By Cedar Barstow
Here are some remarkable words by Richard Hofstadter about Abraham Lincoln and his commitment to using his power while staying connected to his heart. Power with heart.
To be confronted [when he entered the White House] with the fruits of his victory only to find that it meant choosing between life and death for others was immensely sobering. . . . In one of his rare moments of self-revelation he is reported to have said: "No I don't know what the soul is, but whatever it is, I know that it can humble itself.". . . .Lincoln was moved by the wounded and dying men, moved as no one in a place of power [thinks they (cb)] can afford to be . . . .For him it was impossible to drift into the habitual callousness of the sort of officialdom that sees men only as pawns to be shifted here and there and 'expended' at the will of others. It was a symbolic thing that his office was so constantly open, that he made himself more accessible than any other chief executive in our history. . . . Here, perhaps, is the best measure of Lincoln's personal eminence in the human calendar--that he was chastened and not intoxicated by power." Jacob Needleman, The American Soul, pages 187-188.
Being chastened and not intoxicated by elevated positional power is challenging soul work and yet it is possible. Actions born of integrating strength and compassion raise consciousness and make the world a better place.
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