Quaker Governance

 Quakers practice an extreme form of democracy (though oddly enough they don't call it that) in which everybody's voice is heard, there are no winners and losers- and nothing gets done without the whole Meeting being in accord.

It is time-consuming, devilishly hard-  requiring levels of patience, forebearance and detachment that stretch human nature to breaking point- and quite often doesn't work.

Then drama happens.

And don't we just revel in drama!

All the same, I can't think of a better way of regulating human affairs. 

We are not, worthy, we are not worthy- and yet......

....Perhaps we can be.

The First Daffodil Of 2025

 

Talk To The Trees

 The trees talk to one another, says the book I'm reading- and not just locally but across continents. The trees are a collective, a unity- and if we hurt them too badly, by trashing the Amazon rain forest for instance- we could lose them all- everywhere.  They'll know they're not wanted and take themselves off. And the answer isn't to plant new forests wholesale, dibbing the saplings into the ground in lines, industrially, unfeelingly, bang,bang, bang- but for us as individuals to plant individual trees with love. They need to be shown we care and we need to make a heart connection- to our mutual benefit- with these- our elder brothers and sisters.....