Anger Is An Energy
May. 12th, 2025 09:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo We sat in the front row, holding up a phone to film the talk. Harvey warned us he danced around a lot. And so he does. The rock 'n' roll recording we made will end up on the Eastbourne Quaker website.
Harvey Gillman is one of British Quakerisms strongest voices. He's Jewish, mystical, a bit Zen, gay and very very angry. He goes to the Rye Meeting and we're very lucky to have him in Sussex East. He writes books. He writes poems.
His title was "Spirituality in an Age of Anxiety". He asked us to define spirituality- or, rather, not define it- because that would be theology (perish the thought) but to give him our feelings about it. I said "freedom" and if I hadn't had my turn I might also have said "openness".
He talked about his anger at the state of the world. "Anger is guilt turned outwards," he suggested, quoting someone or other. I used to be very angry myself and gave it up- because my mantra is that it's fear turned outwards- but guilt is a more complex, more equivocal emotion than fear and now, thanks to him, I'm wondering if I should be angrier....
A thunderstorm passed over us last night. I could feel the air shivering as it came closer and closer. In the event we were only brushed by its skirts but I think other places, further inland, will have really received a hammering.
Harvey Gillman is one of British Quakerisms strongest voices. He's Jewish, mystical, a bit Zen, gay and very very angry. He goes to the Rye Meeting and we're very lucky to have him in Sussex East. He writes books. He writes poems.
His title was "Spirituality in an Age of Anxiety". He asked us to define spirituality- or, rather, not define it- because that would be theology (perish the thought) but to give him our feelings about it. I said "freedom" and if I hadn't had my turn I might also have said "openness".
He talked about his anger at the state of the world. "Anger is guilt turned outwards," he suggested, quoting someone or other. I used to be very angry myself and gave it up- because my mantra is that it's fear turned outwards- but guilt is a more complex, more equivocal emotion than fear and now, thanks to him, I'm wondering if I should be angrier....
A thunderstorm passed over us last night. I could feel the air shivering as it came closer and closer. In the event we were only brushed by its skirts but I think other places, further inland, will have really received a hammering.
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Date: 2025-05-12 09:50 am (UTC)