This Greatness

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 23, 28 January 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

This Greatness

On Religion ;

1 > ' Wn AT * 9 B'«a*ness> Great tt men, so called, present a phenomenon that requires some explanation. For instance, all ; would acknowledge that Col urn- , bus belonged to this illustrious company, although even he has suffered at the hahds of the historians. Perhaps it would be bettef to say that lie was a great navigator, rather than that he'was a great man. He discovered "new worlds" in a geographical sense, but it remained tor others, uhacclaimed by this world for their courage and valour, to lead the wsy to other worlds beyond the range of telescope or sextant. These lessor known navigators into celestial spare have, by a process of spiritual telescopy brought the unseen, Ix'vond the furthest physical horizon, within range of the eye of faith. True greatness must therefore not be too much of earth, earthy. It demands magnanimity, and universality. As the final test of what is great in literature is, is it true, is it universally true, and is it true for all time; so the filial test of all human greatness must be equally embracing within eternity as well as Within time. Although someone has said that "an undevout astronomer is mad." one can conceive of many who, although they may read the heavens like a book, have not found Him Who, according to the Psalmist, "holds the worlds in*the hollow of H is hand." Oreatness must be*ir the Divine imprimatur. It can at least lie said of Columbus that he would have been the last to acknowledge his own worthiness of the greatness which had been thrust upon him. Contrary to the commonly accepted adage that "some arc born great, some achieve greatness, and some Inve greatness thrust upon them." it can just as truly be said that none are Ixtrn great, none achieve greatness. but all have greatness thrust upon them. Let us -consider this impertinent revision. In the first place, it is the varying weights of public opinion which decide whether this or that person shall be called great. There can be no such thing as greatness in obscurity, save to the all-seeing eye of (iod. Which constitutes the greater greatness? To be acclaimed by the greatest number of people within the shortest space of time, or to be acclaimed by the greatest number of people within the longest range of history? It is those who acclaim who confer—hence all greatness is thrust upon men. "To be born with more than an Outstanding musical or literaiV gift does not constitute greatness, any more than the possession of a- phenomenal head, or huge hands, or big feet constitutes physical greatness. Such greatness is really deformity, in that all the other members of the body have to suffer in order that this or that member can register abnormal growth. Infant, prodigies are freaks. The majority of those who have had greatness thrust upon them have not been outstanding as children, save only that they have possessed the raw material out of which all true greatness is

i World Figures Under a ' Mental Microscope

: By-- \ b Rev. C. W. Chandler « i e

r > wrought—namely, orjginality. God is t 1 sometimes referred to as The Great j 1 Original. v i The spacious firmament on high With nil the blue ptherpal sfcy. f Anil spnnelPri hpavpns, a ghining frame J Thpir great Original proclaim. r | Therefore the child which can show the * most originality is the child who, grown 0 i man, is likely to be shoulder-highed by 0 . the multitude, for, be it observed, 1 humanity is the final arbiter of all true > greatness. r li ; Post-war Great j [ This brings us to the consideration of C dictators. Is Hitltf a. great man f s According to A. L. Kennedy, who wrote v , one of the ten splendid articles on "The [ Post-war Great," in the Christmas "Spec- r 1 tator," he is certainly a great man, if it l 1 i is possible to be great without having a s , great individuality. According to Ken- I > »'e<ly, Hitler is a medium. "He receives > . and transmutes energy, and gives it out a in the form of action." And it U men s of action whom we all admire. It always d • commands respect. Like so many kittens running after ; cotton reels, or yelping dogs trying to ° , heel pneumatic tyros, we are willing to " follow the fellow who does something, t Dictators a-re playthings — dangerous t . toys, playthings just the ° same. Proof of this lies in tile fact that 11 whole nations are just as capable as are children of casting their plavthings (-1 aside. * it But yesterday the word of Caesar jni*ht t, have stood against the world. Now lies he + here and none so poor to do him reverence. No man is truly great whose influence tl dies with him. In an immeasurably d esser degree than that which is eompre"- B bended in the saying "he was trulv o great," Hitler is great for a definite v period of time, and within the narrow f« confine of nationality. So, too (onlv tl more so), Thomas Masaryk, the founder n and first president of the Czechwlova- n kian Republic; and Kemal Ataturk, who R i re-invigorated the Turkish people with ei this dangerous enthusiasm known as p national pride; and Joseph Stalin, "who t( rules the Russian Empire with more r< than Czarist absolutism"; and Chiang Kai-shek, the Chinese leader, who is now tl giving a relentless and unscrupulous foe hi a run for her money. . None of these men is truly great. J, None has created anything of real value, s< nor contributed anything to the sum j s total of human worth, with the possible c j ( exception of Stalin, who is associated n , with an experiment in sociology which !,< is of more than merely national signiti- e , cance. All are of the moment. p, Let us avoid a confusion of terms. To oi be famous is not to be great. Makers of pills and soap have become famous, but tl

unless a great pill-maker can rank alongside a great musician, or a grfeat playwright, the use of the term greatness in any of these lesser connections is nothing lesser than a prostitution of terms. If originality is the raw material out of which all true greatness springs, then comprehensiveness is one, if riot the most important, of the added ingredients. Mahatma Gandhi When, by way of illustrating this theory of greatness, we come to consider another of thGse post-war great men. namely, Mahatma Gandhi, we are deaiing with better material. With whatever Gandhi has achieved for either the natives of Africa or India, his influence far transcends the boundaries of empire. He is one of those rarer souls who seek to apply the intangible things of the spirit to the basic problems of a people's economic life. We are approaching the true standard of greatness when we are considering this man. Says Richard Freund, "No Mogul Emperor ever had more power in India than Mr. M. K. (Jandhi." Although he occupies no official position, his quiet voice stirs the emotions of his compatriots as no other voice has ever done in the history of that country. His influence over the common people is astounding. Although a missionary is reported to have said that the only man he found in India who had not heard of the Mahatma. was an old man belonging to an aboriginal tribe, who thought that fiandhi was something to eat, it can still be said that Gandhi is thfe most widely known man in India. Besides the peasant class which is ever ready to obey his orders, even ruling princes are said to "wince at the slightest censure from the Mahatma." He has recently been visiting the North-West Frontier Where, Freund amusingly reports, "most men are over j six feet, and teething babies are givenl ilaggers to bite." I In that wild region there were free' fights amongst the natives for the honour of liospitising this distinguised aruest. This in spite of the fact that they are Mohammedan and he Hindu through and that they thrive m physical combat, and he preaches non-violence. Gandhi's greatness is able to transcend creed and class. Interesting, too. it is to note that Gandhi was first inspired to follow the non-resistnnt teaching of the "Sermon on tlje Mount" :hrough reading Tolsto.-'s "Kingdom of iod is Within You." He found that his teaching coincided with the Hindu loctrine of ahimsa or non-violence Because he does not depend on anv organised propaganda, but entirely upon kvhat he rightly designates as* "soul r orce," and on the "power of truth" for he winning of his battles, he, more learlv than all the others we have lientioned, approximates to the exalted standard of all true greatness. It mianates from the soul, which is a lart of the Great Original. It belongs o, th « "! m you" to which Jesus eferred. Giving all the credit that is due to hose who, like Rutherford or Einstein lave had greatness conferred upon them' n the realm of science, and to the rest >f the innumerable host who shine like tars m their snecial firmaments, there s yet a greatness which is transcentental, in that it transcends the im>ortance of theories of relativity, split toms or electrons, and can shine with •qual luminosity in the hearts of the >oor and illiterate, and in the hearts >f the wise and intellectual. The greatest <sm be apprehended bv he least. '