Seth Mountain 이산 (Seth Martin) is a singer-songwriter, peace activist and poet from the Pacific Northwest who has been living and working with his partner Lee Nan Young in South Korea since 2015. When active as an artist and musician in Washington and Oregon, Martin frequently attended and shared music with Camas Friends, and still considers CFC to be spiritual family. These days in Korea, Martin teaches, writes, and frequently participates in and with various cultural and political solidarity actions, events, and groups, most often by performing for groups resisting gentrification and redevelopment violence and promoting local and sustainable cultural movements.

Then God spoke all these words, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.

“You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

“Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Queries:

How would you express the concept of ubuntu in the language or culture you are most familiar with?

What would the effects be if our global Quaker community were to follow the precepts of ubuntu more closely, and how can we go about this?

How can churches and communities work for changes in the governments, economic and political structures to embrace the principle of ubuntu?

As the climate crisis accelerates, what could the application of the principles and practices of ubuntu mean for us?

From where does hope come?

Queries:

How has the way others have navigated their suffering inspired you?

How have you navigated your own suffering? How have you survived suffering?

How have you found God, hope, love, others, or yourself in suffering?

Queries:

Do I see abundance and generosity as a threat? Have I ever seen others view generosity as a threat?

How will I best respond (instead of reacting) to others being threatened by generosity?

How do I create a practice of discerning good that will adapt and progressively modify my autopilot so I become the change for good I want to see in the world?

Are there people I know that I could help with their practice of abundance thinking?

“If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If you are listened to, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If that person refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”