What happened in a Rockville, Maryland high school last week relates to one of the questions I have spent years trying to answer: “What went wrong with America?” You see, what happened in Rockville is happening every day under different sets of circumstances all across America, and as I noticed, at an increasing rate as time passes.
How could the education of anyone, illegal alien or citizen, be of more importance than the safety of children? Absurd? Of course it is, but that is exactly what set the stage for the rape of a young girl. The Rockville school district placed two older boys of college age, who by law are adults, in a high school with much younger children because the boys couldn’t speak English. I think the theory was based on the difficulty of learning in an atmosphere with people of their own ages, inasmuch as the older people are much more advanced than high school kids.
I’ll repeat, the Rockville school system chose between the safety of children and a person’s right to an education. In other words, some “intelligent” adult(s) put on the side, or completely discounted the potential sexual attraction these young men might have while living in an atmosphere with younger girls many hours each day, five days a week. I submit, whoever made that decision, an intelligent adult(s), has not only lost touch with reality, that person(s) has a mind that is morally deficient, and should instantly be permanently removed from the Rockville school system. You see, whoever made that decision should have known the danger, and because the first obligation of every official of every school system is to protect every student, I submit, whoever made that decision is directly responsible for what happened to that young girl.
So the question is, how could any intelligent, well-educated individual or people make such a decision? I ask this question because, as I said, decisions like this have been happening at an increasing pace all across America, and in fact, I myself have been the victim of such thoughtless thinking twice in just this past year alone.
As I sit here and write, the City of New York is building a homeless shelter right next door to a shopping center I own, and adjacent to my shopping center, within 150’ from the shelter, is a New York City public high school with over a thousand teenage students. All of whom will be in the line of sight of as much as 175 homeless men, five days a week.
Now my second problem: Last summer, my “new” neighbor decided to build a fence along our shared boundary line, which runs parallel with my 300 foot-long driveway and separating the two is a mere five feet. Both of our homes are part of a subdivision of forty homes, and not one other home in the entire subdivision has a fence along a shared boundary line. When I confronted my new neighbor about his fence, his answer, “I own this property, it’s my right as a property owner.” My response to him was, “Yes, I understand that, but you also have a neighbor to live next to.” It didn’t matter to him. While these are all completely different circumstances and of varying levels of danger, what they do have in common is that with my neighbor, the Rockville Board of Education, and the City of New York, all three decisions discounted the impact of their decisions on the others involved. Each decision is best described by this phrase, “It’s all about me.” So the question is, how is it that so many people today are so self-centered that they won’t even consider “the other guy,” or just won’t let their minds go a bit further to see who else might be affected by a decision? How’d that happen? What happened to the golden rule? Why is it different today? What happened to respect for others?
So “what went wrong with America,” or “how did such a high percentage of people become so self-serving? I submit, America is broken because of the failure to consider the consequences of one’s actions on other people, which in effect is the composition of a family, and the composition of a neighborhood, and the composition of a government, and the composition of a country, America. So the question is, why is it today, other people are so easily discounted when an individual makes a decision? Why is the percentage of thoughtless, or self-serving people today so high? What caused so many Americans to guide their lives through such a narrowed perspective of the world? A perspective that is based on “myself.” This is the question that had to be answered, or put another way, what is it about the American way of life that causes tunnel vision, that establishes such selfishness, greed, a lack of respect, an attention deficit that refuses to see the consequences of one’s thoughts and actions on other people? Why is it that today, the percentage of people who think this way is so high? What went wrong with America? Sure, there were always selfish people, there were always people behaving badly, but something always kept the percentage at a low enough level so as not to so adversely affect the future of America. Today, disrespect for others is running rampant.
I found the answer to my questions in the most fundamental message of America, because it has not been delivered to the American public correctly. WE ARE A NATION OF PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN TOLD BY AMERICA’S LEADERS THROUGHOUT OUR LIFETIMES, AND OUR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS LIFETIMES, THAT THE PATHWAY TOWARD FULFILLING OUR DREAMS IS THROUGH OUR INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM, OUR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AS HUMAN BEINGS AS GUARANTEED BY THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, AND AS STATED IN THE BILL OF RIGHTS. AMERICA’S MESSAGE, THEREFORE, IS INHERENTLY FLAWED, IT IS BUILT ON A VERY NARROWED PERSPECTIVE OF BOTH THE WORLD AND THE STORY OF LIFE AS DEFINED BY NATURE. THE WAY THE MESSAGE IS DELIVERED STATES THAT LIFE’S JOURNEY IS “ALL ABOUT ME.” But life’s journey is never only about me, and herein lies America’s main problem.
I submit, that for every time you’ve heard a president of our country, as well as any of our political leaders, talk about how precious life is, how precious family is, how precious America is, you’ve heard a thousand messages about how precious an individual’s freedom is, and how precious an individual’s rights are, and how precious equality is. In other words, drilled into the minds of tens of millions of Americans is the idea that “I am what matters most,” or, “I can do what I want, it’s a free country,” and to me, that is a big problem, because to live as part of a society, if there is to be any chance of achieving lasting peace, that idea can’t work. PEACE REQUIRES MUTUAL RESPECT, AND THAT NECESSARILY MEANS A PERSON CANNOT BE FREE TO DO WHATEVER HE OR SHE WANTS. The point is, delivered incorrectly, while America’s message had the power to lead America to the heights of economic, technological, and scientific greatness, and a better quality of life for so many more people, hiding in the background, America’s message also had the power to destroy people’s lives, and to destroy America, both through the moral breakdown that eventually results from truly believing the message, “that I am entitled to my rights, my freedoms.” America is falling due to the public hearing the wrong message from our leaders over and over again, a message that rarely ever is based on the truth. If living in peace is the goal of each of us, if achieving peace in the world is America’s goal as a nation, I submit, the way the message has been written in the Constitution, and delivered by America’s leaders throughout America’s history, most of us, America, and the world will all fail.
The Constitution of the United States, the guiding light of American law, thus the guiding light of our people from generation to generation, by the way it was written, left out any mention of the very subjects that determine a moral way of life, which happens to be the pathway to achieving a “more perfect union.” Why do I say that? Because the Constitution is silent when it comes to the relevance of life, family and country (America) relative to a person’s freedom. As such, the meaning and purpose of freedom is misunderstood. Freedom is placed on the highest pedestal, on the tiptop of the highest mountain in terms of the goal of America. Yet, the truth is, freedom is no more than a tool to serve life. Yes, freedom is indeed the pathway that leads to a higher quality of life, but it fails as an idea that can lead to a peaceful, meaningful life.
Absent of life, family and country, freedom has no value, but with life, family and country freedom derives everlasting value, and so, the values which establish freedom’s worth are missing in the Constitution, which is exactly why freedom has run rampant all through modern day America.
If there is no reference to the worth of life in the Constitution, than an individual’s freedom will seem of higher value (Roe v Wade). If there is no reference to the meaning and purpose of family in the Constitution, than an individual’s freedom will seem of higher value (thus a divorce rate which climbed to 50%), and if there is no reference to America’s value as an idea, as protector of life and freedom, than freedom will again seem of higher worth (the reason burning the American flag is so misguided, and why a global society matters more than America). As such, the future was inevitable by virtue of the way America’s message was delivered. Reduced to mere assumptions, the moral values established through the worth of life, and taught and protected through family life, the most treasured of all gifts, and America, our beloved country, are all absent from America’s message, all taken for granted, and therefore, destined to be diminished in terms of relevance. Thus, reduced in value by virtue of assumption, this eventually gave rise to a new America–the America of today, a society that is no longer built on family, no longer built on the relevance of America, but instead, today, a great percentage of American’s focus of attention is on just one person, “me,” and the future built on a global society. Today, for way too many Americans, little else matters other than oneself, and for sure that is a morally bankrupt individual. You see, moral values are only necessary in a world with other people, but if no one else matters but me, moral values, if known, will eventually be lost. With an assumption, taken for granted, awareness is gone, and out of sight out of mind. Without a moral standard, if “I only matter,” if life, family, and country no longer matter, morality will fall, and society inevitably collapses. I submit, herein lies the source of deep division in American society.
Years ago, there came a point in time when I began looking for something to do to challenge my mind, and for a particular reason, I choose the hardest challenge of all. I decided to take on the most difficult questions about life and nature, the very questions that haunted the minds of history’s most well-known thinkers, but questions that were never fully resolved. Yup, that was my challenge, but what made my quest really crazy was that I knew I knew nothing, or almost nothing. At the same time, there was some particular reason that gave me the push to start (perhaps, it was not unlike the impetus that led to my success in the real estate business).
I knew I was creative, even if not smart, or factually strong. I knew I had patience, after all, the average real estate development deal I worked on over the years required my attention on most days, for I’d say an average of three or more years. And so, grounded on “patience and persistence,” due to a heart as strong as a lion, and a mind with an ego the size of Donald Trump’s, and a creative way of thinking, I mustered up all of those forces within me that defined my successful real estate career, and off I went looking for answers for the most important questions relating to life and nature.
My very first question to answer was this: “Why must people wonder about the world, and wonder about nature and life?” Talk about a difficult question! Looking for the answer led me into other questions, specifically, “Why does wondering lead into asking questions?” Why does wondering leading into an inquiry, or searching for answers?”
It took me one year to respond to these questions, and I worked diligently every morning for an average of three hours each session. I even pulled a number of all night sessions. However, I didn’t read any books, because I suspected that no one ever fully answered these questions, but if someone had, it didn’t matter, because I didn’t know the their answer. Rather, “I would be as if an original discoverer,” and that’s what excited me so much. Trying to find answers for these tough questions was a great way to test my mental strength and challenge my creativity. The success or failure of any question was not relevant, it was the challenge that excited me the most.
Just before I set out on this venture I made a firm commitment to myself never to quit until either I found an answer in the most truthful terms, or I was absolutely sure that no truth was to be found and proven.
Amazingly, I knew nothing, or almost nothing in factual terms, but my confidence was strong, and at the time, I allowed myself to be guided by my intuition. Without a doubt, the recorded history of my family and my people also played a pivotal role. You see, I am a Jew, and I am a very proud Jew, because my people have an amazing track record of achievement in every area of human endeavor, especially when it comes to using one’s mind. This is a record that spans a period of thousands of years or at least for the last seven hundred to a thousand years, where success has been well distributed across the generations. From this, I concluded that the success of the Jewish people wasn’t coincidental. There was something unique and special about the way the Jewish mind perceives the world. However, because that mind was nurtured through the constant study of Torah and Talmud, there was some very well hidden message that passed from one generation to another, and for sure, I too had to be a recipient of that message, whatever it was. And so, I was very sure, that within the depths of my Jewish soul there was some guiding light that would push me along, or that I would follow as I pursued the answer(s) to each question. I knew that at some point of my journey, while on the way to answering one of nature or life’s greatest questions, that I would learn the nature of that special soul, whatever its composition is.
With every great question I set out to answer, from the very beginning, I explored the relationship between the “human being and nature,” and for the most part, I was the human being I explored. It was my mind that I could watch, and understand my feelings, something that was impossible to do with anyone else, whether an author, a thinker or a doer. I literally became “an observer of myself,” and with the ability to look at myself under a microscope, I could control the perspectives I relied on to think through my questions. I could control my level of objectivity and integrity, and therefore, I could be sure to always maintain a truthful mind. All of these critical aspects of human thought are impossible to watch or analyze with anyone else’s mind. Thus, the usual pathway to learning any subject–through other people, whether by way of teaching or reading–is flawed when finding truth is the main objective. Only the original discoverer’s mind is unaffected by the lessons of others, and only the original discoverer’s mind can begin an inquiry unclogged by the lessons of the past, because the original discoverer is looking for something brand new. In affect, an original discoverer’s mind is likely to begin as an empty state as far as his subject is concerned, but even if the mind does possess knowledge on the subject, even if clogged by the experiences of the past, a person who is aware of his or her own mind, can empty it. Thus, such a mind can begin the learning process as if with the mind of a newborn child: empty, untainted and a mind that is in a perfect state of truth.
As a side note, I learned that the key to finding nature’s truth and life’s truth, is to search and explore with a mind that is in a sustained state of truth. Said another way, “to find truth, the mind must be prepared to receive that truth, and that requires a mind that is in a state of truth.” The consequences of this discovery are astounding, and specifically in one special way. You see, if truth can only be discovered through a perspective that is a reflection of truth, this is to virtually render human freewill or the ability to choose, powerless, for any other perspective will be out of sync with a perspective grounded on truth. The consequence of what I just said is the difference between living “the good life” or failing to achieve that dream. The consequence of what I just said is the difference between a world of peace or a world of conflict.
The human mind is the interpreter of nature and the story of life, thus the lens the mind sees through must be in a state of truth in order to see the truth. That lens is the perspective the mind relies on to interpret the world. That means, truth always boils down to a very personal matter. And as the old saying goes, “a person must look within.” Without the ability to look inside of your own mind, without a doubt the individual will see the world through a false perspective. Why? Because as the interpreter of the state of reality, the mind must reflect that image perfectly. But you could never know that, if you don’t compare what your eyes see and your body feels, to what your mind is considering. Constantly checking in with your own mind enables a person to correct perspectives, misjudgments, mistakes, as well as, checking on your mind’s objectivity, integrity and truthfulness. However, if you only consider the subject you are looking at, you’ll never know if your mind is seeing every component.
So I was the main subject of each inquiry, but so too was nature, because nature is what the eyes look at, and what the human body feels. I learned that the human being could never be separated from nature, and moreover, I realized that nature was the only subject that could be explored. Beyond this, while the free will of the human mind can make choices, every choice was a part of nature, including the effort of finding the living God. Thus, while it appears that human free will has the power of choice, on the grandest scale, or on the most microscopic level of nature, it should be evident, there is no choice. Man must look to nature for all of the answers, to every question, EVERY QUESTION.
(As a side note, our leaders, I mean America’s leaders, never once look to nature for the answers to our country’s questions, yet the Constitution of the United States is grounded on the central law of nature that governs the story of life. Capitalism, and a three-class economic and social system, are both based on the laws of nature…..Herein lies America’s biggest problem, THE FAILURE TO LOOK TO NATURE FOR ANSWERS).
I learned, through observing and feeling my mind and body, that the human being is nature’s interpreter. I learned that this is the purpose of the human being, to interpret nature and the ongoing story of life, and to do so with a specific objective, and that is, EVERY INTERPRETATION HAS THE BUILT IN, AND MOST OFTEN HIDDEN AGENDA, TO INTERPRET IN THE MOST TRUTHFUL OF TERMS. WHY? BECAUSE A FALSE ANSWER DOES NO GOOD, OR CAN GET A PERSON IN TROUBLE, WHILE TRUTHFUL ANSWERS ARE EFFECTIVE, AND FIX PROBLEMS, AND GET PEOPLE OUT OF TROUBLE. THUS, TRUTH IS A PART OF EVERY INQUIRY, WHETHER STATED OR NOT, WHETHER HIDDEN OR OUT IN THE OPEN AS AN OBJECTIVE OF THE INQUIRY.
However, the only way to know if some thought or feeling is true, requires an exploration of both one’s own mind and body relative to a subject of nature. I knew that this approach to answering my questions was almost full proof. The mistakes I would make would be minimized, because again, I was in full control of the perspective I would rely on, and I was in full control of checking on the validity, legitimacy, objectivity and integrity of each perspective. So while the subject of exploration is not a matter of human choice, the ability to explore that subject is. (I’ll save this explanation for another time.)
Yes, I learned that the purpose of man was to interpret nature through an awareness of oneself, which is in effect, the same as conducting a simultaneous inquiry of the relationship of two subjects as they relate to each other, man and nature. I learned that this is the only way an original discoverer can identify and understand the special connections between the story of nature and the story of life. For that was the only way the original discoverer could be sure he was following the right path, “the path of truth.” I’ll say it again, but differently. It is only through exploring the relationship between man (oneself) and nature, that it becomes possible to identify, define and become aware of nature and life’s shared truth. Thus, to find the truth of life as part of nature, the original discoverer has no choice, his free will is useless, unless he happens to choose the most unlikely approach. This is why mankind has to be directed towards the path of truth. Nature’s truth is hiding way below nature’s superficial diversity.
So sure that nature was in control of the beginning of the process that leads to the answers to every question, I had to find out what causes the human mind to wonder, to ask questions and to search for answers. Thought tempted at times to throw in the towel, I never quit on this venture. I knew how important the answer to this question was. You see, if people must wonder about things and life, and ask questions, and then begin to search for answers, then the conclusion must be, the human being is pre-programmed to perform these acts. Thus, human destiny is a foregone conclusion before every child is born. That’s huge. The significance of this cannot be overstated, because this means that human “free will” is not in play, when it comes to fulfilling the purpose of the human being, and that is, again, to wonder about the world, and to ask questions, and to begin searching for answers, always for the purpose of interpreting something about the story of life or nature.
To be continued.
