In this episode of Quakers Today, host Peterson Toscano explores how we can remain steady when the world feels like it is spinning out of control. We revisit a vital conversation with Australian activist and Quaker Adrian Glamorgan about activism, despair, and finding our specific leadings. We also hear from Kat Griffith on the spiritual work required to bridge deep political divides in rural communities. Peterson also shares a personal reflection on the “chemistry of fear” and how the choice to love is a practical move against alienation.

This Season of Quakers Today is sponsored by:

• Friends Fiduciary
• American Friends Service Committee

The Chemistry of Fear and the Choice to Love

Peterson reflects on a message received during Quaker worship regarding the physiological impact of fear. Drawing on research and the wisdom of bell hooks, he discusses how fear narrows the mind and fuels “structures of domination.”

“The choice to love is a choice to connect—to find ourselves in the ‘Other.’” — Peterson Toscano

Remaining Steady with Adrian Glamorgan

We revisit words from Adrian Glamorgan, the Asia and West Pacific Section Executive Secretary of the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC). Adrian shares his journey from “angry activist” to a grounded Quaker, emphasizing that quiet time is not inaction—it is a neurological reset.

• Read Adrian’s article: “The Devoted Path,” December 2024 Friends Journal

Bridging the Divide: Kat Griffith

How do we talk to neighbors when political tension feels insurmountable? Kat Griffith shares her experiences in rural Wisconsin. This segment features audio from the QuakerSpeak video series.

• Watch the Video: How to Bridge the Political Divide Through Faith

Reviews and Recommendations

Book Review: Hiking Zen: Train Your Mind in Nature By Phap Xa and Phap Luu. Reviewed by Trevor Brandt. A practical guide to mindfulness through movement, helping us transform suffering into a new way of being.

• Read the full review: Friends Journal Book Review

Recommendation: Scavengers Reign Peterson recommends the 12-episode animated series Scavengers Reign (available on HBO/MAX and Netflix). Set on a distant planet, it explores how life flourishes through ecological balance rather than “Good versus Evil.” If you do not have access to Max or Netflix, you can watch the original short film version for free on YouTube: Scavengers. Both were written and directed by Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner. 

Explore the Creators’ Work: josephbennett.tv

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Answer our Monthly Question. Imagination Required!

If you, or a group you are part of, received a thank-you note sent to you from 100 years in the future, what would the people of the future be thanking you for doing today?

Share your response:

• Voicemail: Leave a message at 317-QUAKERS (317-782-5377). Add +1 if calling from outside the USA.
• Email: Click here to email the show
• Social Media: Find us on TikTok, Instagram, and X.
  • You can follow Peterson on Bluesky and Facebook. 

Listener Voices: How do you stay steady?

Special thanks to our social media contributors and listeners for sharing the practices that anchor them:

• Pumanti: Transparency in politics.
• MemawClaus: Making something from scratch.
• Copperkey13: Breathing.
• Jenny Okamoto: Dogs and a crackling fire.
• TransQuakerism: Assembling and painting miniatures.
• Andy: Taking prescribed medications.
• Catherine Habegger: Deep breathing.
• Sheila Garrett: A Thich Nhat Hanh meditation practice: “Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile.”
• Thanks also to Manda.and.her.menagerie, Youngfriendsmke, sarahmudd60, Gail, Rejena, Tom, Richard, and everyone who left voicemails and answered on social media.

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Transcript

Peterson Toscano (00:00)

In this episode of Quakers today, we ask what practices bring you stability in the midst of turmoil?

 

Kat Griffith shares how she bridged deep political divides in her rural community. We’ll also revisit a conversation with a longtime activist in Australia. He points us toward an ancient Quaker practice we need now more than ever. Plus we share resources to help you train your mind in nature and expand your imagination. I’m Peterson Toscano. This is season five, episode six of the Quakers Today podcast.

 

a project of Friends Publishing Corporation. This season is sponsored by Friends Fiduciary and the American Friends Service Committee.

 

Hello friend. Last month, Sweet Miche and Diana Yanez hosted the show while I was away. And this episode, Sweet Miche is taking a break. Diana will join us later this year for a series on Quakers and money. In today’s show, I’m going to share with you strategies and insights to help you through these turbulent times. Over a year ago, we featured Adrian Glamorgan, a Quaker from Australia.

 

Adrian is the Asia and West Pacific Section Executive Secretary of Friends World Committee for Consultation. In our conversation, he spoke about staying grounded amid political and social turmoil. And this episode remains one of our most popular with nearly 10,000 downloads. Sweet Miche and I decided to revisit that conversation and to share practices that keep us from spinning out of control.

 

Adrian, as a longtime activist, has been on the front lines of social change for over 40 years, from confronting structural racism on Cape York in the late 70s to lobbying for the environment.

 

Adrian Glamorgan (01:59)

Before I was a Quaker, I was quite active in a lot of social change. After I hadn’t seen a friend of mine in the social change movement and the peace movement, they got really cross with me. Adrian, you’ve changed. You used to be so angry. I knew exactly what she meant because anger around injustice is a fuel that can burn for a long time. But it goes off in all directions, anger, and it doesn’t connect with people. In fact, it disconnects people.

 

Peterson Toscano (02:29)

Disconnection, yeah. In the midst of the turmoil swirling around us, connection with each other, with the natural world, and within ourselves is vital. I find that any effort I take to connect helps ground me and builds the community we need now more than ever.

 

Adrian spoke of anger, but there is another emotion I’m feeling these days. Fear floods us with adrenaline, speeding the heart and narrowing neural pathways. We plunge into an emergency state of fight, flight, or freeze. In that state, we can’t think clearly. We only react to protect ourselves and the people we love. That same chemistry plays out in our politics. I live

 

in the United States, it is a land where fear dominates. The late bell hooks wrote in her book, All About Love, quote, fear is the primary force upholding structures of domination. It promotes the desire for separation. When we are taught that safety lies always with sameness, then difference of any kind will appear as a threat, end quote. Fear divides and dehumanizes.

 

But as Hooks reminds us, when we choose to love, we choose to move against alienation. The choice to love is a choice to connect, to find ourselves in the other. In the midst of the turmoil and the noise, we can feel despair. The activist Joan Baez said, action is the antidote to despair. But where do we start? What is mine to do? In our conversation with Adrian,

 

He stressed that our job is to embrace our leadings.

 

Adrian Glamorgan (04:24)

someone’s got a passion for ballet or F1 or for being a horticulturalist or a teacher or an accountant, follow your passion. Better still, follow your leading as it arises because that will be part of the solution. That may not look like being at the front line, being at the barricades.

 

Peterson Toscano (04:45)

When we are disoriented by the many needs crying for our attention, it’s so easy to flit from one thing to another. But if we ground ourselves in our leading, we can care about everything while taking the next most meaningful step. Now we need to understand that we don’t always choose our passions. They choose us. And so sometimes the thing that you feel led to do may not be the thing that your friends or neighbors are doing.

 

And you may feel like an outlier or even guilty that you’re not joining their cause. We might hear an aggressive, loud voice commanding us, drop everything and pick this up right now. But that voice can lead us astray. Instead, turn inward to the seed, the inner teacher and ask, what is mine to do? I mean, someone still needs to care about the birds, about

 

food security or whatever it is that you feel led to love.

 

Kat Griffith is a fascinating Quaker who has faithfully leaned into her leading. Her faith helps her bridge deep political divides. I want to share an excerpt from the Quaker speak video featuring Kat. It’s entitled, How to Bridge the Political Divide Through Faith.

 

Kat Griffith (06:14)

I see all the time that a lot of people around me are in a state of despair about what’s going on in our country. For me, creating connections across political divides, there have been a number of moments where I have felt led to open myself up and I have been changed and I have sometimes fought that. Sometimes I’ve been dragged kicking and screaming into that kind of openness, but I’m taken there over and over again.

 

I feel like that’s where transformation of us individually and of us as a society will happen, is when we go to those places that we discern we need to go to, whether we want to go to them or not. There are several ways I wish we engaged more as friends in politics and in conversations about politics. One thing is I just wish more of us would go into it with a commitment to being

 

obedient to whatever we’re called to do. And I use that word deliberately knowing that it ruffles feathers. think it’s obedience that takes us places that we might not choose, places that we might not expect. When I discern where to go, I don’t always get the answer I’m looking for. I sometimes am told to go someplace I don’t really want to go. When I became a homeschooler in this town, Ripon, with a lot of very conservative evangelical homeschoolers, we were appallingly

 

far apart in our political views. And one day I had this idea, a very dangerous idea of inviting them to talk about the things that divided us. The amazing thing that happened during that was coming to the realization there was nobody in the room who was morally lazy. There was nobody in the room who was malicious. There was nobody in the room who didn’t care. There was nobody in the room who was sloppy about coming to their views. Everybody had worked hard and everybody had ideals that

 

I didn’t necessarily share the details or how that would manifest in the world, but I want that too. I want a safe community for my children too. You think that we’re going to get there by locking more people up. I think we’re going to get there by treating people differently than that. But we do want that same thing. And if we can recognize that, recognize that it’s a legitimate goal to have a safe community to raise our children in.

 

That is an important start. It makes it impossible for me to demonize them as wanting something evil, wanting to hurt society, which is, it’s easy to fall into that. There really is that of God in everyone. It’s so easy to say that the words trip off your tongue, but how often do we really believe it? If I let these relationships enter my heart, that is what I find. The first time I ran was because the person who was running unopposed was a white Christian nationalist who believed in physical

 

violence against the government. During nullification, he taught his children the Second Amendment like another Bible verse. I was horrified at the idea that he would be representing me formally. And so I went through a brief process of discernment and I took out papers to run the very last day that I could. And I won 55 % of the vote, but that meant that 45 % were willing to vote for somebody with his views. I found that disconcerting. I decided that I wanted to serve

 

as a uniting presence. I didn’t want to just judge people for having chosen him. So when the second time came, I decided to run again. I did not have an opponent. I decided I’m going to campaign anyway. And it isn’t because I need their vote to win. I’m going to win if I don’t do anything. But that’s not what it’s about for me. For me, it’s about trying to unite this community.

 

I canvassed, I went door to door and I talked to all kinds of people. Some of them would say, well, why are you here if you don’t need to be? And I said, it’s because I want to earn your vote. I could win without you, but I don’t want to. I’d like to win with you. Between the articles and my campaign, I got 85 % of the vote and it’s a 50-50 town. So I think roughly that means I got about 70 % of the Republican vote, which amazes me because I haven’t changed who I am. Campaigning when I didn’t need to was a way to say, I value you.

 

I care what you think. It matters to me who you are and what you need and what you want and what you’re experiencing. And I don’t think a lot of people hear that very often. The work was uniting people. The work was listening to people. The work was being present to all kinds of people in the community. So, yeah, it changed me. And I look forward to the day when it becomes clear exactly what that looks like. When I think of my whole life as a pilgrimage to this moment,

 

I feel energized and joyous by the work ahead of me. I don’t feel drained and exhausted and hopeless. I feel like, wasn’t I made for this?

 

Peterson Toscano (11:05)

That was Kat Griffith in an excerpt from the QuakerSpeak video entitled, How to Bridge the Political Divide Through Faith. You can find that video and the entire QuakerSpeak collection on YouTube or at QuakerSpeak.com. Many thanks to Leila Cuthral for recording and editing these videos.

 

Action is an antidote to despair. But funnily enough, for Quakers, we often discover what that action is through something that looks like inaction, our countercultural practice of sitting in silence together. Adrian has something to say about this.

 

Adrian Glamorgan (11:49)

I’ve got a feeling that the idea of sitting quietly resets us neurologically. I’m not advocating Quaker for health purposes, but actually it’s quite healthy to do it because your state of being in fight, flight, freeze or form slowly releases when you give yourself enough time. You can de-traumatize through sitting quietly.

 

Peterson Toscano (12:12)

Yeah, it’s powerful. And I sit in silence for seconds, minutes at a time, sometimes multiple times a day. I close my eyes, take deep breaths and turn inward to a place that feels like an infinity pool. It’s calm and massive. The 17th century Quaker, Isaac Pennington described it as sinking down to the seed, which God sows in the heart. This takes practice like building muscle for a sport. And for me, my mind will wander.

 

panic thoughts will at times take over, but I take those thoughts and I imagine them being held in the light as well and recognizing that I am not alone and there is wisdom. I can be still and hear that voice that will guide me. Before we move to a book review and a recommendation, I want to share Adrian’s vision for navigating our current crisis.

 

Adrian Glamorgan (13:10)

We can hold fast to the new creation without being mesmerized by the ocean of darkness. We can discern to avoid having either optimism or pessimism pull us away from our true calling. We can be strengthened by gratitude, especially when we consider others in our Quaker community and the way the Spirit has held us in the past. And we can come to understand the power of devotion when it settles in us.

 

and gives us the strength to persevere.

 

Peterson Toscano (13:47)

That was Adrian Glemmorgan. His article, The Devoted Path, appears in the December 20, 2024 issue of Friends Journal.

 

To stay steady in turmoil, we often need to step out of the digital world and back into the physical one. In the January 2026 issue of Friends Journal, Trevor Brandt reviews a book that feels like the perfect companion for the practices we’ve discussed today. It’s called Hiking Zen, Train Your Mind in Nature. It’s written by Phap Sa and Phap Liu. You might hear the word Zen and think of sitting perfectly still, but this book is about movement.

 

The authors are monastics in the plum village tradition, and they offer stations to help you practice mindfulness while you walk. As Quakers, this mirrors that sinking down I mentioned earlier. Trevor Brandt notes in his review that the book isn’t just about enjoying the scenery. It’s about quote, transforming our suffering and bringing about a new way of being. End quote. If you find it hard to sit in silence when the news is shouting at you,

 

Maybe your quiet time needs to happen on a trail. You can read the full review and reviews of other books for free at friendsjournal.org.

 

Before we end the show, have a recommendation for you. I recently watched the short animated series that changed the way I view the so-called man-made world. It’s called Scavengers Reign. This 12 episode series is about a group of astronauts stranded in the future on a distant planet. They have to use the fantastical plants and animals around them for everything, food, energy, even transportation. And as I watched them,

 

learn to live within this alien world, I began to recognize that everything in my world comes from nature too. I’m just a few steps removed. And even the plastic of my keyboard or the paper for my notes, it comes from an ecosystem. What also makes the show special is that the conflict isn’t good versus evil. It’s about competing needs for survival. And even the dangerous characters aren’t wicked.

 

They’re out of balance, which reminds me of the classic anime Princess Mononoke. The animation and storytelling in Scavengers Reign swept me away and it gave me, I don’t know, a strange hope for how life flourishes even in chaos. You can watch the full series on Macs or Netflix or find the original short Scavengers for free on YouTube. I have links in the show notes for you. Just visit QuakersToday.org.

 

Okay, friend, we’ve covered a lot of ground today from bridging the political divide with Kat Griffith to finding our specific leadings with Adrian Glam Morgan. Remember, you don’t have to carry the whole world. You just have to carry what is yours to do. You can care about everything and then take care of the thing that you are led to care for. And if you don’t know what that thing is, you can be still on your own and with others and find clarity.

 

and guidance.

 

Thank you so much for listening. Together, we will stay steady, pursue justice, grow in love, and co-create a peaceful world. Season five of Quakers Today is sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee. The American Friends Service Committee works at the forefront of social change to meet urgent needs, challenge injustice, and build peace. Since 1948, AFSC has worked

 

for a just and lasting peace in Palestine and Israel. Today, its Gaza team delivers life-saving aid while US advocates push to end the occupation and apartheid system. In July 2025, AFSC joined seven other Quaker groups declaring, Quakers discern genocide is occurring in Gaza and urge courageous action, end quote. Read the full statement and take action.

 

by visiting afsc.org slash crisis dash Gaza. Learn about other initiatives and actions at afsc.org. Season five is also sponsored by Friends Fiduciary. Friends Fiduciary unites Quaker values with expert investing. They serve more than 460 organizations with ethical portfolios, shareholder advocacy, and a deep commitment to justice and sustainability.

 

They walk the walk on environmental stewardship. The Quaker Growth and Income Fund has a 70 % smaller carbon footprint than the benchmark. Friends Fiduciary supports science-based targets and urges companies to adopt clear, immediate climate transition plans. Learn more at friendsfiduciary.org. Quakers Today is written and produced by me, Peterson Toscano, and by Sweet Miche.

 

Our music comes from Epidemic Sound. Visit QuakersToday.org to see our show notes with lots of links and a full transcript for this episode. We also have a full video version available at the Friends Journal YouTube page.

 

If you stick around after the closing, will hear the many responses we receive from listeners to the question, what practices bring you stability in the midst of turmoil? Thank you, friend, for listening.

 

In a moment, we’ll hear your answers to our monthly question. But first I have a new question for you, but this one requires a lot of imagination. Okay. So imagine if you are a group you’re part of received a thank you note sent from 100 years in the future. What will the people of the future be thanking you for doing today? All right. They’re not scolding you. They’re not shaming you. They’re thanking you. If you were a group.

 

You are part of received a thank you note sent from 100 years in the future. What will the people of the future be thanking you for doing today? Leave a voice memo with your name and town at three one seven Quakers. That’s three one seven seven eight two five three seven seven. You can also leave your answer in a comment on our social media channels. have a tick tock account and X account and Instagram now.

 

Let’s hear how you’re staying steady right now. We received some voicemails and nearly 50 responses on social media to this question. And the question was what practices bring you stability in the midst of turmoil? I’m going to read some of the responses from social media and then you will hear the voicemail. We got lots of answers on TikTok. Our TikTok is blowing up. Kitty Hunter shared, snuggling with my cats or watching Lord of the Rings content. Moonwood wrote.

 

Breath awareness. Dev Muncy takes a solitary walk in a graveyard and along the same lines, Miss Sassy Frass suggests long walks. AD reads each night before bed once everyone is asleep and the house is quiet. Danielle Steele Soprano wrote, I was like gonna say Quaker stillness. And then I saw the account name. CopperSki13 takes a

 

big stretch in a few deep breaths before starting the day. Okay. This one’s really interesting. Pull Monte find stability through transparency by quote, looking at politicians, stock portfolios to understand their motives. Meemaw clause goes back to the basics by making something from scratch for Jenny Okamoto. The secret is quote my dogs at a crackling fire over on

 

BlueSky, got several responses as well, TransQuakerism shared a very specific way of finding focus saying, quote, working with toy models. It’s a great focus to assemble and paint a miniature that lets me recenter for a few hours. Vin Kiva says tending to my plans and creating something. And Andy offers a very practical vital reminder for self care, taking my meds.

 

Over on Facebook, Karen Deal Robinson does yoga in the backyard, even in the winter. Quote, I shovel out a spot in the snow to lay my mat. Okay. Yeah, that’s serious. Catherine H does deep breathing as this Sheila Garrett, who goes a little bit more specifically Sheila wrote, I’m using more and more my simple meditation practice that I learned from Tiknot Han. Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile.

 

I’ve done this for decades now. When I breathe in, I can feel a wave of calm flow over and through me, like lying on a beach, feeling the ocean ebb and flow. Then when I exhale, I smile and think of someone or something that makes me really happy. Sometimes it’s a person I love, or sometimes it’s plunging into beautiful, clear water. It takes just a moment or I can do it for a while, no matter where I am.

 

I always have it with me. Blessed be. Blessed be indeed. Over on our Instagram page, Amanda and her menagerie wrote, for me getting out of my head and into my hands is very stabilizing. So I knit or I sew. The repetitive stitches are like a meditation. And for that time, I am right there in the moment. Young friends, Mike writes, reading the Bible with traditional friends prayers, exclamation point.

 

And SarahMud60, grief and outrage are with me daily. But walking the dog in the countryside still has the power to bring me joy. Life itself and the beautiful world of nature are miracles inspiring wonder and gratitude. We have voicemails. Not only answering this question, but previous questions. Turns out Google was marking its own voicemails as spam.

 

even the bots do not trust each other right now. Tell them all for these practices that keep us grounded. And here are the voicemails.

 

Rejena and Gail (25:04)

I find peace and stability through the quiet discipline of my morning routine. Each day begins at 5 a.m. Stillness is an early dawn offering space to reset before the world stir. Brew a cup of coffee, meditate, spend time writing, anchoring my thoughts and emotions into words. I also carry a small collection of music and art to accompany me throughout the day. The reservoir of inspiration and calm to draw from when things get difficult.

 

This ritual repeats safely, becomes more than a habit, steady rhythm that feeds each day into the next. And no matter the chaos around me, I can always begin again. Be well. Talk to you soon. Hello, my name is Gail and I’m calling from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. So I find meditation really helps me feel grounded and more calm. I use an app and I try to do it at least three times a week. I definitely noticed the difference if I haven’t done that.

 

I also practice yoga. I like to spend time in nature as much as possible. Lastly, I take intentional breaks from my phone and from reading the news, which has been disperting and overwhelming lately. Those are the practices that I try to lean on when the world is feeling crazy and there’s not as much as I can do about it.

 

Josh and Richard (26:28)

Hi, my name is Josh. I live in Iowa City, Iowa. I’m responding to this month’s question about something I learned in school about Native Americans or indigenous peoples, but I’ve since learned was not true. This is not actually related to Iowa. I grew up in Mystic, Connecticut, and throughout my schooling, elementary, middle, and high school, and just even in conversation and other discussions in town, was never aware that there was a major massacre of

 

⁓ local Native Americans there in the early, ⁓ in the 1600s. It very significant massacre of the Pequot people. And it was never mentioned, never discussed, and never acknowledged in any of my schooling, even though many of my friends lived in the place of the massacre. And it was very much a part of the history of the community. Thank you. Bye. Hi, this is Richard Kenda.

 

In Hagerstown, Maryland, the question was what do you believe now that you didn’t believe before becoming a Quaker? And my answer is that your spiritual development and expression definitely depends on practicing the Christian sacraments like baptism and communion. So that’s what I’ve got to say. Talk to you later. Bye.

 

Peterson Toscano (28:00)

Thank you for everyone who shared. Sorry, I didn’t get to everyone’s comments. There were so many this time, but you’ve reminded us that whether it’s a crackling fire or a small bottle of paint or just simple breathing, these tiny anchors keep us from being swept away. Before we go, I want to remind you of what our next question will be. It requires a bit of imagination. If you or group you are part of received a thank you note sent to you

 

from 100 years in the future, what will the people of the future be thanking you for today? Leave a voicemail at 317 Quakers or a comment at any of our social media. I’m Peterson Toscano and this has been Quakers Today.