A Language for the Inward Landscape: Wisdom from the Quaker Tradition

As Quakers expressed and reflected upon their experience of life under the guidance of the spirit of Christ, they developed a rich vocabulary to describe those experiences. This vocabulary played an important role in Quaker spiritual formation and community life from the beginning of the movement in 1650, and continues today as modern seekers wrestle with describing their experiences.

When Bill Taber died in 2005, he left behind notes on a project: "A language for the inward landscape." Key phrases provide important insights into the nature of inward experience over time and can help people explore their spiritual experience with an enriched vocabulary. Brian Drayton compiled these notes and expanded them.

Readers (both Quaker and non-Quaker) may find this language conveys a distinctive 'alternative Christianity' combining mystical and prophetic experiences with God and in community.

Brian Drayton Brian Drayton, a plant ecologist working in science education, is a recorded Quaker minister, who has long encouraged Friends' (Quakers) unity and witness, drawing on resources for individual and community life found in early Quaker writings.

He often leads retreats and workshops with a particular concern to encourage Friends in Gospel ministry. His writings include On Living with a Concern for Gospel Ministry (Quaker Press, 2005).

William P. Taber, Jr. (1927 2005), a valued Quaker minister in a wide range of settings, conservative, liberal, and pastoral taught in several Friends schools and spent over a decade at Pendle Hill Retreat and Conference Center, teaching about the history, practice, and spirituality of Quakerism. A gifted spiritual counselor with a mystical focus, he sought opportunities for one-to-one exchanges concerning the spiritual life, often sensing exactly what his conversation partners needed.

His published work includes Be Gentle, Be Plain, the History of Olney (1976); The Eye of Faith, the Historyof Ohio Yearly Meeting (1985).