Thought for Fourth Month, 2013

All Fools Day

As it is written, "Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him." [Paul, quoting Isaiah 64:4]

But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.

Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one. "For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?" [Isaiah 40:13] But we have Christ’s mind.

—Paul, 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 (World English Bible)

The ego is the fixed earth's agent in us; the soul is the heaven's. The ego is concerned with centers, the soul lives on margins, circumferences, horizons. Limitlessness is the natural element of the soul, a dread foe of the ego.

Mystical vision is the way the soul sees. It has no object. It does not occur because something unusual has come into view and demands to be looked at. The ego looks for something new within its field, while the field remains the same.

—John P. Carse
Breakfast at the Victory: The Mysticism of Ordinary Experience (81)

What's NEW: Events of Concern & New Links

• U.S. Movement to Save Palestinian Villages - A project of GlobalGiving
  • This January, demolitions in the West Bank nearly tripled, displacing 251 Palestinians including children. While Palestinian & Israeli peacemakers work together to protect at-risk homes & livelihoods, few hear of their efforts. Because every U.S. Senator & Representative promises "to intervene on behalf of constituents who need assistance with any urgent issue before a federal agency", citizens must learn to ask them to intercede with the State Dept. on behalf of communities they care about.

• Wealth Inequality in America - YouTube video with infographics on the distribution of wealth in America, highlighting both the inequality and the difference between our perception of inequality and the actual numbers.

• "Consider what your faith calls upon you to do..." (Scroll down to the 2/11/2013 story) - A report on Quaker Youth preparations for March for Rights, Respect and Fair Food on the Coalition of Immolakee Workers website
  • SEYM Youth Fair Food Campaign - Asking Publix management to pay 1 cent more per pound for Fair Trade tomatoes
  • Read the full text of the Quaker Youth letter

• AFSC meeting/church liaison program - A direct connection between an individual Quaker meeting/church and American Friends Service Committee
  • Local liaisons volunteer or are appointed to help AFSC and Quaker congregations to work for peace and justice.
  • Details in brochure and text formats


• Thomas Merton’s Advice to Peacemakers - Jim Forest, International Thomas Merton Society conference, Memphis, Tennessee, June 8, 2007

• .Revising the FCNL Policy Statement in 2013 - An invitation to Friends to participate in reviewing and revising the Friends Committee on National Legislation policy.

Note: Friends are encouraged to send suggestions for added topics of concern and for links or other content to Mike Shell.