I always felt called to serve, to empower and ennoble as many

Cornel West, prophet of justice and lover of the human spirit, proclaims: “I always felt called to serve, to empower and ennoble as many people as I could, teaching, truth-telling, exposing lies, bearing witness, and being willing to live and die for something bigger than yourself. I had a passion and love of learning and wisdom that was inseparable from a love of music and the arts.” In this confession burns the ancient fire of vocation, the sense that life is not one’s own possession, but a trust to be poured out for the uplift of others. He binds service, truth-telling, and wisdom with the sacred threads of art, showing that the pursuit of beauty and knowledge is inseparable from the struggle for justice.

The ancients, too, spoke of such calling. Plato described the philosopher as one who leaves the cave of illusion to behold the truth, but who then returns, out of duty, to guide his fellow prisoners toward the light. West stands in this same tradition, refusing to hoard knowledge for himself, but using his voice to empower and ennoble, to unmask falsehood, and to bear witness even at great cost. This is the hero’s path, where one’s own life is willingly placed beneath the weight of a higher cause.

History bears shining testimony in the life of Socrates, who chose death rather than silence. He, too, lived and died for something greater than himself: the pursuit of truth, and the moral awakening of Athens. By exposing lies and calling men to examine themselves, he became a martyr for wisdom. Cornel West’s words echo this ancient defiance: to bear witness against corruption, to refuse compromise with falsehood, and to stand even when the price is one’s own life.

But West also reminds us that learning and wisdom cannot be severed from music and the arts. The ancients called the nine Muses the daughters of memory, for art was never a luxury, but a channel through which truth and beauty entered the world. In the Psalms of David, wisdom sang; in the tragedies of Sophocles, justice was revealed; in the jazz of West’s own heritage, freedom found its rhythm. Thus he teaches that art and knowledge are not rivals, but companions, each deepening the power of the other.

Let the generations remember: a life worth living is a life given for others, a life of service, truth-telling, and witness, where wisdom and art are joined in harmony. To live for something greater than oneself is to enter the company of prophets and poets, of martyrs and musicians, of all who lifted their voices for love, justice, and truth. This is the destiny West embraces, and the path he holds out to all: to serve, to empower, to love, and to stand unflinching before the eternal call of the soul.