Greatness of Humanity

Australia
November 4, 2007 2:46am CST
Lately I've been thinking about 'greatness,' in terms of humanity. How does one recognise 'greatness' in man? (or woman, whatever. I'm not being gender predjudice here.) Do you believe it is a persons integrity, freedom, honour, perhaps their ability to be honest? Do these attributes in a person really matter when considering greatness in the world? Is greatness something which can only be defined by our children or the people who outlive us? Such as in the quote, "an individuals greatness cannot be judged objectively by his or her contemporaries; the most objective evaluators are those who belong to a later time." True enough that many people considered 'great' were nto appreciated in their lifetime but were considered 'great' because of their inventions or artworks or because of the music they left behind. Perhaps what we leave behind symbolises our greatness. The human race is an amazing and incredible thing after all, when one considers the numerous inventions and artworks that people have made and continue to create. Is the 'greatness' of a person defined by a persons creations? Does personality have anything to do with greatness? I suppose if one thinks about this, there are numerous aspects of a persons personality which can be considered 'great' and as 'worthy fo admiration-' but hwo relevant are any of these traits in the long run? Does it matter if the person who created one of the worlds best inventions was really a rude and insolent snob who cared for no-one? But as humans, is it our job to t hink of overall greatness? Or to simply focus on the small acts of kindness in our lives, and of the kindness we can give to others lives? I could probably write this with a lot more detail, and research some more opinions on this.. but I felt like just 'typing this out..' I'd love to hear some opinions on what YOU think greatness is and how you recognise it. Cheers, Stormi.
1 person likes this
1 response
cobradene
@cobradene (1171)
• India
5 Nov 07
Greatness is subjective. And we cannot generalise it as a whole. I hope you understand what I'm saying. Greatness overall, could be gauged by how productive man has been to the society. In what way, has he delivered something which has been of good service to mankind. Greatness is not perfection. But, perfection can make you great. Scientists, musicians, artists and all others are great because they perfected an art, a science, or a field of study and made a breakthrough. But, that doesn't mean they have to be perfect human beings as well. They weren't perfect because they never concentrated on perfecting themselves, rather concentrated on perfecting what their minds were interested in or what they were passionate about. But it depends and changes from person to person. If you see Gandhi, he was a great man, a philosopher, leader and even a saint. And, he has accepted every imperfection of his and confessed it. The great Indian Poet Rabindranath Tagore, was exemplary in arts and also was known to be a great human being. There are all kinds of people. But finally, if you want to look at greatness which is complete, it is only God. I'm not talking about "GOD" as a separate being living up in the sky. I'm talking about the "God" in our hearts who is perfect and the greatest of all, but we fall short of connecting to that God and that's why we don't find greatness to be complete. :)
Hearthestorm
@Hearthestorm (22)
• Australia
10 Nov 07
Sure. In a sense there's very little in this world that -isn't- subjective in some sense. Some would go as far as to say there are no unobjective truths. (I'm still exploring that further..) I agree that there isn't one complete definition for greatness that can be accepted. But I am interested in compiling and reviewing different opinions on what greatness means to them. I definitely agree with your section on 'scientists, musicians and artists, and their greatness in perfecting their passions.' Thanks for your contribution :)