IMYM Faith & Practice, 2009, pp 45
How does Truth prosper?1 Let your life speak.
Friends testify through their lives. Subscribing to no creed, recognizing as authority only the direct experience of the Divine as we have found it within, Friends show forth our truth outwardly by the way we live. Our actions, not any profession of commitment to “notions,” are the mark of our understanding of the Divine. We hold ourselves accountable for what we say and what we do, our words and our deeds; no circumstance of our daily lives qualifies this essential allegiance to the truth we feel driven to seek, the truth we find in experience. We give the name testimony to this witness of who we are.
The testimonies that have been passed down to us embody much of what guides our practice. Quakers hold testimonies regarding simplicity, integrity, equality, peace, and community. Truth is the ground of all of them. Yet, because our experience changes as times change, our testimonies, like our understanding of truth itself, are not fixed but fluid. As a result of what we understand as continuing revelation, the testimonies have evolved in response to changing contexts, new needs, and new perceptions of our world. As was the case among Quakers historically, these changes initially are expressed as minutes in our monthly and yearly meetings; with time they become integrated into our practice. Such contemporary changes, for example, reflect our concern for our natural environment and our awareness of the human suffering and economic injustice experienced by migrant workers and immigrants who cross the borders of our country.
[Our] testimonies are the fruits of [our] spiritual foundation, not the foundation itself. . . . We are Quakers because we have encountered something within that convinces us we can be and should be at peace, live simply, be loving toward all or live any other witness that may rise from this experience.
Robert Griswold, 2004 – Creeds and Quakers: What’s Belief Got to Do With It?2
Letter LII, to Friends in Amsterdam, dated Aylesbury, 4 iii [May] 1667).
