From Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, 1601:
"...Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em"
(Malvolio)
Given that the overwhelming majority of the population considers themselves 'above average', which one of Malvolio's three options are you?
Better still, what have you got to say about greatness?
6 comments:
ok let's start .... I think I am the second and it is not by pride I would say that because there are some inconvenient...
first inconvenient : feel the deep need of God when you know you are able to do great things on your own
second, this 'je ne sais quoi' of intolerance you can have on people who are not managing to achieve greatness.
voila
Good on you Eli.
Every time I've visited Cacophony over the last couple of days, I've had a little shiver of nervousness that there's a post up the top headed 'Greatness'. I've though more than once about removing it.
Three things (cause you always need three things):
1. I think the very word 'greatness' is going to cause a reaction for a bunch of people that equate it with arrogance, ambition or presumption. They're fair reactions.
2. I think we're all born great. We're born in God's likeness - made in his image. As Psalm 139 tells us: "all thy works are wonderful, my soul knows it full well" and "we are fearfully and wonderfully made".
3. I think, through circumstances and events, we can have greatness thrust upon us. I would suggest though that this merely puts a spotlight on a person's greatness and brings to the surface what was latent to begin with. Churchill, for example, had his greatness revealed through the cauldron of war. I'd say that it was the stage of war that elicited a greatness that was there rather than it being thrust on him.
With that as a backdrop, I can see (and probably share) your frustration with those who do not/will not explore and sink there teeth into the creative best that lies within them...planted by God.
One last thing. Jesus said: whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. So that's a context for any expression of greatness. It's in harmony with the gospel of Jesus, not its antithesis.
I've joined the ranks of Garrick with a comment that well exceeds the length of the post!
great thoughts simon.I like your approach. keep me posted with fi
hi from mendoza, argentina. one could describe argentinian beef and wine as greatness, but thats beside the point.
greatness has a frame of reference. the relevance of your greatness is entirely subjective. Fiddy-cent may be a great rapper (some may say but i wouldn´t know), but i don´t think that anyone would agree that he´s of the same level of greatness as Mother Theresa, or has great wisdom like Ghandi, or great courage or great sacrifice or great perserverance like a host of others i could list.
some think they´re great, some think that others are great. maybe i´d be bold enough to say that those who think they´re great are probably more of a legend in their own lunchbox, while those who are highly acclaimed as being great by the general population probably don´t think they´re anything extraordinary at all, just a person in some extraordinary circumstances.
yeah, nice. good talkin'
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