U.S.A. and America's spiritual idealism

To a shallow observer America appears to be rolling in luxury and cannot be expected to be deeply spiritual. But the falsity of this observation cannot better be described than in the words of Rabindranath Tagore, whose bold statement is borne out by personal experience:

"… when we say that America is materialistic, we speak of a fact that is too apparent to be completely true… there is a strong current of spiritual idealism flowing beneath the surface soil of the American mind."

Further, what he said to the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a cablegram from Kalimpong, India, June 1940, shows the significant role he expected America to play on the world-stage.

"All our individual political problems today are merged into one supreme world of politics which I believe is seeking help in the United States as the last refuge of spiritual man."