Out of The Crowd (Paperback)

There is a view of life, that where the crowd is, the truth is there also, and that the truth, in order to have merit, needs the crowd on its side. However, there is another view of life, which holds that wherever the crowd is, there is untruth... Soren Kierkegaard The common assumption from Sigmund Freud to Thomas Jefferson is that we are each born into the world as autonomous individuals. Contrary to popular belief, we are born into families, communities, histories, and cultures. We are so apart of these groups that to become a mature individual, claiming our place in the world, finding meaning in our lives, and our calling from God takes a lot of work and courage. We are not born as single souls but part of crowds as small as a family of three to as large as a global cultural crowd. Though referred to by other words like collective, system, herd, mass, mob, enmeshed system, fused emotional group, and the world. I'm used crowd as did the writers of The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as philosophers like Tactitus, Epicurus, and Kierkegaard, along with Sociologist Gustave LeBon, and Poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. The purpose of the book is to help individuals come out of their crowds and into their calling, not just for the hope of each life, but for the sake of the world. Change on a large scale starts in a very small way. I call it the Rosa Parks Philosophy. When she chose to take a stand by keeping her seat, the world started to change. A great movement began with one person. Scott Peck referred to the power of the individual this way, The whole course of human history may depend on a change of heart in one solitary and even humble individual.... For it is in the solitary mind and soul of the individual that the battle between good and evil is waged and ultimately won or lost. James Allen Francis pointed to Jesus as an example of the great potential in each of us if we can claim our place out of our crowds. In 1926, he wrote, One Solitary Life He was born in an obscure village The child of a peasant woman He grew up in another obscure village Where he worked in a carpenter shop Until he was thirty when public opinion turned against him He never wrote a book He never held an office He never went to college He never visited a big city He never travelled more than two hundred miles From the place where he was born He did none of the things Usually associated with greatness He had no credentials but himself He was only thirty three His friends ran away One of them denied him He was turned over to his enemies And went through the mockery of a trial He was nailed to a cross between two thieves While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing The only property he had on earth When he was dead He was laid in a borrowed grave Through the pity of a friend Nineteen centuries have come and gone And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race And the leader of mankind's progress All the armies that have ever marched All the navies that have ever sailed All the parliaments that have ever sat All the kings that ever reigned put together Have not affected the life of mankind on earth As powerfully as that one solitary life Inside this book, find out home to come out of your crowds and become a life that can help change the world.