American Patriots

The human in some American souls
touched and rang the Liberty Bell.
The divine in some American souls
heard the Bell ringing
and valued the soul and the goal of the Bell.

The Supreme had a special vision for the soul of America
and he revealed it first through the Founding Fathers.

Patriots are those who have helped their country and elevated its consciousness so that the reality of their country has widened. There have been many American patriots in the past and there will be many more.  Many American poets are patriotic heroes just because their inner experiences have awakened and illumined and added to America's consciousness.

The self-giving of the Founding Fathers was the wish not merely to come out from under the British yoke, but for something higher and deeper. True, first they had to be free from British authority, leadership and guidance. But they had something deeper in the inmost recesses of their hearts that they wanted to express, a higher truth that they wanted to manifest. They wanted to show that their liberty was not only for them to use but for the whole world to use. It was an ideal for the world to embrace, a real ideal in human progress that would stand among humanity's ultimate achievements.

The American patriots were very noble souls. They never said they desired leadership, but God was moulding them for something. In their case, the word "God" was not uttered, but they spoke about "truth." Patriotism, if it is carried out properly, is truth. Truth was their sole motivating force. The Almighty Father played His role in silence and in action in and through the leaders of America.

The American patriots of the past felt that life and patriotism were inseparable. They felt that patriotism was the manifestation of life's freedom, that it was the only way to love one's country. And they did not expect anything from the country. They only wanted to give what they had and what they were.

America's soul was in bondage. Its soul, its life of reality, could not come to the fore in the country as a whole. But there came a time when a few heroic divine soldiers felt the necessity of liberating their country. The soul of America came forward to offer its own light and delight to those brave souls. It got the opportunity to inject the feeling of patriotism into these few selected children of America so that they could be true and humble instruments of God and please God according to their capacity, their understanding and their inner and outer awakening.

The light always has to be embodied by great noble individuals. To start with, you have Thomas Jefferson's vision: the Declaration of Independence. But it is not Jefferson's vision alone. Many people saw the reality. It was the vision of that era, the vision of all who surrounded Jefferson. You can call it the vision of Washington, Adams, Franklin, Paine and others. Monroe also had much light. We see another wave of patriotism when Lincoln came. Then there were many others.

You can regain the nobility and wisdom of the Founding Fathers in America best by meditating on the independence-spirit of America, which was treasured not only by earth's aspiration but also by Heaven's illumination.