends Meeting House from 1864 preserved by the Nantucket Historical Association. These Quaker places of worship are famous for their austerity and simple grace. Aesthetically, they are about as far from St. Peter's Basilica as you can get - and yet there is something enormously appealing about them.

Quakers practice an unadorned simplicity in all outward things, including modesty and plainness in dress. Meetings are mostly silent. The quiet atmosphere is meant to lead to a shared state of spiritual community. When a member of the assembly rises to speak, it is to share his or her "Inner Light."

What do Quakers believe? Despite their Christian roots, that's not an easy question to answer.

According to Robert Lawrence Smith, author of A Quaker Book of Wisdom, "Quakerism is the only faith that is most commonly explained in a cascade of negatives. Quakerism has no theology, no body of religious dogma, no sacred books, no written creed. Traditional Quaker worship does not involve a minister, priest or other religious leader. There is no liturgy. There are no crucifixes or other religious images in Quaker Meetinghouses or homes."

Quaker wedding services are a simple exchange of vows between bride and groom. When Quakers bury their dead, the term funeral hardly applies. No prayers are offered, no pastor presides, and only a few quiet words of gratitude for the life of the deceased are spoken. Mourners do not speculate on the afterlife. For Quakers, death is the end of life as we know it. What comes after remains a mystery. It is enough that a life has brought joy and love.

By the 1820s, the number of Quakers on Nantucket had declined sharply. The Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 were disastrous for the Society of Friends. Not because of casualties but because they refused to participate. Strict pacifists, they cited the words of their Peace Testimony: We utterly deny all outward wars and strife, and fighting with outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretense whatsoever.

This can be an appealing notion when a nation is caught up in a senseless or futile war. But not all wars are senseless. As historian Bruce Thornton notes, "Pacifism is the transitory luxury of a people whose security has been earned by the bravery and militarism of earlier generations."

Most Quakers today would probably agree. More than half of all draft-eligible Quaker men in the United States served in the Second World War, a conflict that inspired a clear moral choice.

It is estimated that there are less than 120,000 Quakers in the U.S. today, and roughly 250,000 in other parts of the world. It is doubtful that theirs will ever be more than a small religious denomination.

Yet there is food for thought here. Quakers believe we should search within for truth and reach out to help others, that we should be more forgiving of others' shortcomings and less forgiving of our own.

They stress a commitment to truth. Living honestly means you don't have to wrestle with your conscience. You don't have to make up excuses. You don't have to worry about your reputation. Aside from issues of morality, honesty simplifies your life. As Mark Twain pointed out, if you stick to the truth you don't have to remember anything.

The pursuit of truth also means Quakers never view scientific inquiry as a threat. It is simply another part of the search for greater understanding.

Quakers also emphasize that as we age we grow in wisdom and are often in a position to share it with those around us. We shouldn't miss those opportunities.

As George Fox said, "Let your life speak." The Quaker leader taught that your true self is not what you profess or what you believe. It's the way you conduct yourself in your public and private affairs - the way in which, for better or worse, you let your life speak.

We can all benefit from the sustenance that Quaker wisdom provides. In a culture where success is often judged by what you own, what you wear or what you drive, it's advocacy of conscience, simplicity, truth and silent contemplation provide a timeless framework, a guideline for living.

Quaker wisdom reminds us to focus on the essential, keep first things first and live to the point.

How? By setting an example... and letting your life speak.