What can one man do?
Asking such a question is more often a display of false humility than the precursor to the revelation of tremendous personal influence. When you rise into the place that is only yours to occupy – through humility, calmness and courage – you no longer have faith in the weakness of the individual. Certainly there is strength in numbers, but even the largest groups started at the number 1.
I have always been fascinated by the relatively few human beings whose legacy stood the test of time, whose lives left a burning imprint upon the body of humanity and a permanently echoing reminder in the consciousness of man. The short list is composed of brave men and women who rose above the limited and limiting structures of thought in their times and dedicated their lives to both secular and spiritual purposes, stopping at nothing to deliver the message of their incarnation.
Have you given much thought to your purpose lately? Is it time to make more than the donuts? You are constantly radiating a message into your world, the world we share, into which you came and for which you are responsible. Most of your message is unseen, yet felt by others. You may not have realized just how influential you are, but give it time and take great care with the quality of that which radiates from you and you will come to understand, in season, how important it is that you carry yourself with dignity, honor and grace.
I would like to continue our exploration of William George Jordan’s book, “The Majesty of Calmness” with you this morning, this time excerpting from Chapter 3:
“The only responsibility that a man cannot evade in this life is the one he thinks of least,–his personal influence. Man’s conscious influence, when he is on dress-parade, when he is posing to impress those around him,–is woefully small. But his unconscious influence, the silent, subtle radiation of his personality, the effect of his words and acts, the trifles he never considers,–is tremendous. Every moment of life he is changing to a degree the life of the whole world. Every man has an atmosphere which is affecting every other. So silent and unconsciously is this influence working, that man may forget that it exists.
All the forces of Nature,–heat, light, electricity and gravitation,–are silent and invisible. We never see them; we only know that they exist by seeing the effects they produce. In all Nature the wonders of the “seen” are dwarfed into insignificance when compared with the majesty and glory of the “unseen.” The great sun itself does not supply enough heat and light to sustain animal and vegetable life on the earth. We are dependent for nearly half of our light and heat upon the stars, and the greater part of this supply of life-giving energy comes from invisible stars, millions of miles from the earth. In a thousand ways Nature constantly seeks to lead men to a keener and deeper realization of the power and the wonder of the invisible.”
My hope this morning is that you begin to have a deeper appreciation for the wonder of the invisible, for so much of the human experience – of your experience in fact – is unseen.
What can one person do? I’ll tell you. Much more than he or she could ever imagine, even in his vainest and most imaginative moments. Take note today of the quality of your atmosphere. Ask yourself as frequently as possible: “what can I do tomorrow to improve upon that atmosphere and be more influential in my living?”
More tomorrow…
Gregory Hake 
I appreciate the mention of the daily courage it takes to perservere in these matters.
One of the key elements is recongising failure for what it is, learning from it and moving on. This is a succession pattern, it takes diligence, and can be rather exciting if seen in the proper light!
Thanks Gregg!
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Human beings have nullified themselves by ignoring this capacity. Then we pray to the Omniscient for power and sometimes wonder if we’re heard. I think the answer may be, I already gave it to you.
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I’ll think twice before slipping into the “time to make the donuts” mentality.
Great post, thanks.
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Wonderful, beautiful and so inspiring to me to deeply consider the influence that I have on others and the world.
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The potency of your words is stunning. I think man has chosen not to acknowledge his influence because with that comes a whole other range of responsibility. All of a sudden our thoughts and feelings have to be accounted for. What man has acclaimed as private or mine to shape as I want ” it’s how I am, I can ‘t help it” or “it’s the result of what has happened to me, it’s not my fault”. These excuses, for being less than we were created to be, are easier to espouse when you believe your life has little to no influence.
I can’t help but think if we all took the identity as the architects of our experience, individual and collective we would aspire to comprehensively understand our own power and influence.
Great stuff, Gregg; this is what matters in the world, right now.
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And in continuing this line of thinking, so it is that we as people must be the visible effect of an “unseen silent” cause, “glorious” and “majestic”….and so if what emanates from us in our actions, words, deeds, thoughts, feelings etc. is not compatible, there must be a disconnect somewhere…..a dis-ease of sorts, a disturbance in the transmission and not in the engine. I suppose that’s where the human element comes into play, and if I understand correctly what you are saying, that’s the part that is ‘ours’ to tend to. Our education, our lifestyle, our attitudes all carefully tended to, the type of care a loving parent would give to their child. A parent naturally protects against corrupting influences and in a similar way we have to exert that type of care for ourselves when we come of age.
I am glad there are folks like yourself and Mr. Jordan out and about who believe that these things are the real deal. Have a good day
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I ordered this book – $2.99 on Kindle. Can’t beat that price for these pearls of wisdom! Thanks for the introduction to his work.
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Great series of posts!
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Excellent meditation on the power of the invisible. It is eye opening to look at the effects, wherever they may manifest, and relate it to an invisible cause. It is true, you can’t dress up the effects of the jumbled consciousness. Eventually that house will fold.
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I have actually been thinking about the power of unconscious influence recently. This is the reason that we really can’t afford to have “off” days. Yes, there will be days that we don’t feel the same as we do on our most achievement-oriented ones, but that doesn’t mean that we have to allow ourselves to get in a funk. I have heard many excuses from people about why their personal influence is not the best it could be. But really, if they understood how pervasive their unconscious influence was, they would never let it slip a minute in their life.
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