Act of Greatness!

In my last post I tried to treat the fundamental goodness of humans. Although I admit I did not sufficiently treat this point, for my excuse I argue that I didn't use the tool proper to treating it: life. It is my hope that this fundamental goodness of humans will become clearer when I get to the applications of greatness that I'd like to discuss in this and many postings to follow. Two things, however, that I did establish are (1) humans are capable of great good and great evil (beyond that of any creature on earth), and (2) this comes from a capacity planted within us that is unique to humankind, which includes you and me individually. In this post, I would like to look at an ancient example of a great action and then bring out what was going on in the person doing the act. And, through this example, I will propose to you the foundation that is necessary for becoming great. So here it is:


"He sat down and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his followers to himself, he said to them, 'I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.'"


So let's look at this story and examine it. The first question that needs to be asked is what is the first indicator that this is a great act? It's simple, let's not over think! Thinking thusly, we must confirm that it is the reality that "from her poverty, she has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood." If you ask the most prudent people whether such behavior should be done, they will almost unanimously respond "No." However, the greatness of the action of this woman has to do with the combination of the situation her life has put her in and, for one reason or another, her motivation to being generous. Prudent people need to take such factors into account as well.

Her Situation:
This woman has already lost her husband and because of this has neither someone immediate to love nor someone to love her/take care of her (financially--it was a patriarchal society, emotionally, etc...). And moreover, losing a loved one (especially a beloved spouse) is one of the hardest things to go through in life for any person (and rightfully so because humans are very important--especially ones that we are close to) and I would imagine that this woman losing her husband would have been difficult for her. That is the poverty in her life. But, in this situation she has the opportunity to use her incredible capacity to choose for the best things. She has at least these two choices: (1) Focus on what she's lost in losing her husband (this no doubt can take a lot of time and energy from a person--and should for at least some time) or (2) Though she's lost her husband, she can realize, eventually, that she is still able to find people to love and entrust herself to someone that will love her.

Her Motivation:
As I have already referred to, her motivation, and the motivation for all of us who strive to become great, is love. Now this word can be confused to mean many things in our world, but I would like to propose a definition to you that I hope you will like very much. Simply put, love is willing or desiring the good of another (over even our own good). This why it is proper that martyrs are so revered. They have truly given their whole livelihood for the sake of others. The lady in the story is not giving to this extent, but she is definitively loving those outside of herself. Even when it would be reasonable for her to be consumed with her situation, she rises above that and takes concern for the situation of others. Now, as I said, this requires much trust. Although I could talk about where she's placing her trust (I hope it clear that her trust is in Love Himself), I would like to simply propose that it is in this incredible letting go of herself and her own situation that she can really love and be loved.

Now what does this mean for us? Many of us think of becoming great is opposed to humility. But the fascinating paradox of greatness is that it is only through humility--a realization of our own poverty--that it can happen. We have to let go of the emotional burdens and anxieties caused by the poverties in our life. Because of the poverties we see in the our lives today we are often motivated to selfishness and greed (among others). Perhaps life wouldn't be so bad for us if we were not always thinking about ourselves. Perhaps this would improve our lives and would give us a vision for improving the lives of others! Fundamentally this is a conquering of fear. To be great we need to be freed from fear so that we can love, and the more we are concerned with others, the less we are concerned with ourselves and our own fears. To be great we need to let go of our worries and frustrations caused by the poverties that turn us inward to our own seemingly wretched state.

I am not supposing that we forget about ourselves completely, in a single moment for the rest of our lives, for the sake of others (unless that is being asked of you in some actual way i.e. you are faced with real persecution or martyrdom). Actually, it is necessary that we do take care of ourselves, but even this is only so that we can do more for the sake of others. The reality of love is that even when we are to be concerned for ourselves it is for the greater benefit of others. This is the inner disposition to greatness: self-giving, self-denying, and self-forgetting love even though it seems all we have is poverty. No matter what situation we find ourselves in we are never beyond the human reality that we are to love--to look outside of ourselves at all times for the sake of the others.

With the tremendous capacity unique to humans, and love that expels all fear, let us pursue a greatness that the world has never seen!