"The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life"

I always like to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr Day by learning something about Dr. King.  For example, one year, my wife and I went to an exhibit on Dr. King at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.  Sometimes, I simply celebrate his life by reading one of his speeches or sermons.  To that end, I recently read a sermon that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr delivered in Philadelphia on December 11, 1960, at least according to the Martin Luther King, Jr Research and Education Institute at Stanford University.  Apparently Dr. King used this particular theme in several sermons and speeches as early as 1954 (for example, he delivered a sermon in Chicago on April 9, 1967 with the same theme and title).  It's called "The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life", and I thought that the themes that Dr. King discussed were important for leaders today.

Dr. King began his sermon with a reference to John of Patmos, a Christian prophet who is believed to have lived in the late first century and is believed to be the author of the Book of Revelation.  John was exiled to the Greek island of Patmos for his beliefs during the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian.  John had a vision (several, actually) of the New Jerusalem descending out of heaven and described as being equal on all sides.  John writes (Revelation Chapter 21), "The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia [that is, about 1,400 miles or 2,200 kilometers) in length, and as wide and high as it is long."  In other words, this new city, the ideal city if you will, was perfectly balanced and complete on all sides.    

Dr King used this analogy to define a complete life as one that is similarly equal in all three dimensions: "Life at its best and life as it should be is three-dimensional; it's complete on all sides...there are three dimensions of any complete life...length, breadth, and height." 

He goes on to define each of these three dimensions, "The length of life, as we shall use it here, is not its longevity, its duration, not how long it lasts, but the push of a life forward to achieve its personal ends and ambitions.  It is the inward concern for one's own welfare.  The breadth of a life is the outward concern for the welfare of others.  The height of a life is the upward reach for God...These three must work together; they must be concatenated in an individual life if that life is to be complete, for the complete life is the three-dimensional life."

The key point here, in my opinion, is that we should strive for balance in all three dimensions of our personal lives.  In most cases, balance in our personal lives should translate to relative balance and harmony in our professional ones too.  Thomas Merton, a writer (perhaps most famous for his book, The Seven Storey Mountain) and theologian, said, "Happiness is not a measure of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm, and harmony."  

The French mathematician Henri Poincaré knew a thing or two about how difficult it was to find balance and harmony, particularly when there were three different things involved.  Poincaré lived between the late 19th century and early 20th century and first worked on the so-called "Three Body Problem", which laid the foundations for chaos theory.  The  "Three Body Problem" is a famous problem in mathematics and physics that involves predicting the motion of three celestial objects (stars, moons, planets) interacting with each other by gravity. Each body influences the others, causing their orbits to change in unpredictable ways.  Compared to a two-body problem, where the motion of objects under gravity is predictable and relatively straightforward to calculate, the three-body problem does not have a general, exact solution.  Poincaré said of balance, "It is the harmony of the diverse parts, their symmetry, their happy balance; in a word it is all that introduces order, all that gives unity, that permits us to see clearly and to comprehend at once both the ensemble and the details."

The first dimension is length, which reflects our inward concern for our own wellbeing.  Before we can love others, we first have to love ourselves.  Dr. King mentioned a book by the Jewish rabbi, Joshua Liebman, that makes this exact point, entitled Peace of Mind.  Liebman writes, "The quest for unwearied inner peace is constant and universal.  Probe deeply into the teachings of Buddha, Maimonides, or a Kempis, and you will discover that they base their diverse doctrines on the foundations of a large spiritual serenity. Analyze the prayers of troubled, overborne mankind of all creeds, in every age—and their petitions come down to the irreducible common denominators of daily bread and inward peace."  

We find that "unwearied inner peace" when we learn to love ourselves.  And we can only learn to love ourselves when we can accept who and what we are in this world.  Dr. King said, "The principle of self-acceptance is a basic principle in life."  After learning to love ourselves and accept who we are, we have to discover for ourselves what we are called to do in this life.  And whatever that is, we must do our best to be as good as we can be.  Abraham Lincoln is often credited with saying, "Whatever you are, be a good one."  Dr. King references a short poem by Douglas Malloch called "Be the Best of Whatever You Are":

If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill,

Be a scrub in the valley — but be

The best little scrub by the side of the rill;

Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,

And some highway happier make;

If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass —

But the liveliest bass in the lake!

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,

There's something for all of us here,

There's big work to do, and there's lesser to do,

And the task you must do is the near.

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,

If you can't be the sun be a star;

It isn't by size that you win or you fail —

Be the best of whatever you are!

The second dimension is breadth, which reflects our outward love for others.  Unfortunately, far too many individuals in this world stop with the length of life.  Dr. King said, "There is nothing more tragic in life to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of the breadth...unless an individual can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic actions to the broader concerns of all humanity, he hasn't even started living."  

Dr. King then talks about the Parable of the Good Samaritan from the Gospel of Luke, which is the story of a traveler (a Jewish man) who is robbed on the 20 mile stretch of road between Jerusalem and Jericho (see my post, "If I do not stop to help this man...").  The robbers left the man to die on the side of the road.  Several individuals (including a priest and a Levite) soon walked by, but no one stopped to help the man.  They just crossed to the other side of the road and kept walking.  Finally, a Samaritan (the Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies apparently) stopped and helped the man, taking him to safety and paying someone to continue to care for him while he recovered from his injuries.  Dr. King suggests that the priest and the Levite probably asked themselves, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?"  The Samaritan asked a different question, "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"  Too many people in our society today ask the former question, when they should be asking the latter one.

While it starts with us, it can't end with us.  Just as we, as individuals, have to lover others, our communities, cities, and nations must do so as well.  Dr. King said something that I don't hear enough these days, "Every nation must be concerned about every other nation.  No nation can live in isolation today.  We live in a world that is geographically one now.  We have the job of making it spiritually one...all life is interrelated.  Somehow, we are tied in a single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, where what affects one directly affects all indirectly."

Dr. King references a famous poem ("No Man Is an Island") by the English poet John Donne: "No man is an island, entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main...Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.  Therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."  Only by discovering how we are all connected can we master the breadth of life.

The third and final dimension is height, which reflects the upward reach towards a higher power.  Our quest for inner peace and our love for others cannot be complete, unless we are grounded in some sort of religious faith or bounded by a set of moral and ethical principles that help guide us through this life.  Remember that Dr. King was delivering a sermon at church (and that he was a Baptist minister), so he emphasizes the importance of the Christian faith and the Christian God.  In my opinion, the height dimension doesn't have to be either the Christian God or any religious faith.  I go back to the Alcoholics Anonymous concept of a "Higher Power" in the Twelve Steps.  The "Higher Power" doesn't have to represent a particular religion or spiritual tradition, nor does it even have to represent a spiritual deity - it could represent non-spiritual things such as the twelve-step program itself.  It simply represents a power greater than ourselves.  All of us, need a perfect ideal to strive for.  

So there you have it.  The measure of each and every one of us is revealed in the three dimensions of length, breadth, and height.  Balance in our personal and professional lives requires us to focus on loving ourselves (length), loving others (breadth), and striving towards the ultimate perfection, our higher power.