Episode 12 – Revolutionary Advice
Sooner or later, we all have to face hard times. There’s just no away around it. And when we do, we have to find the courage we need to make it through the tough challenges that lie ahead. In that regard, I once read some tremendous advice about finding inner strength, and it came from a rather unexpected source.
Leading up to the American Bi-Centennial, I was researching the Great Seal of the United States for a potential film project. The seal was created to be the symbol of what the new country stood for. On one side, it has a pyramid, but in place of the capstone on the top, it has a glowing eye that seems to be peering out from another dimension. It also has two phrases written in Latin which mean “He Favors Our Undertaking,” and “New Order of the Ages.”
It’s been on the back of a one-dollar bill for almost a hundred years, but nobody pays much attention to it. It’s actually a fairly mystical design with cosmic overtones, and one of its creators was Benjamin Franklin. It turns out that along with being a major genius; he was also a pretty trippy guy.
Anyway, unrelated to the research, I found a pamphlet by Thomas Paine, that was written during a real low point of the Revolutionary War. It opened with the stirring line that’s become world-famous, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Something about it got me and I decided to dig into it a little deeper.
When it was written, things were really bleak. The colonists had declared their independence on July 4, 1776, and the furious British Government had reacted quickly and violently. Before long, the Americans were in serious trouble. Out-manned, out-gunned and out-organized, the shocked rebels were facing the most powerful war machine on earth, brutally hell-bent on their destruction.
Within the first few months, 11,000 soldiers just gave up and went home. Then the British captured 3,000 more troops and chased the wounded Continental Army out of both New York and New Jersey. By the winter, shaken and freezing, the demoralized rebels were on the verge of giving up.
We can’t understand today how bad things really were. Defeat seemed certain. Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin would be hanged for treason, along with countless others. And the brutal punishment that would follow would reduce the country to near slavery
Then, in December of 1776, to inspire the people to return to the fight, Paine wrote a series of pamphlets called “The American Crisis.” The opening line, “These are the times that try men’s souls,” took on a much deeper meaning for me now that I realized the true horror of the situation.
More than a million pamphlets were distributed and it quickly became a major phenomenon. Its effects were immediate and the country was galvanized. Washington had it read to his soldiers before they launched the surprise attack on Trenton, which changed the course of history.
One phrase near the end stood out to me. I read it carefully and it was every bit as wise as it was powerful. Like a blueprint for finding courage and inspiration, it has seven key points to it, which for me, remain empowering words to live.
The phrase itself is: “I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”
Let’s take a look at these seven key points:
Key 1 - “I love the man that can smile in trouble,”
I found this to be a truly powerful image – someone realizes they are facing trouble and they smile. That really got me. Nobody likes trouble and nobody wants it. So, when it comes, why would your reaction be to smile?
Of course, everyone will look at this in a different way, but to me, it speaks to the power of a certain kind of attitude. And it’s almost as much a question of what the attitude doesn’t have as what it does.
It has no self-pity. There’s no “why me?” There’s no self-doubt. It’s more like, “I’ll give it my very best. And if I give it everything I have, physically, mentally and spiritually, then no matter the outcome, it will bring out the best in me and make me a better person. And I’ll have a positive impact on everyone and everything around me.”
We all admire this kind of courage, and intuitively, we all know we have it. If we look within, we can find it, and like every other part of our being, it gets stronger with use.
Key 2 – “that can gather strength from distress”
This sounds almost counter intuitive. It seems like distress would weaken you, rather than strengthen you. But neuroscience holds some interesting information on this. It has to do with our fight or flight mechanism and managing fear.
The instant our survival mechanism senses we’re in danger, with a hair-trigger response that is much quicker than rational thought, it releases powerful hormones into our system, putting us on high alert and getting ready to either run for our lives or fight until death.
Now, thankfully, most of the challenges we face aren’t that extreme, but the fear reaction is exactly the same, only to a lesser degree. And if you can bring the fear into a manageable level, you can derive the positive benefits of the hormones strengthening your system and sharpening your focus. That’s a powerful combination.
When it comes to managing fear, we’ve all been doing it all our lives. Since we were infants, we’ve each evolved our own approach. But neuroscience offers a fascinating insight that can be quite helpful as well.
It turns out that the part of our brain that triggers our survival mechanism is the same part that regulates our breath. And there is a deep physiological relationship between the two. If you breathe a little slower and deeper, it automatically helps calm your nerves and release your fears.
This physiological relationship is the result of millions of years of evolution. So, by regulating your breath, you can regulate your fear.
Key 3 – “and grow brave by reflection.”
Reflection is defined as fixing your thought onto something and giving it careful consideration. So, when we’re facing trouble, we want to give careful consideration to the things that give us courage. And this takes some consciousness.
Many times, when we’re in stressful situations, our breathing becomes shallow and we automatically start catastrophizing our fear. Our thoughts can get out of control really fast. After all, it doesn’t take any effort to be afraid. Fearful thoughts just come with the territory. And like sharks in the water when you’re travelling on an ocean liner, the trick is to stay in the boat.
One good way to stay in the boat is by giving careful consideration to all the positive elements in your life. Maybe look back on the successes you’ve had and how some things have worked out positively for you. Or look at all the lessons you’ve learned from all you’ve been through. Nothing brings more courage than wisdom.
When it comes to taking courage from reflection, one of the most basic things you can reflect on is the fact that you’re alive, you’re breathing, your heart’s beating and your brain is thinking. And every one of these is purely a miracle, which means that they surpass all human understanding. Maybe give that particular perspective some careful consideration and see how brave you get.
Key 4 – “Tis the business of little minds to shrink,”
This is a deceptively deep statement. According to many wisdom traditions, our intelligence has two basic components – our ordinary mind and our essential self, which is also called “the heart.”
Shrinking from a challenge is a common reaction of our ordinary mind because that’s where self-doubt lives. But the larger part of our intelligence, our heart, is very different. It doesn’t shrink, it expands.
If we can understand this basic difference, we don’t need to be weakened by negative thoughts and feelings. Many of them are just products of self-doubt. And maybe we can’t stop the ordinary mind from thinking these thoughts, but we don’t have to inhabit them. We can gently shift our focus to the stronger part of our inner self, our heart. And again, like every other skill, this takes practice.
Key 5 – “but he whose heart is firm,”
Speaking of the heart, over the centuries, many highly evolved beings have told us that the heart is actually the true home of our consciousness. All the ideal characteristics of humanity flow from there. As the seat of our intuition, as well as our conscience, it is not only kind and gentle, but also firm. It knows right from wrong, is an unparalleled anchor of stability and it doesn’t waiver. The mind might waiver, but not the heart.
When your consciousness is with it, it feels like home. And it feels like home because that’s exactly what it is. Again, you don’t have to create or manufacture it, all you need to do recognize it. Truly firm and firmly true, it makes the hard times easier to bear and always enhances the happy ones.
Key 6 – “and whose conscience approved his conduct”
I guess you can sum this idea up in one word – integrity. According to the dictionary, our conscience is our inner sense of knowing what’s right and wrong. And when our actions are in line with it, we feel the strength of integrity. And not only does it feel good, it’s a very formidable power as well.
This is one of the reasons that challenging times can produce so much growth in us. They make us stretch to uncover all the best traits that we have.
Of course, nobody’s perfect and everyone is faced with their own personal learning curve. But in the growth process, while it’s impossible to avoid making mistakes, when you face your errors with integrity, you can transform your mistakes into life lessons, and that is a very powerful form of alchemy.
Key 7 – “will pursue his principles unto death.”
To me, this says that when you have found your courage and you heart and mind are aligned with integrity, you won’t cease to serve the noble principles of your being. You’ll persevere and stay the course, no matter what the outcome may be.
This reminds me of a story that I once heard Ted Turner tell on TV. He had become close with environmentalist pioneer Captain Jacques Cousteau and was funding some of his efforts to preserve the planet. I haven’t been able to find a recording or transcript of it, so I’m going to paraphrase it to the best of my memory.
They were travelling on the noble ship, Calypso, going from port to port and wherever they went, they ran into one environmental catastrophe after the next. There were appalling amounts of garbage and pollution everywhere.
“Captain, I’m getting discouraged.” Turner said to Cousteau.
“Don’t do that,” Cousteau responded. “Even if we knew that we had no chance to protect the earth, and even if we knew our efforts were doomed to complete failure, we would still carry on with smiles on our faces and joy in our hearts, grateful that we had the opportunity to serve the highest.”
This has always been one of my favorite stories, as well as one of the most instructive ones I’ve ever heard. And there’s nothing I would add to a statement of this level of nobility, so this will be the end of this episode.
As always, keep your eyes, mind, and heart opened, and let’s get together in the next one.
