342 becoming more human by becoming more godlike•••
Th e change of life that we should seek, in the light of the earlier argu-
ments of this book, is to live in such a way that we die only once. It is
also to increase our share in some of the attributes that we ascribe to
the divine while renouncing any eff ort to share in certain other attri-
butes. Th e widening of our part in the marks of divinity must begin in
the recognition of the incalculable distance to be traversed in the course
of its pursuit. If the vocation of man is to be godlike, man as he has
been is, as Emerson wrote, a God in ruins. To the never healing wounds
of mortality, groundlessness, and insatiability, the indiff erence of na-
ture, the cruelty of society, and the corruption of the will add the bur-
dens of belittlement— both imposed and self- infl icted.
We squander the good of life by surrendering to a diminished way of
being in the world. We settle for routine and compromise. We stagger,
half- conscious, through the world. Anxious for the future, we lose life
in the only time that we have, the present. Th is squandering is a dying
many times. Our interest is to stop this dying, so that we can live until
we die all at once.
To grasp what is at stake in the enhancement of life, we must recog-
nize the marks of vitality: surfeit, fecundity, and spontaneity, and thus
as well the ability to give surprise and to be surprised.
Surfeit is excess over structure: the overcoming of the limits that an
established order places on insight, experience, and vision. Th e order
may be the institutional arrangements of society, embedded in a view
of the possible and desirable forms of human association. It may also be
the rigidifi ed version of the self in one’s own character. Surfeit is ex-
pressed in works and deeds that are not countenanced by the settled
orders of society or of character.
Fecundity is the vigor, variety, and range of what we do and make
in the possession of life. Its outward sign is a ceaseless exuberance, an
energy that ends only in death.
Spontaneity is the weakening of the infl uence of the past on the fu-
ture: the attenuation of path dependence in our experience. It is con-
fi rmed by the ability to surprise ourselves as well as others.
Viewed from another, complementary angle, the purpose of our self-
transformation is to increase our share in some of the attributes that we