Jacob Needleman — The Inward Work of Democracy

On Being with Krista Tippett

On Being Studios

Sociology, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality, Krista Tippett, Arts, Culture, On Being, Society, Society & Culture, Science, Social Sciences

4.7 • 10.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2012

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Krista Tippett speaks with philosopher Jacob Needleman. As new democracies are struggling around the world, it’s easy to forget that U.S. democracy was shaped by trial and error. A conversation about the “inward work” of democracy — the conscience that shaped the American experiment.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It's easy to forget, especially as July 4th approaches.
0:03.7	How much trial and error went into the creation of American democracy?
0:08.7	How much of what Americans now take for granted wasn't fully formed for decades after 1776?
0:16.0	The warm and wise philosopher Jacob Needleman looked back at the American founders with
0:20.6	this in mind for his book The American Soul.
0:24.1	He took apart the ingredients that grew this democracy up.
0:28.4	And he found that every iconic institution, every political value, had inward work of
0:33.3	conscience behind it.
0:35.3	Every hard one right had a corresponding responsibility.
0:39.5	It feels important to me right now to revisit the mind-opening conversation I had with
0:44.3	Jacob Needleman back in 2003.
0:47.6	Young democracies are struggling around the world and they're looking for models.
0:51.9	To rise to this occasion, we may need to remember and pass on this inward work as much as
0:57.3	the outer forms of government that we're long in the making.
1:01.3	It's wonderful to be able to go where I want and do what I want, buy what I want, buy
1:06.1	and buy and get and get and talk and talk and I have no constraints.
1:11.1	We certainly need external liberty, but without the intermeeting of freedom and liberty,
1:17.4	we have to ask, well, what is this freedom for?
1:21.0	The inward work of democracy.
1:23.1	I'm Christa Tippett.
1:24.2	This is on being from APM, American Public Media.
1:33.5	Jacob Needleman spent decades pondering things like time, the cosmos, love and money, before
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from On Being Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of On Being Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.