<P> Renan then states what has become one of the most famous and enduring ideas of the essay . "Forgetfulness, and I would even say historical error, are essential in the creation of a nation ." Historical research, by revealing unwanted truths, can even endanger nationhood . All nations, even the most benevolent in later practice, are founded on acts of violence, which are then forgotten . "Unity is always achieved by brutality: the joining of the north of France with the center was the result of nearly a century of extermination and terror". He believes that people unite in their memories of suffering because alleviating grief requires a "common effort" which serves as a foundation for unity . Members of a community feel as though they have accomplished something great when they are able to survive in adverse conditions . He gives some examples of countries like Turkey and Bohemia where there is rigid stratification, or where different communities are played off against one another, and where the homogenization of different groups could not take place, resulting in a failure of nationhood . This leads to one of the most frequently quoted statements in the essay: </P> <P> Yet the essence of a nation is that all individuals have many things in common, and also that they have forgotten many things . No French citizen knows whether he is a Burgundian, an Alan, a Taifale, or a Visigoth, yet every French citizen has to have forgotten the massacre of Saint Bartholomew, or the massacre that took place in the South in the thirteenth century . </P> <P> While many nations, such as France, begin with a feudal regime such as a monarchy, others, such as the United States and Switzerland, are formed by acts of consensual aggregation . France and many others, however, survived their feudal roots while maintaining their identity . Renan inquires what is the organizing principle? It can't be race, because France is "Celt, Iberian, German...The most noble countries, England, France and Italy, are the ones where the blood is most mixed ." Language, by contrast, "invites us but does not force us, to unite". Countries which share the Spanish or English language don't merge with one another, while the people of Switzerland speak several languages . Modern nationhood also cannot be based on religion, which Renan observes, is currently practiced according to individual belief . "You can be French, English, German, yet Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or practicing no religion". Mutuality of interests is fine for corporations and their affiliates, but nationality is based on sentiment . Geography merely leads us astray, and often to violence: "Mountains don't know how to carve out countries". </P> <P> Renan concludes that a nation is </P>

A nation is a soul a spiritual principle