Veneers of the Soul

“All goes well as long as you run with conformists. But you, who are honest men in other particulars, know that there is alive somewhere a man whose honesty reaches to this point also, that he shall not kneel to false gods, and, on the day when you meet him, you sink into a class of counterfeits.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

We have all met that man, the one who seems to possess enough inherent goodness to supply three or four ordinary men, who seems to leave a better world just by passing through. It is possible this comes from a conducive environment—flowers do flourish better in gardens than in deserts—but there is more.

Every enterprise has a substitute, and it is easy to hide the fires of selfish motive under smoke screens of charity. There is only one available action when someone is thirsty, but two—maybe more—positions of heart to give it to him. It is this way with every virtue, every inviolate concept.

“Success is a veneer that covers the emptiness of the soul.” I remember seeing this quote in a news magazine over the time of the #metoo movement. I don’t know much about this movement—I’m sure it had a truth and also some sensationalizing thereof—but we glean enough to know it is not all chivalry and lattes at business meetings. In fact, these high-rises and marble floors may be the place of some the most heart-wrenching and sordid tales. Humankind is humankind, and in unregenerate hearts, problems arise, and this heart can be covered with a three-piece business suit or a stained T-shirt. Wealth can give the illusions of molehills where there are mountains.

It is about appearance and not substance.

The origin of a perfect man comes from somewhere deep. It is a man of exceptional balance who can give willingly, receive humbly, provide responsibly, and rest healthily. It is a man of exceptional perspicacity who can listen completely, criticize constructively, reprove confidently, and advise hopefully. It is a man of true authority and leadership who leads to decisions and makes the right choice obvious, but he also knows when to command. It is a man of humility who knows when to abdicate his position and does not allow his expectations to impede development. One who hopes for the best and prepares for the worst and takes either in stride. Faithful and not stubborn, a visionary and not a dreamer. It is a man who knows his lions and beards them in their dens. A man who knows there is nothing like being flawless, only above reproach.

Anyone, on the other hand, can give only enough, stay too proud to accept help, provide too much money and not enough time, and vacation often. It is an average man who listens through a filter of preconceptions, advises to do whatever is easy, criticizes everything he cannot or will not change. It is this man who gets through life but never thrives. It is a man of loud voice and few words, little praise and much gossip. A man with a snarky humor about everyone’s enterprise but his own. A man in leadership that places expectations on his people, with less emphasis on development than on micro-managing his people to uphold expectations. A well-fed man, rather happy, and always right, but only half full. It is this man who is powerless against the current of the world, for he is a slave of popular opinion.

These two have the same face, but one is dying. One is a healthy oak whose covering is produced from the inside out, the other a blighted beech with a cavernous inside. All looks well, until it the Great Hand knocks upon it and the beech’s bark is revealed as a veneer that covers the emptiness of the soul.

Everybody loves the man of the outside, though. But they only love him because there is nothing about him to hate. It is a question of essence, then, that defines the man.

Would it not be better to have an irascible fellow with a pure heart, than a swindler that never fails? Would it not be better to voice strong opinions and be proved wrong, than to be live out our days in rote misdirection? Would it not be better to be beheaded like John the Baptist, than to live a life of ease with blood upon our hands?

It is this travesty of a man that has the exquisite qualities of a model ship in a bottle, and he is worth a lot, as far as mantelpieces go. We have, on the other hand, a ship beaten by the wind and driven by breezes, hardly seaworthy, but still seining the sea. Beaten, scarred, and listing to starboard, it is out upon the sea and will likely go down in a storm, but it will never perish before it has made its last haul.

We can create an environment conducive to disciplined men—alarm clocks, pitchforks, and several miles of open road on shank’s mare. Elements of discipline, that is. But discipline for discipline’s sake is only that, while substance of heart and an eye for the end is a marriage that fathers an offspring of virtue and discipline. This is perfection. Physical prowess has little to do with the attributes of a man. I have met twelve-year-old men of wisdom, crippled men of courage, and overweight men of endurance. I have met old men who were but babes, but men enough to fight. I have met taciturn men who speak volumes in their silence. It is a question of spirit, the breath of God.

Have you wondered how people with interest in a certain line seem to stumble onto things in their interest, things you would never have noticed? A wheeler-dealer finds wonderful deals you miss, an editor saw what was wrong with this sentence, a roofer sees every roof in need of repair?

With men who take an interest in responsibility, there is a goodness—not of our own—that can extend into the depth of the soul, the very essence of our person, until our world is viewed through the eyes of something so completely outside ourselves that it alters our worldview. It leads us from opportunity to opportunity that we would have missed, lends the impetus for healthy decision, and is the catalyst that activates all the potential. The vista of forever is in your near vision.

The definition of a man is not decided by a panel, but it is up to you whether your motive is a veneer of the soul or a product of clean desire. We can be philanthropists, excellent orators, and popular characters, but in the class of counterfeits. We can also be men who give an hour, halt in our words, and by the grace of God, continue to be men.