Category: Quakers

  • My 10 Year Summary: What I Have Learned

    Contents 1. Introduction2. Background3. My Journey 3.1. The initial years (2012–2015) 3.2. The middle years (2016–2018) 3.3. The final years (2019–2022)4. Conclusions5. Afterword6. Acknowledgments7. Recommended Books 1. Introduction I started blogging ten years ago today (Sept 26, 2012). At the same time, I started searching for life-giving ways of working. This is a summary of my journey and…

  • Two experiments in collective decision-making

    Introduction I’m interested in how to tap into the collective intelligence of a group, for example, in decision-making. Two weeks in a row I’ve facilitated two different workshops which had the specific aim to make decisions in two separate but related areas. In both cases the needed decisions were long overdue. In one case, with…

  • Fördjupningskurs i kväkarnas beslutsmetod

    Bakgrund En fråga som intresserar mig är hur man i beslutsfattandet kan ta vara på en grupps kollektiva kunskap och intelligens. I februari 2014 gick jag därför en kurs i kväkarnas beslutsmetod på Kväkargården i Stockholm. Här är mina intryck från den kursen. Och här är mina anteckningar från ett kväkerskt beslutsmöte i januari 2017. Inledning Detta inlägg…

  • Experiences from the Nordic Friends Yearly Meeting 2017

    Introduction The purpose of this post is to share some of my experiences from the Nordic Friends Yearly Meeting (June 29—July 2), which was held at Nordiska Folkhögskolan, Kungälv, Sweden. Background I’m very interested in the Quakers method of making collective decisions and have written about it here and here (in Swedish). Here is my review…

  • Good order as an organizing principle

    This is a post in my organizing “between and beyond” series. Other posts are here. The purpose of this post is to explore Lloyd Lee Wilson’s notion of Quaker good order.1 Introduction Lloyd Lee Wilson writes in his Essays on the Quaker Vision of Gospel Order that gospel, right, or good order is an organizing principle by which Quakers…

  • Book Review: Essays on the Quaker Vision of Gospel Order

    Essays on the Quaker Vision of Gospel Order by Lloyd Lee Wilson address facets of (Conservative) Quaker faith and practice. Here is a summary of the book together with some conclusions. I’ve chosen to focus on the Quaker vision of good order, waiting worship, faith community, meeting for business, and leadings and discernment. Gospel, Right,…

  • Quaker decision-making in a secular context

    The following quote (in italics) is an example of collective decision-making in a former Soviet country after the fall of the Soviet Union: “… I [Leonard Joy] was charged to support a team created to manage a process for the redesign of the public sector. … I chose to act as would a clerk in a…

  • Book Reeview: A Quaker Approach to Research

    A Quaker Approach to the Conduct of Research: Collaborative Practice and Communal Discernment by Gray Cox with Charles Blanchard, Geoff Garver, Keith Helmuth, Leonard Joy, Judy Lumb, and Sara Wolcott has grown out of a decade of experiments employing Quaker processes of communal discernment in research.1 The book itself is the product of collaborative work.…

  • Anteckningar från ett kväkerskt beslutsmöte

    Inledning Jag är intresserad av hur man kan ta vara på en grupps kollektiva kunskap och intelligens. Kväkarnas sätt att fatta beslut är unik. Metoden har även har studerats akademiskt. Här är min recension av Beyond Majority Rule (på engelska), som bygger på Michael J. Sheerans doktorsavhandling. Bakgrund I februari 2014 gick jag en kurs…

  • Book Review: Beyond Majority Rule

    Beyond Majority Rule: voteless decisions in the Religious Society of Friends is the publication of Michael J. Sheeran’s doctoral work in the Dept. of Politics at Princeton University. He spent two years (1973—75) conducting interviews, reading, and observing the actual decision-making of the Quakers. Sheeran is convinced that the Quakers “have something of first importance…