{"id":31284,"date":"2024-01-24T21:54:09","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T05:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=31284"},"modified":"2024-01-24T21:54:09","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T05:54:09","slug":"the-american-soul-by-jacob-needleman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/01\/24\/the-american-soul-by-jacob-needleman\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTHE AMERICAN SOUL\u201d BY JACOB NEEDLEMAN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On the \u201cdecline\u201d of America:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026 but the United States is still by far the most important nation in the world<\/em>. All the forces of the earth are pouring through the United States . All the  forces of the earth are pouring through the United States. All the forces of the earth are concentrated there. Europe\u2019s economic power, or Japan\u2019s economic and political ferment, or all that is happening in Russia or Eastern Europe, or China\u2019s immensity, or Africa or the Middle East\u2013it is all coming together and pouring through the government and people of America and the American land. It is up to America how all these forces will meet and act on each other and resound back into the world, the earth. Population, environment, morality, technology, medicine and old age, the preservation and destruction of tradition, new knowledge, new values\u2013all, everything, is coming together in America in one way or the other of its effects or phases. What happens in America is what will determine the development and action of all these forces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013German businessman quoted in The American Soul<\/em> by Jacob Needleman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On listening:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis kind of process took place during the blistering summer of Philadelphia summer, the process of a group of ordinary human beings listening<\/em> to each other, not as people usually listen to each other, but as people can<\/em> listen: from a source deeper in themselves which opens them not only to the thought and views of their neighbor, but to something wiser and finer in themselves and, perhaps, in the universe itself. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On fame:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026when we consider the motivation, in Washington and in many other of the Founding Fathers, which may seem to us now as superficial and vain\u2013namely, their preoccupation with what they referred to as \u201cfame.\u201d This word meant something very different, and much more honorable, than what we mean by it today\u2013it implied becoming worthy<\/em> to be known and respected by others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On leadershio:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the sage would guide the people, he must serve with humility. If he would lead them, he must follow behind. In this way when the sage rules, the people will not feel oppressed. When he stands before them. they will not be harmed. The whole world will support him and and will not tire of him. Because he does not compete. He does not meet competition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013Tao Te Ching<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodrow Wilson on Lincoln:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe say [Lincoln] was honest; men used to call him \u201cHonest Abe.\u201d But honesty is not q quality. Honesty is the manifestation of character.<\/em> Lincoln was honest because there was nothing small or petty about him, and only smallness and pettiness in a nature can produce dishonesty. Such honesty is a quality of largeness. It is that openness of nature which will not condescend to subterfuge. which is too big to conceal itself. Little men run to cover and deceive you. Big men cannot and will not run to cover, and do not deceive you. Of course, Lincoln was honest. But that was not a peculiar characteristic of him. He was not small or mean, and his honesty was not produced by any calculation, but was the genial expression of the great nature that was behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen we may also say of Lincoln that he saw things always with his own eyes. And it is very interesting that we can pick out individual men to say that of them. The opposite of the proposition is, that most men see things with other men\u2019s eyes. And that is the pity of the whole business of the world. Most men do not see things with their own eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historian Richard Hofstadter on Lincoln:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere, perhaps, is the best measure of Lincoln\u2019s personal eminence in the human calendar\u2013that he was chastened and not intoxicated by power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the \u201cSecond Democracy\u201d:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe second democracy is a community devoted solely and entirely to truth. It does not accumulate wealth. \u2026 It doe not make war. It is not \u201cstrong\u201d; it is not an economic force in the world. It does not have an army. It does not make treaties. It does not devise financial innovations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe second democracy is the soul of the first democracy\u2013our democracy, our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe second democracy\u2013the community based on the equality of all men and woman who search for conscience\u2013requires the political and social freedom and external tolerance that are provided by the kind of democratic society Americans now live in and whose principles were so carefully crafted in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Quotes from The American Soul <\/em>by Jacob Needleman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the \u201cdecline\u201d of America: \u201c\u2026 but the United States is still by far the most important nation in the world. All the forces of the earth are pouring through the United States . All the  forces of the earth are pouring through the United States. All the forces of the… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[825],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31285,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31284\/revisions\/31285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}