10th
Twelve Pots of Honey
“Though conscience is an imperfect instrument for transmitting the Light, its claims are absolute and must always be obeyed, for conscience gives us the highest knowledge of the Light that we have at any one time. Because clearer and clearer knowledge may progressively be attained as the virtue of obedience grows, Friends have never declared any doctrine to be a final and unalterable creed.”
– Howard Brinton from Daily Readings
The grief left behind it a long shadow.
I found myself constantly casting about for sparks of Light, as if drowning. Dim leadings came, but too often I waited for something brighter, dithering. Instead of instantly obeying them, I buried them in long-delaying analysis.
In the reading above, Brinton courageously affirms that these leadings must be obeyed with authority, charging us with energy and imperative. Even when conscience shifts between darkness and shadowy light, we are called to claim the divine initiative it suggests, however vaguely.
A society of friends can be helpful for refining such leadings into “clearer and clearer knowledge,” but it is often difficult to communicate this condition to others through the howling emptiness of the Dark Night. Sometimes we must depend on the writings of another generation of friends to know that we are not alone.
I am learning to trust this sweet desire, my conscience yearning for Light. It is like the awakening of a new sense amid the nothing.
“…There are twelve pots of honey in my cupboard, and they’ve been calling to me for hours. I couldn’t hear then properly before because Rabbit would talk, but if nobody says anything except those twelve pots, I think, Piglet, I shall know where they’re coming from.”
– Edward Bear from The House At Pooh Corner
