A R C H I V E

3500 years ago Moses led the enslaved Jews to freedom and gave them Ten Commandments and 613 laws to live by. Over a thousand years later, the Greeks gave us democracy. Another 2000 years passed before our founding fathers combined the two ideas to build our nation, however imperfect at the time, to advance the cause of human evolution.

George Washington fought the American Revolution to birth our nation. Abraham Lincoln fought the Civil War to save our nation; and Franklin Roosevelt fought WWII to ensure that not only Americans, but humanity at large had the right to four basic freedoms -- Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear.

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A Securus Locus In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, right after food and shelter, we seek security, even before sex, knowing we must survive in order to thrive.

City Club strives to create a Securus Locus, a safe place, where we trust the quality of the food we eat, the cleanliness of the physical space we occupy, and feel safe to express our opinions without fear of being judged.

While science tells us ~11% of the population is gay or lesbian, until a few decades ago this population stayed in the closet due to the fear of being judged as different. Similarly, in today’s America, while 49% of the population identifies and/or votes conservative, few are willing to publicly identify as such, other than in the sanctuary of a private voting booth.

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Our reptilian brain is over three billion years old; our neocortex is only seventy thousand years old. A crime of passion is our logic’s inability to control our deep-seated reptilian urges.

Socrates encouraged us to "know our Selves." We know we are our own worst enemy, but we can’t help it! It is hard to see our own shadow, so we live unaware of it. Change is difficult, but we are forced to reinvent ourselves anyway. Take a look at this week’s article for guidance as to how to cope in these difficult times: Philosophy for a Time of Crises.

It often takes a massive outside force, an illness or a catastrophe to force us to abandon the past and embrace change. At the age of 17, I abandoned my home, family, and country to emigrate to America by myself.

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In his classic book, Power vs. Force, author David Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D., discusses power and how to gain it. The Egyptian Pharaoh had force but Moses had power; the Romans had force, but Jesus had power; the British Empire was so vast, the sun never set on it, but by the end of his Salt March, Gandhi brought that empire down. How does power defeat force, and how can we tap into that source?

In his new book, The Square and the Tower, historian Niall Ferguson posits that throughout history, the power of networks have always defeated the force of the hierarchies represented by popes, presidents, generals and corporate CEOs. A dictator is in absolute control until one day the soldiers refuse to shoot the protestors. What’s good for General Motors is good for America, until one day, Americans decide they want electric cars.

Human evolution is the story of the pendulum swinging between power and force, networks and hierarchy, potential energy morphing into kinetic energy, and back.

— Sina.

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Does the homeless man in this picture love or hate America? Are you a 1619-American or a 1776-American? Do you think America is a racist country or the land of the free? Is the new cancel-culture’s fear of speech protecting or restricting our freedom of speech? Do you lean to the left or to the right of the political center?

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City Club strives to birth Highland Institute for the Advancement of Humanity; our Weekly Newsletter’s brief introductions seek to pave the way by introducing relevant topics and asking hard questions that could lead the way to manifesting the institute we envision.

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Out of many, one. Thirteen original States, one Federal Government. Over 330-million diverse citizens, one nation.

As we get closer to the Presidential election, many of my friends, colleagues and City Club members are concerned the fabric of our nation appears threadbare, and our American revolution seems to be at risk.

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Nearly half of the world population struggles with food security, defined as lack of access to adequate calories, poor food quality, questionable safety and price affordability.

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Out of many, one. Thirteen original States, one Federal Government. Over 330-million diverse citizens, one nation.

As we get closer to a Presidential election, many of my friends, colleagues and City Club members are concerned the fabric of our nation appears threadbare, and our American revolution seems to be at risk.

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I love this phrase; it's pregnant with potential and the ultimate definition of Yin and Yang.

My yoga and meditation teacher used to tell me “if you want to be born again, you must be willing to die first.”

But no matter how many times I go through the cycles of death and rebirth, gain and loss, boom and bust, I never get used to the brutality of the destruction, pain, heartache and suffering it entails. At the intellectual level, we all know the forest fire burns the deadwood and creates nutrition and light for the next generation of trees, but if you have ever gotten close to a forest fire, you know how scary it is.

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Ludwig van Beethoven composed Symphony No. 9 in D minor ten years after he went deaf. First performed in Vienna on May 7, 1824, the symphony is regarded by many as Beethoven's greatest work; a supreme achievement in the history of western music, it is used as the anthem of the European Union.

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Since our inception, City Club’s vision has been to create “a safe place for passionate and caring people to explore our differences, find our common ground, and make our world a better place, while having fun."

With Coronavirus forcing us to self isolate, restaurants and pools closed, summer vacations postponed, concerts canceled, riots in the streets and economic hardship ahead, fun is proving to be a rare commodity. Since this phase of life may turn out to be more of a marathon than a hundred yard dash, we have decided we better start integrating some merrymaking into the mix, or we may easily turn into a bunch of bores.

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With Coronavirus ravaging the globe, riots in the streets and a potential economic calamity upon us, once again the ancient wounds of racial prejudice and inequality are being exposed within the fabric of our society.

Born into a Jewish family in a Muslim country and educated by Jesuit teachers, I have first hand experience of the damage caused by race and religious prejudice. However, before losing hope for the future of humanity, it is important to remember human evolution is in its early stages. Less than 150 years after fighting a bloody civil war to end slavery, America elected a Black President; this week the Senate confirmed the first Black American Airforce Chief of Staff.

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Fifteen years after the launch of Highland City Club, and finally feeling secure about its social and financial success, we find our society in the grip of a pandemic. Yet, we are determined now is the time for City Club to finally launch the long-envisioned and much-discussed Highland Institute.

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Think Egypt 3500 years ago; Athens 2500 years ago; Jerusalem 2000 years ago; Florence 500 years ago, or Philadelphia 250 years ago.

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The Coronavirus has forced many of us to stay at home, giving us plenty of time to examine our lives, and the actions we will take going forward when this winter of despair turns into the spring of hope.

Was the corporate ladder we were climbing before Coronavirus leaning against the wrong structure? Are we more afraid of not living and loving fully, than dying from the virus? Does all that we have worked for so hard own us more than we own it? Are we free men and women or slaves to our worldly needs?

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75 years ago this week, the Allies brought the Nazi threat to an end, with resolve, tenacity, creativity, and leaders who knew they must work together to succeed. With over 16 million Americans in uniform and at a cost of $4 Trillion in today’s currency, WWII proved America is capable of paying the price to keep the lights on in the metaphoric shining city on the hill.

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