I wrote The Shining City on the Hill out of a sense of frustration and sadness. I could not stand to read another news story about people dying in wars, people ruining their lives intentionally, or people acting cruelly toward one another. It hurt too much.
This is not a political book; rather one acknowledging that maybe our society is not in the decent shape many of us would like to believe. Not only that, but maybe we are all responsible in some way.
I wanted to write a book about our nation’s sad realities. That 90+ million are on daily psychotropic drugs, 50+ million regularly use illegal drugs, and another hundred million are alcoholics speaks volumes about a population’s attempts to sublimate a widespread sickness.
As well intentioned as US military personnel may be, the fact remains that our tax dollars make up almost half of global military spending. Like it or not, we have all paid for the destruction of nations halfway across the globe. Our country cannot continually be at war with people in distant lands and expect any of us to be at peace within ourselves.
Certainly, people still living in bombed-out shells of houses now want revenge. Most of us grew up with a proud sense of patriotism. We pledged our allegiance to the flag every morning as schoolchildren, but I feel it is important to understand now why others may not see America in a flattering light.
In the book, I wanted to stand outside of the home cooked vision of the United States and imagine it from the perspective of a foreigner who holds a grudge. I intentionally created characters that have dissolved into the addiction, violence, selfishness and insincerity that too often plague our daily lives. Instead of inventing villains, I tried to make these characters as human as possible. They could be any of us.
I wanted them to pretend they were competing for life on earth, and then remember to cooperate, as life itself depends on the goodness with which we can relate to others. I wanted to convey how urgent this awakening is.
I wrote this book to show where the trajectory of human material progress and warfare is going to lead. I also wanted to offer hope in the form of endless possibilities about where we can evolve from here. Revolutionary times call for revolutionary considerations, and the status quo is clearly sabotaging our chances at survival.
John Lennon wrote the song “Imagine” in 1971. His words, “Imagine there’s no countries, it’s not hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. No religion, too. Imagine all the people living life in peace,” seem so rational, but instead of moving toward that possibility, human reality often seems to be descending to a point of no return.
The most villainous idea is the division of people into “us” and “them,” when in truth we really are all one. In a world of quantum entanglement, everything and everyone is intimately connected, and to move forward into a better future, we have to generate compassion for everyone else on this planet.
As Albert Einstein said, “Humanity is going to require a substantially new way of thinking if it is going to survive.”
And to begin to develop new ideas, new models for living, it is first important to see things as they really are. Maybe this City on a Hill doesn’t shine so brightly after all, but maybe we can still change it.
Welcome to my world.
Caroline
This is not a political book; rather one acknowledging that maybe our society is not in the decent shape many of us would like to believe. Not only that, but maybe we are all responsible in some way.
I wanted to write a book about our nation’s sad realities. That 90+ million are on daily psychotropic drugs, 50+ million regularly use illegal drugs, and another hundred million are alcoholics speaks volumes about a population’s attempts to sublimate a widespread sickness.
As well intentioned as US military personnel may be, the fact remains that our tax dollars make up almost half of global military spending. Like it or not, we have all paid for the destruction of nations halfway across the globe. Our country cannot continually be at war with people in distant lands and expect any of us to be at peace within ourselves.
Certainly, people still living in bombed-out shells of houses now want revenge. Most of us grew up with a proud sense of patriotism. We pledged our allegiance to the flag every morning as schoolchildren, but I feel it is important to understand now why others may not see America in a flattering light.
In the book, I wanted to stand outside of the home cooked vision of the United States and imagine it from the perspective of a foreigner who holds a grudge. I intentionally created characters that have dissolved into the addiction, violence, selfishness and insincerity that too often plague our daily lives. Instead of inventing villains, I tried to make these characters as human as possible. They could be any of us.
I wanted them to pretend they were competing for life on earth, and then remember to cooperate, as life itself depends on the goodness with which we can relate to others. I wanted to convey how urgent this awakening is.
I wrote this book to show where the trajectory of human material progress and warfare is going to lead. I also wanted to offer hope in the form of endless possibilities about where we can evolve from here. Revolutionary times call for revolutionary considerations, and the status quo is clearly sabotaging our chances at survival.
John Lennon wrote the song “Imagine” in 1971. His words, “Imagine there’s no countries, it’s not hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. No religion, too. Imagine all the people living life in peace,” seem so rational, but instead of moving toward that possibility, human reality often seems to be descending to a point of no return.
The most villainous idea is the division of people into “us” and “them,” when in truth we really are all one. In a world of quantum entanglement, everything and everyone is intimately connected, and to move forward into a better future, we have to generate compassion for everyone else on this planet.
As Albert Einstein said, “Humanity is going to require a substantially new way of thinking if it is going to survive.”
And to begin to develop new ideas, new models for living, it is first important to see things as they really are. Maybe this City on a Hill doesn’t shine so brightly after all, but maybe we can still change it.
Welcome to my world.
Caroline
