I have always thought of greatness as something great. By that, I mean something that feels great, something that is awesome in the most literal sense of the word. This might be flawed.
"Meant for greatness" means that greatness is a forgone conclusion. But if greatness is in my nature, then why should it be given any more credit than anything else I do? I don't feel awe or wonder when I brush my teeth or eat a meal. These are simple daily routines, things I do without thought and often without notice. Perhaps the key to being great, as I am meant to be, is for greatness to become routine and below notice. Greatness not as an effort towards something higher or an exaltation, but as a routine, an activity of great importance but little note.
All my life, I've thought of greatness in terms of feelings. When I act great or achieve something great, then I'm supposed to feel great. But is that not the mark of the amateur, the novice, the less-than-great? I don't think God, if he exists, would be in awe of His own greatness. He would take it for granted as a given. So if we are to be gods, then perhaps it is also necessary that we take no pride in or notice of our own greatness. Perhaps the final secret of greatness is that it's not.
9.02.2010
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U have a very intresting brain. I like ur views, they're very different than most. What caused this revelation?
ReplyDeleteI like the concept of religion, but its hackneyed application is hardly inspiring. I was contemplating God and how he would have communicated with his servants, the people that supposedly know his path and walk it. It occurred to me that there would be no room for greatness in the lives of these people, whatever they accomplished, because the voice of God would be all that they really hear.
ReplyDeleteAlso, myself and some people I know have trouble feeling great. I graduated from a good university with a very difficult degree, yet I felt no pride for it on my day of graduation. This, and other such occurrences, led me to believe that perhaps great acts are not inspired by or affected by feelings of greatness. From there, it was hardly a leap to realize that great feelings do not accompany mundane actions, but great achievements are often an accumulation of such actions. Thus, if one makes greatness itself into a mundane routine and eliminates the necessity of experiencing greatness as a feeling, then one will in fact be great. The desire to feel great causes much suffering, and so having been proven unnecessary can be expunged.
This raises a few questions, though. What is greatness? How is it defined, if not by feeling that it's great?
ReplyDeleteIf you graduated with a difficult degree, do you say this because it was difficult for you? Or because in comparison to all the degrees you didn't graduate with, others called yours much more difficult?
In either case, how can you define that as a great thing? It's only a comparison of one thing to another. You were only less skilled at the time, nothing more. It's insignificant in any sense of the word.
If not defined by the feeling of greatness, greatness cannot exist except for in comparison to something else.
Personally, I don't think you titled this blog because you think we're meant to be better than something. We all are already. How can you be meant for something you can't escape? Or, specifically, why does it matter?
I think you titled this blog because it made you feel as if you were making some kind of progress. Saying that we're meant for greatness settles your fears of stagnation.
If you don't feel you're great, will you lose motivation?
/<3