North Star

Column #443     February 23, 2024

Have you ever been lost? I mean really lost. In high school there was one time I got “disoriented” while hunting in a Georgia swamp. In the morning darkness our hunting party split up and took to the woods in all directions to better cover more sectors. In my sector there was nothing but trees in every direction and the ground was covered with about four inches of water. It was a gloomy overcast day, no wind, and total silence. I wasn’t hunting from a stand, which meant I slowly snuck ever deeper into the swamp looking for wild pigs, deer, or turkeys. By late morning, after not seeing a thing other than squirrels, it was time to head back to the main road. But which way was that?

Everyone who has spent time in the great outdoors knows it’s impossible to walk in a straight line in a snowstorm, cloudy night, or swamp like I was in. Invariably you’ll walk in a circle and without landmarks or tracks, you’ll never know it. In a swamp there’s no backtracking either because there are no trails or landmarks other than trees and water that look alike in all directions. Of course I didn’t have my compass with me. So, what did I do to get back?

Realizing that I was actually lost was somewhat of a shock. It was also embarrassing to even think I had no idea which direction to go. But, after looking around, I did see some hints as to which direction was north. Coupled with the knowledge that when I left the road I had headed in an easterly direction, I knew I wanted to go west. So my compass became the thicker moss that grew on the north side of the trees. Of course, a mossy side of a tree isn’t pinpoint accuracy, but it gave me enough of a sense of direction to head out. After some considerable time of sloshing along and weaving through the trees and brush, I came out on the road. Naturally, I didn’t come out anywhere close to where I went in, but sound traveled better on the open road and it wasn’t long before our whole hunting party got reconnected.

Man requires navigational skills. Unlike some animals our sense of direction is limited to our memory, sight, hearing, and sense of smell. Ever since man’s first appearance on the planet, if he got lost, it often meant certain death unless he had gifted survival skills and getting back home wasn’t critical. So let’s briefly examine the history of navigation and relate that to modern times.

Many people do not realize that the north star is a relatively new navigational asset. It was first used in navigation around the fifth Century. That’s when a Macedonian writer and historian, Stobaeus, described it as “always visible.” It was 300 years before, in 169 AD, when Claudius Ptolemy first noted it as a specific star and named it “Polaris.” So it wasn’t  quickly adopted in navigation.

Before Polaris gained in importance and usefulness, navigators used other ways to navigate. Originally, the primary method was the use of “landmarks” which could be marked on maps. At sea this meant staying close to land masses. On land the mountains, rivers, valleys, and other distinctive landmarks provided the necessary situational awareness.

Of course, man had always studied the sun and the stars and knew their seasonal placements in the sky. Therefore even moving celestial bodies were important as “landmarks” long before the compass (200AD), north star (fifth century), and sextant (1731). There were also many other crude methods employed which included the movements of wild animals and birds, smells, the wind direction, etc.^{1 2}

Today we use GPS and take it for granted. But, when it comes to wars, as many know it’s not only a very vulnerable navigational method but quite often its interpretation can be misleading depending on the system used. How many times have you had a GPS guide you in the wrong direction?

The point I want to make is that mankind has always needed proper grounding in order to survive and prosper. It’s always been highly structured societies that became successful and long-lasting. Of course, depending on the structure, some would quickly fail. Obviously, properly grounded structure matters.

The history of man’s relationships with man has taught us a great deal about what works and doesn’t work for nearly all situations. The Bible is one of the best references. Its first five books are called the Pentateuch (literally meaning “five scrolls”) and they are attributed to Moses. These books provide an account of God’s creation of the world and Adam and Eve. They also contain God’s laws that are intended to guide them in living according to his will. That part of the Bible was written more than 3,500 years ago. The last books in the Bible were written about 60 to 70 years after Jesus’ crucifixion.³

With God’s laws and the many recorded stories of human successes and failures, nearly every kind of situation man faces today has been played out in the past. Of course, in addition to the Bible, there are many other written accounts of the rise and fall of nations that our Founding Fathers had studied in their quest to create a nation with a central government that not only answered to the people but protected them from all sorts of self-inflected harms—including the government itself.

They started out by writing a Declaration of Independence which was delivered to the king of England. It described their grievances and why they were declaring their independence. Later came the Constitution outlining the federal government’s limited powers regarding the citizens of the 13 original states. Then came The Bill of Rights to reinforce the limitations on the government to protect the unalienable rights God gave every human.

Those documents combined social structures that contributed to previously successful societies. They put everyone on the same page. Laws were evenly applied. The government had checks and balances. There were many things the Federal government was forbidden to do without proper representation of the people. Naturally that did not result in a perfect union. But it was good enough in setting the stage for the United States to conquer a vast wilderness and eventually become the world’s richest, most powerful, and freest nation.

As with all successful people, enterprises, and nations, because of human nature there are cycles that occur. Invariably, as a nation (also people and enterprises) matures the rules that led to success tend to lose their importance. People began to believe they are omnipotent and following God’s laws, traditions, and 200-year-old Constitution is childish. Leaders become sociopaths and their desire for more power knows no limits. Therefore they insist on the idea that they are all knowing and what they say is the way things are. In time even the children are no longer taught the fundamentals that made their nation great. Instead they are taught to be pawns rather than independently thinking individuals.⁴

When courts use lawfare, moral structures get replaced with debauchery and make believes, individual achievement is discouraged, dependency is encouraged, fears are exaggerated, freedom of expression is censored, criminals go unpunished, borders no longer exist, thrift is no longer a positive attribute, perpetual wars are policy, borders are eliminated, traditions are forgotten, and deficit spending becomes the norm a nation is well on its way to self destruction. The destruction occurs because the proven landmarks that navigated the nation to be successful are discarded as old fashioned.⁵

Today Americans are being forced to believe in all forms of deviant behavior that is beyond nutty. They are expected to believe that men should compete in women sports. Transgenderism reflects mentally stability. Stopping criminal behavior is illegal. Crime is okay. A two-tiered legal system is fair. Censoring speech prevents misinformations. Letting children decide to change their sex is not child mutilation. An open border is humane and a responsibility of good American citizens. Funding the war in Ukraine is necessary and good for our economy. DEI uplifts our society. Running up the Federal deficit strengthens the economy. Socialism is better than capitalism. Manmade global warming is the greatest threat to human survival. To stop global warming electric vehicles must provide future transportation even for military operations. A corrupt government is a democratic government. A government that restricts markets and consumer preference is not a dictatorship. A government that decides who should run for office supports democracy. Forgiving student debt is Constitutional. And—this list of woke beliefs seems to have no end.

Maybe about 100 years from now people around the world will look back at our current age and wonder how Americans and many other people around the world could have been so stupid. The warning signs were everywhere, but like lemmings rushing off a cliff, in just a few years Americans destroyed everything that was built over the country’s first 250 years. And it happened because the nation and the people no longer had any situational awareness based on proven and fixed landmarks.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

For additional reading:

1. Using Landmarks: Wilderness Guide Navigation Techniques by Jake M from Guide Wilderness

2. Dead Reckoning from Wikipedia

3. How far back does the history of the Bible go? by Hilda Scott from The Holy Script

4. The Federal Government: To Alter or To Abolish? by Kerry L. Morgan from Lonang Institute
Part 6: What Unalienable Rights Did God Give to Every Human Being?

5. Freest Countries 2024 by The Cato Institute from World Population Review