Part 1 – The Meeting
Once upon a time, there were four remarkable men. Well, actually there were two remarkable men and two remarkable women. A confluence of circumstances brought them together in perhaps one of the strangest coincidences in history.
Jamal was from the north. He was one of the highest scorers to ever take the Mensa Genius Examination. When he was only four years old, he developed a program to block credit card companies from calling his parents on their cell phones. When he was seven years old, he developed a new form of cryptocurrency which was impossible to hack, easily transferred, had high usability and presented a respectable means of acquisition. The currency was so popular that Jamal became a billionaire when he was 15 years old.
Isabella was from the south. She graduated when she was 12 years old from the University of São Paulo with a Ph.D. degree in Physics and Philosophy. She burned through required credits like a hot knife going through butter. She had no problem paying for her tuition since she was hired by the University of São Paulo physics department to help with a particle research project they were undertaking, while she was earning her degree. When she graduated, half of the physics departments in the world tried to hire her.
Li Na was from the east. She was born in Chengdu, a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of China’s Sichuan province. She was the only child of an older couple who really wanted a boy. Li Na learned to play soccer, baseball, table tennis and hockey at a young age. She wanted to please her parents. She was an excellent athlete who competed in all four sports in the Olympics. However, her athletic abilities were far overshadowed by her intellect. Li Na had mathematical abilities that rivaled any mathematician in history. She could take any number and give you the square root of the number down to 1000 roots without a calculator or even an abacus.
When Li Na was fourteen years old, she decided to tackle all six of the remaining Millennium Prize Problems set by the Clay Mathematics Institute in 2000. Li Na was able to solve all six of them within a month, but she decided it would be unfair to accept the prize money as the solutions were so easy. She therefore rejected the prize and kept the solutions to herself. Corporations all over the world engaged her with solving problems that defied normal mathematical solutions. She gave her money back to her parents to help support them and to put into savings. No one knew what she was worth, but it was assumed that she was a mega millionaire.
Elijah was from the west. He was born in California in a commune that practiced a form of communal marriage. Elijah was never sure of who his father was, and he seemed to grow up with several mothers. At an early age, Elijah showed a talent for music. When he was three years old, he taught himself to play a violin. At four, he learned to play an oboe and at five, he learned to play a harp. When he was six, he took first place in the Menuhin Competition beating out every other contestant regardless of age.
As remarkable as his talent for playing music was, Elijah’s skills and abilities in the area of composing music were even more incredible. He had written six operas, twenty movie scores and five symphonies before he was 16 years old. Orchestras all over the world were playing his compositions when most people did not even know his name. Elijah hated publicity and avoided any of the usual celebrity events. He donated most of his money to help other aspiring musicians. He was well known among musicians and performers for his humility and kindness towards others.
Each of our four remarkable people were into their middle years when by chance they met at a small cafe and restaurant in a town called Luck in Northwestern Wisconsin. Luck is a small town of about 1200 residents, which in its heydays was the home of the Duncan Yo-yo. In fact, it was once known as the Yo-yo Capital of the world. Sadly, Yo-yo’s had declined in popularity and so had the fortunes of Luck in terms of prosperity and jobs. Now perhaps, the high spot of Luck was the Wren Cafe. A place that had excellent food, good beer and a unique ambiance imbued by its extremely creative owner Stephanie Lundeen.
The café is well known to locals and to many of the cabin people who come up on the weekends to enjoy their sojourns from the “big city” of Minneapolis. Li Na, Elijah, Isabella and Jamal were each brought there by friends who were locals and who knew that the Wren was a very good place to eat. The Wren being a small place and small towns being where everyone knows everyone, introductions were soon flying like falling Wisconsin snow. Our four remarkable people sensed that a new chapter in their lives was about to begin.
Thus, at 12 PM on a cool summer day in Luck Wisconsin, Li Na, Elijah, Isabella and Jamal experienced a nuclear fusion of intimacy. The result was like a billion tons of dynamite going off at once or the largest fireworks display in the world. The talent that each had was like a magnet that created an instant bond between the four. Finding other people of comparable abilities and demeanor was something that they had only dreamed about. They all found the rapport and affinity they had for each other to be amazing.
After an hour or so of rapid conversation intermixed with more general discussion with others in their parties, our four remarkable people decided to meet again when they could have more time to discuss their lives without anyone else present. Unbeknownst to their friends and families, Li Na, Jamal, Elijah and Isabella all had serious inner doubts that they had never been able to share with another living soul. Each believed that they had found some kindred souls with whom they could share their secrets and perhaps find some piece of mind. They agreed to meet again at the Wren the following week. It was a week they knew they must spare from their busy lives.
Part 2 – Four Doubts
For several years now, Jamal had begun to feel that there was no meaning to his life. He had even contemplated suicide because he felt that he had nothing left to live for. The world did not seem to have people that cared about anything but their new smart phones or how fast their Internet speeds were. Life was one vast merry go round with people constantly jumping on and off and reacting to whatever the current fads and trends were. Nobody cared about anything but how much money they had and how many things they could buy. Jamal desired to know if there was a true Purpose in Life or if life was simply meaningless.
Elijah had many of the same feelings as Jamal. Elijah no longer found value in anything in life. Everything he had ever owned or purchased soon became worthless in his mind. The best yachts, cars and homes that anyone could buy could not make him happy. Fame and talent and beauty all seemed to fade over time. People were fickle. One minute they loved you and the next minute they loved somebody else. Elijah knew what it was like to be famous and admired but it had lost any value to him. He thought that being known as the greatest musician in the world would satisfy his inner longings. Even though he had obtained this goal, it did not seem to provide the value that he had hoped for. Elijah longed to know if there was any true Value in Life or if everything was really worthless.
Isabella had once believed that there was a hidden truth to life that remained to be found. She had studied physics and philosophy thinking that they would lead her to this truth. She had spent many years searching for this truth. However, every time she found a truth, she soon realized that it was also a lie. The prophets and great religious leaders had always taught that “The truth will set you free.” Isabella could never find the talisman that would set her free.
She desperately wanted to believe that there was some truth to existence and that life was more than just a series of lies and deceptions. She had a desire to find this truth, but she had become increasingly discouraged. Each day she read the news and only found “Fake Facts” and deceptions masquerading as truth. The world seemed to have misinformation and disinformation but no truth. Isabella wanted to find the Truth of Life.
Li Na was another tormented soul. A brilliant mathematician, she could not discover a single constant in life. Every time she thought she had found a concept in mathematics that would provide such a constant, Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem would rear its ugly head proving still again that it is impossible to find a complete and consistent set of axioms for mathematics. If mathematics had no constants, how could life have any constants. Was is simply true that death and taxes were the only constants in life? Li Na wanted to believe that there was more to life than simply death and taxes. Li Na desired to find the one Constant in Life that would really make life worth living. If she could find this constant, she believed that it would put her soul at rest and she might find true peace on earth.
Part 3 – The Doubts Unfold
To Be Continued: I will publish the next part of this story when it is finished. I appreciate your patience.
Time for Questions:
What do you think so far? How do you like the four people in the story? Have you ever shared similar doubts? What did you do about them? What do you believe about life?
Life is just beginning.
“Doubt as sin. — Christianity has done its utmost to close the circle and declared even doubt to be sin. One is supposed to be cast into belief without reason, by a miracle, and from then on to swim in it as in the brightest and least ambiguous of elements: even a glance towards land, even the thought that one perhaps exists for something else as well as swimming, even the slightest impulse of our amphibious nature — is sin! And notice that all this means that the foundation of belief and all reflection on its origin is likewise excluded as sinful. What is wanted are blindness and intoxication and an eternal song over the waves in which reason has drowned.”
― Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality
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Big News! They are going to make a movie about a writer’s club. They made the movie “The Book Club” staring a host of elderly semi-retired actresses and now they want to make a movie about a writer’s club. I am volunteering our club. It is the best writing club in the USA with so many talented writers.
I worked for the Clarke’s for about two years. During that time, I got along quite well with the children. They were mostly well-behaved and pleasant to be around. We would go on outings after school and take many walks. I would buy them ice cream cones and take them to see the animals in the zoo and on library trips and museum trips.
This week, you will hear from one Jesus of Nazareth. He has been called by many names including: Messiah, Emmanuel, Christ, Lord, Master, Logos (the Word), Son of God and by himself more often The Son of Man. He is often credited with being the founder or perhaps foundation for a popular religion called Christianity. Today, it is difficult to see the link between the teachings of Jesus and many of these so-called Christian religions. I have it on good authority that Jesus never ever preached killing anyone and yet many of these so-called Christian religions are continually waving a banner of mayhem and destruction at those who think differently than they do. Anyway, it is time to let Jesus speak for himself.
I am talking about greed here. I am talking about wanting more and more regardless of the effects it has on the earth. I am telling you that happiness does not come from having more of things. The only true happiness comes from helping others. It is better to share with others who are needy than to amass a fortune that you cannot take with you. Those who berate the tax collector and call him a sinner and cheat are no better than the tax collector. Indeed, those who refuse to pay their fair share for the life they are given are worse than the tax collector. 
I am talking about sin here. I am talking about grieving your mistakes and injustices towards others. No one can walk in this world without hurting others either deliberately or by mistake. But the people who will be comforted in the next world are those who regret their mistakes and injustices and ask for forgiveness. They are the people who acknowledge their sins and mistakes and try to make amends. I was not perfect, and no one born of this world is perfect. The good and just man admits his vices and tries to overcome them. The good and just man tries to make amends to the people he has hurt or abused.
The narcissist and the man full of hubris will do injustice to all they meet. The narcissist thinks that the world revolves around his needs, wants and desires, and is content to ignore the needs and wants and desires of others. The man of hubris is overly prideful and arrogant and thinks that he has earned the right to have more than others. Both feel that everyone else is there to serve their needs and that their needs come before the needs of anyone else. The injustice done by these beliefs amounts to a mountain of intolerance and discrimination towards anyone who is perceived as inferior or beneath their consideration. For this reason, I say “Do not look upon yourself as being better than others. Remember that there but for the grace of God, would you go.”
world. No one who is not seeking righteousness and justice can expect to find peace. I say that your task is to look for justice where there is injustice. To look for goodness where there is wickedness. You can never complete your search. Your hunger will never be sated. Your thirst will never be quenched. Each generation must take up the search because evil is in our own hearts. Only by looking to replace evil with justice and righteousness can the evil that is within us be banished. We are all born with original sin, but the righteous man is the one who overcomes their sinfulness by replacing it with a goodness that transcends earthly needs and desires.
Those who show mercy towards others will have mercy shown towards them. I lived in a time when lepers, Samaritans, non-Jews and many others were thought to be unworthy of mercy. Mercy was always for those in our own tribe. This meant mercy for Jews if you were a Jew. Mercy for Romans if you were a Roman. No mercy was to be shown to the poor for they were lazy. No mercy was to be shown to the sick because they were sinners. No mercy was to be shown to those of other religions because they were “non-believers.”
I say to you that the pure of heart are those with integrity and character. They are without selfishness and seek primarily to do good for others regardless of the cost to themselves. They are not opportunists who try to squeeze the most for themselves at every turn of events. Neither are they sycophants who yield their ideas and actions to others so they can creat more profit for themselves. The pure of heart are not greedy. They are not profit driven. They are not out for fame and fortune. The pure of heart care only about the good they can do for others. Others include the entire human race and not simply those who belong to their tribe or religion or country. Those who put humanity above patriotism, humanity above family, humanity above friendships and humanity above self will surely see God.
Rage, jealousy, ingratitude, intolerance, bigotry and fear are the enemies of peace. Those who want peace must be willing to beat their swords into plowshares. If you follow my Beatitude, you will disarm yourself. You will throw down your guns. You will deactivate your nuclear weapons. You will turn your armies for war into armies for education. There is no peace possible in aggression. There is no peace possible in hatred. There is no peace possible in defensiveness. The only path to peace is to turn the other cheek. How many times have I said you must do this to find peace?
Actions speak louder than words. All those who cry out “Lord, lord” will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. What good is the salt if it has lost its taste? Those who speak beautiful words will not enter my kingdom without beautiful deeds to match their words. I spoke out my ideas and thoughts. I challenged the powers that were corrupt. I was taken up to the mountain and promised fame and fortune and power by Satan if I renounced my beliefs, but I remained steadfast. I was persecuted and crucified, but I never renounced my beliefs. How then do you think you will be saved by being nice to others and by silencing your thoughts in the face of evil? No one who speaks my name should expect to escape persecution. There is no change without struggle and oppression.
Today we have an elite system of schooling whereby the children of the wealthy get to go to charter schools, private schools and high-priced universities that are beyond the incomes of the average person. These schools may still provide a decent education, but they are “not open to the public.” This morphing of schools from democratic institutions to elite institutions did not happen by accident. It became all too clear to many people that the public-school system was collapsing. Anyone who has taught in a public school today knows the chaos and bedlam that is called education in these schools. Discipline has gone out the door and students terrorize each other and even the teachers. The results of the decay of the public-school system has seen the wealthy shift their funding to private schools while those who cannot afford private schools often opt for home schooling. The rise in home schooling parallels the decline of the public-school system.
Teachers sit helplessly by as the school system they belong to sinks slowly but inevitably beneath the waves of societal change. Like the proverbial fish, teachers are the last ones to see the water. Asking a teacher how to fix the system is like asking a fish how to fix the ocean. Adding to the general ignorance are pundits in both the business arena and the political arena who propose solutions based on what worked in the past or worse what they think has worked in the business arena. Thus, we see proposed solutions such as:
Many young people who are now either lost in the present system of schooling or who are ill-served by it would be rejuvenated and excited again. Classrooms would no longer be places where the concept of discipline permeated every minute of instruction. There would be no such thing as failures or dropouts. No such thing as staying back or not passing. No detention or hall monitors. Vocational education, music, art, and drama would be as important as reading and math and science. Poor kids would get the same education as 
rich kids. All kids would find joy and fun in their education since it would be designed to meet their needs and interests and unique abilities. People from two to ninety-two would be able to receive the education and knowledge they need to be effective members of society regardless of whether they had yet begun to work or had retired. Education would be for life. Public funding would be provided throughout a person’s lifetime.
Aging Capriciously 