THE FOURTEENTH JAMES BACKHOUSE LECTURE 1978 WISDOM: THE INNER TEACHER MARGARET WILKINSON About the Author Margaret E Wilkinson was born in Bishop Auckland, Durham, England in 1912. Because of her seriously defective eyesight she did not commence her formal education until she arrived in Melbourne, Australia with her parents at the age of twelve. After five years the eye specialist considered it inadvisable for her to continue studying. Unable to take up any academic profession, she trained as a Mothercraft nurse. This training was the basis of her many and varied experiences while working with children - which she had always wanted to do. For more than thirty-five years Margaret was involved in the care of children - in charge of a Children's Home - nursing victims of poliomyelitis - and, during the war, running a community nursery school. Throughout these years she attended lectures and courses whenever possible and became an Executive Member of the World Education Fellowship, her practical experience being accepted in spite of her lack of academic qualifications. When Margaret and her husband and children moved to Tasmania, she was invited to assist with the organisation and running of the first school for mentally retarded children, and later, with the kindergarten for partially sighted children. In 1965 her sight had so far deteriorated that she had to give up the actual teaching of children. Among her many social concerns was the work of counselling with the Marriage Guidance Council, and after the great bushfire disaster in Tasmania in 1967 Margaret was seconded from the Council to assist in rehabilitating the victims of the fire. This work she continued for two and a half years and was a representative and supported financially by the Society of Friends. As a member of 'Life Line' Margaret is still working in the field of personal counselling. After a lifetime of searching for spiritual freedom, Margaret, together with her family, joined the Religious Society of Friends in Hobart in 1950, and continues to take a very active part in the life of the Society. In her position as a Governor of Friends' School, Margaret is able to continue her lifelong concern for children and young people. Copyright 1978 by The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Australia Incorporated National Library of Australia Card Number and ISBN 0 909885 15 X Printed by Thumbprint Sydney 2111089 THE JAMES BACKHOUSE LECTURES This is the fourteenth in a series of lectures instituted by Australia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends on the occasion of the establishment of that Yearly Meeting on January 1, 1964. This lecture was delivered at the Guildford Grammar School, Perth, on May 14, 1978 at the time of the holding of Yearly Meeting. James Backhouse was an English Friend who visited Australia from 1832 to 1838. He and his companion, George Washington Walker, travelled widely but spent most of their time in Tasmania. It was through this visit that Quaker Meetings were first established in Australia. James Backhouse was a botanist who published full accounts of what he saw, besides encouraging Friends and following up his deep concern for the convicts and for the welfare of the Aboriginal inhabitants of the country. Australian Friends hope that this series of lectures will bring fresh insights into truth, often with some reference to the needs and aspirations of Australian Quakerism. Margaret F. Roberts Presiding Clerk Australia Yearly Meeting CONTENTS ________________________________________________________________ Introduction 5 The Wisdom of One of Early Friends 9 The One Good Way of God 10 Wisdom and Reason 14 Wisdom and a New Approach to Psychology 19 Wisdom for a New Age 22 Seeking the Vision 24 Glimpses From My Inward Wisdom 25 Conclusion 30 References 31 ________________________________________________________________ Introduction When I was approached by the Backhouse Lecture Committee and asked to deliver one of the lectures in the immediate future, I completely rejected the concept as being beyond me - not for the physical problem of my approaching blindness, but because in all my life I have never done such a thing as to deliver a lecture. Teaching and counselling have been part of my life for many years, but the preparation of anything so serious as a lecture seemed out of the question. But I was persuaded to think the matter over, as the Society of Friends felt that I had something to contribute to the life of the Society at this present time. I took the matter into the silence and shared my thoughts with some friends whose judgement I trust, and I then felt that I should accept this invitation. Because my life has been directed along paths different from those of most people and because we are moving into an unknown future where the normal landmarks will be unrecognisable, I can perhaps give hope to those who are full of fear, and encouragement to those who feel inadequate. Most of all, I can share my experience that, walking in the path of wisdom, there is no age barrier - there is complete oneness between people of all ages and I have never known what it means to feel apart from the younger generation. Life has always been rather strange for me; being partially blind all my life, I have never been quite sure that the physical world was what it appeared to me. I saw objects that were sometimes space, and there were unseen obstacles that I sometimes fell over or bumped into, because nobody had diagnosed my problem. So I just lived in this rather strange world. I lived by a faith and learned to rely on the inwardness and the guidance of something that was beyond the seen. And I found that it worked! I am a very practical person, and my life has been spent among children and young people and has always been very active. so I am not speaking to you about any airy-fairy ideas, or anything that is unreasonable for others to follow if they choose to work on inner discipline. One of the things I had first to think about in this lecture was, 'What is it that I can shine?', and I realised that the many, many people who come to our home in search of counsel, comfort or companionship - especially young people - nearly always say the same thing: 'We want to talk to you because you are wise'. What does 'wise' mean? What has it meant to me? This is the question I shall try to answer in this lecture. Preparation has become a group experience because, as I 5 can no longer read, friends have had to search through the papers that I have kept, reading to me parts of old diaries and thoughts that I had written down - sometimes with great difficulty - because my writing has deteriorated so much that often I am unable to read it myself. Others have done typing, recording and writing letters. Many people of all ages have helped with what I am now going to share with you and, again, this is going to be a group experience. Many years ago I read verses 20 and 21 in Isaiah, chapter 30, And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not they teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers; And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying 'This is the way; walk ye in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left'. Ever since, this promise has been my guide through many great difficulties and great darkness - in fact the basic truth on which my spiritual life has depended. At quite an early age I learned to follow the promptings of love within my heart. I learned to follow, when I thought a thing was right, by testing it by the standards of love portrayed in the life of Jesus of Nazareth and the great spiritual teachers - to 'follow' when I felt sure within me that what was to be done was right. So, when I joined the Society of Friends about twenty-three years ago I gained added wisdom by sharing some of my concerns with the Meeting. This is one of the great experiences that the Society has to offer - to help people to keep balance, by sharing. Much of the wisdom that I have gained has come about by learning to obey an inner direction. In Hobart, Friends know that I can select a book from the shelf; I can go into a shop and stand still and know if there is something there that is necessary for me or for someone else, and I can put out my hand and take a book without even reading what its title is. This has come by obeying the discipline unquestioningly, in faith, knowing that if I did not understand the reason for the direction then, I would be shown it later. One night I was awakened with the strong feeling that I must go and read the Apocrypha - chapter 7 of the Wisdom of Solomon. I had never read the Apocrypha and I realised that the only copy in our home was the one in the family Bible, which is very difficult to read - with the old-fashioned Ss and Fs - in a great, weighty volume on old, old paper. But I felt so strongly that I should read it 6 that I got out of bed and turned to chapter 7 (New English Bible), as I had been directed. And here I found, set out most clearly, the true meaning of wisdom: I too am a mortal man like all the rest, descended from the first man, who was made of dust, and in my mother's womb I was wrought into flesh during a ten months' space, compacted in blood from the seed of her husband and the pleasure that is joined with sleep.