News / Brèves Back to previous selection / Retour à la sélection précédente Great is he, who overcomes the terrifying; man is greater than is destiny. 10 November 2013 Today, Sunday November 10, 2013 is the 254th birthday of Friedrich Schiller, dubbed the "Poet of Freedom" by the great American Frederick Douglass. Schiller was born November 10, 1759 in Marbach, Germany and died May 9, 1805. Beginning in 1984, at the instigation of Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp LaRouche, annual events were held throughout the entire world to celebrate the ideals and the work of Schiller on the occasion of his birthday. Even in the darkest days of the prosecutions and persecution of LaRouche and our associates, these events brought together political supporters and others to participate in Classical music performances, poetry recitations, and varied presentations on various aspects of the dramatic, philosophical, poetic, and historic works of Schiller and his networks, because it is true that "the pathway to freedom is through beauty." On the 20th anniversary of the Schiller Institute, Helga Zepp LaRouche addressed one such gathering, saying: "We can proudly look to five continents of the globe, where the Schiller Institute has developed as the moral and cultural counterpole to the threat of the global synarchist forces. Why did I choose the name of Friedrich Schiller for this fight for a new world economic order and a new cultural renaissance?... The most important thing is the extremely optimistic image of man Schiller has, namely the idea that every person has the potential to become a beautiful soul.... "Schiller says, every man has an ideal man within himself, and it is the great task of his life to bring the ideal man within him into conformity with his real personality. For this, Schiller says, it is important not only to educate your mind, but also your emotions, until you can blindly trust your instinct, because it will never tell you something different, than what your reason commands. A beautiful soul is such a person, for whom freedom and necessity, passion and duty are all the same thing. Such a beautiful soul will naturally become a world historic individual, who takes responsibility for the destiny of his or her nation, and mankind as whole." Other presentations and articles can be found here: http://www.schillerinstitute.org/educ/schiller.html (sb)