The Dignity of Man

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463 – 1494) on free will and our divine destiny, if we work for it:
 
http://bactra.org/Mirandola/

Only 24 when he wrote this and died just five or six years later; a spiritual genius he was.

“But what is the purpose of all this? That we may understand—since we have been born into this condition of being what we choose to be—that we ought to be sure above else that it may never be said against us that, born to a high position, we failed to appreciate it, but fell instead to the estate of brutes and uncomprehending beasts of burden; and that the saying of Asaph the Prophet, “You are all Gods and sons of the Most High,” might rather be true; and finally that we may not, through abuse of the generosity of a most indulgent Father, pervert the free option which He has given us from a saving to a damning gift. Let a certain saving ambition invade our souls so that, impatient of mediocrity, we pant after the highest things and (since, if we will, we can) bend all our efforts to their attainment.”

Excerpt From: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Oration on the Dignity of Man.