How Do We Know

17

MAKING THE MOST OF ONE’S SELF

Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your own line of talent. Be what nature intended you for, and you will succeed; be anything else and you will be ten thousand times worse than nothing.

—SYDNEY SMITH

This English divine (1771-1845) recognized that, because all of us have different talents, doing what we should do leads to success. Right!

However, that last line of his befuddles me. What could be ten thousand times worse than nothing? This is exaggeration for the sake of emphasis, and it may blind us to another facet of truth. Wrote the American clergyman, Hosea Ballou (1771-1852): “Exaggeration is a blood relative of falsehood and nearly as blamable.”

The eminent psychologist, Dr. Fritz Kunkel, offers a corrective and, in my opinion, voices a great truth: “Immense hidden powers lurk in the unconscious of the most common man—indeed, of all people without exception.”

We have in Dr. Kunkel’s wisdom an excellent reason for never overlooking the potential that lies dormant in every human being. We find support for this openmindedness in Psalms 8:2: “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength.” “Strength” has ever so many meanings, ranging from brutal power over others to the courage of one’s convictions. A few thoughts: “It is excellent to have a giant’s strength,” wrote Shakespeare, “but it is tyrannous to use it as a giant.” Hitler and many politicians—in our country and elsewhere—exemplify this tyranny.

“Who is strong?” asked Benjamin Franklin. His answer: “He who conquers his bad habits.”

What may we assume to be “strength” as used in Psalms? A strong aspiration—the strength to grow in awareness, perception, consciousness from babes evolving through all the decades of earthly life into mature adulthood. The lesson? For one’s own sake, search for those who see through the darkness to light—seers!

The wisdom of Sydney Smith is confirmed by Emerson: “Nothing is rich but the inexhaustible wealth of nature. She shows us only the surfaces, but is million fathoms deep.” Everything on earth or sea or sky is wondrous—from atoms to galaxies.

Reflect on the atom. It is so small that 30,000,000,000 could be placed on the period at the end of this sentence without overlapping. Blow up an atom to 100 yards in diameter and what does one behold? Radiant energy in the form of electrons in wave sequences flying about at the speed of light. In the center of the atom is the nucleus which, after the atom is expanded, is the size of a pinhead! This and this alone is “stuff” and no one knows what it is, except that it appears to be solid. All else is empty space. As everything in nature, all is mystery!

Were it possible to apply an atomic press to me and squeeze out all the “stuff”—the nuclei—I would be a particle so small that it would not be discernible on a piece of white paper. I am but a mere speck—next to nothing!

Galaxies? There are millions of them, constantly moving away from each other into the void of outer space. All in nature is mystery, including our infinitesimal know-how!

As to our infinitesimal know-how, Smith gave us good counsel: “never desert your own line of talent.” Of all the people who have lived on this earth no two lines of talent have ever been identical, not even remotely.1 Indeed, in each second of our earthly lives 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms leave every human’s body going every which way throughout the universe and a new quintillion replaces them.

As the famous chemist, Donald Hatch Andrews wrote: “And speaking very reverently, we can say that each of us has in his body a thousand atoms that were in the body of Christ . . . the individual atoms are scarcely more than the shadows of a far deeper reality that we find in this total atomic harmony within us, the spirit of our Creator within us.”

Most citizens believe that a societal catastrophe would result if everyone were to act in his or her self-interest—creatively as each pleases. But not one of America’s great economists, William Graham Sumner (1840-1910), who gave us this truth with its poetic conclusion: “. . . making the most of one’s self . . . is not a separate thing from filling one’s place in society, but the two are one, and the latter is accomplished when the former is done.”

A vast majority of people in this and other countries, including many noted scholars, confuse self-interest with selfishness. The definition of selfishness? “. . . having such regard for one’s own interests and advantage that the happiness and welfare of others becomes of less concern than is considered right and just.” Selfish individuals range all the way from thieves to political and private power mongers. All who gain at the expense of others fall in this despicable category!

Here are three fallacious observations by noted scholars.

Man seeks his own good at the whole world’s cost.

—Robert Browning

Whom blood has joined together, self-interest jerks asunder.

—La Fontaine

The worst poison of an honest heart: self-interest.

—Tacitus

Confucius revealed the popular reaction toward those who pursue their self-interest. “He who works for his own interests arouses much animosity.”

John Stuart Mill, gifted with insight and foresight, was among the few to grasp the pursuit of self-interest as an efficacious way of life: “The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.”

The pursuit of self-interest as one’s objective is more likely to be disparaged than applauded. Generally, acting in one’s own interest is associated with greed, avarice, selfishness. This only demonstrates the extent of the confusion.

The truth? Self-interest is the motivator of creative human action. Minding one’s own business amounts to serving oneself by serving others. This is a task of a size to fit the individual—whatever his talents. It can be one of life’s most fascinating and rewarding adventures.

• 1See Science Is a Sacred Cow by Anthony Standen (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1950), pp. 63-64.