Dimensions of Danify
A disturbing question of our time is: How can the individual develop a secure sense of self in an age when ambiguity and dilemma threaten to encompass everything? The pervasiveness of ambiguity is no illusion. We see it in the elusiveness of moral landmarks, the discrediting of established orthodoxies, the diminished satisfactions we derive from our efforts to contribute, the sensory overload and the many contradictory sensations we continually receive, and in our increased vulnerability to accident, malfunction, or sheer ill-will. Our desire is to function effectively and humanely under such circumstances; our need is to maintain and strengthen our sense of personal worth. In searching for a path to dignity, we might recall that there have been times in the past whencivilized and able men and women were confronted with equally trying challenges to their sobriety and to their perception of the nature, range, and promise of human life. Philosophers such as Marcus Aurelius (121-180), Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), Johann Fichte (1762-1814), John Stewart Mill (1806-1873), Rudolf Euchen (18461926). Thomas Mann (1875-1905). Albert Camus (1'913-1960).A d many others had much to say about the dignity and sanctity ot' human life. Perhaps they will forgive us if we condense and oversimplify some of their elegwt and intrirate propositions to four fundamenral ideas that might he desciibed as dimensions of dignity. T o wit I ) ~ c c e p ~ a n c tas o vi~alcomponent uf renliry+$n perzonnliwd spiritual life t h a t ir at once a par1 of and cmpletely remwed
from social intercourse and ordinary activity. 2) Healthy attitudes toward the sources of conflict and the inevitability of trauma. 3) Abiding confidence in the competency to contribute and in the
ability to survive adversity. 4) Willingness togracefully accept thegood and the bad that will come.
T o appreciate the reality and usefulness of the spiritual phase of life may be the most important commitment any human can make. This phase serves not only as the center for assessing and expressing moral and ethical conduct; it provides a means of retiring into oneself for reflection and renewal. In the safety and isolation of this retirement, the individual can exist in complete freedom, and, with perfect candor, examine the sources of his (or her) discontent, order his priorities, reorder his mind, purge his tming of unnemwuy encumhrmces, and find the will to return refreshed to the matters from which he has retreated. The vital feature of the spiritual phase is the principles by which conflicts are resolved, decisions made, and action taken. As a group, these principles are unique to the individual, few in number, simple and unambiguous in meaning, and fundamental in nature. They must be recognized and accepted by the individual as the soul-sustaining precepts they are. Although experience will lead to greater sophistication in the application of these principles, rarely can any such principle he abandoned with psychic impunity. In essence, the central principles of the spirit, like the components of the nucleus of the living cell, are responsive to hut largely unmoved by the
external world. These principles are our spiritual genes; they make us ourselves. Cultivatine healthv attitudes toward the sources of conflict and the inevzability "of trauma is a lesson not well-learned by most. Listen to Marcus Aurelius speaking to us over nearly two millenia of human struggle: For with what art thou discontented? With the badness of men?
Recall to thy mind this eanclusian,that rational animals exist for one another, that to endure is a part of justice, that men do wrong involuntarily; and consider how many already,after mutual emnity, suspicion, hatred and fighting have been stretched dead, reduced to ashes. And be quiet at last. Modern day idioms that address this point remind us that we constantlv are being tested, that we need a measure of serenity to help us accep? what we cannot change, or that this too shall pass. The reality has not changed since long before Aurelius was emperor of Rome. Man's inhumanity to man, the lust for fame and fortune, the fickle finger of fate, human failure in a thousand forms and a million diseuises. and natural disasters having monstrous consequen'ces remain the Nemeses of humwity. The individual a n adopt attitudes that enat~lehim to rise above them, or he can permit them to sap his strenuth. for his thinkine. or diminish his will. perhaps the &st duty o r t h e citizen, and surely a prime element in the inteeritv .. . of the individual. is to develop in himself spheres of rompetency that not only are sanctioned and needed by societv but that also hrine r~ersonaleratit'ication. In developing these competencies,~l;eindivi&al must come to grips with strendhs and weaknesses in ability and characte;, and he must learn to i d l y appreciate his assets and liabilities. In the present socirty, formal educatkm is the primary medium by which the indihdual learns to develop his competencies and appreciate his potential. Although knowledge and practice in the science of education are a t present insufficient to identify and quantify the range and d e ~ t of h individual abilities. it is vitallv imnortant that the individual emerge from thk educational system with an abidine confidence in his comDetencv to contribute and in his ability& survive adversity in'the pu;suit of his normal duties and remonsibilities. The ancient admonition, "Try ro he satisfied," has as much meaning now as ever. The vhiloso~herhas said. "The universe is transformation; life is opinion. Take away thy opinion, 'I have been harmed.'and the harm is takenawas."Nature has made us such that bur reach will forever exceed-our gasp, and our hopes too often will be thwarted by our impulses. As if to compensate, she has given us resilience to recover from our follies and her rebuffs, imagination to turn perversity to profit, and reason to enable us to perceive justice and pursue harmony. There is much to encourage us to harmonize our will and desires with a disposition that can accept what happens as part of the ebb and flow of a greater life force of which we are but a constituent. We would be foolish not to view the future with anxiety, but we would be even more foolish to underestimate our own potential to accommodate and contribute to it. WTL
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Volume 54, Number 2,February 1977 / 67
