To thine own self be true - but which self should you be true to? The self that spends a huge amount of time and sweat getting nowhere? The self that engages in destructive patterns of behavior? The self that follows the crowd (all of us, saints and lunatics only excepted, spend much or most of our time conforming to the dictates of others)? Our automatic self? The self that achieves nothing out of the ordinary? The self that could just as well not be a self at all?
No. The self to which we must be true is our distinctive and productive self, our unique self, our imaginative, positive, and creative self, the 20 percent or less of ourselves that contributes more than 80 percent of our impact and happiness.
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.
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1 Comment
"To thine own self be true" always feels ironic to me because that quote comes from Polonius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Few characters in the play are less true to themselves than Polonius.
Of course, the quote is still incredibly motivational. It reminds me of Gerard Manley Hopkins who said, "WHAT I do is me: for that I came."
Cool layout on this post, by the way.