[quote=“Peter Kropotkin”]
[quote=“Ecmandu”
It’s impossible to be perfect in any zero sum reality.
So no. I’m not perfect. I’m more perfect than those two however. Lots of people are.[/quote]
(MLK and Gandhi among others)
K: and completely missing the point…
K: and I shall ignore Ecm for the moment as he is on one of his random tangents…
and return to this point…
the false belief that “I’m more perfect then those two (MLK, Gandhi) however.
lots of people are”
and people feel good about this… but think about it… who remembers you?
how many status are built do you? are you considered to be great?
NO, NO AND NO…and that is the point… the false belief that one is “more perfect”
then MLK and Gandhi… and this means you are “better” then MLK or Gandhi…
you can feel a sense of accomplishment or pride in this… false pride or false
accomplishment…
the point isn’t about whether you are “more perfect” then two of the icons
of the 20th century… the point is they achieved something you wouldn’t even
dare in your wildest dreams…they changed history… something very few of
us will ever achieved… I most certainly won’t change history…
they found greatness… who among you has achieved greatness?
and how did they achieve their greatness? not by following ism’s or ideologies
or by seeking baubles like fame or wealth or titles or power…
the old familiar path of those without any imagination or possibility of
greatness…
they found greatness by following values, not baubles…they sought to
achieve something by the pursuit of values like love and hope
and non-violence and justice…they achieved greatness by
holding firm to the values of justice and love and non-violence…
remember the word Satyagraha… that word is a compound word.
Satya: meaning truth…agraha: polite insistence or holding firmly to…
holding firmly to the truth…Satyagraha…and this is what Gandhi
himself writes about Satyagraha… in regards to “passive resistance”
“Therefore it is different from satyagraha (passive resistance)
in three essentials: Satyagraha is a weapon of the strong; it admits
no violence under any circumstances whatsoever; and it ever insists upon
the truth”
He didn’t fudge or adapt this “truth” to fit the situation…he hung
onto the “truth” regardless of the situation…
most people exists on the lowest level of existence… seeking food,
water, shelter, education, health care… a few exists on a higher level,
seeking love, safety/security, esteem… but who among you seek
to pursue something greater and beyond yourself? few to none…
at least none here…who dares to fly like Icarus… in pursuit of
greatness…to become something more then just animal/human…
but to become human, fully human…
it doesn’t matter if Gandhi or MLK were animals in some aspects of
their lives if they attempted to reach greatness in their pursuit
of values… who among you has tried to reach greatness?
none because you are mired in the muck of day to day existence
and you can’t see the possibility of greatness that lies outside of
your vision…outside of pursuing the lower level of existence,
food, shelter, water…etc. etc…or pursuing the baubles of existence,
wealth or power or…etc. etc…
there is a third path of existence and that path was followed by those
whom we call great…the Gandhi’s and MLK’s of the world…
the Goethe’s and Einstein’s and Shakespeare’s of the world
they pursued something beyond just mere lower levels of
existence… they pursued values… not ism’s or ideologies…
or food or safety/security…
they pursued what it means to be human and they explored the
possibilities of existence in ways most of us haven’t even dreamt of…
do I see greatness today? no, I see pursuit of the lowest levels of existence
or the pursuit of modern day baubles…and I won’t see greatness until we
begin to pursue the path of seeking what is possible for human beings…
to become human, fully human…
Gandhi and MLK are human beings in the finest sense of the word…
and the rest of us? we are just mere animals seeking the lowest levels
of existence… we don’t even realize that existence has many different
levels of existence, many different paths in which we can walk down…
my path is to seek greatness through my possibilities of philosophy
and understanding of what it means to be human…
and the exploration of values…
and what is your path? what are your possibilities?
what path will lead you to greatness?
Kropotkin