The Symbols on the Dollar Bill

The American Dream is basically work hard and smart, own property, love toward lasting friendships, and live toward happily ever after in this world right now.

The Declaration of Independence references the God of Nature; not the gods of organized religion but the God beyond creeds and church walls, the God of which has its revelations written in the language of science and reason available to all.  The All Seeing Eye on the back of the dollar bill likely represents the God of Reason of the Deists.  The Declaration of Independence presents the rights and goal of all Americans to have life, liberty, and the practice of happiness. This was the opposite of the Fundamentalist Christians (the the first Christians) scheme that emphasized death as the path to heaven, slavery to Messiah, and unhappiness as proof you are suffering like the Messiah. 

Do you have a Dollar Bill? Pull one out and let's examine the symbols.  According to the website below the words on Pyramid means: 

ANNUIT COEPTIS, means "God has favored our undertaking."

The government's translation of this phrase is, "A new order for the ages." The Presidential Seal has the eagle facing to the eagle's left toward the olive branch instead of toward the eagle's right as on the Original Great Seal.  This represents that the U.S. as a country of peace but one who is ready to defend itself.  The seal on the dollar bill has always appeared in this manner according to a February 22, 2008 Washington Post article.  The original Presidential Seal displayed the eagle facing right toward the talon with the 13 arrows, which can still be seen on the Resolute Desk in the White House.  A change to the official Presidential seal was ordered by President Harry Truman in 1945. The thirteen stars do represent the Colonies.  We could not find anything official about the "clouds of misunderstanding. The official meaning is that the olive branch and the arrows "denote the power of peace & war."  As noted above, the design has been with the eagle facing the arrows except for when President Harry Truman turned the face toward the olive branch on the Presidential Seal. 

Words at the top [of the pyramid]:  He or It (God represented as they eye) has smiled on (approved of) our undertakings.

The eye: represents "the eye of providence".

the pyramid is UN-capped, again signifying that we were not even close to being finished. 

...The unfinished state of the pyramid was intentional.  Also, Charles Thompson, in his remarks to congress about the symbolism on the Great Seal, said the pyramid represented "Strength and Duration." 

Source: http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/d/dollarbill.htm

One way to interpret the eye of the pyramid, "the eye of providence," being separate from the base might be to say that the Higher Power does not directly intervene in human governance: that the Ineffable Source has endowed man with reason to work out their own pursuit of a quality life, true liberty, and lasting happiness in this world.

The main symbols on the Dollar Bill are the Great Seal of the United States, the unfinished pyramid, and the Eye of Providence. The all-seeing eye over the unfinished pyramid is I think supposed to portray the United States as a land continuously growing and far from finished. The Dollar Bill also has many Latin phrases spread throughout. The main ones read:

•  E Pluribus Unum: "From many, one"

• Novus Ordo Seclorum: "A new order has begun" or "a new order for the ages"

• Annuit Coeptis: "God has favored our undertaking"

The key Founding Fathers were Deists. They had a vision of an America working through logic and science, and the free market place of ideas: where the best of religion would flourish through competition. Thomas Jefferson formed the Declaration of Independence arguing that Nature’s God worked through natural laws rather than exclusivist claims to revelation. All men were created equal, and are equally imbued by divinity with a mind, a conscience, inalienable rights; and thus choices would be made by vote not compliance to a theocratic head. 

Everyone was to be equal by reason instead of divided by conflicting claims to revelation. The government they formed would function as a democracy opposed to a theocracy. All theistic religions were considered equally good and true and the best ones would win out in the free market place of ideas. Government would have no part in establishing religious dogma; decisions would be made through debate and voting. There would be a separation of church and state. There would be peace through tolerance and freedom after the bloody history of holy wars and inquisitions. The enlightenment era had given birth to “A new world order,” and “out of many, one”: One nation indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all.

According to Joseph Campbell the plants on the side of the pyramid may represent flowerings of new way of life and the desert in the background may be symbolic to a new and fresh beginning. The words below the pyramid mean: 

The number 13 : At the top is 13 stars representing the thirteen colonies. The stars are in the form of the Star of David. The center point is the energy in the field of opposites according to Campbell.

The cloud may be symbolic of spirit and body, and the clouds of misunderstanding rolling away according to Campbell.

The words on the scroll in the eagle’s mouth are Out of Many One: Out of many people, of the many philosophies and different religions there is one Nation.

The Eagle looks toward peace as the branch in its right foot symbolizes “peaceful conversation, and diplomatic relations.”

The nine tail feathers, according to Campbell, represent the number of divine power into the world. The number 9 represents the number of the muses, the patron Goddess of the Arts and the Goddess of many names; a source of imagination, the carrier of archetypal elementary ideas.

The Bald Eagle: According to Campbell strong and can also soar above trouble. Also represents the Solar Eagle representing the vehicle of Zeus in to the field of time. The principle of incarnation of the Deity in Greek legend. This means the eagle for America comes down to a world of pairs of opposites. In one hand there is the hope of peace but in case that peace is threatened there are the arrows of war, a symbol for victory.

The arrows represent the weapons of war.

In both feet the Concept of duality is represented: Ying Yang. We must fight for our freedom when the Universal Balance is upset according to Campbell.

Sources: The Inner Reaches of Outer Space by Joseph Campbell, pages 95 – 100, The One-Dollar Bill at http://www.omnifarious.org/~eljay/info_1dollar.html, & The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers, pages 30 – 40.

The words on the scroll in the eagle’s mouth mean, "Out of Many One." Out of many states, people, philosophies, and different religions there is to be one Nation inspired by Nature’s God that does not interfere with the natural world, and has endowed humanity with the power of reason. The Eagle looks toward peace as the branch in its right foot symbolizes “peaceful conversation, and diplomatic relations.” The arrows represent the weapons of war.

In The Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote, "When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation..." Jefferson is making a break from theocracy and the divine right of kings for Deism where reason and science was the way to truth and justice.  Since the deity was not seen as theistic (that is a god that intervened in life and gave divine revelation) then America would be based on "we the people," not a deity. So the constitution was nontheist. America was set up as a secular government blessed by God but run by reason instead of revelation, it would be democratic not theocratic, rational not supernatural, science-based not dogma-based, with leaders as presidents by election rather than the divine right of kings. 

  One might think that the Christians of this day opposed the Deism of Jefferson and Franklin. The truth is that traditional Christians were actually  working with Jefferson and Franklin. The truth is that Evangelical Christians supported the separation of church and state. For more details on this,  listen to On Being: Liberating the Founders at https://onbeing.org/programs/steven-waldman-liberating-the-founders/ onbeing.org  In this podcast, dated Oct. 30, 2008,  Steven Waldman discusses his book Founding Faith: How Our Founding Fathers Forged a Radical New Approach to Religious Liberty.