What Shall a Man Give in Exchange for His Soul?

"WHAT SHALL A MAN GIVE IN EXCHANGE FOR HIS SOUL?" By A. C. Lambert The ultimate fact of my existence i9 that I do exist; I am alive. Descartes, the philosopher, attempted to discover the reality of life by a process of elimination. After deciding that all was possibly unreal that could be doubted, he came finally to this point, "I cannot doubt that I doubt; therefore, I am." On this ultimate fact of existence one may take a bearing that will help to determine the meaning of life and of the struggle to preserve life. The fact of my own existence and of the innate desirability of living, is the fact which I can not escape as I seek to know the value of my soul. If self and self- existence is not, I am not, and for me nothing is. Now Jesus taught the reality and the validity of the individual self or person, and the aim of the religious life, as he gave it, is to conserve the individual soul and its highest values. Truly, the worth of souls is great in his sight. "There were ninety and nine that safely lay in the shelter of the fold," but it was for the one, even the weakest one of them all, for which the Shepherd was most anxious. Religion affirms the soul, the thinking self. Science does not disprove it. For how can science disprove that by which it makes its proof? By reason of the self alone does science come into existence. Without the basic knowing, appreciating, free-acting self there is no meaning in existence. The teachings of Jesus center in the ultimate reality and value of the individual soul. How may one measure the value of his soul? And how shall he make sure that he shall preserve his soul and not lose it? The ultimate source of values is this fact of life, and the final measure of living is the achievement of values. One is the measure of the other. No values exist apart from life, and only life makes values. The final ground of values is within the self. Now the desire for life may have come from God, but that does not by the least measure lessen the importance of the desire for life as the final measure of truth and value. Values are cast finally in terms of what human life fundamentally demands. If one prefers to relate the standard to the will of God, the statement then is that the ultimate justification of values is an analysis of what God has found to be fundamentally demanded by human life for its completion and happi- ness. The one primary reason that we find for living is the fact that we find life desirable, or that it is a necessary condition to a future life which is in turn desirable. "Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life,"

WHAT SHALL A MAN GIVE? 731 even though spoken by the adversary states a truth. Do you say that there are some things dearer and more precious than life? What is it that makes them more precious? If it is, then, that you sacrifice life itself, it is ultimately that the sacrifice is to bring you fuller life here- after, or it is that others may continue in life, or experience a fuller life. The measuring stick finally is life. What then can be the real meaning of my living and what can be the real means by which I can preserve this most precious thing called life and its fulness? The conditions are made manifest by the very conditions of actual present living. I find myself in a world in which the existence of other persons is one of my most important facts. Next to the fact of my own existence I can not escape this other fact. Other persons do exist, and what is of more importance, / must live with them. I live fully only because of them. I find most of my own life in the responses that I make to the infinite aspects of the lives of others. As a con- sequence the measure of the fulness of my own life is the total fulness of the lives of all other persons with whom I come in contact. I need the fulness of other lives in order to have fulness for my own life. Jesus gave the key to fulness of life and the salvation of the individual soul in fourteen recorded words, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Jesus revealed the nature of God when he said, "I am come that ye might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly." Jesus revealed the means to this fulness by his life. Jesus taught that the true soul, the true self, the full life of the individual is preserved and realized only in so far as the individual recognizes that he is dependent for fulness of his own life upon the full life of his brother, and shapes his conduct accordingly. Only as my brother's life increases in fulness is there provided a means for the attainment of fulness of my own life. My ultimate interest, therefore, lies in the preservation and enrichment of my brother's life just as truly as it does in the attempted preservation of my own life, knowing as we do that life always means more than mere physical organic activity. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self," is a statement not only profound but prophetic in its meaning. How is this related to the basic human want of preserving the life of the soul? The relation and the meaning are found in the fact of the ultimate social nature of human living. It has an application in the satisfying of all our wants. It would seem that in our anxiety to preserve life, to save our "souls," we are pitifully shortsighted, or we are ridiculously ostrich-like in refusing to see the means of soul- preservation within our present grasp. Perhaps it is that we childishly forget that to achieve life's greatest values, we must often deny ourselves its gaudiest.

732 IMPROVEMENT ERA Our daily activity would indicate that we hope to find our treasure by following the rainbows of living. The present is ever so near and so obvious, the material is so tangible to sense, that we fear to forsake the immediate "here" and "now" because of the great fear that in so doing we shall not find other things in their stead. The flesh urges. Its gratifications are immediate. We eat unto death; we drink unto damnation. We are clothed in exceeding great glory; our vanity is like unto a high mountain. We fight like brutes for material wealth. We seek to accumulate, not with the intent of using our superior talent and power and wealth to make more richness, more fulness, more feeling, more beauty, more sympathy in life for others less capable or fortunate than we, but it is too often true that we seek to excell that self shall be preserved. And what a self — palate, stomach, eye, ear, skin, greed, sex! "Self-preservation is the first law," is the offered defense. I grant you this freely if you will but let me define self. " 'Tis a short, short life we live here." How much greater then the need for living to the possibilities of the soul. Do you hunger and thirst for life? It is yours in abundance if you will but take it. Like the woman afflicted, you may receive virtue from life if you will but stretch forth your hand and touch — what? The life of your neighbor. "He will not receive me; he misunderstands my advances." What an indictment of a civilization that it should breed such a consuming suspicion. Where can a change be made? Like charity, the work can begin only at my own fireside, at my own desk. It is my job, it is your job. No one may exercise the high privilege of leading his brother who has not himself first seen the vision. The preservation of life is the basic want. It is the ultimate value. But the true and full life can only be created and preserved as it becomes a life for the good of all. He that would use his talent only for himself hides it in the deep earth and fears that he shall lose it. Life mocks him; ultimately he does lose it. He fails to live life that he could have lived had he put his talent to work, for hisj brother as well as for himself. As his brother's life would have been made fuller, so also would his own life have increased. It is the ultimate law of life. My own existence is my most important fact. The social nature of my existence is a fact of equal importance. The life of my soul is my greatest treasure. How, in these constant contacts with other souls, shall I be able to preserve my own soul? What will I not give to preserve my life? What do I possess that I can give in exchange for the preservation of my soul? I think I find from the life of Jesus an answer. The worth of your soul is great. The measure of your soul is richness and nobility of personality. Now, value for value is the measure of justice, and

WHAT SHALL A MAN GIVE? 733 therefore, great must be the value of that which you must give for your soul. It is much that you require; it is much that you must give. The only place of exchange in which you will find this great worth is in life itself, in living — living deeply and fully, forgetting self, in social relationships. Would you try to save that with which you begin — the gift of life — and not use it for others for fear of losing it, then will you surely lose. If you would save it, you must use it. Value for value; soul for soul. If you would save your soul you must give it. If you would find your life, you must lose it — in service. "For he that seeketh to save his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life shall find it." That which a man shall give in exchange for his soul is nothing less than his soul. Only life is the adequate measure of life. Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Author of Light Wonderful One! Wonderful One! My Pilot on life's stormy sea! Storm clouds linger nigh, While the billows toss high; And I cling to the wheel, As I pleadingly kneel. 0 thou Bethlehem Star, Send thy rays from afar To give light on my course O'er the sea to my homeland. Wonderful One! Wonderful One! 1 sail through a dark, stormy night. While night birds are crying, Evil hearts are conspiring; Temptation's great power Beset me each hour. O thou Bethlehem Star, Send thy rays from afar To give light on my course O'er the sea to my homeland. Wonderful One! Wonderful One! Guide me home o'er the sea. Help me reach the blest shore Where I'll wander no more; Free from sorrow and fear, Meet my loved ones so dear. O thou Bethlehem Star, Send thy rays from afar To give light on my course O'er the sea to my homeland. Meadow, Utah. A. J. T. SORENSEN.