CONFESSIONS DURING A QUAKER MEETING: Some reflections on religious experience God – I have tried to ken Your Greatness in silence & contemplate Thy Wonders with this little brain but often all I'm left with the pettiness of my small thoughts and dry, fossilized feelings of disdain. Sometimes however all "I" evaporates and on hard oak wood benches & shuffles of the instant disappear: then and then only does silence make sense And Your Blessed Spirit Seem Near. When there is no "self" to contain or contend with or profane The Burning Bush of Thy Glory outshines the blatherings of this day: only then is there worship. Alas, dross that I am this realization invariably fades into the blades of the gristmill of consciousness yet sometimes a few kernels remain. Devani: Can't we worship God a hundred thousand different ways? Anya: (raising his eyebrows) Who said that there is actually any god to worship? Men invent gods for their own convenience. The entire concept is merely a socio-political construct. Carlos: (pausing) Uhm, haven't you had a experience of a peace that passeth all understanding? Without such experience, religion might indeed seem like a sort of social enterprise. However, the roots of faith go much deeper. Brice: (shrugging his shoulders) Folks have been yapping 'bout this topic for centuries - and killing each other over dogmatic controversies. To me, it all seems like mere idiot's play. Why can't we admit there is little we know for certain. ===================================================================================== from POEATIONS: Explorations in meta-poetry by T Newfields Summary: Thoughts about the limits of spiritual experience and the construct of religion. Keywords: spirituality vs. religion, Quakerism, noetic awareness, transcendent experiences Author: T Newfields [Nitta Hirou / Huáng Yuèwǔ] (b. 1955 - ?) Begun: 2013 in Tokyo, Japan ☆ Finished: 2023 in Yokohama, Japan Creative Commons License: Attribution. {{CC-BY-4.0}} Granted LAST: https://www.tnewfields.info/Poeations/shure.htm TOC: https://www.tnewfields.info/Poeations/index.html NEXT: https://www.tnewfields.info/Poeations/script.htm