Textual Healing

Lincoln may have made this astute observation over 150 years ago for entirely different purposes, but the underlying philosophy is as relevant and applicable as ever to today’s world and its challenges. In particular, I am thinking of the challenges facing the world of ideas, book publishing and journalism especially:

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.”

—Abraham Lincoln, 1809–65, Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862