Hamlet’s philosophy

Good morning.

It’s the day we traditionally designate as Shakespeare’s birthday. I was teaching Hamlet recently and reflected again on the line “there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so”. You can see why the idea appeals momentarily to Hamlet, feeling powerless and surrounded by people whom he knows to be acting wrongly – but it’s not a position that the Prince, or the play, can really sustain. There is good and bad in Elsinore, and Hamlet will need to confront it.

People occasionally ask whether the Quaker way is a “pick and mix” religion. Certainly we share a practice rather than an orthodoxy. At my local meeting we had an extraordinary sharing lunch recently where we heard an amazing diversity of spiritual experiences and language. Friends who grew up in the Anglican church, those who draw on wisdom traditions from across faiths, friends who describe themselves as atheist, and friends who use the language of their Muslim faith, each described what they find of God in the precious community which meets to worship in silence on a Sunday morning – why it matters to them that we journey together.

This diversity doesn’t mean that anything goes. Our testimonies of truth, equality, simplicity and peace guide our discernment, and we test our spiritual leadings among the community of friends. Hamlet’s more persuasive observation is that “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”.

May I try not to limit myself to the language I already know. May I respond to the promptings of truth in my heart, and check that my words arise from love and light.

Thank you, friends.