Lincoln Article

2003-5-17 22:03:00

Sat May 17, 2003
Lincoln Article

Since we have been talking about Lincoln, I thought I would post an article about him from the Jan-Feb issue of Beacon Magazine published by Lucis Trust.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

By Mary Senter

Many events in Lincoln's life and his many "down-home" stories were remembered and recorded. Author Carl Sandburg, who grew up in Lincoln's neighborhood and who personally spoke to people who knew Lincoln, undertook the monumental task of portraying this great president. Information and stories about Lincoln in this piece were taken from Sandburg's books, Abraham Lincoln-The Prairie Years, in two volumes, and Abraham Lincoln-The War Years, in four volumes.

One story that demonstrated the far-reaching effect Lincoln had in the world was told about Leo Tolstoy, the famous Russian writer, who was visiting the Circassians in a remote part of Russia. Because of their isolation, the natural course of events was to ply their guest with questions. This gave Tolstoy the opportunity to display his natural ability in relating tales about great statesmen and generals. As the conversation became more interesting, the tribal chief called in members of his family and the rough looking riders of the tribe. They heard about Russian czars and their victories; they heard about Napoleon and other warriors. But one man, who was described as being "gray bearded and smelling of horse and leather", stood up and inquired, "But you told us not a word about the greatest ruler of the world. He was a hero. He spoke with a voice of thunder; he laughed like the sunrise ... He was so great that he even forgave the crimes of his greatest enemies and shook brotherly hands with those who had plotted against his life. His name was Lincoln and the country in which he lived is called America, which is so far away that if a youth would journey to reach it, he would be an old man when he arrived. Tell us of that man."

These rough mountain men with burning eyes and eager faces clamoured to hear about Lincoln. Tolstoy told them how wise he was, and how he rose from poverty and from the plainest of people to become a great ruler.

As the Circassians were known as being the finest equestrians of the world, they were disenchanted to hear that Lincoln was not much to look at when riding a horse. However, the stories of Lincoln's strength, courage, and daring greatly inspired these mountain people. Tolstoy was given a fine Arabian horse as a present for this great story. When he left, a tribesman accompanied him to the next town where Tolstoy found a photo of Lincoln to send back to these people. When he handed Lincoln's picture to the tribesman, the man's eyes filled with tears. When asked why he was sad, he answered, "I am sad because I feel sorry that he had to die by the hand of a villain. Can't you see his eyes are full of tears and his lips are sad with secret sorrow?"

Lincoln's Greatness

Why was Lincoln a world hero? Tolstoy summed it up saying it was because of his "peculiar moral powers and greatness of character, and his realisation that the greatest human achievement is love". The American nation at that time was deeply measured by its leader.

There were two rules that Lincoln lived by and they were: "Deliberate slowly and execute promptly." Deliberation is a form of meditation. He would purposely seek out problems in order to solve them. Words fascinated him, and he would mull over them until he understood them. He always wanted to know the physical law or principle that was behind a phenomenon.

Lincoln was a great orator with the ability to view specific problems in a comprehensive way. He could analyse and synthesise, yet make himself understood in the simplest terms. Such was his fame especially in the immortal words of the Gettysburg Address and his second Inaugural Address. There is an old expression, "Now put it in your bonnet and think about it!" Lincoln did just that. His familiar stovepipe hat was his filing cabinet, for whenever an idea or some problem would come up that he wanted to solve, he would jot it on a piece of paper and file it in his hat. What an ideal place, for where else do we carry our consciousness? It is said that the written word carries energy, so you can well imagine how the storing of such thoughts in his hat must have generated his thinking.

Is a man born with greatness in him or does he become great by being put through the trial under which conditions, time, and circumstances put him? The greatness was in Lincoln. His humble birth helped him in his future political years to relate to the peasant, to the farmer, and to the labourer. If he had been born in a house of plenty, it would have spoiled that great intimacy he had with the working and striving class, for these were the people who really loved and appreciated him. He understood them.

Lincoln's Honesty

The name "Honest Abe" was earned in his early years while working as a clerk in a store. He had overcharged a woman six and a quarter cents. He walked six miles to pay her back. If he ever overcharged or short-changed someone he would go out of his way to correct that wrong.

Because of his innate honesty, he intuitively knew whether others were truthful or not. Honest, sincere people always met with his approval and usually gained the favours they sought. A young lady from Virginia came to him to ask permission to visit her Confederate brother who was in a Union prison. President Lincoln searched deeply in her eyes and asked, "You are, of course, loyal?" Asking this question one would suppose he meant loyalty to the cause of the Union. Her surprising answer was "Yes, loyal to the heart's core-to Virginia." The honesty of her statement was obvious. The President walked to his desk, wrote a few words, folded the paper and gave it to her. The words read, "Pass this young lady for she is an honest girl and can be trusted."

Beneath Lincoln's pained expression was a reservoir of unfathomable greatness. Writers,

historians, poets since his time have tried to penetrate the depth of his character, for his love was immeasurable. Lincoln did not talk about love. He lived it.

He had a special love and kindness for his old friends, and no matter what notables were visiting him at the White House, an old friend received first class attention over everybody else. The humbler, the poorer a person, the closer he was to Lincoln's heart.

A soldier who had lost a leg in the war, accompanied by his girlfriend, attended an affair at the White House in order to shake the President's hand. While Lincoln was shaking the hand of a dignitary, he spotted this soldier further down the line. Dropping the dignitary's hand, he left his place in the receiving line and welcomed the soldier with special warmth and honour. The soldier was overjoyed and overwhelmed. For such a man as his President, he was ready to give his life. He left with tears in his eyes.

Lincoln frequently would extend a stay of execution to save a soldier's life, and he would always add three worlds, "until further orders". One father, noting that terminology, "until further orders", disappointedly said, "But that does not pardon my boy?" Lincoln said, "My dear man, do you suppose I would ever give orders to execute your boy?"

A week before his assassination he visited a hospital, and as he started to go into one room he was told not to enter, as it was full of rebels. Lincoln said, "You mean Confederates, don't you?" and ignoring the order, entered. When he died, the southern soldiers realised they lost the best friend they had.

Lincoln's Power

Lincoln had power. If you want to know what a man is, give him power. It will make or break him. Lincoln, with the reins of the government in his hands, passed the supreme test. He never abused his power. He used it to help heal a sick nation; he used it to help make men free. So great was his inner power he could not be bribed; he could not be bought; he could not be intimidated. He always stood on the firm ground of the principles of truth, righteousness, and freedom. He was loyal and dedicated to the people of this nation. He was called, and rightly so, the Father of his nation. The army was called Lincoln's army; they were called Lincoln's men. It seems the greater a person is, the more power he has. When power is wielded fearlessly for the benefit of humanity, that person is then a safe haven to hold that power.

The enemies of Lincoln were more than just the fighting south. He had enemies in the media, even in his own cabinet. There were those who were not loyal, yet against these odds he remained at the helm of his country to heal the deep wounds of separatism, injustice, and encroachment on man's right to be free.

Other Qualities

Lincoln was a humble man. A senator once walked in on the President and discovered him polishing his own boots. "Why, Mr. President," he asked with disbelief, "do you black your own boots?" And the President answered, "Whose boots did you think I blacked?"

The office of the Presidency was never a source of ambition or pride. It was a gnawing hunger in him to serve the people, to serve his nation. Lincoln was quoted as saying, "In God's name, if anyone can do better in my place than I have done, or am endeavouring to do, let him try his hand at it, and no one will be better contented than myself."

Sobriety was Lincoln's way of life, yet he never condemned or criticised others if they drank. Before Lincoln left Illinois for the office of the Presidency, he asked his law partner, Herndon, how many times he ever got drunk. This was the closest Lincoln ever came to criticism. The shock of this question deprived his law partner of ever having any hopes of gaining presidential favours or a commission in the government. Lincoln never lectured his law partner for his behaviour, as it was not his policy to interfere in the habits and lives of others.

Purity of heart was seen in his compassion. The death penalty for desertion did not meet with Lincoln's approval. He once said, "Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert? ... To silence the agitator and save the boy is not only constitutional but a great mercy."

An elderly woman asked the President how could he speak kindly of his enemies when he should be destroying them. "What, Madam?" he answered. "Do I not destroy them when I make them my friends?" How profound to know that we can kill our enemies by making them our friends. Such beauties were found in the breast of this great man.

Lincoln had great compassion and understanding for his wife. Mary Todd Lincoln was a controversial figure. Lincoln always tried to reconcile her jealousies and unpleasant actions. According to the impressionists of those times, he bore his cross admirably under all situations.

One time, however, he did reveal his pain. When he was a lawyer, a tradesman came and complained bitterly about his wife's unpleasant accusations of his services. Lincoln listened and with a sad face said, "If I can bear it for 24 hours, surely you can take 15 minutes of it." The tradesman never complained again. Fashionable Mary Todd, brought up in a society where manners and etiquette were taught, may have been the balance Lincoln needed to prepare him for his years as President. He was a diamond in the rough and she helped to polish that diamond.

Lincoln's speeches were usually short, simple, and to the point. People understood him and responded for they liked what he had to say. His famous "House Divided" speech is often quoted: "If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it...." In this speech he also quoted from the Bible, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." The impact of the philosophy of this quote aptly fit the tragedy of the time, the impending separation of the states over the slavery issue. After this speech Lincoln's popularity swelled.

The battle of Gettysburg was the turning point in the Civil War. This area where the men fought and died was to be dedicated as a military cemetery. Lincoln was asked to give a dedication speech. This is when Lincoln gave birth to the immortal words found in the famous Gettysburg Address. "Four-score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal ...... What Lincoln said in two minutes summed up what it took the main speaker to say in two hours. There is now a Lincoln Speech Memorial in the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg. His words live on.

The Toll of the War

Toward the end of the war, deep pain registered in the lines of his face. He lost 30 pounds. The weight and the pressures of the war years were agony and his heart cried throughout the entire time. He received strength from his strong belief in the Almighty. His other source of strength strangely enough was his famous humour. It was said that his story telling was a safety valve, a relief from oppressing cares. It relieved him of his misery and would momentarily bring in light. Once when he was put down for his story telling, he said it was his only respite for without it his heart would break.

Lincoln had beauty. The secret of his beauty was his sterling qualities that made others feel beautiful. One woman leaving his office exclaimed, "He is the most beautiful man." This was the effect he had on people who came in close contact with him. Yet his features were homely. He once said, die when I may, I want it said of me by those who know me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower when I thought a flower would grow". That was his inherent beauty-he saw and planted seeds of beauty in others.

The day of Lincoln's second Inaugural Address was dark and stormy, yet when it came time for Lincoln to speak, the sun, like a miracle, shone through. It was then noticed that the star Venus was shining clear and luminous, and as it was reported later, it was the first and only time that it was ever seen at that hour of the day. Reports of that day mentioned a bright star visible in the heavens.

Because Lincoln never joined any church, he lacked the support of the ministry. He doubted the possibility of settling religion in the models of man-made creeds and dogmas, but he did believe, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." That to him was a practical truth and a divine law. He once said to his law partner Hemdon, "There are no accidents in my philosophy; the past is the cause of the present, and the present is the cause of the future; all these are links in the endless chain, stretching from the finite to the infinite." Lincoln knew that a tremendous retribution had to be paid for the sin of slavery.

One of his favourite expressions was, "There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we may." He also recognised an orderly manner in the intervention of Deity in the affairs of men. He felt it was the duty of the moralist to probe deep and search for the solution of all moral problems. Lincoln's belief in God can be summed up in his own statement. He once told a visitor he did not care so much whether the Lord was on his side; he wished rather he could be sure that he was on the Lord's side.

Lincoln never based his conclusions or opinions on what people thought of him, but based them on how such people could best be of service. An excellent example of this was the choice of Stanton, the replacement on his cabinet for Secretary of War. Lincoln first met Stanton during an important law case. This was before he was well known or considered as a presidential hopeful. Stanton and his law partner ignored Lincoln. Later, when Lincoln was nominated for the office of the President of the United States, Stanton was openly antagonistic toward Lincoln. When a replacement was needed for the office of Secretary of War, Stanton, because of his previous service and his organisational abilities, was chosen for the position. Lincoln was warned of his animosity, but being more concerned about the right man for the right job he appointed Stanton as the new Secretary of War.

The most remarkable feature is that Lincoln and Stanton became the closest of friends. There grew between them an intimacy in which the mind and heart of each were given to the great work to which they were dedicated. Each could depend on the other at all times. At Lincoln's death, it was Stanton who took the right action to identify and track down the assassin, to notify the family, the Cabinet, and the nation. At the end of long hours, when Lincoln was declared officially dead and a prayer was said, it was Stanton, openly weeping, who uttered the prophetic words, "Lincoln belonged to the ages." It was Lincoln's great love for humanity that conquered this man's soul.

Lincoln had to reason, prove, and demonstrate beyond a doubt in his own mind and heart before speaking out and trust that his ideas and solutions would work, whether in a courtroom or during his time served in politics. Because of his penetrative ability, he was able to intuitively tap the pulse of the people before taking action. The Proclamation of Emancipation that freed the slaves was not an overnight decision but was purposely mapped out with perfect timing in conjunction with both north and south positions. His action in history proved to be well timed.

A Racial Avatar

The Tibetan Master tells us that Abraham Lincoln was a Racial Avatar: "These Appearances [Racial Avatars] are evoked by the genius and destiny of a race. The typical man (in quality and

consciousness, not necessarily physically) foreshadows the nature of some race. Such a man was Abraham Lincoln, coming forth from the very soul of a people, and introducing and transmitting racial quality-a quality to be worked out later as the race unfolds" (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, pp. 297-98).

Abraham Lincoln exemplified inherent qualities that can now be seen unfolding in the many racial types who landed on American shores and became part of the "melting pot" of the society.

We can ask God to give our leaders the same qualities, the same greatness of soul, the same spirit of strength, courage, and spirit of freedom that enabled President Lincoln to say at the close of his agony: "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan-to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations."

Lincoln was an ocean. His examples are as waves that hit our shores time and time again, never ceasing to remind us of his sacrifice, his dedication, his honorable intentions, and his wisdom in handling a great nation at one of its lowest ebbs in history. It is on the crest of these waves hitting our shores that future heroes can be born.

America was blessed with the presence of this Avatar at a time in history when racial conflict divided our country. His heart and soul still lives as we extend beyond our own boundaries in our present day world conflict to help unite the people and to bring peace to the whole world.