Creeds and Quakers : what's belief got to do with it?

This excellent pamphlet explains clearly, gracefully, and wisely the original and current Quaker witness against creeds. Please note that this does not mean that you get to believe anything you want. Griswold lays out the earliest Quakers' experience of faith as direct experience of communion with the divine Teacher, involving giving up one's own concepts, beliefs, desires, expectations, hatreds, etc., and then the ways in which creeds have crept back into Quakerism.
He explains the reasons for the witness against creeds, that include that creeds contribute to a false sense of self, and thus can lead away from the genuine direct experience of the divine. Creeds can screen us, make us blind to the spiritual reality that we experience. Creeds lead us to judge others rashly while we are blind to our own faulty thinking. Reality is something to be aware of, not to be believed. This important Quaker witness arises from a subtle but powerful awareness of spiritual reality.… (more)