Answers

Whether We Want Them or Not

Ever since the 2024 American elections I have been asked two questions. The first is to give my personal reflections on the election results.

Before all else, pull out a piece of paper and a pen. Write on it “You are smarter than you think”. Now tape that to your forehead. Any time you start to become undone over the state of the world, take that piece of paper off your forehead, read it until you realize that it means you and you truly are smarter than you think. You are alright. Then stick it back on your forehead until the next time you need it.

My thinking in 2024 is not too far off from what it was in 1980 and almost all of the elections since then. You elect a clown, you get a circus. Except for the results of the 2020 election, that has been my response for the last forty-four years.

Consistency is a wonderful thing.

There hasn’t been a single American president between Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden who was worth a bucket of cold spit. The pumpkin rerun isn’t going to be any better than the others. It may be worse.

I have some very simple takes on these things.

At Sunday Mass (yes, I am one of those gay people who are still practicing Catholics, as well as a druid) I ran into our pastor. The priest asked me how I was. I told him I wanted to get the hell out of the DC suburbs now that the goddamned pumpkin has been elected. He chuckled. He understands.

I also have a firm belief that a pastrami on rye sandwich followed by a slice of chocolate cake and a cup of coffee can go a long way to help those Americans — and others — disgruntled and unhappy with the 2024 election results. It’s a more productive way to drown one’s sorrows than booze or drugs. It either gives you the energy to go on and get back in the stream of life or a fatal coronary. You can take your pick. Variations on that theme have carried me through ten of the previous eleven presidential elections. I have no doubt that we shall all get along. No matter what disaster sits in the Oval Office, Americans and populations everywhere go forward with daily life.

As long as we want to move forward with our lives, as long as we have the guts and the gumption to continue to carry on, we will.

It’s a personal decision. It’s up to each of us. I survived Eisenhower getting America into Vietnam after de Gaulle warned him of the disastrous consequences. I lived through LBJ and Nixon spreading that war across Southeast Asia until Nixon and his personal Metternich, Kissinger, made a deal to wind it down at the cost of countless lives. I held on through the economic disasters of Reagan, W., and Trump — the last two causing outright depressions, regardless of what DC politicians chose to call it. Those are only the worst of the disasters of my lifetime, not all of them.

None of those presidents or any other ever opened bank accounts in my name and dropped in any amount of money, so I’ve no interest tied to any of them. Presidents come. Presidents go. Some survive the office and live to a ripe old age while others have died within months of returning home. Others have died of illness or assassination while in office. My viewpoint is that we, the people, go on.

The second and more interesting question I’ve been asked both before and after the election is the same as every time there is an election, even if it’s just for town librarian or dog catcher.

Have I heard anything from the angels?

Have I heard something about the election outcome from the spirits?

No. Not a word. Not a sound. Not a jot. Not a tittle.

The same as every time there’s an election of any kind.

Except for the spirit of one person. My twin brother. I didn’t even bother to ask him because I already knew his answer. It’s what he always says. In spite of my not asking, he said it again.

“Deal with it, asshole. You’re the one who chose to return to earth. You’re the one who said Yes when God told us that humans need our help because they are about to destroy themselves and their planet. You lined up to help prevent their madness. Well, good luck.”

There is an old mystical belief spoken of in the Talmud of the Tzadikim Nistarim, people who live to sustain the world. Some sources say there are thirty-six Tzadikim. Other sources put the number at forty-five. In the eighteenth century the mystical rabbi Baal Shem Tov said that there are thirty-six hidden wise people and thirty-six who are revealed to the world. It really doesn’t matter how many people there were or are.

It doesn’t matter whether they are hidden or revealed. While in Judaism these people are called Tzadikim, they are discussed in various ways in different religious systems. Frequently they are called sages or prophets. What matters is what they did. What they do.

Many of the men and women who were here when I was born or came since as my coworkers have almost all left this life. They have died and returned Home to heaven. They were not replaced, not in the way we think of people when they retire and someone new replaces them in their jobs. We expect that when our mechanic retires, the car shop hires another person to do the same job. Just as car models change, so our world changes. The new mechanics have to know how to work in entirely new situations. It is the same with the wise ones who have come into the world over the last sixty years, give or take, to replace those who are leaving. They are not at all the same. Their work is entirely different in appearance while essentially remaining the same in content.

The angels and the spirits don’t answer our questions about elections because there are bigger questions to answer. We will determine for ourselves whether we either outlive any human regime or not. However, there will continue to be wise people walking among us. Whether or not we chose to hear their voices, follow their lead and imitate their goodness is up to us.

What is wrong with spirits and angels that they don’t answer our direct questions about politics and religion?

Honestly, it’s out of their hands. It’s beyond their abilities. It’s beyond God.

That’s because we have free will. We decide who we will vote for or against. That’s not up to God or spirits or angels. It’s us exercising our free will. God set Creation in motion. The angels and the spirits give us whatever coaching and guidance we are willing to accept.

Angels and spirits can follow God’s lead in guiding us to where we ought to go.

What we do is up to us.