QUAKER DECISION MAKING
ITS PRACTICE AND THE NATURE OF UNITY
OCTOBER 27 - 29, 2000
ARTHUR LARRABEE
When it is done well, Quaker decision making practice is a wonderful, perhaps amazing process. When it is done poorly, it can be an agonizing experience. Its promise is one of greater integration of our lives, of bringing our spiritual beliefs and practices to the work of the community. Too often we separate our spiritual energy from our work, compartmentalizing our lives to the detriment of both. Quakerism holds out a vision that our spiritual energy and our work belong together, and that both are thereby enriched.
This workshop is about learning to do Quaker decision making well. We will focus on Quaker business meeting practice, looking at:
Much of our work will be done with the whole group, working with materials prepared by Arthur Larrabee. There will be abundant opportunities for each participant to share his or her own experience and to offer new insight. Quaker process is not a closed canon. In part, we will be teaching each other.
A shorter form of this workshop will be offered at sites in northern California.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM:
Cost for the weekend is $130 per person. You may arrive as early as 4:00 p.m. to register. The program begins with dinner around 6:00 on Friday. Participants share in kitchen chores before and after each meal. The weekend concludes about 2:30 p.m. after brunch, final cleanup, and closing worship on Sunday. Meals are vegetarian. Sleeping accommodations are assigned first-come first-served in the Orchard Lodge (semi-private rooms near the dining hall) and are based on when your registration is received. When the Orchard is full, we will begin assigning people to the Redwood Lodge (bunk rooms on the lower portion of the property). Some allowance may be made for persons with special needs. Wheelchair access is available. Bring a sleeping bag or sheets/blankets, pillow case, towel, soap, flashlight, and slippers for the Casa de Luz. NO PETS PLEASE. Scholarships are available; please ask if in need. REFUND POLICY: $25 refund up to one week before the program.
For Friends traveling from a distance, inexpensive housing may be arranged the night before or after the program.
We will gladly assist participants needing to carpool or arriving by public transportation as best we can.
ABOUT THE LEADER:
Arthur is a life long Quaker and a member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
He has served as clerk of Central Philadelphia, as well as clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and Clerk of the Committee in Charge of Westtown School. Over a period of three years, in the early 1990's, Arthur led an annual workshop on clerking which was held at Pendle Hill. Arthur has enjoyed his experience of Quaker meetings for business, the clerking of them, and sharing that experience with others.
Arthur is a lawyer and practiced law for 23 years until 1993. He left a successful law practice in that year in response to a Call which had been growing within him for many years. He was asked to pay attention to a feeling that the spiritual dimension of his life was frozen, and wanted to be thawed out.
Currently, Arthur divides his time between being an investor, a volunteer (including the boards of Friends Select School and a shelter for homeless people, both in Philadelphia) and a spiritual seeker who speaks and leads workshops as way opens. One of his challenges is to give attention to the integration of the spiritual and material aspects of his life.
