THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF FRIEND LIBERTY GOODWIN

(The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways)

Background: Grew up in NYC with Catholic father & Jewish mother. Both parents were civil servants, so I was exposed to folks of all nationalities, races, religions. Diversity was a normal part of my life. (Also,

I chose to go to a Presbyterian Sunday School). In my early teens, living in lower Manhattan, I often wandered into Greenwich Village and hung out in gay bars there. (For friendly & safe companionship).

Theater & Racism: My other early activities included being an aspiring actress, including some time at the High School of Performing Arts and some summer theater activity. At one time while I was in summer stock near Nyack, NY, my best friend came to me distraught and crying because she had wed a “colored” man and her mother was in a rage about it – harassing her to annual the marriage. I simply asked her, “Do you love him?” and encouraged her to follow her heart.

Seeking : After marrying my own second husband, I felt a call to find a spiritual home for myself & my children. In November of 1968, I decided to check out the Unitarians (because they were said to be "liberal") and Quakers (because they were "different"). I then attended Meeting for Worship in the historic Friends Meeting House in Flushing, N.Y. (Queens).

Finding: Upon entering the room, I knew I was home. There was a peaceful hush there beyond anything I had ever felt. Later, in discussion time before Meeting, I learned about the traditions & principles of Quakers, and claimed them as in tune with my own inner truth. I never made it to the Unitarians, except as an occasional visitor. My development as a Friend continued as we moved in 1971 to Connecticut, where I started attending Wilton Monthly Meeting. I began greater involvement with the life of the Meeting by serving on committees such as First Day School, Hospitality, Peace Concerns.

Fullness & Widening: On Easter Sunday, 1973, I was moved in Meeting for Worship to clarity about becoming a member of Wilton Meeting, and completed that process in August, 1973. I began exploring the wider world of Friends, through weekends at the Powell House retreat & conference center, attending New York Yearly Meeting Sessions at Silver Bay, and becoming active in peace and social concerns. I also began attending the annual Friends General Conference.

AVP (Alternatives to Violence Project: Sometime during this period, while in the New York area, I completed training as an AVP facilitator, and continued for a number of years to help lead such workshops in a variety of prisons, as well as two widely different school settings.

Peace, Etc. From the early to late 1970s, I served on the Peace & Social Action Program Steering Committee of NYYM. During that time, I founded and served as clerk of the Nuclear Energy Subcommittee, later know as Energy Concerns. We were able to present and pass a Minute on Nuclear Energy at NYYM via successful negotiation with Friends of differing views to reach consensus. In Wilton, after founding an organization called United Citizens Against Nukes (UCAN), I went with an affinity group of mostly Meeting members to Seabrook, New Hampshire as part of the Clamshell demonstration against the nuclear plant there. In 1976, I became organizer of the Continental Walk for Disarmament & Social Justice for the area between Bridgeport and Greenwich, in Connecticut. It was on this walk that I first met Paul Klinkman, who was walking from Boston to Washington. (Later anti-nuclear activities include organizing buses to Washington in the protest following Three Mile Island.

Employment: In 1979, chatted with a man at an event in CT who turned out to be John Aristotle Phillips Wound up working for him as Research Associate for his organization, FUSE (Fund for Secure Energy), Our purpose was to do research on and provide public education in conservation and alternative energy sources. I explored all kinds of printed sources and did interviewing of a variety of inventors and scientists. I also testified at hearings, debated a nuclear industry representative at a local High School, spoke to groups & answered phone queries about energy.

Politics: Later that year, John Phillips ran for Congress in the 4th District in Connecticut, & I went with him as campaign researcher. I studied issues, wrote position papers, helped formulate John's stances on issues, & answered questions about them. I also did active campaigning, speaking to groups and organizing a phone bank. After John won the primary but lost the November, 1980, election, I continued active in Connecticut politics. I served as a representative to the State Democratic Convention, & spent the 1981 legislative session as lobbyist for the Connecticut Women's Political Caucus.

Transformation: In March of 1982, after a series of serious personal upheavals, including injury in an automobile accident, I spent a weekend at Powell House that transformed my life. I turned myself over fully to God's care and direction, and was rewarded with a beautiful experience of Love and Presence (while in the shower) that I feel was a truly new beginning in my spiritual journey.

Seminary: As a direct result of this experience, I went to Indiana to study at the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.. (Note: Prodded by sneaky move by God – being moved out of my CT dwelling - & his provision of traveling income via Circle-A-Word puzzle magazine proofreading. Under the influence of Miriam Burke and other fine teachers and Friends, I deepened my prayer life and my understanding of theology, psychology and ministry. However, I struggled to formulate an appropriate Ministry Project, and complete my degree. I attempted to develop a peace ministry in Wilmington Yearly Meeting in Ohio, but could not shape it to meet school requirements.

Pilgrimage: In 1983-84, I moved to more active and less academic spiritual activity, I spent 6 months leading a support group at Friends of the Battered in Richmond. At the same time, I continued taking classes at E.S.R. and helped organize and run a pot-luck community dinner for the poor at a different church each month. In Spring of 1984, I set out on a journey to seek understanding of the psychology of violence. I intended to do this at Battered Women's Shelters mainly. However, as I traveled, I was led to all sorts of places and people that increased my knowledge and enhanced what turned out to be an 18-month-long pilgrimage.

I spoke with psychologists, correctional authorities, people working with batterers, violent sexual offenders in a Connecticut prison. I walked in the 20th Anniversary March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in company of many who had originally marched with Martin Luther King. I met with people in the Southwest who were part of the Sanctuary Movement, attended the sentencing of two such in Texas, and the pre-trial hearing of others in Arizona.

I visited the prison in Texas where illegal immigrants were kept, and the Casa Romero in Brownsville where they were given shelter. I received all kinds of information, from sources such as a psychologist who did work with torturers and a man who ministered to Klu Klux Klan members. I circled the country twice, traveling in a little Mazda, and with no address but E.S.R., which forwarded my mail to General Delivery. I picked up hitchhikers and learned from them. I stayed with Friends, in monasteries, a couple of times by the side of the road. I was continually sustained by the support and presence of God.

Publishing: I finally halted my wanderings, in 1986. I inherited an apartment in Florida, and moved there. Though I had thought of writing about my journey, I was instead led to publishing a book by another -- "Victories Without Violence" by A. Ruth Fry, an English Friend. I had discovered it at the Peace House Library at Wilmington College in Ohio, and later met someone who could help me make it available again. I also began doing workshops using the book as a springboard for discussion, at Monthly and Yearly Meetings and at FGC. On request, I wrote a series of articles based on the concept for a local college paper.

Seminary Again: Searching for guidance on next moves, I returned to E.S.R. in 1988, and pursued studies in Pastoral Counseling. I again tried a Ministry Project - in the Addictions Unit at the State Hospital, but though I finished out the year there and learned much, the placement did not work for filling school requirements.

Publishing Again: I was able, at the end of my E.S.R. time in 1991, to publish another book, this one by Dorothy T. Samuel, formerly of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, "Safe Passage on City Streets". I continued to distribute and share stories from both books.

Video Production: In 1992, I moved back to Florida, this time to Sarasota, where my son Dan was a graduate film student. I then wrote three stories and screenplays inspired by my books and experiences, and attempted to produce them with film student help. One, "The Rock", based on the true experience of a Quaker girl and a bully, completed shooting in video format. Dan later edited it for me for use as a basis for discussion in schools and churches. I continue to offer it as a DVD packaged with a Manual for Discussion of Bullying.

Future WAVE (Working for Alternatives to Violence in Entertainment: I spent Spring of 1993 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, working as Research Director for an organization devoted to nurturing the use of non-violent alternatives in the media. I especially had some success developing a Police Resource Group to advise the film industry. However, funding ran out.

Spiritual Companionship At Last: In 1993 at FGC in Oklahoma, I was given the gift I had prayed for over many years. Paul and I, formerly friends and conference buddies, became a couple. I finally had a companion who fully shared my Quaker identity and commitment to living in the Spirit and working for peace. This happened through an amazing series of events planned by a very clever God –culminating in my journey to Providence, RI with Paul, my loving soul & life-mate, and now husband.

Projects During Mid 1990s: I'm was still involved with my original Yearly Meeting, NYYM, along with Paul, as part of a task group promoting the use of music there, including music-based worship-sharing. I worked with Providence Meeting's Peace Committee doing outreach about the Death Penalty concern. Paul and I, who have both taken Therapeutic Touch and John Calvi's "Healing Life's Wounds" workshop, were also pursuing opportunities to do Energy Healing. We coordinated a Healing Center at Friends General Conference (FGC), and were facilitating an Energy Healers' Support Group that met once a month at Providence Meeting. I was an initiator and co-owner/administrator of Quaker-K, a list on the Internet that started up to give Quaker kids a chance to share with each other electronically (a spinoff from Quaker-L). I was working on a book called "Vaccine vs. Violence" as co-editor with another Friend, offering 500 suggestions to parents on helping kids deal with a violent world.

On the Back Burner: My friend's book had a publisher interested, so put off work on a book of my own called "Homesick for Harmony" and the proposed radio show based on that, to include music, stories and interviews of people making a positive difference in the world.

2019 UPDATE: I have moved on to focus on leading workshops/interest groups/discussions, which offer examples of the positive transformation of conflict, division, hate & hurt – of the “Us vs. Them” disease that sickens the human species. The presentations include one called “Homesick for Harmony”, another based on the “Rock” bullying video & manual, and others titled “Building Bridges Over Bias Through Books”, “The Role Of Transformative Storytelling (True Or Imagined) In Teaching Peaceful Thinking” and “Curious & Creative Concepts for Change”. I’m hoping to offer these, which I have led at various Quaker conferences & Meetings, at other churches – & maybe schools. I am currently seeking also to develop my story, “The Dream of Dixie’s Diner” (a fantasy of transformation inspired by a Bayard Rustin experience during the Civil Rights era) as a video & manual for discussion similar to the “Rock” bullying video package. I’m also working to display my transformative materials on the Quakerworks website shared with my wonderful husband/partner, Paul Klinkman

(Fellow Quaker and prolific solar inventor).

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Liberty Goodwin, Tel. 401-351-9193,

E-Mail: friendliberty@quakerworks.net, or go to: www.quakerworks.net.