430 becoming more human by becoming more godlikeby giving practical effi cacy to the demo cratic ideal of choosing, in the
light of experience, the terms of social or ga ni za tion rather than having
them imposed by the infl uence of powerful interests or the rule of the
dead over the living.
To understand the transformative vocation as the sole road to the
large endeavors that help bring us to life is too narrow and restrictive a
view of our access to this benefi t. A craft , developed and practiced with
no thought to the transformation of the world but also little care for the
approbation of society, seized on as a world unto itself with demands
almost unlimited and seemingly disproportional to their tangible out-
come, may produce a similar eff ect in the experience of the self and in
its relation to the good of life. It hardly matters, in this regard, whether
the domain of the craft is physical or conceptual. What matters is its
relative intimacy to the self and its relative recalcitrance to the dictates
of society.
It may be objected that an insistence on the cultivation of the largest
projects to which we can devote ourselves, as expressions of our most
passionate concerns rather than as subjection to a power external to
ourselves, is an aim that no one need defend. It is what a human being
will naturally do, within the limits traced by his circumstance, his gift s,
and his beliefs. Th e truth, however, is that even those on whom fortune
has most smiled oft en choose, out of fear for themselves and disrespect
for life, undertakings that are too small. Th ey prefer to shine and pros-
per in a smaller world than to struggle and risk failing in a bigger one.
In this fashion, they settle for a lesser version of the greatest good, and
go to their deaths having denied themselves a better chance to become
more godlike and human.
A sixth mark of a life graced with the power to break out of the mummy
is that it show an ac cep tance of a heightened vulnerability for the
sake of dying only once. Two issues arise. The first is the nature of
the greater vulnerability that we need to accept (vulnerability to what?)
as well as the basis and signifi cance of its relation to the goal of coming
into the possession of a fuller life. Th e second is the part that is properly
played by the will in the campaign against mummifi cation and in the
ac cep tance of enhanced vulnerability as a condition of its pursuit.
Th e two large families of experiences serving this purpose are love
and work: especially love among equals, freely given and freely rebuff ed,