id: clearness-committee
title: Clearness Committee
description: >-
  A Quaker practice for discerning a personal decision through a small
  committee that asks honest questions rather than offering advice. Originating
  in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in the 17th century.
source: Parker J. Palmer, "A Hidden Wholeness"
source_url: https://www.couragerenew.org/clearness-committee/
tags: [quaker, discernment, listening, decision-making]
forked_from: null
image: null
steps:
  - headline: Form the committee
    description: >-
      The focus person invites five or six trusted people to serve as a
      committee for a two-hour meeting devoted to a specific question or
      decision they face.
  - headline: Share the question
    description: >-
      The focus person reads a short written statement describing the issue
      and the context, without seeking advice.
  - headline: Ask only questions
    description: >-
      Committee members ask honest, open questions — no advice, no leading
      questions, no stories from their own life. The focus person may decline
      to answer any question.
  - headline: Silence between questions
    description: >-
      After each question and response, the group sits in silence to let the
      answer settle before the next question is posed.
  - headline: Close with reflection
    description: >-
      In the final twenty minutes the committee offers any observations, and
      the focus person reflects on what has emerged.
outcome: >-
  The focus person gains clarity about their own discernment without being
  steered by others' opinions or agendas.
practice: >-
  The discipline of questions-only is the hardest part. If someone slips into
  advice, the clerk gently interrupts. Prepare a written statement in advance;
  the act of writing often begins the clarity.