Personally I don't really relate to the idea that you can pick through the bones of religions to make your own amalgamation. In the case of stoicism sure they're enjoying it but is it doing anything? Are they experiencing life in ways different from and better than they would without it? Is it improving the world according to their own values? For that matter, would it even be recognizable to the classical stoics? It wasn't taught by a living practitioner integrated into that life, how sure are we that it translated.
But anyway if you are going to do this, I don't think you should do it with religions that still do have living practitioners however few. If you value what the quakers are doing go be a quaker, see what the experience has to offer. Or at least wait until its carcass is cold before you harvest its carrion. Trying to extract value from a spiritual tradition you're not willing to live is ghoulish.
But anyway if you are going to do this, I don't think you should do it with religions that still do have living practitioners however few. If you value what the quakers are doing go be a quaker, see what the experience has to offer. Or at least wait until its carcass is cold before you harvest its carrion. Trying to extract value from a spiritual tradition you're not willing to live is ghoulish.