There are two fundamental aspects to Quaker faith. First, Friends believe that all people are capable of directly experiencing the divine nature of the universe—which is known by many names, God or the Holy Spirit or simply Spirit being among the most common. You don’t need a priest or any other kind of spiritual intercessor; you don’t need to perform any kind of ritual. When you need to hear from God, you will. When Spirit has a message for you to share, you should share it.
That leads us to the second key principle, our belief in continued revelation. In the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, we read many stories of God communicating directly with people. Friends believe God’s revelations have never stopped, and that God might reach out to any one of us at any time. When Quakers come together to meet for silent worship, we participate in a shared space in which we strive to become better able, and help each other become better able, to recognize such divine messages.
-Derived from Quaker.org and Swarthmore Meeting’s brochure. Spiritual Deepening Resources: Friends General Conference (conferences, religious education materials), Spiritual Deepening Program, https://www.fgcquaker.org/fgcprograms/spiritual-deepening-program/ Quaker Books: https://quakerbooks.org/ Ministry on Racism: https://www.fgcquaker.org/fgcprograms/ministry-on-racism/ Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (gatherings, library, youth and young adult programs,) https://www.pym.org/quakerism/about-pym/ QuakerSpeak (short videos about many aspects of Quakerism and Quakers) https://quakerspeak.com/ Friends Journal (monthly journal online by donation) https://www.friendsjournal.org/issue-archive/ The (Quaker) School of the Spirit: https://www.schoolofthespirit.org/ Pendle Hill (learning opportunities, workshops, retreats, bookstore): https://pendlehill.org/ Quaker Centers outside of Pennsylvania offering programs online as well as in person: Powell House (NY): https://www.powellhouse.org/ Woolman Hill (MA): https://woolmanhill.org/ Quaker Center (CA): https://quakercenter.org/ Woodbrooke (UK): https://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/learn/