The World-Soul

When Hegel was twenty-nine, his father died, leaving him a modest inheritance which enabled the young philosopher to spend three years thinking and writing, free from fiscal worry. But those years passed swiftly, and by 1803 he was again looking for work. His friend Schelling brought him to Jena, and here he began tutoring and working on his first major work, the Phenomenology of Spirit, when the Napoleonic Wars broke out full-force. Now in dire need for money, he accepted one publisher's offer for its hefty advance; however, he faced severe penalties if the manuscript was not delivered on time.

In October 1806, on the day before his publishing deadline, conquering French forces entered Jena. Hegel barely got the manuscript off, perhaps at great personal risk (I can visualize him cradling it as he dodged mortar shells and marauding infantry). But here's the interesting part. Being a German, and being a citizen of a defeated German city, you might think Hegel was angry, bitter, or disheartened as the Revolutionary Army took his city. He had no such feelings. In fact, he was able to catch a glimpse of Napoleon inspecting the ravaged city, and he was positively overcome with glowing admiration:

"The Emperor - this world soul - I saw riding through the city to review his troops; it is indeed a wonderful feeling to see such an individual who, here concentrated into a single point, sitting on a horse, reaches out over the world and dominates it."

The first thought that came to my mind as I read this for the first time was, simply, how lucky this man was. How fortunate. Who among us can claim to have come face-to-face with someone that could be described as a "world soul"? Some who "reaches out over the world and dominates it"? I certainly haven't. But I suppose if you met a President that you particularly admired, shook his hand, someone like JFK or even RFK campaigning in the summer of 68, I suppose that would qualify. But I still think its a very, very rare experience, only because I don't believe there are many "world souls" alive at any one time. It's like that Jewish myth of (and I'm paraphrasing) the 32. At any given time there are 32 devout souls on this planet who's piety keep God from squashing us. I think at any given time there's only one or two world souls allowed to exist. Why, I haven't speculated on; but something tells me that such individuals probably make themselves as opposed to being ordained by a diety.

Have there been "world souls" in my day? I can honestly only think of two, and I don't think either fit Hegel's use of the phrase. Ronald Reagan and John Paul the Great. Detractors might label them as mere cult-of-personalities; but I prefer to view them as focal points of great movements. Through their gentle forcefulness, their charisma, their ability to communicate, they instituted sweeping changes in the last quarter of the twentieth century that we are still feeling today and will continue to feel for decades. The deaths of both men touched me very deeply. I only hope that I may experience, and possibly meet, another "world soul" before I die.