Development (March 11)
“Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the State was to make men free to develop their faculties” (Louis Dembitz Brandeis).
FREEDOM IS NOT GIVEN TO US FOR SELFISH INDULGENCE; IT’S MEANT TO BE USED IN REACHING OUR POTENTIAL. This is as much true of our civil freedoms as it is of those that are more personal in nature. Even the laws under which we live are for the purpose of creating conditions in which we can flourish and “develop [our] faculties,” as Brandeis put it. Not many people realize that’s what freedom is for, and many who do realize it don’t take full advantage of it, but freedom is for the purpose of helping us grow. It’s not about doing whatever we want; it’s about becoming all that we’re capable of.
There is a sense in which human lives have to be “unfolded” or “unpacked.” They don’t come already put together, and to say (as the label always says on any product you need to use in a hurry) that “some assembly is required” is a considerable understatement. So “development” is the word we often use to describe what has to happen if a person’s CHARACTER is going to become all that it’s capable of being. It’s as if many things are wrapped up in us that have to be unpacked.
Like many of the most worthwhile things, the development of character takes TIME. It’s not work that can be done in one day. In fact, when we see it properly, we recognize that it’s A LIFETIME PROCESS. No matter how long we live, there’s always some more unpacking to do!
But haven’t we all seen a tendency in our lives to STOP developing at some point? It seems to me that the challenge of avoiding “stagnation” is one of the major challenges that we face. It takes extraordinary commitment and discipline to keep on developing and developing.
Rather serious issues are at stake, however. The choice that confronts us is, as someone has said, “Develop or die.” Our endowments are wonderful. Our resources are abundant. Our potential is so vast that it seems unlimited. But none of these things can be neglected without frightful consequences later on. If there’s a law that’s clearly written on every page of nature’s book, it is this: USE IT OR LOSE IT.
“In every animal . . . a more frequent and continuous use of any organ gradually strengthens, develops and enlarges that organ . . . while the permanent disuse of any organ imperceptibly weakens and deteriorates it, and progressively diminishes its functional capacity, until it finally disappears” (Jean Baptiste Lamarck).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com
