Pages for All Ages: Perfectibility

Some words and phrases to know before you read • higher level of • perfectibility • magnetic • segregation consciousness personality • religions, • racism • a falling out philosophies, • literature • cruelties and spiritual • articles and • artistic creativity • lynching pamphlets teachings • ethnic groups • he writhes • special ability

Over the centuries, most Quakers have believed in the Toomer approached life as a poet does – directly, “perfectibility” of every person. That is, every person intensely, and unafraid of pain. His most well-known is able to be “at one” with God perfectly (no matter work is a novel called Cane, which he wrote when what they think about the idea of “God”). Maybe not he was twenty-six. Cane is important in American often, and maybe not for long, but every person can literature even though it was never a best-seller. It was unite with God at times. one of the earliest novels to be called “modernist,” and it is one of the earliest works to be called part of Of course, human life is full of trouble. Most religions, the “Harlem Renaissance.” philosophies, and spiritual teachings try to help people learn how to handle their troubles. For Quakers, these The Harlem Renaissance was a time of great artistic different kinds of teachings are interesting – maybe creativity among African Americans during the 1920s even helpful. Quakers try to stay open-minded about and 1930s. However, even though some people saw new ideas and new experiences. Toomer as belonging to the Harlem Renaissance, he Jean [Eugene] Toomer was a poet who lived from himself did not want to be seen as Black. He wanted 1894 to 1967. He taught among Quakers for about to be seen as part of a new, mixed race, which he ten years, near the called, “American.” end of his life. Toomer’s ancestors had come from seven different For most of his ethnic groups. Growing up in the time of segregation, adult life, Toomer he started out attending an all-Black elementary followed the school, then the family switched him to an all-White spiritual teachings school, and finally, he attended one of the best all- of a Russian named Black high schools in the U.S. On official government George Gurdjieff. documents, Toomer was sometimes noted as “White” In fact, Toomer and sometimes “Black.” spent most of his adult life teaching Toomer wrote Cane while he was living for two years in for Gurdjieff. Georgia. In the wealthy Washington, DC, household Toomer was a of his childhood, Toomer had been sheltered from handsome man with many of racism’s worst cruelties. But in Georgia, the a magnetic personality, so he was good at attracting ugliness of racism was more obvious – cruelties that new students, especially women. commonly went as far as lynching.

20 Western Friend, March / April 2021 Gurdjieff taught that people can reach a “higher level of consciousness” if they work at it hard enough. Toomer wanted that. He wanted to rise above what he called the “knot of darkness in each of us.” He decided he wanted to be a spiritual teacher more than he wanted to be an artist. He said, “I’d rather form a man than form a book.” He taught and traveled for Gurdjieff for about ten years, until they had a falling out in 1934. Toomer then tried to start his own spiritual community, but it didn’t work out. Eventually, he went back to teaching with Gurdjieff ’s people, but that happened after he had spent some years among Friends. In 1940, Toomer became a member of Doylestown Friends Meeting in Pennsylvania. He worked on many committees, gave lectures at large Quaker gatherings, and wrote Quaker articles and pamphlets. Because he was a poet and because he had worked In Cane, near the end of the book, we meet a teacher for so many years as a spiritual teacher, Toomer had a who cannot sleep because he’s upset about injustice: special ability to understand the writings of the early [The man] has got a right to curse his maker. Quakers. He had a special ability to help other Friends . . . [He] is about to shake his fists heaven- understand the words of Fox, Penington, Penn, and ward. He looks up, and the night’s beauty others. As one lifelong Friend put it, “What he said strikes him dumb. He falls to his knees. was probably . . . not all that different from what we Sharp stones cut through his thin pajamas. had grown up with, . . . but he was saying it in new The shock sends a shiver over him. He ways, with a fresh approach . . .” quivers. Tears mist his eyes. He writhes. Jean Toomer brought great passion to his teaching “God Almighty, dear God, dear Jesus, do about the Quaker faith. He worked hard to help Friends not torture me with beauty. Take it away. understand and believe in their own perfectibility. For Give me an ugly world.” that, many of them were grateful. Toomer was a genius at seeing many sides of a moment • What do you like about teaching new things at once. This made him a great truth-teller, but it also to other people? brought him great pain. • What is good about wanting to be better than The year after Cane was published, when Toomer you are now? What is troubling about it? was somewhat famous, he attended Gurdjieff ’s first performance in America. Dance movements were • What do you think the world needs more of a big part of Gurdjieff ’s work, and Toomer said, “I – more good teachers or more good artists? was fascinated by the way the man walked. As his feet touched the floor, there seemed to be no weight on The image of a Quaker pamphlet by Jean Toomer and the them at all.” image of his passport photo are both in the public domain.

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