“He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.” – Ben Franklin
Some say that “compose yourself” means to calm down. That is not what Franklin is saying here.
He is not saying calming yourself down is better than calming down a book. No, he is talking about getting yourself together, sorting yourself out, putting the parts of yourself in proper order, developing and (to the degree possible) perfecting your contents – the parts of you; and, editing out nonsense and removing content that does not serve your life’s purpose. I think by compose he means actively developing oneself.
We admire those who can and do compose a good book. It is a task that requires discipline, having something worthwhile to say, and packing that knowledge into a form that can provide value to others – enriching lives and minds.
Franklin was a printer back in the day when you literally made books by hand, at great expense and labor. He would use individual metal pieces of “type,” setting each single letter in order within a rack to make a sentence. Each sentence, paragraph, chapter, front end and back-end components of the book were laid out in this fashion. Then the ink was rolled onto the metal type sets and pressed on to a sheet of paper. Attention to detail was paramount – mistakes were costly.
I attended a high-school in 1980 (one of five across three states that I experienced) that still had a printing class where we learned how to do exactly this kind of work; I had just turned 14, close in age to Franklin when he was apprenticing in his brothers printing business. So, I have some first hand appreciation for the painstaking work that Franklin engaged in, and can imagine how it amplified his appreciation for a well written and properly composed book. Who would want to do all that work to make a book that was poorly written, or filled with uncorrected mistakes or nonsense?! So, his use of a book as a metaphor for self development is quite deep and meaningful!
Let’s take Ben Franklin’s advice to heart and compose ourselves! He composed books, literally making them by hand as a professional printer. He also composed himself, literally making himself into a person of value through the conscious and diligent development of his gifts. He is encouraging us to do the same – focus on ourselves, develop ourselves so we can provide value (in his case tremendous value) to other people throughout our lives.
Composing ourselves, just as a writer and a printer would compose a book, requires discipline and hard work and careful focus. Take pains! Suffer! Focus! This is the meaning of “painstaking” – it’s not going to be easy, you can’t rush it, you must work diligently and you must invest your time and attention consistently over a long period to create something worth giving to the world.
You can do it – start composing yourself today – right now (in the vernacular – get your #&^% together!) – “write” now!
Use the 365 Commitment to write a good sentence out – that sentence is you properly composing and conducting yourself today! A week of such focus will yield a paragraph – and soon you are on your way to composing a chapter that represents this year and eventually a “book” that is your life – one worthy of sharing with others and one that you are not ashamed to submit to God at the end of the race.
Compose yourself! Wise up!
“He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.”
Ben Wagner (246)
Member The365Commitment
PS: One more thing – calming yourself down is a good idea too – I’m sure double meanings were not lost on Ben Franklin. Cheers!
