Simplicity

We should not be here – simplicity is a course of action across the broad spectrum of life, not a philosophical debate, but this is a counsel of perfection!

No word is a window. What does simplicity mean to you?

Quaker simplicity carries great weight of influence involving all life and action, thought, speech, choices, - the caution here is that it is not simple to go to endless lengths to be simple.

Quaker marriage and Quaker choice to affirm in court are both legacies of the reputation of early Quaker movement for integrity, as are the plethora of successful Quaker businesses stretching back over the last 300 years; and integrity in its turn is a product of plain speech, Quaker directness.

The message is – let it be, stop fussing, life is too short (Matthew 6:28). In the Quaker simplicity witness, all human life and activity is there, dress, speech, worldly goods (a case for forming an orderly queue outside Oxfam if ever there was one).

One thing we must take on board is that simplicity means that we should not go to huge lengths to be simple – that is defeating the object. Concentrate on draining the swamp, not on the alligators surrounding the small donkey.

The story is told of a carter who delivered to a Quaker farmer; the farmer offered him beer. The carter demurred, expecting the Quaker to press his offer. Taking him at his word, the Quaker did not repeat his offer. On future occasions the carter briskly accepted the first offer.

AS, Southampton