Experiment with Light' in Britain: the Heterotopian Nature of a Contemporary Quaker Spiritual Practice

'EXPERIMENT WITH LIGHT' IN BRITAIN: THE HETEROTOPIAN NATURE OF A CONTEMPORARY QUAKER SPIRITUAL PRACTICE by HELEN CLAIRE MEADS A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Theology and Religion School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham 18 July 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract This thesis is an ethnographic study into 'Experiment with Light', a reflexive spiritual practice within contemporary British Quakerism, based on seventeenth century Quaker writings. This is the first academic study of British Quakers to focus on religious experience. It demonstrates how Experimenters' religious experience and transformation supports them in changing the wider group's behaviour. I interweave heterotopia, reflexivity, religious experience, religious transformation and examination of internal Quaker conflict handling to argue that the Experiment is a heterotopian process leading Experimenters to find heterotopic places within themselves and that they sit in a heterotopic position vis-à-vis British Quakers generally. I extend Foucault's concept of heterotopia to show how (heterotopian) process interacts with (heterotopic) site to reveal heterotopia's multi-dimensionality and its potential to change its context, thus demonstrating that applying an analytic concept in an empirical study can reveal new aspects of that concept. I also show how using heterotopia as an analytical lens reveals how power plays out amongst British Quakers and thus how heterotopia is particularly useful for the nuanced sociological analysis of groups generally. This thesis is the first study in the sociology of religion to apply heterotopia to the experience, practice and structure of a religious group. Acknowledgements I should like to thank all those who have helped me with and through the research, thought and writing for this thesis. First and foremost is my supervisor, Ben Pink Dandelion, for his patience, thoughtful challenges, pastoral care and friendship. I guaranteed my informants anonymity, so cannot name them, but they shared extremely sensitive and private experiences with me and the work would not be what it is without their generosity and trust. They often proffered generous hospitality too. Those who can be publicly identified include: Rex Ambler, whose work provided me with the object of my study and who was generous with his time and insights; Catherine King Ambler, with whom I have had many long conversations about the Experiment and Quaker-related matters of all kinds; Diana Lampen, for her practical help; John Lampen for his insights and challenges; and the Friends and Experimenters at Glenthorne 2004, including Elizabeth Brown. My fellow Quaker scholars have helped also in their conversations with me, careful reading and challenges: Gay Pilgrim, Simon Best, Pam Lunn, Peter Collins, Jackie Leach Scully and especially Susan Robson. Other academics have been generous with their time: Rachel Muers and Mark Cartledge. Mary Wong and Lizzie Evans from the early M.Phil. days, too. Ian Jackson and Bettina Gray at Woodbrooke library, for their patience and help. My Friends at High Flatts Quaker Meeting, and in the Light group, especially Andrea Freeman, Gervais Frykman and Lynn Hill, have borne with my struggles and upheld me. Special thanks to Judith Smith who saved me from a nearly-nasty trip-up. Fellow scholars whom I have met through the British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion Study Group have provided encouragement. Gilvray Croudson diligently proof-read the final drafts. In addition, there have been people outside scholarship and Quaker circles who could not have known how much they were contributing. They include: Julie Oldfield, without whom I might not have made the decision to apply myself to a Quaker studies degree in the first place; Sally and Tom Shiel, who gave me a Birmingham home when I visited the University; Sue Wilson, without whom this would have been a shorter MPhil and whose conversations have sustained me personally as well as informed the work; Kay Reynolds, who has accompanied me patiently on my personal journey and from whom I learned insight into myself, making me a better student; and Gillian Kelly, who unknowingly provided direct insight into an important aspect of the work. Nonetheless, any shortcomings are entirely my own and I take full responsibility for them. Table of Contents Chapter page 1 Introduction 1 British Quakers 2 Experiment with Light 5 The Experiment's origins 6 The Quaker meaning of 'Light' 6 The development of the Experiment 7 Experiment practice 11 Similarities to and differences from other Quaker forms 13 Meeting for Worship 13 Meeting for Clearness 15 How the Experiment has spread 16 Research questions 18 Location of this thesis in the field of Quaker studies 19 Quaker studies 19 Relation to Quaker studies scholarship 21 Quaker belief and experience 22 Pluralist and post-Christian developments 23 The experiential element of twenty-first century Quaker spirituality 26 Sociological factors 28 Quaker cultures: double, triple, silence and contribution 28 Group and power relations 32 Empty co-option in BYM 34 Contemporary Quaker power relations 35 Consideration of Quaker power relations 37 Location in Quaker studies 38 Thesis outline 38 Chapter summary 41 2 Approaches to studying religious phenomena 42 Phenomenology as method 42 Phenomenological approach in sociology 42 Schutz's 'provinces of meaning' and 'tuning-in' 43 Phenomenological approach in religious studies 47 Ethnography 47 The importance of ethnography in research approach and theory 49 Individual religious experience 50 Religious experience in one religious group 53 'Crisis of presence' 54 New religious movements 58 Meditation group 58 Non-formativeness 59 Comparison and contrast with the Experiment 60 New forms of religious practice and small groups 61 Exercise of power within groups 66 Egalitarianism 66 Power imbalance: the hybrid body of Christ 68 Application of power relations and egalitarianism to Quakers and the 71 Experiment Summary: the discipline in which this thesis sits and its approach 73 Potential analytical lenses 75 Subcultural identity 75 Counterculture 78 The Experiment and sub/counterculture 78 'Sect' 79 Spatial theory and method for the study of religion 82 Application of spatial theory/heterotopia to BYM and the Experiment 83 Potential analytical lenses conclusion 85 Academic context 85 3 Heterotopia 86 Using the concept of heterotopia 86 Foucault's heterotopia 88 Heterotopia after Foucault 96 Dynamic social ordering, spaces for play: Hetherington and Hjorth 96 Non-geographical and political: North 102 Heterotopia as an image of thought: Marks 103 Heterotopian mirroring 107 Criticism of heterotopia: Genocchio and Saldanha 109 The developed notion of heterotopia 113 Heterotopia and religion 114 Heterotopia and religious experience: Smith 114 Foucault and religion: Carrette 115 Heterotopias as sacred spaces of illusion which reveal: Shackley 115 Heterotopia and British Quakers: Pilgrim 117 The Experiment and heterotopia 118 The Experiment as heterotopian process 119 Experimenters find heterotopias within themselves 132 Experimenters operate a heterotopian impulse within British Quakers 134 4 Methodology: insider research, heterotopian reflexivity 136 Methodology: introduction 136 Ethnographic method 136 Primary data 137 Contact with informants after fieldwork 140 Confidentiality 140 Permissions and withdrawal 143 Reflexivity 145 Insider research 146 Multiple insiderness in the interviews 147 Drawing on personal practice in the research 148 Mirroring effect 151 Participant observation 153 Covert participation 154 Research relationships 156 Withdrawing from the participant-observation 159 Checking insider 'bias' 161 Insidership summary 163 Quaker Ethnography and Reflexivity 164 Heterotopian research method 165 The hermeneutic spiral 166 Adapted grounded theory/iteration 168 Writing up 170 Spiralling to a conclusion 172 5 Sense of the Divine 176 Sense of the Divine: introduction 176 Religious practice 176 Experience of the Divine (what is sensed) 177 Out-of-the-ordinary and profound experience 177 Implicit references to experience 178 Gradual and gentle experiences 179 Dramatic experiences 180 Summary: what Experimenters sensed of the Divine 181 Experimenters' understanding of the Divine (what sense is 181 made) Underlying reality and language: a non-reductionist stance 181 Belief frameworks 185 The heterotopian nature of the Divine 186 Location of the Divine 186 Immanent and transcendent 186 Relation to the human psyche 188 Omnipresent and infinite 189 Composition of the Divine 189 Not a person 189 Light, dark and energy 190 Evolving, eternal, a mystery 190 Divine Agency 192 Summary: the sense Experimenters made of the Divine 194 Heterotopian sense of the Divine 194 Relationship with God through relationship with others 195 Quaker

Load more