Spiritual Perspectives
Listening to the 'Inner Light'

By Jerry Cronin
Special to The Independent

Be still and know that I am GOD. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.
— Psalms 46:10

Do you feel as though your life is just too busy? Do you feel as if you have been put in overdrive and left to simply go forward in life with no direction... just forward? Have you thought about how complicated we make our lives with all the clutter and possessions we consider important? Do we work at tasks and jobs that we don't really care about but we 'do it to pay the bills' and end up living from paycheck to paycheck?

Every person in modern society is living too fast and dying too young. Many people will exclaim, "I am too busy to go to church" or "I don't want to go to church because the services take too long." If we aren't spending time praying or engaged in spiritual matters, what are we spending our time doing? Can anything that we do be more important than spending time with GOD?

The biggest problem we have in modern society is that we can't seem to find peace in our daily lives. We need to rush off to our jobs, we need to get to the store for food or clothing, maybe we are taking classes but we don't ever seem to stop and ask ourselves: "Why are we doing this?" Yet the greatest irony of modern life is that we were promised a generation ago that technology would save us time and free us up to spend more time with those dear to us. It is exactly this same technology that has complicated our lives instead of simplifying them. If you are somewhat skeptical about this last statement, try to diagnose what is wrong with your car the next time you take it in for repairs and they take out the computer chip and hook that chip into the diagnosis machinery. Is this living the simple life?

Taken to its next level, when we are unable to achieve personal peace, we see much violence at the family, society and national levels. Violence begets more violence and the spiral is never ending. At what point do we grow tired of violence and all that it costs us as people and as a society and grow into peaceful people? It is no mistake that JESUS CHRIST was called the "Prince of Peace" while doing his ministry. He never once suggested that we meet violence with more violence or achieve peace through superior firepower... It only leads to more weapons and resources diverted to warlike activities.

So how does one go about achieving "inner peace" or societal peace or even global peace? We often think that we are just one insignificant piece of a much larger puzzle. Looking inward during times of contemplation allows us to think clearer thoughts and not listen to all the bells and whistles that complicate our lives.

The Religious Society of Friends has the meeting at the center of our spiritual journey. It is the time we spend in silent contemplation waiting for the "inner light" of GOD to fill our body and soul. It is the time when we silently and expectantly wait in silence for the HOLY SPIRIT to make known the divine leadings through revelation. When we are contemplative we try to hear what GOD is saying to us. Quakers call this time of contemplation "listening to the Inner Light" or that of GOD within.

One of my favorite parts of the Quaker meeting is the time when people feel convicted to speak and hold various world situations "to the light" for prayer. There are few things as beautiful as the individual standing before the meeting and GOD and speaking what the Holy Spirit has convicted them to speak. We believe that holiness exists in everybody and everything that we do, so we must be truthful in our dealings and place GOD at the center of our lives. You won't find any clergy or anybody else serving as intermediaries to the HOLY SPIRIT, just some "good-men and good-women" in silent contemplation waiting for the Divinely-inspired, "inner voice" to convict us.

You can reach Good-man Jerry Cronin at jspcronin@yahoo.com or (505) 863-4796 if you have any questions about the un-programmed Quaker meeting. We meet at noon every Sunday for First Day services at the Red Mesa Center, located next door and to the east of the Octavia Fellin Library.

This column is the result of a desire by community members, representing different faith communities, wishing to share their ideas about bringing a spiritual perspective into our daily lives and community issues.

For information about contributing a guest column, contact Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola at the Independent: (505) 863-8611, ext. 218 or lizreligion01@yahoo.com.