 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Redford When Robert Redford was asked about what inspired him he replied "it was the film Treasure of Sierra Madre" The thing about that film was the themes of greed and power. He went on to say “I find them appealing, because greed and power make things go. The wheel finally turns on greed and power. They’re the motives that are important to know. All systems that control us, whether political or financial, or simply an industry that controls a town, run on greed and power.”
One can see the truth in that especially on the commercial side of life, but what about the spiritual side? Are we just skin bags out for whatever we can get? I'd say yes and no. There are lots of people who are deeply invested in the material world and have nary an altruistic bone in them. And that's fine they'll have the kind of life they have ... mostly transactional and devoid of meaning. And then there are the people (maybe more than we realize) that are long term thinkers and doers. They understand that building community and even making a self-sacrifice in the short term is good for everyone (including the sacrificer) in the long term. In terms of Quakerism, it is common that Quakers make choices today that might not bear fruit for a generation. We tend to play the long game and thank God there are people who think beyond the next business cycle. If you want to use a monetary or investment analogy, that gift we give of our time and our empathy will pay massive dividends in the end in terms of goodwill and community building. And Robert Redford knew it. He did lots of stuff for goodwill. The Sundance Film Festival comes to mind. It created a platform for indie film that did not exist before he created it. He also donated his time to climate concerns and other political causes. America has lost a giant in American film, but his example endures. ~ Joseph Olejak
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Our broken electoral and political systems are shamefully inadequate to halt our collective complicity in the violence committed in Gaza and Ukraine, and elsewhere in the world. What are we called to do about that complicity?
Are we called to risk arrest and imprisonment in witness of our professed ethical beliefs and concerns, as early Quakers did in seventeenth-century England in witness of theirs? I think that the answer to this question, for most people in the USA of any religious denomination or none, including Quakers, now seems clearly to be a resounding “No!” Are any of us prepared to support, with even a small fraction of the donations of money and time many of our fellow citizens made to the Kamala Harris pfesidential campaign in 2024, the work of people like Roger Hallam in the UK, who is serving a five year prison sentence for discussing over Zoom with four other people plans for a nonviolent demonstration in opposition to the genocide in Gaza)? If and when the constitutional right to assemble peacefully to seek redress for political grievances becomes criminalized in the US (as it already has been in the UK through vaguely worded Orwellian and Kafkaesque laws), what will we feel called to do, to prevent the massacre of more children and parents in Gaza and elsewhere, directly supported by our tax dollars? Former New York Times foreign correspondent Chris Hedges wrote in a recent Substack essay: Roger [Hallam] argues that if 10,000 people are willing to engage in civil resistance, which means accepting prison terms for non-violent civil disobedience, carry out grassroots educational campaigns and mobilize public assemblies, they can [inspire] one to two percent of the population to embrace the militancy to rupture the existing order. He draws on the research by Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, and Maria J. Stephan who examined 100 years of violent and nonviolent resistance movements in their book “Why Civil Resistance Works.” They concluded that nonviolent movements succeed twice as often as violent uprisings. Violent movements work primarily in civil wars or in ending foreign occupations, they found. Nonviolent movements that succeed appeal to those within the power structure, especially the police and civil servants, who are cognizant of the corruption and decadence of the power elite and are willing to abandon them. And we only need one to five percent of the population actively working for the overthrow of a system, history has shown, to bring down even the most ruthless totalitarian structures. “It’s not only about changing the world,” Roger says. “It’s about seeing the world in a different way, one that rejects the narrative of the dominant ideology. It is a re-enchantment of the world. It is about our spirit taking center stage. This is where it belonged all the time. But the spirit only becomes real through action. The spirit is made flesh, to use some old language.” What does the Inward Light (also known among Quakers by terms like Spirit, God, or the sense of the gathered meeting) call members and attenders of Old Chatham Meeting to do -- collectively -- in this situation? Can we find the collective discipline, faith, and courage to open ourselves to whatever this transcendent force might call us to do? ~ John Breasted  In her book, Walking In The World As A Friend, Nadine Hoover poses this question when discussing the role of Quakers as Witness:
And that brings me to a story I'd like to share about a friend whose conscience was piqued by a single question. A question that changed his life. My friend is a 29 year Veteran of the Army. He served as a jet pilot in many theaters of war, but while serving in Afghanistan he came back from a sortie and during the debriefing a government inspector came up to him and said "was that ethical what you did?" "Ethical?" he replies "I'm in the flying business not the ethical business. If you want ethical I'd go back to Washington and ask them why we're here." And that little question caught fire in my friend's mind and a year later he was out of the military. I imagine that's the kind of "terror" Nadine Hoover was referring to. The kind of question that puts everything into stark relief. The kind of question that has you start examining the assumptions that you made about life. What's important and what's not. So, yes, there is a way to be a Quaker "terrorist." Don't hold back. Listen carefully, but also ask the tough questions. Be a witness. Be still in the quiet conviction of your values. It is important because lots of folks have not challenged their assumptions in a long time. They may be running on autopilot not realizing that they are about to run out of fuel. A simple question can bring them down for a safe landing. ~ Joseph Olejak  Image Created by Meta AI https://www.meta.ai/ “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
~ Mathew 18:3 In Matthew, Jesus states that one must "be as a child" to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. How is it possible for an adult to do that? For myself, I am so far removed from my childhood I can barely remember what it was like to be four or five. I have one vivid memory of the day I received balance from the god of bicycles and learned to ride my little black and white single speed bike. Apart from that, it's a blur. So, this past Friday I'm working on a little project for a friend to build a deck out of rough cut lumber and I've got just about 3 hours to finish this thing before I have to get home. Being a goals based person I play little games with myself like saying "in three hours I'll have "x" done." So off I go pulling out my tools and gathering materials when a little boy comes along. He's about Four and a half and he's got no qualms about asking questions. He pipes up and says "whatcha doin'? Can I help?" "Oh god", I think to myself. "I'm never going to get this done today" But he's such an adorable kid I just can't say no and I think to myself "if you really believe what John Woolman said about letting love be the first motion" just make some room for this little guy. So we start with little things -- how to use a clamp, nailing in balusters, using a stick of wood as a spacer so all the vertical bits look even, and using a level to get the balusters nice and plumb. We're actually having quite a nice little time and then his cousins show up ... four girls. And the chorus starts "can I help too?" "Can I hammer a nail?" "What is that thing (a triangle) for?" And, as Kurt Vonnegut said "so it goes" I'm the pied piper of construction and I've got all these little kids from about two and half to 10 years old working on the deck. They're picking up wood scraps, running for screws, moving around tools and materials. The whole vibe is like Santa's workshop. And then it happens ... how I entered the kingdom of heaven. One of the kids is having trouble nailing in a nail. It bends. She bonks her finger and yet, undeterred, she keeps trying but that darn nail just won't go in. I'm about to step in and offer a little help when her older sister says "here, let me help you." She shows her how to hold the hammer and where to stand to get the best swing (this older girls is like a pro after 3 or 4 balusters) And I step back. And watch... and wait ... And then it hits me ... THIS IS IT !! This is the kingdom of heaven. If I had to qualify it here's what I'd say it is? It is the kid energy of openness, curiosity, willingness, eagerness, enthusiasm ... to learn, to help, to do, to be in the moment and not be too self-conscious. Just being in the now. Oh ... and BEING A YES TO LIFE !!! And my day became perfect. The railing was completed. The kids learned something useful. I learned how to be a child again. I entered the kingdom of heaven through these five wonderful kids. ~ Joseph olejak  commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OHM_-_Geburt_Christi_1e.jpg "I am the light of the world"
~ Jesus, Gospel of John In our last meeting for worship we had so many good messages. I'm going to try to share from my own perspective how they landed for me. In the last 12 years or so we have witnessed the crap-ification of almost everything. No matter what government officials or business touches they seem to muck it up. I could make a list but why bother? The deterioration is all around us. AND ... I don't want to focus on what is broken. There is enough brokenness. What can we imagine that's better? We can start with the power of NOW! The French word for now is maintenant. Etymology tells us that it comes from manū ("with the hand") and tenēre ("to hold"). Therefore, the literal meaning of maintenant can be understood as "while holding" or "in the act of holding". Interestingly, the word maintenance comes from a similar root but meaning "upkeep, shelter and protection. " An inquiry we might consider today is:
When Jesus said "I am the light of the world" it was in the gospel of John just after the mob was about the stone the woman who was accused of adultery. "Let he among you who is free of sin cast the first stone" Such a teacher. In one brief sentence the lesson of self-reflection, empathy, forgiveness and a world where love can enter. Can we be as wise as Jesus? We can consider the words of Jesus as a gate we pass through vis-a-vis all the people we meet and all the actions we take in the world.
~ Joseph Olejak  Dame Kathleen Lonsdale (née Yardley) by Walter Stoneman bromide print, April 1945 5 5/8 in. x 3 5/8 in. (142 mm x 92 mm) image size. Commissioned, 1945 Photographs Collection NPG x186024
https://www.themarginalian.org/2025/05/21/is-peace-possible-lonsdale/?mc_cid=a12073fed1  image generate by Meta AI A Brave New World Is At Our Doorstep
https://archive.is/qIwgh The move toward a highly technological and highly militarized society is here and it is not going away. The Tech Bros (Google, Meta, Amazon, DeepMind, OpenAI and many others we don't even know about) have delivered humanity into a world where we are going to be redundant. And by redundant I mean everything from doing plumbing to needing humans for anything. A few of the queries I am investigating this day are:
The article listed above should raise a lot of other questions for humans, but also for Quakers because soon it will be impossible to operate with any kind of integrity in the brave new world. WHY? Because increasingly it will be harder and harder to know what is true (A.I. lies -- the so-called hallucination. And that might be just an innocent mistake or it could be built into an algorithm) Also, as digital currency comes into being it will be very hard to discover flows of money into political pockets but for the peonage it will be an oppressive form of control and impossible to opt out and still be able to operate in society. So what will the people of the future do? And by future I mean 2030. The dark answer is Transhumanism. People will feel increasing pressure to MERGE WITH MACHINES. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this materialization of humanity will be the death of spirituality ... unless we act now. So let this blog serve as a warning. A klaxon signaling danger. Will A.I. Regulate Itself? In a recent article in The Atlantic (https://archive.is/xWUOH) the authors reckoned that two things will alter the course of A.I. in just the next few years. One is RSI (Recursive Self Improvement) and the other is Quantum Computing. RSI is when an A.I. system improves itself without human intervention. In this scenario we could see things like humans being locked out of decision making loops and the A.I. going off on its own leaving humans without any understanding of what is in the code or how to stop it. In the current scenario of zero's and ones computing we could still grapple with A.I. even though it is still operating at the speed of electrons. But imagine a scenario where instead of linear line by line code is created and evaluated for functionality thousands or millions of lines of code is being created at once to arrive at a solution. That is Quantum Computing. Think of a mouse in a maze trying to get to the cheese. One mouse going down one tunnel at a time. In Quantum computing you have an unlimited number of mice and the cheese is found much faster -- in nanoseconds. For comparison a human brain cell operates on the order of milliseconds. Let's put that in perspective. A millisecond is one thousandth of a second (1/1000 or 0.001 seconds), while a nanosecond is one billionth of a second (1/1,000,000,000 or 0.000000001 seconds). Essentially, a millisecond is 1,000,000 (one million) times larger than a nanosecond. In Trump's "big beautiful bill" (not) it specifically says that AI shall not be regulated? If you thought packing the supreme court was dangerous wait till we see how an unregulated A.I. operates. Here is just one grim imagining. A.I. is trained to come up with a solution for better crop yields and RSI is employed. A.I. eventually determines that crops prefer a warmer world and that the best way to do that is to make sure more CO2 is in the atmosphere and that we need more land for crops. So it logically creates more traffic jams that burn more fuel, it designs everything to be a little less efficient to bump up CO2. It also notices that the best farmland is in an area densely populated by trees in the south and that fire is a great way to restore the land so it overloads the grid on those areas, explodes transformers and starts massive forest fires. Is this absurd? Consider that we have no idea if the A.I. companies that are unregulated have a kill switch to control any of this. How would they even know it is about to happen if decisions are being made in a billionth of a second? The A.I. future we are living into is going to be a hellscape. Much like the nuclear world we now occupy. At any moment these genies of death can run amok. Nuclear is mostly zero's and ones digital. The president still has the final launch authority (and that is no comfort at all). In civil nuclear power we can barely manage to have the foresight to keep generators off the ground in a tsunami or have pumps and valves (analog systems) that work reliably. What will happen when we are completely blind to the entire process? ~ Joseph Olejak  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_Reni#/media/File:Guido_Reni_-_St_Filippo_Neri_in_Ecstasy_-_WGA19295.jpg I attended an art exhibition recently at Free Columbia in Philmont and a young artist named Eloise featured her work. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. It was not just her talent but also the story behind it.
In particular there was this one painting that showed a human figure and what seemed to be emanating the spirit of God from it. The colors were fantastic, but more than that I was happy to learn that the artist had something of what might be called an ecstatic experience while doing the art. I'm reluctant to say exactly what she might have experienced but she did share that "she felt taken over by something bigger than herself and wondered how much to let go and allow it to take her over and how much of herself to keep in it." What a wonderful inquiry to be in at 24! This got me thinking about how we approach Spirit.
~ Joseph OLejak  Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another
- Ephesians 4:25 We Quakers put a high value on truth telling. This might be why we find the current state of affairs so deeply disturbing. In the last 100 days we've been fed about 492 suspect claims. Since 2020 who knows how many? In the tens of thousands that we know of. And if we combine both political parties in that calculation it's probably a lot higher. But honestly, I find it hard to tell when I'm being lied to unless I can look in the liar's face. And that's just outright lies; not to mention lies of omission. On the right and left of the political spectrum everything is spun for some political advantage. My distrust of everything is at an alltime high. So what does a person do in such a fact free environment? How do we find common ground when the color of the ground is clearly brown, the wavelength of the light reflected from the ground is in the brown spectrum but we are told the ground is blue? The delusions of the world are many, but perhaps the way out of this is to have shared experiences. It is easy to quote what others say or follow the words of so-called leaders, but what is our own experience?
The inquiry I am in is this:
I think the notion that we are "members of one another" is a guide to truth, but only if we are building that community together. And by together I mean in person; looking into the eyes of another. Feeling into that person's inner light. ~ Joseph Olejak  Maya Angelou's poetry is a shining beacon of truth in the murky times.
As Quakers worldwide witnessed the grotesque violation of the Westminster Quaker Meeting space by the Metropolitan police, an act that had not occurred in the living memory of British Quakers, we must double down on our insistence that Quaker houses of worship are inviolable places where the police, the military and government informants are not welcome as enforcers. We must draw a line in the sand about what we will tolerate as the encroachments on human decency continue unabated. Angelou wrote: When we come to it When the curtain falls on the minstrel show of hate And faces sooted with scorn are scrubbed clean When battlefields and coliseum No longer rake our unique and particular sons and daughters Up with the bruised and bloody grass To lie in identical plots in foreign soil When the rapacious storming of the churches The screaming racket in the temples have ceased When the pennants are waving gaily When the banners of the world tremble Stoutly in the good, clean breeze Is it so hard to imagine that we are now at an inflection point in American history where the sapling of American democracy is now bent and ready to break. This is not the birches of Robert Frost. This tree is much more fragile. This tree is only able to bend for so long before it will be crippled and twisted forever. What does this have to do with our blessed community? Is politics, the deeply temporal realm of man, not also in the realm of spirit? Should we allow our values (and soon our children) be consumed in the "minstrel show of hate." I would argue that there is a time for quiet and a time for witness (quiet or vocal). The brave and startling truth is that "We, this people", as Angelou wrote "have the power to fashion this earth..." We, this people, on this small and drifting planet Whose hands can strike with such abandon That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness That the haughty neck is happy to bow And the proud back is glad to bend Out of such chaos, of such contradiction We learn that we are neither devils nor divines When we come to it We, this people, on this wayward, floating body Created on this earth, of this earth Have the power to fashion for this earth A climate where every man and every woman Can live freely without sanctimonious piety Without crippling fear When we come to it We must confess that we are the possible We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world That is when, and only when We come to it. And when will we come to it? The hour is getting late. We cannot stand by and wait for the oligarchs' campaign to implode. It won't. In our own spiritual discernment I urge all Quakers to:
For the entire poem of Maya Angelou https://www.best-poems.net/poem/a-brave-and-startling-truth-by-maya-angelou.html ~ Joseph Olejak |
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