Why Quakerism is Like Lego Bricks
Posted on 27 October 2019
Without any set creed, Quakerism can seem loose and flimsy but it is as strong as Lego bricks.
The word ‘Lego’ comes from the Danish phrase leg godt meaning play well. One way of thinking about Quakerism is that it is a faith that can be built brick by brick. Lego bricks are incredibly hard to break and it is up to you to assemble them into whatever design you choose.
The bricks of Quakerism are based upon the SPICES:
- Simplicity
- Peace
- Integretity
- Community
- Equality
- Stewardship/Sustainability
Lego began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891 – 1958), a carpenter from Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. Christiansen’s Lego company expanded to begin producing plastic toys in 1947 and two years later, in 1949, it produced an early version of the now familiar interlocking bricks, calling them ‘Automatic Binding Bricks’.
The Lego Principle
The Lego Principle is that every piece of these automatically binding bricks has the capacity to connect. Each Lego brick comes with studs that give it the ability to join with another. Every stud has the Lego trademark engraved on it, a symbol of trust. In the past others have tried to copy Lego bricks but have proven inferior. Their studs did not connect as well.
Like trusted Lego bricks, Quakerism connects people and shared belief together in an unlimited number of ways.
Lego bricks are also also designed between generations. The Lego Principle means that a first generation brick of the 1950s can still connect with a brick made in the 21st century. The same is true of Quakerism.
The same opening and leading of light from the original Seekers of the 1600s shines through the centuries and visibly connects with Quakers today.
No two people will have the same identical faith and therefore every person’s design will be different. But what remains the same is that every person uses the same bricks.
Play well as you build your faith.
Image from thediplomaticenvoy.com
