LINCOLN'S MELANCHOLY
“Lincoln’s Great Depression,” Joshua Wolf Shenk, in The Atlantic, October, 2005, v. 296, n. 3, pp. 52-68.
Those interested in how fit for leadership are our elected politicians (presidents?), or what we can learn from leaders who have contributed greatly to our nation, or whether the life long melancholy and depression of Abe Lincoln became “the fuel and fire of his great work,” should run, not walk, to the nearest newsstand to see if the October issue of The Atlantic is still available.
This issue features a summary overview of Shenk’s forthcoming book: Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness, (Houghton Mifflin). In ten pages here, Shenk demonstrates how Lincoln was plagued his entire life by melancholy and what would clearly now be termed a clinical depression, how he was almost overcome repeatedly by this “mental illness,” finally engaged it through vigorous work, and eventually transformed it--though he never “solved” it.
This is a fascinating read not only because it runs counter to popular psychology and much practice which believes we must find remedies and solve such disorders before we can be whole, work and love properly, but also because a personal faith is not yet recognized as a health factor by many mental health professionals and particularly by psychologists, who tend to be more agnostic than the rest. Only very recently are psychologists embracing their discipline as a health science with body / mind / spirit connections.
I admit that Lincoln is my second favorite study, but I seldom find stuff to read as compelling and meaningful as this. It was not a doctrinal faith or orthodox Christianity that enabled Lincoln to survive and prevail in a time of great turmoil, both national and personal. It was, instead, a deep personal sense of connection with a power greater than himself. He repeatedly called himself an instrument, sometimes of the people of the nation, and sometimes of God. He believed he could not shrink his duties even in the face of assassination. When warned by friends of this real possibility, Lincoln replied, “God’s will be done. I am in His hands.”
Highly recommended. Five stars out of five. You will want to talk about this and share it with others. You may find a new meaning in “mental disorder,” and renewed interest in Lincoln. Reading Lord Charnwood’s biography of Lincoln at age 20 while a buck private in the U.S. Army on Guam more than fifty years ago made a profound impression on me and my work ethic. I began to deliberately shape the kind of person I wanted to become. The year was 1949.
Paschal Baute
Lexington, Ky
October 5, 2005
Those interested in how fit for leadership are our elected politicians (presidents?), or what we can learn from leaders who have contributed greatly to our nation, or whether the life long melancholy and depression of Abe Lincoln became “the fuel and fire of his great work,” should run, not walk, to the nearest newsstand to see if the October issue of The Atlantic is still available.
This issue features a summary overview of Shenk’s forthcoming book: Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness, (Houghton Mifflin). In ten pages here, Shenk demonstrates how Lincoln was plagued his entire life by melancholy and what would clearly now be termed a clinical depression, how he was almost overcome repeatedly by this “mental illness,” finally engaged it through vigorous work, and eventually transformed it--though he never “solved” it.
This is a fascinating read not only because it runs counter to popular psychology and much practice which believes we must find remedies and solve such disorders before we can be whole, work and love properly, but also because a personal faith is not yet recognized as a health factor by many mental health professionals and particularly by psychologists, who tend to be more agnostic than the rest. Only very recently are psychologists embracing their discipline as a health science with body / mind / spirit connections.
I admit that Lincoln is my second favorite study, but I seldom find stuff to read as compelling and meaningful as this. It was not a doctrinal faith or orthodox Christianity that enabled Lincoln to survive and prevail in a time of great turmoil, both national and personal. It was, instead, a deep personal sense of connection with a power greater than himself. He repeatedly called himself an instrument, sometimes of the people of the nation, and sometimes of God. He believed he could not shrink his duties even in the face of assassination. When warned by friends of this real possibility, Lincoln replied, “God’s will be done. I am in His hands.”
Highly recommended. Five stars out of five. You will want to talk about this and share it with others. You may find a new meaning in “mental disorder,” and renewed interest in Lincoln. Reading Lord Charnwood’s biography of Lincoln at age 20 while a buck private in the U.S. Army on Guam more than fifty years ago made a profound impression on me and my work ethic. I began to deliberately shape the kind of person I wanted to become. The year was 1949.
Paschal Baute
Lexington, Ky
October 5, 2005
posted by Paschal Baute at 5:17 AM
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