I See Outside Myself ~ Neil Young

"As I get older, I get smaller. I see other parts of the world I didn't see before. Other points of view. I see outside myself more."

~ Neil Young

More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Young

Artwork by Joni Mitchell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joni_Mitchell

Both Within and Beyond Us~ Lorna M. Marsden

"Our testimonies arise from our way of worship. Our way of worship evokes from deep within us at once an affirmation and a celebration, an affirmation of the reality of that Light which illumines the spiritual longing of humanity, and a celebration of the continual resurrection within us of the springs of hope and love; a sense that each of us is, if we will, a channel for a power that is both within and beyond us."

 ~Lorna M. Marsden

More at. http://www.quaker.org.uk/testimonies

By their Name ~ Lois Rock

I say a prayer
for those who are known by their number:
prisoners in their cells;
refugees in the campgrounds;
victims of war and famine.
Dear God,
Speak to each of them
and call them by their name.

~ Lois Rock

More at http://www.lionhudson.com/author_display.asp?SF1=sort_name&ST1=ROCKLOIS

The Man who Tills the Soil ~ Hamlin Garland

“I see a time when the farmer will not need to live in a lonely cabin on a lonely farm. I see the farmers coming together in groups. I see them with time to read, and time to visit with their fellows. I see them enjoying lectures in beautiful halls, erected in every village. I see them gather like the Saxons of old upon the green at evening to sing and dance. I see cities rising near them with schools, and churches, and concert halls, and theaters. I see a day when the farmer will no longer be a drudge and his wife a bond slave, but happy men and women who will go singing to their pleasant tasks upon their fruitful farms. When the boys and girls will not go west nor to the city; when life will be worth living. In that day the moon will be brighter and the stars more glad, and pleasure and poetry and love of life come back to the man who tills the soil.” 

~ Hamlin Garland

More at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlin_Garland

Artwork from Thomas Hart Benton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hart_Benton_(painter)

False Alam ~ Joni Mitchell

"People will tell you where they've gone
They'll tell you where to go
But till you get there yourself you never really know
Where some have found their paradise
Other's just come to harm
Oh Amelia, it was just a false alarm"

Words art and music by Joni Mitchell  http://www.jonimitchell.com/

Scary Thought ~ Simon Heywood

"We commit ourselves to the understanding that nobody and nothing stands between us and God (or. other favoured term). Individually and corporately, we entitle ourselves to spiritual freedom to the exact extent to which we willingly accept direct responsibility to the Spirit. In this sense, Quaker life is much "less" of a spiritual free-for-all than life lived under the rule of a dogmatic institution, because the Spirit is not a set or finite list of requirements. Scary thought. But that, folks, is what we sign up to. We claim freedom in order to go deeper into the Spirit than we would otherwise go."

~ Simon Heywood

More at  http://sheffieldquakers.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/age-of-simplicity.html

Practical Simplicity ~ Craig Barnett

"The soul of Quaker spirituality is also expressed in the simple beauty of many old Meeting Houses, and even in the homes of some Friends. One of the first times I visited a Quaker home I was struck by the practical simplicity of its furnishings – well-made wooden furniture, a hand-made quilt, and even a functioning (and well-used) spinning-wheel. Nothing in the house was disposable, shoddy or ostentatious. It felt like an echo of the quietist Quaker culture of the 18^th Century - the kind of house where John Woolman would have felt at home. This is a distinctive kind of beauty that Thomas Moore describes as 'the spiritual richness of simplicity':

"Simplicity doesn't mean meagreness but rather a certain kind of richness, the fullness that appears when we stop stuffing the world with things... Let us feel the textures and see the colours, and then we won't need so many things in the place to make it nurturing.."

Craig Barnett

More at http://transitionquaker.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-soul-of-quakerism.html

Them Seeds~ Lucy Maud Montgomery

“It always amazes me to look at the little, wrinkled brown seeds and think of the rainbows in 'em," said Captain Jim. "When I ponder on them seeds I don't find it nowise hard to believe that we've got souls that'll live in other worlds. You couldn't hardly believe there was life in them tiny things, some no bigger than grains of dust, let alone colour and scent, if you hadn't seen the miracle, could you?”

~ Lucy Maud Montgomery

More at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Maud_Montgomery