Article April 13, 1946 Issue

"To thine own self be true"

MARK NATHANS

To his son, impatient to be off on his voyage, the farewell peroration of Polonius must have seemed unduly long-winded. Yet we hope that as the young man strode hastily from his father's presence he let his parent's words sink deep into his heart, especially that last bit of advice, "This above all: to thine own self be true."

Mortal mind might pervert this advice as an injunction to "look after number one," or an invitation to consider one's own human needs before the interests of others. Such an attitude is based on mortal mind's inability to comprehend the true nature of man as the image and likeness of God, and results in such false conclusions as the belief that an individual's future is in his own hands.

How often do we hear the expression in regard to one who has made good in the world that he is a self-made man! And because mortal man's concept of himself and the universe around him is limited and restricted, he often thinks that his well-being has to be attained at another's expense; that there is not enough good to go around for everybody, and that, therefore, he has to get in first, even, if it means elbowing somebody else out of the way. Once we accept these arguments of mortal mind, we are not far from accepting sharp practice and dishonesty as legitimate means towards our ends.

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