APPENDIX I
A Japanese View of Quakers (abridged) by Dr. Inazo NitobeThe starting point of Quaker teaching is the belief in the existence of the Inner Light. … Whatever the name, it means the presence of a Power not our own, the indwelling of a Personality, other than human, In each one of us. Such a doctrine is ... as old as the oldest form of mysticism. Buddhism is full of references to it. ... The Zen Sect of Buddhism makes it its aim to comprehend it. ...
Let it be far from me to turn Quakerism into Oriental mysticism. Quakerism stays within the family of Christianity. ... Unlike Orientals, George Fox and his followers conceived ... of light as a person, but by making their person eternal and existent before the world was, Quakerism came to much the same conclusion as the old mystics.
Were these mystics misguided, building their houses on the sands of fantasy and clothing themselves in garments woven of cobwebs? ... Modern psychologists do not seem to deny that there can be a gradual development in consciousness. ... [self-consciousness] is a state of development not very difficult for us to attain, in fact every normal being attains it. But is there not a stage still higher, where we can merge ourselves in the great universe? ... Curiously enough the Cosmic sense as described by those who attain it, is very much the same everywhere-whether it be by a Buddhist priest, a Shinto votary, or an American farmer.
The central doctrine of Quakerism is the belief in this Cosmic sense, which they call the Inner Light and all the doctrines and precepts of Quakerism are only corollaries drawn from this premise. ...
Is there then no superiority in the so-called revealed religion, by which is meant, I presume, the revelation of Godhead in the person and life of Jesus Christ? ... We read Lao-tze; we read Buddhist saints; I've study Oriental mystics, ... we are brought very near to the idea of redemption, atonement, salvation. ... but we feel that we have not reached our finality. ... Yes, we see light, but not the one thing essential-perfect, living Personality.
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