Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Rex Ambler's Light to Live By

There has been an amazing level of interest expressed in Quaker circles here in the US and abroad in the work of Rex Ambler to explore the experience of early Quakers in arriving at a spiritual state of incredible peace and fulfillment, a state that permitted them to form vibrant communities that felt in some way corporately that they had overcome sin. He spent a lot of time exploring early Friends writings and over a period of time managed to reduce the inner experiences they described to a relatively simple meditative formula that helped him to overcome inner turmoil and unhappiness, and then help others to overcome their deepest problems as well. The process - or "practice" - as he calls it is pretty simple and is laid out on pages 46-47 of his book, Light to Live By: An Exploration of Quaker Spirituality:

• Relax body and mind - Feel weight of your body on chair, release tension in your body. Let worries go and preoccupations. Relax mind and be wholly receptive.
• Let the real concerns of your life emerge – what is really going on in my life? Do not answer from the head. Silence.
• Focus on one issue – one thing that makes you uneasy – try to get a sense of the thing as a whole.
• Ask why it is like that – wait in the light, and let the answer come. Pursue to deepest place
• Welcome whatever answer comes – trust the light. Submit to it and it will show you the way through.
• A different feeling will arise in you about it. Accept it.

He says in the book that when he went around to different Meetings in England and Europe he found that people mostly responded to the practice with great enthusiasm but some few did not take to it. They either were not open to some new way of approaching their worship routine, or they felt it was maybe even a little dangerous to plumb so deep into one's psyche, or that it seemed a little too self-centered. But he no where apparently ran into the objection that the practice totally abandons the biblical language in which early Friends insights were articulated. He starts from the words they used but he soon departs from these words and frames his experience in general meditative language or psychological language that no doubt modern people, even Friends are more comfortable with.

I am not saying here that the practice Ambler has developed is ineffective. It may indeed be helpful and fruitful for many Friends. But my own experience has led me to see the issue of biblical words and the biblical narrative as very important in my spiritual life and I feel that is what I should give testimony to. I have written about this before in my book Leadings: A Catholic's Journey Through Quakerism and I feel it is relevant here. I understand that most people today, at least most people among Friends, are pretty educated and secularized. While they might see the importance of the biblical narrative to early Friends, they feel that the language they used really doesn't resonate with modern people. People in the 17th century, when Fox lived, did not talk in psychological terms about their inner lives. They, like everyone in their society, saw things largely in biblical terms. The world was full of disputes, anger, unfaithfulness, violence - the fruits of man's sin, man's fallen nature. There was no Freud, no Buddhist Meditation around to dabble in. You talked about problems in religious terms. You conquered problems or felt you conquered them by coming to see them conquered through religious commitment. Here are the words George Fox used:

“And when all my hopes in them and in all men were gone, so that I had nothing outwardly to help me, nor could tell what to do, the, Oh then, I heard a voice which said, ‘There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition’, and when I heard it my heart did leap for joy. Then the Lord did let me see why there was none upon the earth that could speak to my condition, namely, that I might give him all the glory; for all are concluded under sin, and shut up in unbelief as I had been, that Jesus Christ might have the pre-eminence, who enlightens, and gives grace, and faith, and power. Thus, when God doth work who shall let [prevent] it? And this I knew experimentally” (Fox's Journal, 11).

Ambler knows from reading all of Fox that what he experienced transformed his life and eventually the lives of many. So he tries to translate that experience out of the Christian, biblical context. But my experience was different. I grew up in 20th century secular America. I had little exposure to religion in my early years. My parents were atheists but I lived with a lapsed Catholic grandfather. I went to church from time to time but it wasn't part of my life in a deep and consistent way. I did hear all the stories of Adam and Eve, of Jacob and Joseph, Moses and Egypt, Jesus in Bethlehem, the cross, the resurrection. You can't grow up anywhere without getting them somehow, however shallow-ly [new word]. When later in my life I came to see the biblical story as very real and important to me, I compared my experience with a scene from the movie, Miracle Worker, about the life of Helen Keller. She had lost her vision and hearing at a very early age - somewhere around 14 months, I think. And as she grew up she learned no way of communicating at all until the teacher Annie Sullivan is hired by her parents to try to tame her. Over the next months, the teacher tries to teach her sign language, felt through symbols impressed on her hands. Helen doesn't really get it. She learns the signs. She accumulates a whole vocabulary but she really doesn't have a clue what the signs and symbols mean. Then in a revelatory moment in the turmoil caused by her behavior, her teacher desperately tries to show her that the signs that spell the word W-A-T-E-R actually do relate to something real - the water she pumps out onto Helen's hands. Somewhere deep in Helen, a link is established between the hand sign and the reality of the water. This revelation opens ALL reality to her because she SEES the link between the game and the world around her and in her. My experience was the same. A moment came in my life when I saw that the biblical narrative and the language used to communicate it were deeply wrapped around my inner spiritual reality, and that Christ was in me to redeem me, guide me and help me live my life. The truth is it doesn't really matter to me if every detail in the narrative is historically or scientifically "true" - it's truth on a deep spiritual plane is very real and completely relevant to me today.

Is the experience one has through that medium the same as you would get through the more detached meditative language? The German title he used to describe his method tells me he thinks it does - Wo Worte Enden. Ambler obviously thinks so, but I doubt it. And the words of scripture are the words the whole cloud of witnesses before have used - even those Quakers we love. If we want the historic community of Quakers to continue with the vibrant spiritual message they gave us, I worry about abandonning the words of God we encounter in the Bible.

4 comments:

  1. Dear Rene,
    What you say resonates well with my own experience in several ways. Having been brought up atheist, I moved through a very bible-based Christianity back to atheism before coming to Quakers (25 years ago) and finding a home. This was deepened and illuminated by discovering the Experiment with Light practice, and I was suddenly finding that much of the New Testament language that I thought had lost its 'salt' for me was now infused with a new and vivid life, a real meaningfulness that I'd never seen before. Your comparision with Helen Keller's experience is apt, but it was also like being 'born again' - not an expression Quakers use much!
    I am on the steering group for the Experiment with Light network in the UK, and one of the things we are considering is the different versions of the meditation/practice that are in use. There are versions of the steps using George Fox's words; using fewer, modern words; and using Bible verses. Other groups have written their own wording. (I do the practice by a phone link with a Catholic friend who prefers Rex's wording.) I wonder if you would like to be part of a discussion on this? Perhaps you could offer a version of the steps using Bible verses? There is one such in the appendix to Seeing Hearing Knowing (an anthology of writings about the Experiment) but I don't know of anyone who has used it. Of course, I am rather assuming that you are still using the practice, in some form. If you would be interested, you could look at the Experiment with Light newsletter/journal on this site:www.experiment-with-light.org.uk, under the resources tab.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi QuakerSusie, It is such a pleasure to receive a response to a post, especially when it is a rather old one - back in 2011. I personally never got involved in the practice set forth by Rex Ambler, but I would be very interested in helping you come up with appropriate biblical passages or references that might be of some value to people who might be using his insights to move along in their spiritual journey. Should the verses or references relate to the six steps I outlined from reading his book? When are they read? I have been doing a lot with the psalms recently and have found them pretty powerful myself. I went to the website you suggested, but still am not sure exactly what kind of questions or how many might be included. If you could give me more specific guidance, I could see if I could put a set of questions together and you can let me know if you think they're good. Have a good new year!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks very much for your offer. I'll try to clarify: Yes, the verses would relate to the six steps, (though it can be simplified to fewer): there is a stilling; then a turning to the Light (the true Light that enlightens every man ...);bringing with one the concerns that rise up when still and prepared. This step is the one where the practitioner may see 'darkness'- troubles, temptations, anxieties, failures. Then attentive waiting: 'standing still in the light' with patience and faith, listening/watching to 'hear' or 'see' what the Light will show. Next is the acceptance of what has been shown, a free submission and giving up of the ego to this new understanding. A final period of thankful delight in what has come, and the hope it brings concludes the steps. This step needs also a reassurance that even if nothing appears to have changed, there is hope. These steps are follwed by a further period of quiet reflection on the experience which might be drawing, writing, walking or still sitting, (etc)- the whole thing taking about an hour as a practice. The steps are read out, or played as a recording for Experiment with Light practitioners either alone or with a group. One verse or prompt is read, then a pause of about 6 or 7 minutes. I don't think they have to be in the form of questions, but they are directions.
    I am sure your Bible knowledge will help in finding the references that point towards the 'worship in spirit and in truth' and the 'temple not made with hands' that Fox was often referring to. Some versions combine stages to make only five steps, others, expand to make up to seven. Don't feel constrained to a specific number of 'stops' but the point is to follow the journey or process. I await your ideas with enthusiasm!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The problem with your discussion, René and Suzie, is that I want to know the results! I too am a Quaker - France-based, which is quite a rare bird. I too originate from a "luke-warm" Catholic family and though I'm not at all keen on RC hierarchy, many of my favorite spiritual writers are Catholics on the periphery (Richard Rohr ofm, Anthony de Mello sj, John Martin osb). Because Friends are few and far between in France, my family and I are also part of the mainline Calvinist church where I am a lay-preacher, and very much a bible-based lay preacher. I am obviously in favour of Quaker openness to other religious traditions - I myself have studied to differing degrees various religions - but I do believe it is important to keep our Christian heritage as a base, an anchor. Christianity and the Bible is where we come from. With European Section Friends, I am currently holding in the light the 'project' of itinerant Bible-teaching and Bible-preaching (!) within Europe and the U.K.. However, I do believe that the Buddhists-in-the-West beat the Christians hands-down in terms of using modern, accessible language and language that doesn't turn people "off".
    I have heard of the "Experiment with light" only recently and I'm interested in it very much - but I think an attempt to tie it back to the Bible is really worthwhile, at least for some.
    Please keep me informed ! eric.callcut@gmail.com
    In friendship,
    Eric

    ReplyDelete