2 mins ·

The American Dream has become the American nightmare! But,it always was just that-a dream! From the War of Independence through the Civil War which took over 500,000 lives to the war on drugs and violence in the slum-areas of major cities,life in America has always been difficult.And part of the problem is the “Big Lie”. No,not the chronic “small” lying of Trump.The bigger lie -that we hear at all the political conventions in America-that one party or the other is going to solve all your problems and make you happy.That is simply a denial of reality and people who have read my material know that in Arabic the word for lying(kathaba) and the word for denying are the same.The nature of this world is testing and suffering.So beware of anyone promising you “heaven on Earth”. Salaams(and that involves coming to terms with what IS not imagining what isn’t!).

This problem is,in fact,very deep in the American psyche.Remember the Declaration of independence that states that “all people have the inalienable right to’Life,Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness'”.Really?! Let’s take them one by one.1) Life- NO! Our lives are in the hands of our Creator.He can take it at any time!;2) Liberty-Really?! Think of all the constraints on our liberty-beginning with our genetics,our circumstances,our fragile physical and mental natures.Sheikh Nazim used to compare our choice(relative to the concept of liberty) to that of a passenger on a flight to Paris.He can chose to get up from his seat,to go to the washroom,to try to talk to his neighbour.But the flight is going to Paris in any case.Over that ,he has no control.3) Pursuit of Happiness-Really?Many if not most of the conditions required for happiness are out of our control! If we get sick,can we be happy,if we lose a loved one or fail seriously at a major project of ours can we be happy? Not really.And if we pretend to be happy when we are not,is that any better?No it is worse.So a better phrase could be Pursuit of Satisfaction or pursuit of acceptance.In Arabic the word is”rida” and it is a much more realizable goal than happiness.

So,the entire basis of the American Constitution is defective and out of touch with reality.Should we,then, be surprised that things are not going well? Maybe a better slogan than Make America Great would be Make America Real lol.But then we could not add the suffix”again” because,in fact,it has never been Real! It has always been a dream. Salaams,Ibrahim