[
  {
    "kind": "header",
    "added": true,
    "text": "Chapter Six. The Vision From the Studio."
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "Before I left I took one last look at the sculptured figures in the Studio. The Saga of America! That is what the Studio of Walter Russell represented to me. Not only is his life an expression and illustration of the Eternal Laws that all great men live by, but the art and science that he has produced open a window to the very heart and core of American life itself. The sculptured faces in his Studio represented the key figures who have shaped the destinies of America in the last hundred years."
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "Mark Twain in his Trilogy of the Mississippi gave the most characteristic picture of the- very heart of American life ever given of that period. The twenty-seven characters from his book gathered around him in the Monument include nearly every typical character that has made America what it is today. They represent what might be called the \"grass roots\" of the Nation."
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "And then who ushered in this modern mechanical age better than Thomas Edison, whose sculptured bust was the first of this long line of splendid masterpieces! For two generations all the feet of America marched in tune with the music of John Philip Sousa, while people of all walks of life crowded the music halls to hear the light operas of Victor Herbert. Sir Thomas Lipton, while furnishing tea to the world, kept the front pages of the American newspapers busy with the drama of his international sports. His perennial attempts to win the yacht racing trophies, always ending in defeat, won for him the title, \"the best sport\" and \"the most gracious loser\" in the history of international competition. Dan Beard, at ninety-two, is there, telling me of his Boy Scout Movement. Cardinal Gibbons, represented by an etching, was the spokesman of all the Catholics of this nation for a whole generation. Hudson Maxim, inventor of arms and advocate of peace, was one who wittingly or unwittingly helped usher in this last half-century of war. Charles Goodyear, whose vulcanizing of rubber made the automobile possible, started a whole generation moving on cushioned wheels. Thomas J. Watson holds an equally significant place as one of the influences ushering in our new conception of putting spiritual laws into business. And Colin Kelly, the first hero who died to usher in a new age of freedom."
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "Finally the two Roosevelts, Theodore and Franklin, represented the beginning and the close of the greatest period in United States history, the Alpha and Omega of the period that ushered us into a world leadership such as few nations have ever known."
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "Twice Walter Russell was a guest in the White House, first as official painter, and second as official sculptor. The first Roosevelt invited him to paint the portraits of his children. The second Roosevelt sat as a model for him to sculpture the bust of himself. Both families showed great courtesy and cooperation, and in these sojourns he had an opportunity rarely given even to politicians and diplomats of the inner circle, to see into the inner soul of these two me who directed the Ship of State through the most momentous crises in its history."
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "And finally the Four Freedoms Monument! While the other figures direct our attention to the hundred years that are coming to an end, this group points to the hundred years that are facing us in the future. Something about these figures takes my breath away. Just the way they are placed for one thing. At the Camps Farthest Out there is always a climactic meeting near the close of each conference, where, on some high hill or beside some beautiful lake, the two or three hundred people assemble and send a broadcast of Love to all the world. An allegorical symbol that has very frequently been used in the Camps is the choosing of four of the most selfless, consecrated persons to take their stand in the center of the large circle of people and with arms upraised face the four corners of the compass and serve as radio broadcasting antennae through which the Love of God can bless the world. In such a climactic hour no single art is adequate to give expression to the power that we wish God to manifest through us. No masterpiece of painting, poetry, sculpture, architecture, music, drama, or the dance is adequate at such a time. In these four living figures we have a blending of the arts, something greater than painting, something greater than sculpture, something greater than poetry, something greater than drama— the complete dedicating of hundreds of people, surrendered in bodies, minds, and souls, to be used as channels of God. Through the four in the center and through the larger circle about them, we invoke the freedom and love and peace of God to flow forth and bless the world."
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "As I sat before the monument of the Four Freedoms, I was overwhelmed with amazement and joy as I beheld the four figures, two men and two women, facing the four points of the compass with upraised protecting arms, broadcasting freedom to all the world. In thought I could see the entire nation gathered about them in a vast circle, all joining together in the words that were used at the official dedication:"
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "\"I hereby declare this sculptural group of the Four Freedoms to be our symbol of Freedom to the World and dedicate it to honor those legions who have given their lives for Freedom and to our fighting forces. May it be an inspiration to them now and a lasting tribute to their victory. May the protecting wings of these angels hover over them, guard and keep them, and reunite the world in lasting unity and peace. God bless you all.\""
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "The Deferred Preface"
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "Now that you have finished reading this book, you must begin at the beginning and read it again. No one can step into a completely new dimension of thinking and get it all at once. No book will reward you with larger dividends for the rereading than will this one."
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "To remind you of this is the reason I put the preface at the end."
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "\"But you must put the preface at the beginning of the book,\" I was told by those who read it in manuscript. 'To thrust such an unknown idea into the unthinking and unknowing minds of masses who have never heard of such things happening to humans, might leave them too high in the air. But a little explanation as to that miracle having happened to quite a few in history, that it was known in Bible times and referred to often as 'being in the Light' or 'in the spirit', or in later times as 'the illumination' or 'the illumined ones' would ease it for them.\""
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "To this I reply, the only adequate preparation for the reading of this book is the reading of this book. That is a very Gertrude Steinish remark, but it is true. Let it startle the reader, puzzle him, inspire him; let it raise a thousand questions. He won't rest until he reads it over again, and, as his own inner spirit responds, his questions will be answered. Let it arouse in him a thousand new aspirations and after the third rereading of the book, if his spirit responds, it will furnish him the dynamic to convert these aspirations into realizations."
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "The Light spoken of in this book is gradually coming to every man. but will come suddenly only to those who have earned it through countless days and weeks and years of worthiness and increasing awareness."
  },
  {
    "kind": "author",
    "added": false,
    "text": "This book will prepare you for understanding Mr. Russell's book The Secret of Light."
  }
]