The Effects of a Dedicated Life
Anthony J. Buettner
Einstein had “The Theory of Relativity.” Martin Luther King had “...a dream...” Leonardo Da Vinci had everything.
Realization of a desire or dream, through dedication, can produce a life of wonder and excitement. Whether honorable, foul, deliberate, or unintentional, a life of dedication has the potential to change lives and sometimes the most honorable intentions can have the most surprising result.
Perhaps one of the most well known of hideous intentions are those of Adolf Hitler and his desire to expedite evolution by eliminating “inferior” beings and propagate a superior race. His dedication affected millions of lives and believe it or not his beliefs grew out of the honorable intentions of dedicated, albeit, unsuspecting naturalists of the eighteenth century.
Because of a need to prove that God created all living things with care and order and that natures apparent lack of discipline was only superficial, a Swedish naturalist called Carl von Linne dedicated himself to the task of cataloguing animals and plants by using a binomial system of classification: Class; Genus; and Species. This dedication resulted in the publication Philosophia Botanica which led to, among other things, the cleric William Paley’s contribution to the theory of evolution, Natural Theology. The literary linchpin of the social thinking at the time. These publications showed nature as orderly despite its apparent chaos and, by Gods design, cleverly constructed. Towards the end of the eighteenth century the demands of the newly industrialized world on society and a desire to return to pre-urban life, instigated an opposing or modified view of the natural world as Paley, and most of society, saw it.. This need culminated in the forty volume (talk about dedication) publication called Natural History by George Lewis, Comte de Buffon keeper of the Jardin du Roi in Paris, and remained the common rule of thought until the discovery of fossils embedded in the strata of rock exposed by the necessity of mining during the Industrial Revolution. This discovery lead to the first real threat on Creationism... the publication of a book by the dedicated Charles Lyell called Principles of Geology and on to the eventual development of Darwinism. Charles Darwin, a medical school failure, read Lyell’s three-volume work and was profoundly affected by it. Darwins dedicated life and views led to the publication On the Origin of Species. His views gave scientific backing to the beliefs of anti- Catholics like the American, William Draper and respectability for racial theorists like Joseph Arthur - Comte de Gobineau, whose Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races, helped spawn the first vestiges of racism in Europe. Two hundred years of unsuspecting dedication by relatively few dedicated people, the need for a country to find its identity and the thoughts of a dedicated German scholar called Ernst Haeckel in the mid-19th century born the terror of Nazism and its effect on so many human lives.
Every historic act that has ever affected our lives and the lives of our ancestors was the result of two very human emotions: Dedication and Desire.Sister Teresa; Henry Ford; Jesus Christ; George Washington; Malcom X; Genghis Khan. They all possessed these two dramatic emotions and exercised them passionately. Having a dream, dedication or focus in life has the ability to effect lives, including your own. The desire to make a difference and the dedication to take action is all that is required.
An important personal effect of being dedicated is a chance at immortality. Assuming you believe in such a thing, immortality can be accomplished in different ways. There is religious immortality such as the Christian belief in life after death, raising from the dead to live among the heavens. Hindus believe in Reincarnation, the ability to return to this world as another being. Some believe that passing along their genes by producing off-spring, will assure them of immortality while others may believe that fame or infamy will grant them the immortality they so desire because the memory of their life’s accomplishments may carry on through the ages. For instance, I am related to the famous Spanish Court painter, Diego Velasques. In my mind he is immortal not only because I possess some of his blood but also because the memory of his life’s accomplishments live on throughout the world affecting many lives with inspiration and wonder born from his dedication to the arts. Immortality may be a consequence of dedication and if you accept the forms of immortality described above then you will agree that whether dedicated to raising a child or to finding a cure for a deadly virus, some where along the way you will affect a life. Success or failure in your ultimate endeavor is not the point. The fact that you dedicate to anything will create a life full of purpose and reason, an incentive to get up in the morning. Everything accomplished on the way towards your destination will be a source of change.
I believe that many great people throughout history that have affected our lives had no intention of doing so. Did Diego Velasques know that he would be considered one of the great masters, his works being used by scholars and educators, to this day, as examples of optical realism?
This paradox in life may be considered destiny or predestination, the belief that we have no real control over our lives and that everything that happens to you or others is part of a preconceived plan of a greater being. I know that throughout my life there have been many times when I have justified occurrence’s in my life as happening for a reason, a reason unknown to me. If this is the case then why dedicate yourself to anything? My belief is that we do have the power to change our own destination. Perhaps some things have been predetermined but I feel that in nature, progression of life out of balance, will always find a way of correcting itself. Real change comes from a need to change and dedication is the tool to meet that end.
There is no doubt that Valasques was an artistic genius with a gift needed at that time to record history. Had he not dedicated himself to this gift we would have lost that record and every effect it has had on society since then. When the human race is faced with the possibility of extinction from the HIV virus or any other threat, I believe that we will find a way to defeat it. The development of the printing press by Johannes Gutenburg and others in the 15th century and its effect on present day society, is the result of a need to control mass populations through religious text. His dedication, and the dedication of those who influenced him, helped to satisfy that need. Imagine the word now had all those things not occurred. Was that destiny?
Many times throughout history dedication has lead to power and power has led to wonderful discoveries as well as mass destruction. All of history has been shaped by the whole of preceding dedicated spirits. We all posses the power to change our lives and the lives of those around us for the better or for the worst, we simply need the desire to do so. When my time comes to leave this world, I would like the peace in knowing that I have made a difference, no matter how small, in the quality of someone’s life. And I believe dedication and desire is a way to meet this end. For all I know the dedication I have towards my children could lead to the first woman on Mars or the last woman on Earth but I have a reason to wakeup every morning and dedication gives me that purpose.
Destiny is the birth-child of dedication.