Brooking Institute's Involvement in Middle East Policy

Nadene Goldfoot                                Palestinian leadership                       

Hamas terrorist leader, Ismail Haniyah-in Gaza

Abbas of Fatah in Judea-Samaria

What's keeping Israel and the Arabs called Palestinians from a peaceful solution that would create peace with a 2 state solution?  Isn't that what the Palestinians want?  Their own state?  Daniel Kurtzer said, "The sad reality is that politics—not policy, per se—is what blocks progress toward a two-state solution."  Of course it would mean giving land away  that was first designated by G-d  to be the Jewish Homeland to a people with complete opposing ideals from Judaism, and again from the 1st United Nations in 1920 to be the Jewish Homeland.  Wouldn't this be worth it for the sake of peace?  

Do you remember what Israel did with Gaza?  Israelis left Gaza for the sake of peace and it immediately became the attack station against Israel.  Southern Israel has suffered ever since the horrors of having rockets, mortars and missiles land in their yards, and whole generations of children forced to accept  being attacked with part of their schooling taking place in bomb shelters.  Imagine the fright of trying to go about your daily tasks with the thought of a rocket attack that could overcome you within minutes or seconds.  
                                                                                

Mandated Palestine to be National Jewish Home-agreed upon by all the world's nations in 1920 after years of discussion and meetings.  Today's Israel is the sliver on the left, and the rest is what Jordan had stolen in 1948.   Abdullah, their king, came from Saudi Arabia-not a native of the land.  

Perhaps Kurtzer should look at our religion for the answer as well.  Our history is that G-d said that the Israelites led by Moses were to inhabit the land, and he gave directions as to where they were to live according to their ancestry.  Descendants of Judah were to live in the southern portion which in turn was called Judah, from where today's Jews came from. 

 Nothing was said that we had to live only on 20% of the land designated for them, or that the other 80% would contain people who want to wipe us all out.  So following our religion, a 2 state solution is not feasible.  Yet, Jordan has overcome all expectations and lives in most of the 80%, and so far, are peaceful.  They weren't when all the rest of the surrounding neighbors decided to attack in 1967 and cajoled Jordan into joining them.  That's when they lost ground which went back to Israel, the rightful owner of that tract of land.  

Along comes the Brookings Institute out of Washington D.C.  It's a think tank that is supposed to be apolitical, but of course, isn't.  Groups donate a lot of money to this #1 think tank of the USA.  Is it on the left or the right?  It depends on the money donated and from who.

Take Qatar, a small but powerful country in the Arab Middle East led by an Emir.  They are donators.  Brookings has satellite centers, and their Brookings Doha Center is right in Qartar's capital and focuses on thinking about Middle East issues.  The funding comes right from Qatar's government, which is not Democratic.  It's interesting that in turn, Qatar has pledged $21.6 million to Brookings ever since 2011.  The only other office satellite is in Las Vegas, Nevada and is receiving donations from gold mining and casinos.  A senior Israeli official said that this has definitely caused some parts of the Israeli government to look skeptically on the work of Brookings. The Doha Center has a Washington based project going on that studies the Islamic world.
                                                                         

         Martin Sean Indyk, born in London in 1951, is the Vice President and Director for Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution   in Washington, D.C.

"In a rare public speech , Indyk singled out Israel’s settlement activity in the occupied West Bank (Judea and Samaria)  as the key reason for the failure of the U.S. peace effort. The speech followed hard on the heels of a much-noticed article in Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, in which an unnamed U.S. official widely believed to be Indyk made essentially the same point.

Yet from the American point of view, Indyk, a 62-year-old, Jewish, British-born, Australian-raised naturalized American citizen, could hardly be seen as anti-Israel. In fact, his involvement in Washington with Israel-related issues began with the pro-Israel lobby in AIPAC. "
                                                                             

Qaradawi -His vile hate against Jews pollutes the Middle East with the help of the Emir of Qatar who gives his blessings to his tirades.  

Qatar does some bad things, all right.  The Emir of Qatar is best friends with the despot, Qaradawi who preaches from Qatar.  A former Egyptian who was thrown out of his home country, he has found solace and friendship in Qatar and preaches all over the Middle East on TV his own program which is to hate Israel and destroy it.  Even he himself has said that if he had a Jew in his hands, he would strangle him.  Such a religious man!  He preaches to kill Jews!  

Needless to say, there is skepticism among some supporters of Israel.  One such person is Haim Saban, who has reduced his support of Brookings Institute.  He has been a major funder of their research as he is an Israeli billionaire.  He removed his name from the official title just this year, but will continue funding a series of policy forums.  He of course has strong pro-Israel views but his opinions never influenced Brookings's research.  Brookings staff declined to say what proportion of overall funding for the Middle East Policy will come from Qatar now that Saban is scaling back.  
                                                                        

Notice the Jordan River which divides Israel today from Jordan.  

Perhaps G-d knew that there would be no peace unless one people ruled the Middle East, and he had chosen the Israelites.  For each country has been at odds and usually at each other's throats ever since there have been empires there.  One of the latest was Iran and Iraq.  Now It's ISIS slaughtering their own Muslim people along with Christians.  

Many Israelis have wanted and looked forward to a 2 state solution in order to have this peace they haven't known about since 1948 when they were pronounced Israel among all the other nations of the world.  The idea of having 2 states living side by side in peace and security, each enjoying sovereignty and political independence in part of the land that both claim as their exclusive national home has been a dream of theirs.  It's the religious Jews who have dared to live in their original Judah and Israel, called Samaria today to fullfill their religious obligation.  Many Israelis have opted, as the left has, of only residing in land west of the Jordan River. What the world doesn't realize is that the difference of land parcels  is sometimes only a mile or so apart.   Canada has more land between them from the USA than there is between Israel and Judea-Samaria because once it was all one piece.  

The Palestinians are dictated to by their personal religious beliefs that this was their land.  This is ignorance on their part of not knowing the history of the land, written in the Old Testament, which they do not read.  They read, or some of them do, the Koran in Arabic.  But the world sees them as the Middle Eastern example of the native Americans of North America, a people native to the land living in peace being invaded by WHITE MAN.  True, they were behind  the rest of the world in their culture-mainly in their education, but it isn't the same situation at all.  WHITE MAN had not been on North America before with a country and a government.  Native Americans truly were natives of that land. The Arabs had been held down by rulers only interested in filling their own pockets and living grandiosely in palaces and splendor surrounded by willing women in harems.   This wasn't meant to be according to the Bible, our religious source for our morality.

So now the USA is being guided by the thinkers of Brookings who takes money from a country at odds with the existence of Israel.  We have many countries in the world now being swayed towards Qatar's position on Israel with the events happening such as Syrian refugees entering all their countries as well as refugees from other parts of the Middle East.  G-d forbid that they should be deprived of the much needed oil to run their own economies, so they aren't about to turn them away.  
Besides that, one doesn't turn away people in need of food and shelter and clothing in our culture.  It's the humanitarian thing to do.  

We have a conundrum.  It must be recognized that such guideposts as Brookings, once thought to be on the right, has gone over to the left, and that even thinkers can be motivated by money to think on either side.  Our President is led to think the same ideas as coming from think tanks.  Supposedly the idea once was to put the intelligencia in there and come up with the wisest answers, sort of a replacement of King Solomon, who didn't need a think tank.  The idea is now found with fault.  One has to have safe-guards on even a think tank to save the thinkers and to help them to think wiser.  Oh, we do need help!  

Resource: http://fair.org/extra/brookings-the-establishments-think-tank/
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Brookings_Institution
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/at-fast-growing-brookings-donors-help-set-agenda/2014/10/30/a4ba4e8e-48ef-11e4-891d-713f052086a0_story.html
http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/markaz/posts/2016/01/29-two-state-solution-is-best-kurtzer (Daniel Kurtzer). 
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/1.590813
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2008/10/three-obama-advisors-who-promote-plo-as.html (Martin Indyk). 
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2015/06/ambassador-from-usa-against-ambassador.html (Martin Indyk)

Our Former 2 State Solution in 920 BCE

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                          

Israelites entering Egypt

In the days of Pharoahs and kings, there was an oppressed people who had been living in Egypt for 400 years as slaves after leaving their home in Canaan because of a drought.  They were freed by an Egyptian prince named Moses who had found out his birth parents had been Israelites, Amram and Jochebed of the tribe of Levi.  He led them back to Canaan and took it over under the guidance of the one and only G-d, and there they built their kingdom with kings Saul, David and Solomon (961-920 BCE), son of King David and the beautiful Bathsheba.
                                                                         

King Solomon and a wife

King Solomon was wise, known throughout the land for his wisdom. He is also the author of much of our Jewish thinking.   His reputation was far and wide, even reaching the ears in Africa of Queen Sheba who came and visited him.  He built the Temple to glorify G-d.  This was finished in the 11th year of Solomon's reign and ensured the central position of Jerusalem in his kingdom.  Solomon divided his land into 12 districts  for the 12 tribes of Jacob and constructed a series of fortresses, store-cities and chariot-cities such as Megiddo  and Hazor.  He then developed trade and commerce by building a harbor at Elat on the Red Sea and together with Hiram of Lebanon, sent a  great fleet of ships to the land of Opohir.

He received wealth from gifts from foreign monarchs such as Sheba.  Trade prospered with neighboring states.  They were producers of copper and iron with their large smelting furnaces in the southern areas. Of course, Solomon's royal house and court were built up with oriental magnificence and sumptuous building which housed the royal family and his harem, said to consist of 1,000 wives and concubines which he married to keep the peace between countries.

The one thing he did wrong that brought about a split in the country was demanding forced labor from his people.  This was so he could have his extensive building program, and he did this in order to save face and continue to be a strong country.  All the nations did it.  Egypt had its particular building programs going on of pryamids.  Others had gigantic temples to their gods.  Solomon's building projects were so vast that they impoverished the country, and there was no China to borrow money from.

People other than Israelites lived under his rule.  The Edomites and Arameans began to revolt.Even Israelites were malcontents.  In 933 BCE, Solomon died.  The tribe of Judah lived in the south and was the largest of the 12.  They decided to pull away from Israel and be their own state. It was Jeroboam, king of Israel (933-912 BCE)  who led the revolt against Rehoboam (933-917BCE) , King Solomon's son and successor who then became Judah's king . So Solomon's line stayed with the tribe of Judah.  Most of Benjamin joined Judah and they presumably absorbed the tribe of Simeon, which was isolated in the extreme South.  Judah had no access to the sea and had no great trade-route.  Their land was only no more than 1/3 of the area of what remained of Israel now.  Israel remained an important state, and Judah was a poor one.  However, it held Jerusalem, the center of their Jewish religion.

After they had divided, they fought each other.  It was not a peaceful divide, more like the American Civil War.  Israel existed for 210 years.  During that time they had 19 kings from 9 dynasties.  10 died from violence and 7 ruled for less than 2 years.  Before Israel was taken over by the Assyrians, they had reached their greatest power by conducting successful campaigns against neighboring states, had much luxury and at one time extended its presence as far as the gulf of Akaba.  On the other hand, Judah lasted from 933 BCE to 586 BCE, a total of 347 years.  By comparison, the USA, created in 1776, is now only 240 years old.
                                                                           

You can see that Judah was on the right and Israel went way over to the left, being less religious and more involved in international affairs.  Israel's strength had become sapped with being in a perpetual state of warfare with Damascus, Syria and both ultimately fell before the advancing power of Assyria.  Samaria had become Israel's capital and Sargon captured it in 721 BCE which was the end of Israel.

Seeing their chance, the Assyrians attacked in 721 BCE and led away the best of the men into captivity, never to be heard from again until lately when we find that it's most likely they were taken as far as today's Afghanistan and Pakistan and are the Pashtos, Muslims since at least 632 CE when Mohammad died and had his followers force people into their new religion.  Judah was not taken at this time.  Their last king was Hoshea (730-721 BCE)
                                                                     

King of Babylonia, Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 BCE) Conquered all lands from Euphrates to the Egyptian frontier, including Judah, captured Jerusalem and replaced king with his own pick-Zedekiah and exiled 8,000 of the local aristocracy to Babylon.  

Finally, the Babylonians, who had taken over the Assyrians' holdings, came along in 597 BCE and again in 586 BCE with Nebuchadnezzar at the helm and take most of the population to their capital of Babylon as captives.

Divided, neither Israel nor Judah had been strong enough to hold off the strongest of empires of the period.
                                                                         

Benjamin Netanyahu, twice Israel's Prime Minister

Netanyahu, today's Prime Minister of Israel, knows our history.  His decisions are so that he keeps Israel together, never to be divided again.  Israel remains a free democracy, with opinions running from the left to the right, and today the right is in the power seat because they offer the most security, and they need it badly.  The whole world has turned against Israel for wanting to be back in its native land after 2,000 years of being homeless and the objects of persecutions.  This, surprisingly, had all been foretold by our ancient prophets.  So it's something Israelis are living with, knowing they are doing their best to be a good people and to help the world that is against them.

Why Jews Often Disagree: The Twins, Esau and Jacob, Complete Opposites

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

Esau and Jacob, twin sons of Isaac and Rebecca

A very special man named Abraham lived about 4,000 years ago in the 2nd millennium BCE.  He and his wife, Sarah, had a son named Isaac.  The land was full as strange people at that time in the Middle East.  People usually found mates among their own family.

Isaac at the age of 40 and Rebecca had twin sons, Esau and Jacob.  Jacob was a very important person in our Jewish history as he was the father of 12 sons who became the 12 tribes of Israel.  And who  was Israel?  It was actually Jacob, who had a name change as his mind and soul  had developed.

Terah, father of Abraham

I wondered about their grandparents being I'm a grandmother now.  How did they contribute to the minds of both twins?  What genes did they bring to the table?  Their paternal grandfather was Abraham and grandmother was Sarah, the niece of Abraham.  So this set of grandparents had come from the same genetic family.  Abraham's father was Terah.  They had lived in the city of Ur, which is in today's Iraq;   Ur of the Chaldees, Sumeria, Mesopotamia- Iraq.  Abraham's line goes back to Noah.  Sarah's grandfather was Terah.  That's how they had been related.  Abraham and Sarah are buried in Hebron, Israel, now taken over by the Palestinian Arabs.    Abraham had been one of three sons of Terah.  His other 2 brothers were Haran and Nahor II.
                                                                               

Abram- Abraham

Abraham's son, Isaac, born in the Negev,  had married Rebekah who was his 1st cousin once removed.  Again, they were all  from the same family and were laying down the roots of their descendants becoming an endogamous society.  Rebekah's father was Bethuel,  the Aramean from Paddan-aram, and she was the sister of Laban, also an Aramean.   Bethuel's  father was Nahor II and mother was Milcah who would have been the other set of grandparents.  .  Milkah was the daughter of Haran. She had married her uncle, Nahor II.   Nahor II's father was Terah.  Luckily, brother and sister never had married in this family like what had gone on in the Egyptian culture.

The tribes of Aram, called Arameans,  were a group of Semitic tribes who invaded the Fertile Crescent at the time of Abraham and roamed between the Persian gulf and Amanus Mountains.  Aram and Israel had a common ancestry and the Israelite patriarchs were of Aramaic origin and maintained ties of marriage with the tribes of Aram.  They were found living in Syria and Mesopotamia.  The states in Syria were overthrown and turned into Assyrian dependencies.  When they were rebellious, they were punished by deportation to distant countries.  This is how the Aramaic language spread.  The Aramean deity in Syria was Hadad, god of wind, rain, thunder and lightning.  Today it's an important surname.

When Rebecca was pregnant, she could feel much movement, like an agitation, and she ask G-d about it and was told this: " That she had 2 nations in her womb, 2 regimes that shall be separated.  The might shall pass from one regime to the other, and the elder shall serve the younger."  This actually came about.

When Esau was born,  he was red, entirely like a hairy mantle.  This is why he was named "Esau."  After that Jacob was born with his hand holding onto the heel of Esau, so he was named "Jacob".  Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

Esau and Jacob were fraternal twins.  They were complete opposites.  Esau was born first.  This meant he was to receive his father's birthright.  Jacob tricked him into selling it to him, as he felt he really deserved it more.  This made Esau so angry when he realized what he had done that he intended to kill Jacob, so Jacob fled to the land of Haran. and only returned to the family after 20 years.  While there he married his uncle Laban's 2 daughters, Rachel and Leah.    Esau received him warmly when he returned home.  .  Esau is later identified with Edom and Jacob had a growth in spirit and his name was changed to Israel.  It was later when he had sons by his wives' handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah.  Leah also had given him a daughter.

When grown, they had different interests.  Esau became known for hunting, a man of the field.  Jacob was known as a wholesome man, abiding in the tents.  Isaac loved Esau the most and was proud of his hunting skills.  Rebecca loved Jacob.  Jacob would cook the game that Esau caught.

When Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite.  Isaac and Rebecca were not happy about this at all.  These wives were a source of spiritual rebellion to them.  The Hittites were enemies.  From the 15th century BCE on, their power extended south to Syria.  Their main kingdom had fallen in 1200 and all they had left was in northern Syria and the area around the Euphrates River.  These places were then run over by the Armenians and Assyrians.  The Hittites in the Bible were connected with the Canaanites.  Abraham had bought the cave at Machpelah from a Hittite.  They had been one of the 7 peoples the Israelites had to fight to conquer Canaan.  Later on, King David had Hittite warriors, and King Solomon himself took Hittite wives.  This should mean that some of us  carry some Hittite genes.

These twins and their story symbolizes the relationship between 2 nations, developing to the point of hostility.  In the Talmud, Esau was synonymous with villainy and violence.  The word, Esau in late Hebrew literature implies a coarse materialist.
                                                                       

Ishmaelites buying Joseph from his older brothers

 Very little has changed.  The Arab nation is said to have come from Ishmael, son of Abraham by Hagar, the Egyptian princess who was Sarah's maid. She had been a servant for 10 years before Abraham felt the need to have a son through her.  This was because Sarah had been barren and he was living under the injunction to have many children.  It was at this time that Abram's name was changed to Abraham and Sarai to Sarah.   Esau had joined Ishmael's new family when he left his father's house. Ishmael had gone to live earlier in Paran, which was the desert in the Negev.  It was land that the Israelites have marched through after they had left Mt. Sinai.  It lies south of Kadesh, going to the shores of the Gulf of Elath and the Arabah.   Ishmael  had joined Isaac in burying Abraham when he died.  His daughter married Esau.

Whatever happened to Abraham's brother Haran?  He was the father of Lot, Abraham's nephew.  Haran lived and died in Ur of the Chaldees.  It had been a trading town of NW Mesopotamia and was the center of a moon cult.  Assyrian inscriptions from this period mention a Habiru (Hebrew?) settlement in the vicinity which some scholars link with Terah's residence there.  In the 12th century, Benjamin of Tudela found a small Jewish community in Haran.

We do have the story of Lot's problem.  Lot had 2 daughters.  Lot and his daughters had been living in Zoar and settled on the mountain in a cave.  The girls had no males around to marry, so they decided to sleep with their father.  They got him drunk on wine one night, and the older one laid with him.  She bore a son and named him Moab.  He became the ancestor of all the Moab tribe.  The younger daughter had also laid with her father and she had born a son she called Ben-Ammi, the ancestor of the children of Ammon.

Moab is a country in southern Transjordan bounded by the river Hesehbon in the north, and the river Zered in the south.  The Jordan and Dead Sea is to the west and the Syrian Desert is on the east.  We see the Moabites were related to the Israelites from Lot.  Their language was akin to biblical Hebrew.  During Abraham's day they had settled in their land which had been captured from the Rephaim or Emim.  During the Exodus Period, part of this land had come under the rule of the Amorite monarch, Sihon, but after he had been defeated by the Israelites, it was occupied by the Amorites and became an object of contention between Israel, Moab and Ammon.  The Moabites were originally divided into small tribes but also united into a single kingdom, and it was the 2nd ruler, Balak, who called up Balaam to curse the Israelites.  The Moabites had extended their kingdom to Jericho.  King David had conquered the Moabites .  It finally fell to the Assyrians and became a province of theirs.  During the Persian Period, Arabs entered and assimilated with the people.  Moabites were conquered by the Hasmoneans and was later incorporated by the Romans into Arabia.

When the Pentateuch was completed, we see it forbids intermarriage with a Moabite.  The Talmud took this to mean only males and then the prohibition was finally abolished in the Mishnaic Period.  Ruth was a Moabite!  She was the ancestor of King David!  She had married Boaz, Naomi's cousin.  David's father was Jesse and his mother was Ithra's daughter.  His grandfather was Oved and his great grandfather was Boaz.  Boaz was the son of Judah of the 12 sons of Jacob/Israel..    David, the youngest son,  became king of Israel in about 1000 BCE to 960 BCE.  Today,  many of us find through DNA that we have King David as a distant ancestor.

And so Jews often disagree.  We are split in religious understandings between Orthodox, Conservative and Reform with many names in between each today.  We range from left to right in political ideals.  Much of this is connected to our religious understanding.  Each one of us thinks we are right.  The old joke has been that if 2 Jews were stranded on an island, they would build 3 synagogues; one for each and the third the one neither would enter.                                                                            

I have dual citizenship: USA and IsraelNadene Goldfoot, age 15 

 We have almost 6 million Jews in the USA making up about 2% of the population though we are only 0.02% of the world population.  6 million Jews populate Israel along with 1.7 million Arabs.  I see that we have our differences.  A big % of American Jews are Democrats and voted for Obama.  Israeli Jews have switched from left leanings with Labor to right politics with Likud for security's sake.  Where Jews in the USA have had it pretty good since WWII's end in 1945, Jews in Israel have been struggling to keep afloat since their inception in 1948.  Each has developed some different outlooks on life.  Israel lives with orthodoxy while 1.5 million American Jews are of the Reform Jewish movement and many are on the left side.  Many have also intermarried with non-Jewish partners.  It's all in the article, "Have Reform Jews given up on Israel? by Elliot Jager in The Jerusalem Report Magazine, Dec. 14, 2015 issue.  But yes, this is a crucial time in our history, and here we share very different ideals, J Street with many Reform American Jews and Israeli Jews defending Israel through the IDF service until age 55 in Israel who have gone over to the right side with Netanyahu.  .
                                                                       

You don't want to argue with my father, the boxer in his youth.
His haplogroup is Q1b1a or Q-L245.  

Though it must have been the haplotype of J1 that Aaron, brother of Moses, a Levite,  carried as the chosen Priest by Moses, and almost half of the Jews of today carry this DNA marker, we are carrying other haplotypes as well  as Jews.  My father carried Q1b1a; others carry E, G, R, I, in the male line, most likely picked up from our out of family-from the neighborhood  connections.  I guess we were never meant to all be agreeable with each other.  Differences of opinion keeps us thinking and on our toes.  There are no sheep here in our outgrown clan.  We do have a nation once again.   I have to give Netanyahu a double hand.  Anyone who can manage a people like us is just amazing.  I know what it was like to teach in a Jewish school and keep all my parents happy, both in the USA and in Israel!

I can't complain about us.  We are a creative people.  That's what we do:   debate, become lawyers, teachers, performers, businessmen and women and doctors.  But don't be surprised if we do not always agree with each other.  What we do and must keep on doing is respecting each other's opinion.  Like my husband used to say, " Moshe has a point and Sam has a point, but their hair hides it nicely.  Now my point is......"   To L'Chaim, life.  The important thing to us is preserving life.  This must come first in our decisions.

Yes, Jewish people count Abraham and Sarah as their ancestors.  It doesn't matter if we are Mizrahi, Sephardi or Ashkenazis, we had to leave Jerusalem in 70 CE and we scattered.  Now many are back.  We carry the same DNA as our ancestors.  It's like a label found in clothing telling where it was made.  Only if an ancestor converted would they not have some common haplogroups found in Jews.

Resource: The Jerusalem Report Magazine, Dec. 14, 2015, page 26-31; Have Reform Jews given up on Israel?  by Elliot Jager; though the movement is on the political and theological left, members remain mostly committed to the Zionist enterprise.  
 The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Tanach, The Stone Edition, ArtScroll Series.
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2010/01/jewish-genes-what-haplogroup-could-they.html

The Perils of Postmodernism

In today's post, Dr. Jensen discusses the period of postmodernism, and describes some of its perils as well as the negative consequences it has had on our society since World War II. This video is a prelude to the introduction of the AGE of AUTHENTICISM, which Jensen predicts will eventually eclipse postmodernism as the dominant cultural idea in the United States and throughout the world.

SAL Book: The Freedom to Change Part 5

THE EXISTENCE OF RIGHT & WRONG

“The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.”
– Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

The existence of right and wrong is an incontrovertible, but often inconvenient, truth. It is perennially out of style, and countless human beings from all walks of life seek endlessly, but fruitlessly, to escape its penetrating presence in our world and universe. You don’t have to align yourself with a specific philosophy, or belong to a certain religion, to recognize and accede the reality of right and wrong. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, everyone has a conscience, which serves as an existential guide to all who are willing to listen.

RIGHT: Thoughts, speech, & actions that create positive and constructive long-term consequences for self and others.

WRONG: Thoughts, speech, & actions that create negative and destructive long-term consequences for self and others.

According to M. Scott Peck, M.D., evil is a form of mental illness, and is the “ultimate disease.”[1] Evil begets lies and deception—especially self-deception—and is therefore characterized not so much by doing wrong, but by a person’s “refusal to acknowledge”[2] his or her actions as being wrong.

Peck points out further that evil harbors a perpetual “desire to confuse.” [3] Rightness and goodness, on the other hand, continuously seek to clarify and illuminate.

Everyone on this planet has thought, said, and done things that are wrong; but not everyone is evil. The opportunity to avoid evil is possible for anyone who is willing to accept one’s own propensity for doing wrong while continually striving to do what is right.

The purpose of this book is not to try and proclaim what is and is not right in every particular. That is the purview of pure philosophy and the integrity of individual minds. [4] This book’s aim is merely to affirm in general terms that right and wrong do exist, and to encouraging self-action leaders everywhere to listen to their consciences in an authentic effort to embrace the good and eschew the evil for the sake of personal growth and the wellbeing of others.

SAL MANTRA

Right is right and wrong is wrong, and never the twain shall meet.

It is vital to note that the key words in the aforementioned definitions of right and wrong are “long-term.” There are many wrong decisions that will bring seemingly positive short-term consequences. And there are many right decisions that will bring seemingly negative short-term consequences. Indeed, some consequences take years, decades, a lifetime, or even centuries or more to fully flower (or decay) into easily recognizable “right” (or “wrong”) choices. As a result, it becomes relatively easy to justify wrong behavior on the premise of pleasurable and preferable short-term consequences. However, if you wish to be happy and successful in the long run, and if you desire to leave a lasting legacy for others to admire and benefit from, you must choose the right. It is the only way.

Perhaps the simplest way to distinguish between right and wrong is to observe and measure their impact on your Existential Growth (X-Growth) or Existential Atrophy (X-Atrophy). Simply stated, Right choices lead to X-Growth. Wrong choices lead to X-Atrophy. Do you wish for your enlightenment and humanity to flourish, or to diminish? The choice is yours, but you cannot wish away the existence of right and wrong any more than you can wish away your own existence. Similarly, you cannot circumvent consequences of your decisions any more than you can wish away the natural laws of motion and gravity.

SELF-ACTION LEADERSHIP & EDUCATION

Making SAL real in your life requires that you learn and then do. It starts with education, advances with action, and continues with consistence and persistence.

This book provides a Pedagogy of Personal Leadership in the form of the SAL theory and model. This information provides the education necessary to successfully change and grow existentially in an effort to become all you are capable of becoming as a human being.

Exercising self-discipline is harder than giving in to what feels natural. Authentic change requires a total commitment of body, mind, and soul. As a result, changing can be extremely difficult. How much do you want to change; how hard are you willing to work for change; and how long are you willing to wait for change to become real in your life? The answer your actions give to these questions will be the ink that writes your life’s story.

The good news is that change is possible. Weak people can become strong. Diffident people can become confident. Poor people can become wealthy—financially or otherwise. Bitter, vengeful people can learn to forgive. The adversities of your past do not have to define your present, nor are they destined to shape your future—unless you allow them to. You can choose to change the direction of your life’s journey at any moment along that journey. In so doing, you can write a whole new story for yourself that generations to come will venerate for its grace and nobility. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, and believe me, some will try cleverly and diligently to do so.

SAL MANTRA
To err is human. To repair and to change is divine.

Notes:

[1] Peck, M.S. (1983). People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil. New York, NY: Touchstone. Page 264.

[2] Ibid. Page 69.

[3] Ibid. Page 179.
[4] Ziff, L., Ed. (1985) Ralph Waldo Emerson: Selected Essays. New York, NY: Penguin Classics. A reference to a quote from his essay, Self-Reliance ("Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." Page 178).