Needleman, An American place.

[ana]

Needleman has just posted this in his blog:

_http://jacobneedleman.com/blog/?p=275

An American Place

America—the physical, actual America that we see and live in—this America needs to be understood not as in itself sacred, but as a privileged, temporary corner of “the world,” where men and women are granted the liberty to search for truth and the life within. Behind all the political and economic machinations of the Founders of this country, there existed in their minds and hearts the passion to create “an American place” in the midst of the world, where the Good can be sought and lived. They believed there existed the Good—some called it God, others called it Reason—and that the Good could enter human life. Of course, political freedom exists now in many countries of the world, often due to the influence of American ideas, but we will never ‘ know what we have here’ if we do not understand that the founding basis of this country was not land or tribe, but the call for people to assemble together and work together for the Good. Perhaps America’s people no longer come together for this purpose; perhaps political liberty and the great rule of law serve now only to protect the cravings for meaningless comfort and meaningless power; perhaps the nation’s physical strength seduces us into imagining that physical strength is true strength; that physical safety is true safety, that external freedom is true freedom, external democracy the true equality of people. If so, if we believe that the outer America is the real America, we are deceived by ourselves and, as the prophets of Israel warned, we are certain to perish– first inwardly and then outwardly.

The laws of America, the political structure of American government, the respect for the Constitution, the rituals and symbols of the American republic—all of this external America bears traces, some brilliant and others faint and shadowy, but traces of a great vision of truth and wisdom that has nourished the soul of mankind throughout history.

We need to find our way back to the other America, the inner America, which is to say that the modern world itself needs to find its way back to the fundamental reality of the inner world, what the ancients called “the world of the soul.” Set aside the usual associations with the word “soul”—associations which for many of us have made of it something superstitious or something dull and ordinary. Set aside the religious and philosophical clichés surrounding the word and recognize that what it refers to is a deep, hidden power of consciousness and moral power within every human being, a force, an intensity of feeling and knowing that lies at the essence of our nature, that defines us as human beings, that defines our place in nature, on earth and with each other.

The teachings of wisdom bring to us the idea that it is through this inner power of intelligence and conscience that the Good can enter the world of man and, through mankind, the world of the earth. Wisdom teaches that the world has become what it has become, human life has become what it has become because man has lost contact with this consciousness and power of understanding within himself. What is sometimes called God, so the teachings tell us, acts in the world to help the world—yes, but not as some fairy-tale father-figure with a white beard moving the chess pieces of history, but through the authentic consciousness of man. It is that consciousness—mortally asleep in us though it be—through which the helping powers operate. Through us, and into the earth, and from the earth back to the Source as man’s genuine help for the Creator. The Founders of America were passionately oriented to teachings that in some distinct and significant measure reflected these ideas.

Bold mine

It seems He lacks a great deal of knowledge on psychopathy and ponerology...

 

[Gaby]

It seems He lacks a great deal of knowledge on psychopathy and ponerology...

Indeed! In his book The Way of the Physician he spends a considerable time praising Freud

 

[Buddy]

Needleman has just posted this in his blog:

_http://jacobneedleman.com/blog/?p=275

{snip}

It seems He lacks a great deal of knowledge on psychopathy and ponerology...

I thought so too, up until the middle of that piece. By the time I finished reading it, I found myself comparing it to the Islamic strategic enclosure of the Sufi's. Perhaps I'm way off base? :(

 

[mamadrama]

Fwiw, it reads to me like someone who is grieving but also someone who is trying to stay afloat in a sea of wishful thinking. The death of illusion can be so hard sometimes...

 

[Nienna]

It seems He lacks a great deal of knowledge on psychopathy and ponerology...

It seems to be the case. Unless you understand the evil that we are confronted with, doing anything about it, especially hoping for something better, is not going to be very productive.

 

[Alana]

He certainly doesn't have the facts on psychopathy, or the true history of the world or America for that matter. But i read in his words that he is trying to reach the hearts of Americans out of desperation, because he sees on some level that the current state can lead only to complete destruction. In his way he is shouting, trying to resonate with a sleeping egocentric and ethnocentric for the most part, population, trying to wake up those who can hear him. At least that's how i am reading his text, fwiw.

 

[Hildegarda]

Fwiw, this kind of rhetoric was very strong up until WWI, and that was the original contest from which the idea of "the American dream" has sprang (although the expression itself wasn't coined until 1930s).

I gathered that from an essay by Winifried Van Etten, published in a small book, "Growing Up in Iowa", and then found similar testaments in bits and pieces elsewhere. She shows very well how layperson's understanding of quintessential America and american-ness has moved from the realm of ideas to realm of material as 20th century unfolded, on her watch.

Why Needleman would bring up those idea now, I do not know. Even back then they were naive in a very Victorian way, the same way as a small homogenous community is naive about the wider world. His post appears to be a response to some thought process or ongoing discussion. But I find it hard to imagine what kind of audience these words are could unite and rally now, I can't think of any.

 

[Buddy]

Well, I thought I would just ask him but I can't find an email or other contact info anywhere.

Here's an interview where he talks a bit more about that book in case anyone is interested:

Probing "The American Soul": An Interview with Jacob Needleman
_http://www.mitchhorowitz.com/jacob-needleman.html

 

[truth seeker]

Well, I thought I would just ask him but I can't find an email or other contact info anywhere.

If you're still interested, he has an fb page. Not sure if you can see it. Let me know.

_http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/pages/Dr-Jacob-Needleman/199315953080?v=info&ref=ts

 

[ana]

My thoughts are that what matters, is the result of our actions, that is what responsability is
about, so, does Mr Needleman knows wich purpose is He serving?
Is Needleman's speech helping people see the truth? Or is he helping "American people" continue dreaming?

Is really America "a privileged, temporary corner of the world"?

Are the political structure of American government, the respect for the Constitution, the rituals and symbols of the American republic, traces of a great vision of truth and wisdom that has nourished the soul of mankind throughout history?

 

[Buddy]

Well, I thought I would just ask him but I can't find an email or other contact info anywhere.

If you're still interested, he has an fb page. Not sure if you can see it. Let me know.

_http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/pages/Dr-Jacob-Needleman/199315953080?v=info&ref=ts

No luck so far. Email delivery failed. I'm no longer sure about the strategic enclosure thing, but we do know that he is a professional writer and that he writes for a general target audience because he uses such a broad appeal. Perhaps he is just establishing rapport to bridge to his message.

So, I'm thinking that while it is clear that he is not evidencing any knowledge of Ponerology, it's not clear whether he knows anything about it. That is about all I can comfortably say. I would like to assume the best, but we all know where that leads to. :)