Inspiration
Building a New Foundation for Spirit-Led Ecojustice Action:
The Role of Emergent Values in Prophetic Witness
As Quakers, we’re called to notice how prophetic witness influences our lives. What is prophetic witness? It’s the idea that the spirit may inspire us to recognize an injustice, or to seek what is good, just, true or somehow right, before the world completely or clearly perceives it.
Prophetic witness points to an unrealized ideal. It is an act of faithfulness, of fidelity to the work of spirit within the stream of our lives. We have come to recognize prophetic witness at work through Quaker role models: George Fox, Margaret Fell, William Penn, Mary Dyer, Benjamin Lay, Anthony Benezet, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, Bayard Rustin…to name a few.
Those who give voice to prophetic witness channel the work of the spirit within the world. They are not perfect. We do not see them as saints, or as more than human. As Quakers, we can all hope to see ourselves joyfully carrying forward their tradition of courageous openness to continuing revelation.
We say “courageous” because prophetic witness calls us to move against the grain. So, we encounter disturbances to our individual, internal sense of peace—between active Quakers and the outside world; and within Quaker communities.
Quakers, of course, seek peace. Yet our commitment to nonviolence does not insulate us from conflict and pain in spiritual work. On the contrary, our openness to spirit may infuse our lives with turmoil. Lives that speak—lives of integrity, lives synchronized with the energy of spiritual revelation—are tumultuous adventures. Prophetic witness that begins as a “still, small, voice” can become an unsettling roar.
The struggle comes in part from sincere and tender wrestling with those who do not share our sense of mission, truth, or urgency. Because there is mutual respect in this wrestling, there is discernment. The spirit speaking through us also speaks through others.
The Quaker process is hard work. But on our way, we change hearts—ours and others. Sometimes we come up with a better way forward than anyone could have anticipated. All the while, our struggle involves discerning right action, and summoning the integrity to walk our talk.
In the Spirit of SPICES,
Can a Set of Emergent Values Focus Ecojustice Work?
If we are to integrate Quaker life with Earth’s systems and communities, that is because we are led to do so. Paul Buckley (author of the Pendle Hill pamphlet Quaker Testimony: What We Witness to the World and many other Quaker publications), observes:
What is essential is that the source—the origin—is not our reason or our tradition or our personal preferences. So, for example, if I engage in peace work because it makes me look good to people I admire, it isn’t a testimony. It may well be good work, valuable work, important work, but it isn’t a testimony. Second, you must testify to a testimony. In other words, it has to be public behavior…
This invokes the “integrated life”—one in which our daily decisions mesh with our set of values.