Introducing Early Quakers

Transcript for Episode 12: 

Quaker Testimony - Integrity

Ann:

Welcome to this podcast series coming courtesy of Silver Wattle Quaker Centre, located in central New South Wales on the edge of Werriwa or Lake George, the largest freshwater lake in Australia. We acknowledge and give thanks for First Nations groups’ care of Country. We commit to its ongoing care.

I’m Ann Zubrick, a member of the Silver Wattle Board.

In 2026, Introducing early Quakers expanded into a new series, exploring Quaker values and testimonies.

Through personal reflections shared by Australian friends. These episodes draw on the experiences and insights of several contributors and are narrated by different voices within the Quaker community. Together, they invite us to reflect on how Quaker testimonies continue to shape faith and practice today.

Here is Introducing Early Quakers Episode 12:

A personal reflection on the integrity testimony. Written and narrated by Duncan Frewin. 

Duncan:

Integrity.

Integrity is about making of our life a whole. It is about matching our actions to our words.

Early Friends found that in the encounter with the Light that is God, Jesus, the Spirit, they were changed. They could no longer live a life that was compartmentalised, with one standard for their inner life and a different standard for their life in the world. Hence they rejected oaths because the oath implied that they held two standards for truth: one strict standard under the oath and a looser standard without the oath.

We can read the stories of early Friends: their struggle to avoid the Light, then their encounter with it, and their surrender to its power, with the life that followed—a life devoted to following where the Spirit led them. From that point, they certainly aligned their lives to the Light. We modern folk applaud their commitment, their devotion to truth. But have we actually faced the Light? Have we surrendered to the power of the Spirit? Or do we continue to live our modern life untouched, following what our neighbours do, compromising our beliefs in order to make a living, avoiding ridicule or condescension, hanging back from the leap of faith into the Light? Have we perhaps hidden ourselves from the Light? Are we insulating our inner life from our life in the world?

Where did this impulse to align their actions with the Spirit come from, for early Friends? Where does it come from for us? I believe it all starts with worship.

At its best, worship is about honestly facing our own pretensions and desires, even our self-hate, so that we can face the Light. It is a fervent concentration on opening ourselves to the Light and listening to the Inner Teacher. We face the shortcomings, the avoidances, the bad faith that are in us. We see ourselves stripped bare. We see our shortcomings when we pay attention to how our actions betray our ideals. We betray them when we espouse peace, but then we yell at a colleague. When we speak for compassion, but then we use hurtful words about someone in an email. When we talk about forgiveness, but then we demand an apology for ourselves. But the call is to focus not on the failings, but on the Light that illuminated us.

As the Divine Light has searched us, we know we cannot continue in the old way. In traditional language, we repent. We feel around for a new, a new direction, and the Light will show it to us. Then starts the striving for integrity: matching what we do with what we espouse, checking always with our Inner Teacher, risking incomprehension, even ridicule, risking consequences that we do not foresee.

In short, a change of direction to align ourselves with what the Spirit, or our Inner Light, or our conscience requires of us. If the Spirit requires us to do something, we can no longer do otherwise. Integrity is a challenging commitment, perhaps the hardest of all.

It started for me with small things. Instead of muttering about how wrong it is if people drop litter, one day I stopped and picked up a wrapper on the ground. A tiny step in the right direction.

Later, among Friends, a space opened for me to look more deeply at uncomfortable truths about myself. I realised I was living a lie to gain the world’s approval. But Friends, by their example, gently supported me to redirect my life toward the Light. Did they even realise they were doing that? Probably not.

And in following the Spirit, I learned a new joy in living. The work continues, still in small things and great. One moment I’m tussling with the urge to tell fibs about why I’m late again. Another time I find myself running away from telling a necessary truth to a friend and possibly losing a friendship, or at least losing their approval.

For other people, the stakes are much higher. For them, integrity means risking imprisonment or worse, perhaps for defying an unjust law and a corrupt government, for working for justice for the powerless. When the test comes, I pray I may be found in the Light.

Integrity is a never-finished effort. It’s not a big step and then we’ve arrived. It’s a continual striving, a lifelong commitment. So we start at the only place we can: where we are now. What does the Light show me at this moment? What can be my first step? The step after that. Step by step, we find a path, and with each step we find more Light. Failure dogs us. We fall and fall again. Then we pull ourselves up and try again. Fear of failure haunts us, but love surrounds us also. We go back to the beginning, listening again for that voice that gives us courage. And with practice, more Light is given to us.

As Caroline Fox said, “Live up to the Light thou hast, and more will be given thee.”

So this is how I understand integrity. More than sticking to absolute facts in my words, it is about striving to walk in the truth because I can do no other.

Ann:

We hope these stories inspire and inform you.

You can explore more about Silver Wattle’s retreats and learning opportunities, both in person and online, at silverwattle.org.au.

Episode 12: Integrity

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What does it mean to “make of our life a whole” and to match our actions to our words?

2. In what ways might we insulate our inner life from our life in the world?

3. How can worship and listening to the Inner Teacher help us recognise when our actions betray our ideals?

4. Integrity can mean “risking incomprehension, even ridicule.” When might living according to our beliefs require us to risk the approval of others?

5. “What does the Light show me at this moment?” What might be a first small step toward greater integrity?