subject: Lessons of Greatness From Abraham Lincoln and Jean Jacques Rousseau [print this page] Lessons of Greatness From Abraham Lincoln and Jean Jacques Rousseau
Abraham Lincoln's life was hugely influenced by the Bible his acting before and during public office has the Bible marks written all over them. He was indeed a God fearing man. Besides the Bible however Abraham Lincoln was influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
Jean Jacques Rousseau was the French philosopher who lived during the 18th century. It was Rousseau who provided Europe with slogans for return to nature during the times of the industrial revolution when everybody was excited about machines and the power of them. Rousseau argued for a shift from reliance on the head, (that is reason) to a shift to the heart and pure nature and the simple life.
Rousseau called for the human beings that are genuine in a genuine world. He advocated and kindled a novel appreciation of natural beauty, wild life, forests, landscapes, mountains and valleys. Natural life, argued Rousseau, is spiritually fulfilling, enchanting and cultivating people.
Rousseau found the dominant culture and philosophy of Europe too cruel and materialistic. His idea of happiness was sentimental, peacefulness, social and private. The dominant philosophy of Europe or the western tradition and civilization is that happiness is something you earn and deserve and conquer. According to western tradition there are no individual rights to happiness: you can only be happy if you are successful living in a luxury. Note the fact that to live in luxury you have to soldier through, beating people along the way (and sometimes making them slaves) brushing them aside and winning in life. Happiness and successes is something you deserve and earn according to the western tradition. You can only access happiness by becoming successful in life. In this way, people's lives are in state of war, fighting to achieve, planning, controlling, strategizing, and managing is the order of western way of living.
