A Quaker mutation

This is a somewhat cantankerous pamphlet apparently urging that Friends learn how to meditate properly and return to their mystical foundation that produced such deep experience of the Spirit. It is hard to understand just what Heard is saying, partly because of his high-flown language, and partly because he himself was vague, if not confused, about psychology, the subconscious, the unconscious, the enlarged consciousness, and education. It sounds impressive but actually amounts to less than he implies -- though admittedly the point about rejecting creeds and learning how to meditate is fundamental to both early Friends and a contemporary Quaker renewal movement.

"A Quaker Mutation" is a critical evaluation of the Society of Friends and of Pendle Hill by a brilliant, forward-looking thinker, who here sets forth his own surprising and revolutionary theory of the kind of education, especially adult education, which can help a new order to arise out of the present world conditions. In these pages the author analyzes the causes of the failure of Quakers to live up to their first great achievements. In spite of this failure he believes that the mission of the Society of Friends is far from finished, and he concludes that perhaps a mutation such as Pendle Hill is in itself evidence of the possibility of a new life.

PHP #7