For me, Truth is something that is not only factual and self-evident, but also something that does not have to be argued, explained and, above all, justified.

Truth remains truth regardless of what confronts it. Truth does not need a majority vote in order to be valid. Truth exists even if no one hears it. Truth can be spun, censored, suppressed, attacked, denied, hidden, and scorned, but it can never be destroyed. Truth obliterates relativity. Truth forces choice and acceptance. Truth is beauty. 

Above all else, Truth is power - this is why so many despise it and seek to destroy those who dare to speak it.

My novel, The City of Earthly Desire, deals with many themes, chief among them the problem of nihilism brought about by a culture that has turned its back on all sense of meaning, religion, and tradition in the blind belief that materialism and the pursuit of pleasure alone provide for and fulfill all of humanity's needs.

The problem is they don't.

And they never will. 

Possessions and pleasure serve a purpose in life , but are not and cannot ever be the sole purpose of life. The irony of possessions is this: you start off possessing them, but they end up possessing you and no matter how much you love them, they do not and cannot return your love. Pleasure, though quixotically addictive and fun, tends to fade rather quickly. The void left behind immediately demands newer and newer pleasures until the idea of pleasure recoils back upon itself, becomes utterly perverted, and is saturated with sadism.

What is left after the possessions turn cold and the pleasures run black? In all honesty, not much. Nothing, in fact. This point marks the border of nihilism, the vast poisonous belief desert of nothingness which inevitably leads to despair. What is despair? Amnesia of meaning. Abandonment of hope. Rejection of faith. Past societies had built-in safety mechanisms to combat such existential crises, but modern societies have contempuously cast these aside thinking, rather foolishly, that the fight against despair is one they would never have to fight and, in the unforeseen event that they would, that materialism and pleasure would provide them with the weapons needed to win the battle. 

The problem is, they haven't. 

And they never will.

This why the rediscovery of faith and hope are crucial. They are the only things that can, not only save us, but also give us lives that are worth living. Even if we are defeated, we go down swinging or, at the very least we go down smiling, which is far more noble and human than allowing darkness to corrode us and simply cratering in on ourselves and existentially imploding.

Faith is a deep sense, seemingly bottomless, that absolutes exist despite so-called evidence to the contrary. And hope is the undying belief that these absolutes will ultimately triumph - even if we fail individually or en masse in our own short lives - regardless of how bleak and meaningless the present might appear. Faith and hope. Both are crucial and both are needed, perhaps now more than ever. 

For months the liberal establishment has denied the reality of the mass destabilization event currently taking place in Europe. Since their ideology is based on the denial of reality, it is only natural that liberals in Europe oppose anything that is even remotely anchored in some sense of truth. To do so would be the kiss of death for liberalism, which is why liberals are such masters of repudiation. They will deny, surpress, refute, attack, scorn, reject, and forbid anything and everything that contradicts their nihilistic belief system. Lying, spinning, shaming, ridiculing, flouting and poisoning are weapons they commonly employ in their quest to convince the world of the utter non-existence of  truth and reality.

For the most part, they have been exceptionally successful in their campaign against veritas. Nowhere is this more evident than in their early efforts to deny the obvious reality behind the current phenomenon known as the migrant crisis. Nevertheless, as the weeks drag on and the crisis intensifies, it is becoming quite apparent that liberal ideology may have met its match. No matter how hard they continue to try to deny the truth in their effort to plant the seeds that will destabilize Europe by weakening national sovereignty, dissolving social cohesion, and annhilating what remains of tradition and Christianity, the liberal elite are no longer able to hide the flames of the fire they have ignited on the continent. More and more citizens of Europe, many liberals among them, are becoming aware that the elite's version of the migrant crisis is nothing more than a series of chimerical illusions hiding something that, in essence, is sinister to its core. 

Getting kicked by reality is a painful experience for many, especially for those who have soaked and permeated by the ideology of liberalism. It can't be helped - getting a boot to the head is never a pleasant experience . . . but it is a necessary experience, and despite the shock and agony it causes, people should be grateful for it because it allows them to touch earth again and begin to see things as they are. Whether they have the strength or honesty to remain rooted in reality is another matter entirely.

I sincerely hope most do.   

I am not a prophet. I have no crystal ball to show me how the future will develop. No sixth sense that probes time yet to come. All I have to work with is the present and the past. Of the present, I can perceive and absorb but a sliver. Deciphering the past is akin to interpreting mysterious heiroglyphics that have been interpreted a hundred different ways by a hundred different scholars. Nevertheless, I have my senses and my reasoning and they are often enough to give me some clues about what may have happened, what is happening, and what might happen.

Having said this, there are some delicate signs that the leftist/liberal elite is losing control. Whether this is intentional or not is something I do not know and cannot comment on, but one thing is clear - planned or accidental, the powers that be are slowly losing their grip. At first glance the very idea if it seems ludicrous - somehow beyond belief. After all, for generations left-liberalism has been the only game in town. As a social, economic, political, and cultural force, it has been and continues to be a merciless juggernaut, ruthlessly crushing and destroying everything upon which it sets it sights. Despite its unquestionable success, faint clues that the juggernaut may be slowing are beginning to emerge. Slight hairline cracks have appeared and are rippling over its hull. A faint question mark is starting to materialize above it, barely visible to the naked eye, but there all the same, like some spectral prenumbra or ghostly mirage. Could this mark the beginning of the end?

The entire left/liberal establishment operates very much like a team of plate spinners happily twirling their ceramic disks perched atop thin wooden rods for the amusement and amazement of all. When it comes to spinning, no one is better than the left. They have the uncanny ability to keep dozens of plates balanced and moving and on the odd occasion that they forget about a plate and it crashes to the floor, they are quick to distract their audience by raising and spinning two or three other plates in place of the broken one which is quickly forgotten by the spectators who are lulled back into their warm, comfortable trance. They are excellent spinners, the left, and they are well aware of their excellence, but this self-knowledge has led them to hubris. With every passing year, they raised more and more plates smug in the belief that they would keep them all spinning no matter what. 

However, there are signs that perhaps, just perhaps, the left have overshot themselves. There are simply too many plates and no matter how quickly they dash back and forth between the rods, they are slow to reach them all in time to keep the momentum going. Many plates are beginning to wobble, tugged out of the charm of their spinning by the cold demands of gravity. More and more spins are deteriorating into fits of elliptical teetering. At the very end of the line of rods, two or three plates look as if they will crash to the floor. Several dozen more seemingly beg to follow. The left seem panicky. Whether their panic is sincere or planned is difficult to know, but one thing looks certain - the left are either losing or surrendering control.

That most, if not all, of the plates will fall and explode on the floor seems inevitable. The only question that remains is what will happen afterwards, after all the broken ceramic shards are swept up and the rods taken down. Will there be a chance for a sincere renewal? A return to reality. A resurrection of Goodness, Truth, and Beauty? Or will the left merely return to the ring with an even more entrancing and even more horrendous circus act?