‘Realising full expression’ was a major theme in F W Boreham’s writings and it was shaped by his understanding of the Bible and the social climate of Victorian England. Dickens in his novels preached a doctrine of self-improvement and Macaulay in his History of England charts the social, moral and intellectual progress of the nation.
Here is an example of Boreham sounding this theme of becoming in his New Year editorial of 1921:
“Each individual life is a sublime experiment. Each personality on the planet is a novelty; it is absolutely unique; nothing like it has ever appeared before. The highest attainment in life lies in making the best of ourselves .… Australia ... is in the plastic stage of its history .… Many problems have to be solved and much work done. The nation needs the buoyant enthusiasm of her young citizens and the ripe wisdom of those more experienced.[1]
While Boreham was often liberal in his use of superlatives, he underlined the importance of this theme by stating, “The highest attainment in life lies in making the best of ourselves.” In a staccato style and with an ecstatic mood, Boreham presented this major theme pointing to its two related foci—the importance of each individual reaching their potential and the essential need for the nation to become all that it is meant to be.
You are a ‘sublime experiment’. You are a ‘novelty’. Nothing like you has ever appeared before. So let’s make the best of ourselves and help our world to become all that it was created to be.
Geoff Pound
[1] F W Boreham, Mercury, 1 January 1921.
Frank William Boreham 1871-1959
A photo F W Boreham took of himself in 1911
