I’m breaking a long silence, moved to respond to an only partially correct commentary that appeared on theblaze.com. In “Our nation is sick, but we are too distracted by the symptoms to cure it,” Aaron Colen writes:

Attempted bombings, targeted killings, violent protests, and poisonous rhetoric are only symptoms. Yet we spend much of our time treating them, repeatedly popping painkillers to ease a persistent headache without realizing we have terminal brain cancer.

He continues:

That’s because it’s easier to believe we can solve all our problems by silencing the other side than it is to admit that the corruption in our hearts and the disregard we have for our fellow Americans is the disease from which all the subsequent division and destruction proceeds.

My response: he has the problem right, but not the deepest cause, much less a cure. One out of three isn’t enough!

So long as one’s basic world view is skewed, false beliefs generate negative emotions. These in turn drive violent behavior. Addressing the behavior without the false beliefs that create fear, hatred, and rage is a time-wasting exercise in futility. To generate the positive change of which many speak but few can deliver, we must address first things first.

Put another way, as I’ve said in many ways, paradigms are literally a matter of life or death.

In Rethinking Survival, I put it this way:

Programmed assumptions too often drive our decisions, actions and ultimately, survival options. Even with the best of intentions, misinformed people operating on conflicting beliefs destroy themselves and others. Sometimes the process is quick. Suicide. Murder. Usually it’s slower — atrophy and self-sabotage.

The connection between skewed thinking and disastrous results is mirrored in the global disconnect between policy and practice. Knowledge deficits are directly responsible for bankrupt economies, personal and international alike.

The old/new, complete and accurate paradigm I’ve repeatedly described and applied is The Positive Paradigm . . . an inclusive reality map, one people worldwide can easily comprehend and agree upon. It is equally compatible with scriptures and modern science, bridging the gap between them. It fulfills Einstein’s intuited search for the Unified Field Theory, picturing how all parts of creation are related, interwoven and interdependent.

Working with the Positive Paradigm empowers the “substantially new manner of thinking,” which, Einstein said, is necessary “if mankind is to survive.”