America Prophecies
American Founders
American Political History
Soul of America Essays
Albions Seed
The Soul of Russia

"Every nation bears in itself the standard of its perfection, totally independent of all comparison with that of others" - Herder

We must understand our goals so that we are not frantic (ji) and fragmented (bu cheng). See The Chinese Pleasure Book.

"But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, and worship other Gods, our pleasure and profits, and serve them; it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it." - John Winthrop, City Upon a Hill

How does one give justice to and integrate the genocide of the indigenous?

What is America's soul? It seemed established in the 1800s, the American Rennaissance. What is it now? Period of growth, churning, re-identity. Who do you close your borders to? Who do you disagree with? What are you and what are you not? It feels like one big teenager trying to figure himself out.

The english language
English seems destined to become the global language because it is so tonally malleable. Am I right about this? I don't know enough.
It seems to have a large vocal range. Can other languages do this? They sound more homogenous across dialects than English (heavily accented by every culture + state by state dialects, LA vs southern vs wasp english), but maybe my ear is untrained.

did Emerson and Whitman express the true soul that we've strayed from? Or is it time to let it die and form a new one?

America casts off the guardrails of culture and tradition

touch on: do countries have souls

Unique American Religion

William James, vital reserves (a goldmine for this point), p. 34: new thought, christian science, focusing on positive thinking and good cheer. ties into american optimism and cheery suburban living. on 45, he also discusses faking emotions until you feel them. p. 54: "you americans wear too much expression on your faces". "vivacity of appearance is a nationally accepted ideal" p. 55. "love voices and quite faces as dull" p. 65

Jefferson's Natural Aristocracy

"Plato's monarchy was therefore a philosophic democracy; for all men had the right to become wise through self-discipline and self-improvement. One who achieved this state was by virtue of his own action a superior man, and this superiority was the only aristocracy recognized by Natural Law." - Manly P. Hall

When I think of the American character, funnily enough, I think of Adam. To have the fully nature to take everything in merriment without being people pleasy. To be forceful and expect force back. The combative play that stimulates a vigor that the Indian lacks. The same vigor can be perhaps stimulated by the cold. Whatever gives you the natural drive to fight back. Whatever gives you the natural drive to fight back. What is it for me? Debate? The issues I care about.

If Nietzsche is right, what should one do? I guess you just need to manifest who you are in each moment, and life will carry you to different places, and put different thoughts in your head, and you must shake off weak and sickly thoughts and engender strong and healthy thoughts.

The idea of vocation is absurd. Will I propose to Sridhar that I'll design him an operating system? Leonardo Da Vinci exuded health, I believe. Nietzsche doesn't like him, but I'm attracted to him, and so why can't you be a joyful inventor?

Well... is squinting at operating system documentation joyful? It seems sickly, it seems bringing yourself down into some lower realm with the 'cattle'. Maybe we can cast it all aside and think from first princples.

Aesthetics

The t-shirt and jeans
Simple does not mean lack of culture
Forgetfulness of beauty destroys culture. But captain america looks beautiful, in a simple way. It's not better or worse. Just different.

Library
Gary Dorrien - social ethics at UTS, writes about american liberal theology and christianity and abolition
mathew david segall teaching a course on the american philosophical tradition at CIIS - https://footnotes2plato.substack.com/p/my-first-course-spring-2017-at-ciis
Albert Borgman - Real American Ethics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_the_United_States
https://www.jeremisuri.net/about