Take a moment to reflect upon what we are really celebrating during the Fourth of July. Yes, it celebrates the signing of America’s Declaration of Independence. That document cast into stone a commitment of the lives and fortunes of the signers. They committed themselves and the new nation to fulfill the legacy of visionary thinkers like Cicero (106-43BC) and Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780) who in years past envisioned a promise of some future society based on Natural Law.

Cynics tend to refer to this as Utopia – An ideally perfect place but an impractical, idealistic scheme for social and political reform. I don’t believe for a minute that Thomas Jefferson or John Adams were cynics. The idea of a Commonwealth of justice and prosperity overseen by man’s reasoning power and a belief in God as author of the Natural Law was paramount. Religious freedom was a requirement. Contrary to what many believe, America was not founded as a Christian nation. Jefferson, however, thought so much of the moralistic teachings of Jesus, that he published the Jefferson Bible, which contained the most relevant (to him) passages.

Did you know that America’s founders also commissioned the Great Seal of the United States on July 4^th,1776? So important was the Great Seal that on day one, Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams to begin the design process. Congress approved the final design on June 20, 1782 – six years before the Constitution was even written. The Great Seal is the carefully crafted message they created to convey their vision to the world, and to the future. Its two sides embody the essential guiding principles these farsighted patriots knew the United States must always follow.

Most of us are familiar with the obverse side of the Seal with the eagle gazing at the olive branches in its dexter (right) talon. The bundle of 13 arrows in its sinister (left) talon indicates strength in unity. Charles Thompson – Secretary of the Continental Congress - said it represented the power of peace and the power of war. The bundle of arrows was described to Benjamin Franklin many years before as signifying that there is strength in unity. One arrow is easy to break in two but a bundle is unbreakable.

E Pluribus Unum signifies many uniting into one. Could our founders have been so visionary as to have been thinking about the concept of unity on a global scale? Did these visionary thinkers, many a product of the "enlightenment" be hinting that we are all connected through the energy of the universe. Secret societies, forced underground by the power of the church and state, have long understood these principles. Today one wonders how so many of them have gotten so far away from their founding principles.

Many Americans are confused about the meaning of the reverse side of the Seal, which features an eye in a capstone triangle over an unfinished pyramid – representing the new nation (under God) as a work in progress. Does Novus Ordo Seclorum mean a New World Order or a New Order of the Ages - as the founders intended? The first envisions an imposed one-world government. The second is derived or created from natural and common law - laws who’s content is set by nature and therefore has validity everywhere.

The reverse side of the Seal is often called the "Spiritual" side. Most of our founders believed in a "Higher Power" and that Annuit Coeptis - "Providence favors our (their) undertaking". It was intended for us all to live in harmony – no matter how we perceived (or not) that "Higher Power". We must continue to build upon the enduring foundational wisdoms established by our forefathers. For those whose chosen path is spiritual activism, Andrew Harvey offers guidance: "The one hope for the future lies, I believe, in Sacred Activism - the fusion of the deepest spiritual knowledge and passion with clear, wise, radical action in all the arenas of the world, inner and outer. We have very little time in which to awaken and transform ourselves, to be able to preserve the planet, and to heal the divisions between the powerful and the powerless. Let us go forward now with firm resolve and profound dedication."

Find out more about your nation’s "coat of arms". Come visit the colorful and informative U.S Great Seal Awareness Project exhibit at Founder’s Park (6-9pm) July 4^th.

When the full story of the U.S. Great Seal is known, it becomes a compelling incentive to participate in America’s future. Visit www.GreatSeal.com for more historical information.