Live Not By Lies: A Friendly Reminder reflection from QLC
By Andy Stanton-Henry
At my meeting, we have been working through a sermon series on the Quaker testimonies. Last Sunday, we considered the testimony of integrity. As with all the testimonies, there are many dimensions to integrity.
I’ve often reflected on integrity in the sense of living an “integrated” life of harmony between our inner and outer lives. Parker Palmer called it the “undivided life” where we “rejoin role and soul.”
There is also the historic Quaker commitment to avoid swearing oaths, practicing plain speech, and following Jesus’ teaching to stick with simply “yes” and “no.” “Anything beyond this is from the evil one,” he said (Matt. 5:37). Yikes!
But as I was reflecting last week, I was drawn to reflect on how the testimony of integrity calls us to “live not by lies.”
“Live not by lies” is the imperative of integrity.
I borrow this phrase from Russian philosopher Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He was a decorated Soviet war hero in the Red Army whose fortunes turned dramatically when he was arrested for criticizing Stalin in private letters and sentenced to eight years in a prison labor camp. He left the gulag utterly disillusioned with his atheism and Marxist-Leninist ideology and become a devotee of the Russian Orthodox faith. Solzhenitsyn went on to write about his experience in a now classic work called The Gulag Archipelago.
In an essay called “Live Not By Lies,” Solzhenitsyn challenged the sense of impotence felt by so many in Soviet Russia, arguing that the refusal to repeat lies and defend dangerous ideological narratives was a profound and powerful action available to all. He wrote:
And therein we find, neglected by us, the simplest, the most accessible key to our liberation: a personal nonparticipation in lies! Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: Let their rule hold not through me!
I’m not suggesting that the United States should be equated with Soviet Russia, but I do suspect this challenge to “live not by lies” is more relevant than ever and one we should take seriously as Quaker leaders.
We are, after all, called to be “valiant for Truth” and invited to become “publishers of Truth.”
Elizabeth Fry testified that she would remind herself: “Do not fear truth, let it be so contrary to inclination and feeling. Never give up the search after it: and let me take courage, and try from the bottom of my heart to do that which I believe truth dictates, if it leads me to be a Quaker or not.”
Edward Burrough reminds us, from the 17th century, to avoid ideology: “We are not for Names, nor Men, nor Titles of Government, nor are we for this Party, nor against the other, because of its Name and Pretence; but we are for Justice and Mercy, and Truth and Peace, and true Freedom, that these may be exalted in our Nation.”
Even, especially, during this election season, integrity calls us to “non-participation in lies.”
We can refuse to repeat lies, even if they are being used by our preferred political party of candidate.
We can speak plainly and honestly about Truth as we discern it, while being open to the insights of others.
We can model the twin callings to “speak truth to power” and “speak the truth in love.”
We can model vulnerability by telling hard truths or admitting when we don’t have the answers to hard questions.
We can cultivate our meetings and churches as prophetic alternatives to ideologies attached to “names” and “men” and “titles.”
As always, we can invite the Light to search us and expose any falsehood in the “innermost being” of our hearts (Ps. 51:6).
We can refuse to project a false self to others and take on projects to which we are not led.
Just because Quakers refuse to take oaths doesn’t mean we can’t “affirm” our commitment to tell (and live) the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
And if we walk in the Way of Christ, we can come to know the Truth which will always set us free (Jn. 8:32).
*photo courtesy of Paul Anderson, artwork by Arthur Roberts
