Prophylactic
Jul. 1st, 2023 08:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo What do Quakers think about swearing? This was a topic that came up in conversation the other day.
The answer seems to be "Not a lot." And you can take that in either sense. It's not something they make a point of condemning in their literature, but neither do they think it's particularly clever.
They do, of course, have a thing about not taking oaths- but it's the other kind of swearing we're talking about here.
It is noticeable that we all avoid saying "fuck" when we're in the Meeting House. I'm often tempted but I resist.
How about blasphemy?
I said blasphemy was a prophylactic against idolatry.
And our clerk chimed in with one of my favourite Zen one-liners. "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!"
The answer seems to be "Not a lot." And you can take that in either sense. It's not something they make a point of condemning in their literature, but neither do they think it's particularly clever.
They do, of course, have a thing about not taking oaths- but it's the other kind of swearing we're talking about here.
It is noticeable that we all avoid saying "fuck" when we're in the Meeting House. I'm often tempted but I resist.
How about blasphemy?
I said blasphemy was a prophylactic against idolatry.
And our clerk chimed in with one of my favourite Zen one-liners. "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!"
