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These pages contain the complete text of Human Action, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's philosophy of human achievement.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
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Abraham Lincoln: Motivated At Last

Abraham Lincoln, in the beginning of his mature political career, found himself behind strong walls he himself had cooperated in making. A study of this lesser-known period in Lincoln's life gives a clue to Lincoln's greatness, and how his Kinetic Human Core responded to exceptional events.

Though always a thoughtful man of exceptional integrity, Lincoln's vision sometimes lagged far behind. He rose from a career as a lawyer to become active in Whig party politics in his native state of Illinois. But it still took Lincoln 15 years of work as a faithful party regular to finally make it to Congress in 1847.

And here, his very faithfulness to the party line led to Lincoln's immediate downfall. The Whig party opposed the Mexican War and used that opposition to attack the party in power, the Democrats under President James Knox Polk. In Congress, Lincoln's fine voice rang out in condemnation of what had become a very popular war back home in Illinois. Much of Illinois countered with condemnation of Lincoln.One Illinois newspaper even called him a “modern Benedict Arnold.” Lincoln was shamed out of running for office again. The war ended with a decisive American victory and quickly became a non-issue.

The walls around Lincoln's political career became very high indeed now, and Lincoln could blame no one but himself. He had been overzealous in following the party line, and perhaps a bit immature. For the next several years he returned to the lonely work of riding the law circuit in Illinois. He had no idea of ever entering politics again, but at the same time, he continued to enrich himself with books and conversation, speeches and arguments, philosophy and humor.

Lincoln carried in his heart a certainty of the dignity of mankind. He revered the American Founding Fathers and what he believed they stood for. Somewhere inside him was a voice that impelled him to speak out for what he believed so deeply. Away from the political center, Lincoln didn't know it, but outside actions would activate him to break down his walls with one swing of his mighty axe.

A very brief history: the Missouri Compromise of 1820 severely restricted the expansion of slavery. Like many thoughtful people of his day, Lincoln was not a fierce abolitionist, but he thought slavery would eventually collapse under its own weight. The Kansas-Nebraska bill of 1854 once more opened up the question of expanding slavery to the western territories. On May 22, 1854, Lincoln was busy trying a law case in Urbana, Illinois. At that time he hadn't the slightest desire to go into politics again. But on May 23, when the news of the Kansas-Nebraska Act reached him, Lincoln's disdain for politics flew out the window. Now a man with a reason to speak, rose to speak.

Lincoln had no choice in the matter once outside events agitated him sufficiently. Let's look clearly at what happened. Lincoln's 1848 political defeat did not motivate him. Many commentators use Lincoln's entire life as an example of perseverance, but in actual fact Lincoln often did not persevere. He lacked the reason to persevere, because mere political advancement wasn't essential to his core reason for being. He gave up. He stopped applying his considerable talents to his political career. In one simple word, he quit.

But the values and beliefs of the founding fathers were inextricably linked to Lincoln's core reason for being. Like a mother bear reacting to a perceived threat to her cubs, Lincoln found his heart energized by what he saw as a threat to the values he held dear. A great man who could not remain silent rose to speak. And you know the rest.

Lincoln's actions and beliefs were based on his independent, free judgment. He didn't believe that slavery was evil because he'd read it in the Bible or elsewhere. To hold such a belief, however laudable, is simply a reflex biological action, a climbing into a room with no door. Lincoln's belief was trans-biological, a function of a decision made at his strictly human core, which knows no walls.

As we've already discussed, none of us can count on that great moment to come around and challenge us to put our beliefs on the line. But nothing prevents us from using Lincoln's great moments to help us put our somewhat lesser moments into useful perspective. Here's the key way to look at it: what was crisis for a person like Lincoln, or many of the other great people we'll examine in this book, can serve as Core Expansion Training for people like us. While not motivated into action by his human core until the time came when he had no choice, Lincoln was always motivated by his human core. He was also motivated to expanding his human core at all times.

You have a Kinetic Human Core just as Lincoln had. Walls cannot contain you. Simple answers and pathetic outward limitations cannot discourage you. You are human, and because you are, your worth, like that of all the other humans around you, knows no limit. Furthermore, your Trans-Biological Imperative demands that you do something to implement the vision you hold inside you. You may need more work on your vision, on your reason, on the values that motivate you, but it's perfectly possible to do that work step by tiny step. The time will come when you will take immensely larger steps.

Exercise: Taking the First Tiny Steps

• Define five major walls inside yourself that hem you in. (Example: notions about your career or marriage partner you have kept since childhood.)

• Which of the walls keeps you back the most?

• How do you think you can break down walls you have built yourself? What can you actually do to start the process going, to take that first step?

• Do the same exercise with external walls—those walls you did not create.

• Which of the external walls keeps you back the most? (Example: difficulties on the job.)

• How do you think you can begin a process to break through or move around those external walls? What are the first few steps you might take?