America prides itself on knowing so much, but it has forgotten the most basic and most important thing of all which is: ex nihilo, nihil fit, "out of nothing, nothing comes". To those that do not believe in a Higher Power, than your highest duty must be to your mother, who created you, for without her, you would not be here. As for all others, whether they have an inchoate belief that there is something like a Creator, or definitely is a Creator, or something in-between, must recognize than that all we are, all we can ever be, and all we will ever be comes from the very hand of God, and of no other.
This makes for a certainty that our highest goal in life, our highest achievement possible, is to find our way back to God, in recognition that all that we are, all that we have, is taken or borrowed from God, himself. Humans, way too often, want to credit themselves for their achievements, of which this sort of sentiment most definitely has its place, as our efforts, our decisions, and our actions, are something that we have the right to be proud of, especially when we have indeed accomplished good things for ourselves, as well as others. However, in full truthfulness, in full humility, there must be the conscious recognition that we did not create ourselves, in fact, we really don't seem to know how we even came about, but intuitively we know that there is a higher power, which knows all, is all, and has always and always will exist.
It is therefore our duty to find our way to the very first things, to return to He who breathed life into us, as there cannot be a higher purpose in life, than to become one, with our Creator, who awaits our return, no matter how long, or how circuitous that path may be. We read in Holy Scripture that as Saint John stated: "He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light" (John 1:8). It is to that Light, that we must recognize that without it, we wouldn't even live in darkness, we would simply not exist.
Those that keep their Creator foremost in their minds and foremost in their thoughts, recognize that their gifts are to be used for the betterment of their fellow man here on earth, that we indeed are our brother's keeper, and that the greater man is he who serves another, rather than taking of what is not his by right, so as to dominate or to dictate to another. Those that see nothing but the physical, or nothing but their own selfish desires, or live to fulfill their ego and its demands, have entrapped themselves into an existence that cannot rise above the earthly gravity that forces them down.
No matter how many mind games a given person plays, no matter what justifications are made during the conduct of a life, no matter what propaganda is propounded or believed, if all is not in accordance with the Truth, it is like a house being built on sand, and the crash of that home is inevitable from its beginning. If you are your own god, when the light of human existence extinguishes, you will recognize for a certainty that you are not; there is only One, our Creator, and our obligation therefore is to acknowledge and to embrace Him in all ways, in recognition that through Him lies both our salvation as well as the opening of the portal that brings us to the blessed combination of Truth, Justice, and Love.