Black-headed ibis: 'Before' and 'after' of some emails to the Nontheist Friendly planning group email list of my draft to Quaker "Friends' Journal"

Here's the 'before' and 'after' of some emails to the Nontheist Friends' planning group email list of my draft to Quaker "Friends' Journal" ...


Hi Walla, Clair, Ani, Kit, Oz, and NtF planners,

Thanks for all of your focusing feedback. Here perhaps are some more 'scottings' (per Oz's coinage).

What I appreciate about conversation, in general, is its potential generation of ideas, and what I appreciate about soaking in the Harbin warm pool, and to some degree Quaker Meeting, is its enjoyableness, even, or pleasure, due especially to "de facto'relaxation response meditations,' biologically."

And when idea-generative conversation, feelings and enjoyableness come together in unfolding gatheredness, they are some of the best experiences of life. Examples of this for me can include Quaker Meeting (NtF informed), but also especially for me in the Harbin warm pool, with the Grateful Dead, Raga music and more. But I'm oriented in the direction, as a focus of inquiry, of "loving bliss neurophysiology" in terms of feelings, but particularly neurochemistry-wise (see the WUaS link in the postscript below), and with my NtF sympathies. (In terms of meaning of "God" questions, I'm personally sympathetic with the reasoning in, for example, Richard Dawkins'"The God Delusion," as well as with the implications of Charles Darwin's writing and thinking), but have changed the language in my draft letter below, in response to some of your observations.

Thanks for thinking actively of the target FJ reading audience, Oz, and for these helpful observations:

"As you write in this style consider your audience and your purpose. You may ask them to suspend their usual expectations and learn how to read what you write. But many may turn away and if avoiding that is important, then pull it into more normal form. This could mean using shorter sentences that help the reader pause and collect themselves, and avoiding stylistic innovations that we don't usually see in Friends Journal."



Here's the letter I've just submitted on Saturday, March 15th, to Friends Journal's "Letters to the Forum" - http://www.friendsjournal.org/submissions/.


Dear Friends,

As a nontheistic f/Friend and a member of San Francisco Friends’ Meeting, I greatly appreciate Quaker vision and community and caring, as well as the centering and gathering of unprogrammed Quaker Meeting with F/friends. My positive experiences with a) evolutionary biology (thinking about this as salutary, personal experience), and b) the, for me, parallel-with-Quaker-Meeting, ‘relaxation response meditation, as biology’ in the Harbin Hot Springs’ warm pool (my actual anthropological field site for ethnographic books that I’m writing), inform my nontheistic Quakerism and move me toward nontheistically Friendly shared seasoning. The notion of God -- for me among Quakers since the mid-1970s -- has never held much meaning, whatsoever, and I’m sympathetic, and find some unity, with the more than a decade-long active conversation focusing on ‘nontheism’ on the nontheistic Friends’ email list, as well as in face-to-face NtF gatherings.

I continue to learn to experience centeredness and gathering while connecting inwardly in unprogrammed Quaker Meeting, and among Friends generally, in the light of nontheistic f/Friendliness - which I personally think of and experience as f/Friendly biological 'relaxation response’ meditations. And it's particularly the enjoyable parallels between a) soaking in the Harbin warm pool, and b) sitting in Quaker Meeting, in what I'm calling, again, their "de facto 'relaxation response’ meditations, biologically," that are significant for me and that I'll continue to enjoy exploring with Friends.

Scott MacLeod
San Francisco, CA





PO Box 442
Canyon, CA 94516




And here's a revised, recent version from 2 days ago, but not the above version which I submitted:

(Yellow wattled lapwings: Nontheistically F/friendly draft letter to the Quaker "Friends' Journal," Continuing to explore enjoying Nontheistically F/friendly "de facto 'relaxation response meditations,' biologically," and daily, and deeply when I'm in the field doing fieldwork (for my Harbin ethnographic book project)" ... http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2014/03/yellow-wattled-lapwings-nontheistically.html).


I'm aware of the challenges historically of talking about "God" (I was a social science of religion major at Reed College, and wrote my senior thesis on the feminist theologian, Rosemary Ruether's book "Sexism and God-Talk"), in general, - which is also partly why I'm heeding your "shorter the better" suggestion, Oz.

Again, as in conclusion to one of my draft versions of the above: I'll continue to explore enjoying nontheistically F/friendly "de facto 'relaxation response meditations,' biologically," and daily, and deeply when I'm in the field doing fieldwork (for my Harbin ethnographic book project), as well as in Quaker Meetings.

Thanks, f/Friends, again for all of your feedback, excellent, editorial suggestions, and this ongoing, generative, nontheistic f/Friendly conversation.

Scott


PS: 'Loving Bliss (eliciting this neurophysiology),' wiki, subject page - http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Loving_Bliss_(eliciting_this_neurophysiology) ...