"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