To drink or not to drink? For me that’s not the question

I ran across an article by another Young Adult Friend, examining her personal decision about whether, in Light of Quaker testimonies supporting abstinence from alcohol, she would or should continue to drink.

For me, the important part of her decision is that she came to it mindfully and with consideration -- or at least she did after another Friend’s query prompted some soul searching.

As Socrates is reputed to have said, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” And, as the article points out,  many Yearly Meetings frame their discouraging of alcohol (and other intoxicants) in the form of an advice or a query: an invitation for us to examine the practices in our own life and consider whether they are consistent with living a full life in the Spirit or Light.

Indeed, my entire study of a Zen sword MARTIAL art is a vehicle through which I am examining my understanding and practice of Quaker injunctions against violence and war (well, sometimes it is; at other times it’s just good exercise and the peace of a Zen practice that forces me to quiet my racing thoughts for a time).

As the author puts it:

Statements like that [Britain Yearly Meeting’s Advice and Query 40] sometimes make me long for a prescriptive religion. It would be so much easier to have someone tell me “do this!” and “don’t do this!” than having to consider it for myself. But my Quakerism makes it essential for me to consider three aspects of my spirituality to reach an answer. Biblical tradition, communal wisdom, and personal experience/revelation all come together to form the spiritual framework that thereafter informs my life.

Read the full article “A Young Adult Quaker and Alcohol” to find out what (if any) conclusions the author reached for her life.