The Kingdom of Selfhood

EVERY man was born to be a king. If he is not a king he is a knave.  We came into this world—naked? Yes, save for the robes of royalty, God crowned us before we left eternity.

No man has come to a proper estimate of himself until he has recognized himself as belonging to the royalty. The angel of providence has met everyone of us at the threshold of life and placed on our heads the crown of personality. We ought to prize that crown above all earthly jewels. It is that which sets us off from everything else and everybody else in the world. It gives us our individuality. It is our crown—it belongs to us. It is different from everybody else’s crown—different from our father’s, our mother’s crown, our brother’s crown, our sister’s crown. It is a token of God’s love of variety. It tells us that he never desired any two persons to be alike. He gave us each a different kingdom.

An important business of any man who recognizes himself as a king is kingdom exploration. A king must be a discoverer. He must make extended expeditions over his kingdom to ascertain its resources. Great wealth may lie hidden in the remotest recesses of his kingdom. Rivers and lakes may bear in their silvery bosoms teeming millions of fish. Mighty forests, limitless in extent and value, may crown the mountains of his domain as golden hair crowns the head of his little girl. Vast mines of silver and gold may conceal their glittering presence beneath the rugged exterior of the surface of his lands. Gas and oil exhaustless in amount, may be surging to issue forth a stream of wealth.

But all these natural resources of the kingdom lie useless and the purpose for which God gave them is foiled unless they are discovered. The fish must be caught and put on the market; the forest must be cut and made into lumber; the gold and silver must be mined, and the oil and gas must be brought to the surface. All these resources must be discovered and utilized if they are to bring forth power and wealth to the kingdom.

Happy the man who has learned to explore the regions of his own soul and who has come to have a familiar knowledge of his powers. Let us learn the art of introspection. Let us close our eyes and go on a subjective sight-seeing trip. Let us journey over the continent of our own souls.