For him, the moral task is that each person should represent mankind in a particular manner. Certainly, each individual is a synthesis of the forces that constitute the universe. Yet out of this material that is common to all, each one creates an entirely unique configuration. It is the realization of this incomparability, the filling of a space held in reserve for him alone, that is the moral duty of the individual. Each person is called to realize his own, his very own prototype.

XREF: Echoes existentialist and stoic ideals of self-cultivation; connects to the classical concept of daimon or calling.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 539