That Is All There Is to You…

There is a line from Emerson which somewhat summarizes life’s purpose in one short sentence: “Make the most of yourself,” he said, “for that is all there is to you.”¹ Each man is always and forever inseparably himself. Each one of us is always with himself. We are constantly in our own company. We are a combination of mind, of spirit, of physical faculties, which we use, or fail to use, in one way or another. Either we learn—or we don’t know; either we practice—or we don’t improve. Either we commit ourselves to the honest and wholesome opportunities of life—or we slip to something less than we could have become.

We build the record of what we are; we build the very substance of ourselves by the choices and decisions of every hour, of each instant. We can become much more, or we can become much less, but we never get away from ourselves.

Sometimes young people drift along in life, in school, in work, or in not much of anything at all, thinking they don’t need to put out much effort— just getting by, just loafing along, doing as little as possible. While this may be disappointing to others, ultimately it is damaging principally to one person—to him who doesn’t learn and work and produce and prepare himself. As Emerson said it ultimately and actually: “It is impossible for man to be cheated by anyone but himself.”²

Who would be so shortsighted as to be indifferent to the opportunity to learn—so shortsighted as to take the low road, to choose to break the law—so shortsighted as to produce, or promote, or partake of things that would lower the morals, or injure the body or mind or spirit of any man.

Life is forever, and the pursuit must forever be for excellence: learning developing, making ourselves more serviceable, living so as to have a clear, quiet conscience, in cleanliness, in honor, in health, in happiness—becoming the best we can become, with reverence and respect.

“Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is to you.”¹ To do less would be foolishly, stupidly shortsighted.