In Romans 13:8-10, Paul teaches that loving one's neighbor is the fulfillment of the law, as true love acts in the best interest of others and does no harm. By loving others, a person naturally fulfills the core requirements of God’s law, such as the Sermon on the Mount, which can be summarized as loving one's neighbor as oneself.

It is so easy to vilify one guy (such as the current occupant of the white house) and everybody chants and gets their blood up while waving signs, but then what?  

When does the real work begin? 

People must understand that the real problem is not one opportunistic parasite who has figured out how to game the system and hoodwink millions of people, but that we are in the end stage of empire where greed and solipsism are the real kings.  It's not one man or one party or a group of oligarchs.  It's that a majority of humans have forgotten that human connections and the deep ties of community are the real malady we face. 

MAGA, Trumpianism, The death cult of war, The Democratic party failing to stand up for basic rights and all forms of "othering" are merely a symptom of a much deeper spiritual malady related to Paul's word to the Romans. 

We see absolutely crazy stuff and think: "Wow, look at that technology" when we really should be thinking "Interesting how the Oligarchs have dazzled us with shiny objects and succeeded in separating us from one another."  A few examples: 

• Melania walking with a robot advocating for robots to teach our kids.  Do we really think having a machine devoid of any feeling is going to raise up children into adults with any compassion?  REALLY?  Look at how iPhones, tablets and social media have destroyed the social fabric and our kids. 
• Obama spent years using reaper drones killing people all over the globe (including killing Americans) and we get upset when other countries use similar assassination tactics? 
• GW Bush and Dick Cheney made rendition (aka kidnapping), torture and detention without trial American policy. 
• Biden spent billions arming Israel (as did every president before and after him) knowing that there was a genocide going on.  
• And ad infinitum back as far as you can remember. 

These are but a few examples.  There are many others. 

The point is Christ did not advocate for participation in any of it.  For him the Romans that occupied Palestine and the Ecclesiastical government of the Pharisees was total rubbish.  He advocated for spiritual transformation over religious or political reform. He knew politics was the business of "strange bedfellows"   He was a drop out. And what a great example of how to drop out and create something beautiful.

The greatest way to undermine corrupt political systems is the make them irrelevant.  

• Build community
• Know your neighbors
• Create networks 
• Share ideas
• Help others 
• Create resilience 
• Liberate your Mind (psychological sovereignty) 
• Create deep lifelong relationships 
• Support local initiatives with your resources

At the end of the day what matters is not whether FEMA is being funded (it is not) or if some other alphabet agency is doing its job (it is not).  What matters is who you know and who you can count on when stuff gets real.  And it is getting realer and realer by the day.   

The love of God in us and working through us is our salvation 

~ Joseph Olejak

We Quakers have a peace testimony that dates back to the Declaration of 1660 and which reads as follows:

The 1660 Declaration of "harmless and innocent people of God, called Quakers" was a pivotal document presented to King Charles II to distance Quakers from violent political plots and affirm their unwavering commitment to nonviolence, or the Peace Testimony. It famously declared the refusal to use "outward weapons" for any reason, establishing the foundation of Quaker pacifism.

In the news this week we heard from the head of the newly named Dept of War
"War, in this context and in pursuit of peace, is necessary,” Hegseth said, “which is why each day, on bended knee, we continue to appeal to heaven. To Almighty God’s providence, to watch over and give special skill and confidence to our leaders and to our warriors. To those warriors, who this nation prays for every single day, I hear from all of you out there, who pray for them every day, stay on bended knee, and pray for them. I continue to say to them, Godspeed, may the Lord bless you and keep you, and keep going.”

Let me just say that the notion of "Almighty God's Providence" shining down on one group and not another is absolute rubbish.  To invoke the name of God to send death and destruction to a particular group is 100% anathema to the teachings of Christ.  It is the same lie that has always be promulgated; namely the redemptive power of destruction or peace through war.  The truth is war begets war begets more war and ad infinitum. 


We must remember that this military operation in Iran is (as they always are) a death cult for the accumulation of land and treasure.  Americans will be asked to sacrifice their sons and daughters on the altar of this cult.  And 13 already have.  They will be told it is for GOD AND COUNTRY as the commander in chief wears his golf cap to the tarmac as the dead are removed from a C130.  

It is for the oligarchs.  (always was and always will be) 

George Fox, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), is most famous for his "Quaker "Peace Testimony". He consistently argued that war and strife arise from "lusts" and a "fallen" human state, but can be overcome by living in the "Light" and "Spirit of Christ".

In the words of Christ: His teachings on peace emphasize that it is not merely the absence of conflict but a divine, internal state of wholeness (Shalom) that enables reconciliation with others. Unlike the "temporary lull in chaos" often provided by worldly solutions, the peace of Christ is described as a gift that transcends external circumstances. 

In the Spirit of Christ, Let us focus on Peace.  

~ Joseph OLejak

There weren't any violins in the 1st century. However, most contemporary sources describe Nero as tyrannical, self-indulgent, and debauched. The historian Tacitus claims the Roman people thought him compulsive and corrupt. Suetonius tells that many Romans believed the Great Fire of Rome was instigated by Nero to clear land for his planned "Golden House".

Sound familiar? 

The phrase "fiddling while Rome burns" is a common idiom used to criticize leaders for occupying themselves with trivial matters or being ineffectual during a major crisis.  

We are living that reality now.

In Need to Know, David Rothkopf today called out the madness of the fact world trade and global security is being shattered by a single man. “Not since Adolf Hitler blew his brains out in a bunker beneath the garden of the German Reich Chancellery on April 30, 1945, have the lives of so many people around the world been so buffeted by the psychosis of a single man.”

Why has Trump launched a war against Iran on a whim, attacked other countries, and upended world trade, Rothkopf asked. “Because he’s insane. Because he’s venal. Because he’s a malignant narcissist. Because he’s a sociopath. Because he has a fragile ego. Because those around him exacerbate and play to those traits to advance their own interests. Because CEOs and investors do likewise to fill their coffers. Because to some people, whether he is insane or malevolent or repugnant or not matters less than whether his actions will feather their nests, increase their power.

“Because they, the billionaires…play their games and the consequences for the little people down below, the consequences for us, hardly matter a whit.”

Quakers tend to be serious people.  We have compassion and make room for mistakes, but we also have very little patience for liars, grifters and vacuous self-absorbed people who relish hurting others. 

Each time I look at the catastrophes playing out in the world I play a little game with myself and try to imagine what things would be like if I applied a Quaker value to the situation.  So, let's play:

• War with Iran: (Quaker value peace) This war is a war of ego.  The current occupant thinks he's going to be the one to provide a "solution" through the use of force. Does that ever work?  In any situation?  Generally what happens is more chaos. 
  • This war would have been a non-starter with a Quaker at the helm. 
• Immigration: (Quaker value Equality) We can't have open borders, but there is a lot that can be done between open borders and ICE shooting innocent American protestors in the streets of Minneapolis to make an immigration system functional. 
  • We would have a sane immigration policy with a Quaker at the helm. Reasonable quotas for entry and a path to citizenship for those that are here. 
• Removing SNAP Benefits (Quaker value Community) Do we really want to be that hard hearted, nasty, stingy Grinch that takes food from the mouths of children?  I know most Americans don't think this way.  I just hope they vote in November. 
  • That would never have happened with a Quaker at the helm.
• Lying (Quaker value Integrity) Most Americans probably can no longer tell the difference between the truth and lies anymore.  This current office holder has normalized the LIE so much that people no longer can understand the truth even when they hear it. Have we received a straight answer on the Epstein Files yet?  
  • Nope, Quakers don't lie. Not part of our DNA.
• Self-Dealing (Quaker value Transparency) One thing we have witnessed is the extreme graft and corruption in government since Citizens United was passed in 2010. Legislation is now for sale to the highest bidder.  There is no civic reason for anything any more.  You want another endless war? Sure thing, just do business with my crypto company (guess who owns World Liberty Financial) and you know who will get 10% of all those transactions and you have a backdoor system of bribery.
  • Transparency means everyone knows everything.  No hidden money. No hidden agendas. It's all open.  Everyone gets to weigh in. As it should be. 

Why play this silly game?  Because in most other systems of government the people are not the sovereign. They are literally peons. Subjects.  Our system begins with "WE THE PEOPLE" and ends with  "...preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States". These words are located at the end of Article II, Section 1, which details the Presidential Oath of office. 

Here is one last Quaker value ... SERVICE ... (AKA ACTION) In WWI Quakers manned the ambulance corp.  In our context today it may mean putting on your boots and getting out into the streets and doing what is necessary to hang on to our way of life. Let us not be fooled and let us not forget that even Christ went into the temple and tossed out the money changers!

~ Joseph Olejak

Heather Cox Richardson, in her blog Letters From An American, has cited "Alison Durkee of Forbes magazine today that Trump’s military strikes in Iran have already cost U.S. taxpayers more than $1 billion. The three F-15E Eagle jets lost to friendly fire on Sunday cost $90 million each. Transporting troops, ships, and aircraft to the Middle East cost about $630 million. Missiles and weapons systems are also expensive—a drone is about $35,000, and a Tomahawk missile costs millions—and the two aircraft carriers in the region together cost at least $13 million a day. And then there are the costs of operating aircraft, and so on."

If Americans want to know why their infrastructure is failing, why the cost of electricity is through the roof, why we don't offer our young people free college, and why healthcare is a luxury and not a right --- THIS IS YOUR ANSWER.

Billions for the military and crumbs for everything else.  

People should be highly offended by this and not just because of the gross expenditure of money, but also because of the wanton destruction of human life.

The Quaker peace testimony is based not only on the teachings of Christ to love thy neighbor, but also is rooted in non-coercion (Phillip Gulley). Coercion, in its many forms, is the root of violence. "Do what I want you to do or else!"  People are manipulated with every manner of coercion from threats of violence to violence itself.  

We have normalized it. We accept it. We have enshrined it.

What? Enshrined it?  Surely not?

Who has the right to fine, tax, imprison and kill -- all enforced with the threat of violence or actual violence? And able to do these things with immunity from consequence?  Yes, the state.  Enshrined in law. Americans have given a monopoly on the right to use violence to the state.  And when we see it in action (whether it be suffocating George Floyd with a policeman's knee, Shooting non-violent protesters in Minn, or starting foreign wars) we are shocked.  

What we need to understand is that the rot runs deep in human culture. It is not an American phenomenon.  It lies just below the surface in all of us. 

So what is the antidote to coercion and violence?  

To answer this just imagine the last conversation you were engaged in. The one where you were just waiting for an opening in the dialog to put your 2 cents in.  That kind of communication, a discussion (a dis-cut-tion), where there is zero listening, a lack of consideration, and no discernment of what is going on.  This is the root of coercion.  It starts there and escalates.  

Witness the recent so-called "diplomacy" with Iran.  Two sides sit down at a table to work out differences in foreign policy and one side has half its navy amassed in the Mediterranean and Red Sea threatening to unleash an "epic fury" if they don't get what they want.  

Is that diplomacy?

Sounds like coercion to me!   

Expectant listening is the practice of having no agenda.  No demands. It is the kind of listening that leads to discovery.  Something that surprises you.  Something that might actually have you change your mind. Something you could hear that might alter what you were "absolutely sure of." 

Expectant waiting is not merely psychological sovereignty over knee jerk reactions, but at its best is two (or many) gathered as one willing and open to discover what can arise from nothing.  

~ Joseph Olejak

This was the only message in meeting for worship today.  It left me so upset and triggered.  

Love for this too?  

What is the messenger referring to: 

• the billions of dollars of graft and corruption engaged in by the White House? 
• the theft of our private data by DOGE? 
• the taking of SNAP benefits away from poor children, the handicapped and disabled? 
• the kidnapping of heads of state? 
• the firing of lethal weapons at fishing boats in the Caribbean sea? 
• the summary execution of Americans in the streets of Minneapolis, Minnesota? 
• the turning of the DOJ, the FBI and other government offices into tools for political vendettas? 
• the kicking in of doors by ICE without judicial warrants?
• the jailing of 70,000 people of color in just the last few months?
• the export of people to CECOT in El Salvador? 
• the so-called "Dept of Peace?" 
• the ...  list is too long to even contemplate ...   

Can I love any of this?  

It is hard to express my revulsion for what has happened in the last year.  As a Quaker who has worked for peace it is very hard to use the word love for any of this ... should I?  My prefrontal cortex that controls my higher brain centers forces me to consider my values and what I hold dear and say no to violence, yet my lizard brain wants to pick up arms and fight the injustice.  I'm neither happy nor proud to admit that, but it's right there alongside the revulsion. An inconvenient duality. 

I keep raising the question in my mind -- could I love Hitler? Stalin? Pol Pot? Mao? Or any other crazed homicidal nut with a desire to hurt people. 

Don't we have a duty to protect these people?  But how? 

My queries today are: 

• How do we protect and defend ourselves and others from our own government? 
• Is standing with a protest sign enough? 
• Is complaining to a supine congress enough? 
• When do we take a stand and say ENOUGH? 
• At what point do we simply stop cooperating and say THIS WILL NOT STAND!

Honestly, I'm at the point where I'm willing to be that guy standing in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square declaring with my body: YOU SHALL NOT PASS! One person is a start and a symbol, but (for real) it is going to take all of us. 

~ Joseph Olejak

The Religious society of Friends come together for Meeting for Worship.

There is an old Quaker story of the grandmother who took her grandchild to meeting one Sunday. After sitting a while the child reached up and whispered, "Grandma, when does the service begin?" And grandma replied "When the worship is over."

Friends we have been getting it backward. Service without adequate worship is worthless, and maybe even disruptive to the plan God has. Let us restore our Meetings for worship with worship and our service for after the rise of Meeting for Worship.

~ Mary Lou Peck

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” — Maya Angelou.

Some consider flourishing to be synonymous with thriving.  Flourish comes from the French word for flower - fleur.  Thrive is a Norse word which means "to take."  Flourish can also be a dramatic gesture (I always think of one of the three musketeers making an entrance)

As a person who loves words and the etymology of words, I think these differences are instructional. I'd even go so far as to say they are essential to understand the nature of human flourishing. When we consider a flower that is growing and beautiful and radiant it takes nothing, but is integral to its environment.  In my mind, I connotate thriving with taking and plunder. 

So what is it?  

• Is flourishing just what we can get our hands on or is it more? 
• Is it about money and power acquisition? 
• Can a person flourish in a vacuum?  For how long? 
• Can a person flourish for long without the community flourishing too? 
• What are the essential elements of flourishing? 

Positive psychology has quite a lot to say about flourishing.  Some of the key components are in the PERMA Model from developed by Martin Seligman, flourishing is built on five pillars: Positive Emotions, Engagement (flow), positive Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment.

If you've been around as long as I have you might recall "Debbie Downer" from SNL.  Someone says something and sure enough Debbie chimes in with some horrific story.  Essentially her life is defined by tragedy.  Many are depressed and miserable.  Many feel just getting to neutral (neither happy nor miserable) is a win.  Positive emotions is not being a Pollyanna, naively chipper no matter what, but it does involve adopting a view of life that we have some agency when it comes to our emotions.  We are not adrift in a sea of misery. We have a rudder, sails and even oars if necessary -- we can navigate!  Physical movement is a great navigation tool.  Remember the penguin in Happy Feet?  I used to love to run as a child.  It made me happy.  When I need a "pick me up" I literally pick myself up and move.  

And navigation is intimately related to engagement with our environs.  This part is critical because like the flower we are rooted in our environment. I was once told by a motivational speaker that if you look at the 5 people you are closest to you can predict with pretty good accuracy your future.  

• Who are you rooted with? 
• What are the content of those conversations? 
• What are you doing or not doing or know you should be doing but are avoiding doing? 

Yes, relationships.  It takes some time to find your peeps. Is the relationship nurturing? Reciprocal? Expansive. Explorative? It is easy to fall into old stories; especially with old friends.  What keeps the relationship alive?  Is it the past or engagement with the future? How do you celebrate? 

Which is another way of saying what is important? Meaning.  Here's a tip from Seligman,  The self is completely impoverished soil for well-being. If you think about some peak experience where you were happy and in flow of life the odds are you were not alone. It happened in community.  When I consider meaning, of course, I place it in a Quaker context.  I derive enormous well-being, sense of belonging and meaning when I am in a gathered meeting waiting on a message from spirit.  The deep knowing that I am not alone.  I am part of something much greater and infinitely more intelligent than myself.  But to really get the bang the real prize is parlaying that knowing into gifting your time and energy to others. 

Accomplishment.  What are you good at? What can you accomplish?  Do you have the discipline to finish things?  They say it takes 10,000 hours to get good at something and then from there one can aspire to virtuoso or master / legend and pass that skill on. 

I want to end with Nietzsche's three stages of spiritual transformation—the Camel, Lion, and Child—describe human development from obeying others' values (Camel), to rejecting them (Lion, saying "No" to "Thou Shalt"), and finally to creating one's own values (Child, saying "Yes" to life).  

• ARE WE ONLY FOCUSED ON "NOT THAT?" 
• WHAT ARE YOU (WE) A "YES" TO? 
• WHAT ISLE OF SANITY CAN WE SAY "YES" TO (outside of the systems that keep us in the bondage of duality)

"For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways" ~ Psalm 91:11

Query for today: 

• Are we alone?
• When we walk do the Angels and Christ also walk with us?  

Maybe it depends on if we ask for that guidance or not?  I was once told by a clairvoyant that when we are children the angels are with us always and take care of us, but when we become adults we must actively ask for their help.  

That'd be prayer. 

I kind of don't like the idea of prayer as a "beseeching for self interest" exercise ... but ... in the context of being accompanied by our angels I think it might be apropos. So I ask for guidance to walk in the light and ask that my angels walk with me and guide me in the ways of righteousness.  By righteousness I mean literally "right standing with God."  This is not IMHO moralizing about what other people are doing, but what I AM DOING.  It is entirely about my relationship with the divine. 

I like the Quaker idea of "do your best with what you have been given."  Not everyone is going to be Moses or MLK and hear the Burning Bush or See the mountain top, but we all have our own capacities.  And I truly believe that "when we ask it is given."  It might not be today or tomorrow, but time unfurls the gifts of the spirit as they ripen. 

We can also ask for help from each other.  As humans progress toward becoming more whole and complete in their own development with the help of the spiritual world they are naturally supportive of others on a developmental path; and this support furthers not just one but both. 

If the divine = love then all of our striving inwardly and outwardly is to arrive at a place in which love is present. Love that is free of ego but love that is also self-aware and aware of others.   

The Christian impulse in our time (from ONE AD onwards.  2000 plus years) is to realize that love is the way and to ask for help in that endeavor.  We are not alone. 

~ Joseph Olejak

Last Tuesday we witnessed a sound rejection of the politics of fear, intimidation and mean spiritedness. We have new Governors in Virginia and NJ as well as a new mayor in NYC. 

Having said that, we need to be vigilant not to become apathetic or self-satisfied that some of the most egregious policies of the past year may be rolled back ... or ... that things are ok.  They are not.  

We must keep in mind that the duality of the right/left and Dem/GOP is just a smokescreen that keeps the goings on behind the curtain (yes, a reference to the Wizard of Oz) hidden from our view.  

The billionaire/oligarch class are still funding every candidate and have their hands in all pies; ready to infect any new and decent initiative with the virus of greed, division and general unworkability.  

--There will be more Mitch McConnell's that block appointments and manipulate parliamentary procedures
--There will be more figures grasping to power even as their mental faculties evaporate. 
--There will be another Democratic Convention that ignores democratic process and crowns a candidate 
--There will be more gerrymandering 
--There will be more supreme court decisions that are clearly out of step with what Americans want. 
--There will be more presidents who ignore our rights and userp power (Bush authorized torture, Obama authorized the first killing of Americans and now we have Trump engaged in murder on the high seas and the use of ICE as his own personal police force) 

WHAT ARE THE QUERIES OF THIS TIME UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES? 

• How can I remain spiritually awake?  
• Am I looking for the movement of spirit in both small and big ways? 
• What are the Quaker values I can map onto any situation? 
• Where can I witness the truth of Chirst's path (A witness of love by any other name) 
  
• In what ways have I given up hope? Become apathetic? Avoided action where action is needed? 
• In the duality of our existence, as we hang between fear and loathing, hope and fear, want and excess -- what is the THIRD WAY?  
• What new forms can we create that highlight, showcase and expand our shared humanity? 

 
~ Joseph OLekak