THE GREAT IDEAS

                                                             GREATNESS

               TOO MANY OF US THINK OF GREAT PEOPLE NOT AS THOSE WHO SERVE, BUT THOSE WHO SUCCEED IN GETTING OTHERS TO SERVE THEM. THEY ATTAIN POSITIONS WHERE THEY CAN COMMAND OTHERS, TO EVERCISE POWER OVER THEM, MAKING THEM OBEY THEIR WILL. THE EVERCISE OF DOMINION OVER OTHER PEOPLE, TO MOST PERSONS, IS A GREAT THING. NOTHING SEEMS TO BE SWEETER TO THE SELFISH SOUL THAN THIS. YOU WILL ALWAYS FIND EVERY SELFISH AND UNDEVELOPED PERSON TRYING TO DOMINEER OVER OTHERS AND TO EXERCISE CONTROL OVER OTHERS. FROM EARLIEST TIMES, PEOPLE BEGAN TO ENSLAVE ONE ANOTHER. FOR AGES THE STRUGGLE IN WAR, DIPLOMACY, POLITICS, AND GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN AIMED AT THE SECURING OF CONTROL OVER OTHERS. KINGS AND PRINCES HAVE DRENCHED THE SOIL OF THE EARTH IN BLOOD AND TEARS IN THE EFFORT TO EXTEND THEIR DOMINIONS AND THEIR POWER TO RULE MORE PEOPLE.

              THE STRUGGLE OF THE BUSINESS WORLD TODAY IS THE SAME AS THAT ON THE BATTLEFIELDS OF EUROPE CENTURIES AGO SO FAR AS THE RULING PRINCIPLE IS CONCERNED. IF IS HARD TO UNDERSTAND WHY MEN LIKE ROCKEFELLER AND CARNEGIE KEPT SEEKING MORE MONEY AND MADE THEMSELVES SLAVES TO THE BUSINESS STRUGGLE WHEN THEY ALREADY HAVE MORE THAN THEY COULD POSSIBLY USE. AS ONE PANTS, SEVENTY - FIVE THOUSAND VESTS, ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND COATS, AND ONE HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND NECKTIES, WHAT WOULD YOU THINK OF HIM IF HE AROSE IN THE MORNING BEFORE LIGHT AND WORKED UNTIL AFTER IT WAS DARK EVERY DAY, RAIN OR SHINE, IN ALL KINDS OF WHETHER, MERELY TO GET ANOTHER NECKTIE?

               BUT THERE IS MORE TO IT TAHN JUST OBTAINING MORE POSSESIONS. THE POSSESSION OF NECKTIES GIVES A PERSON NO POWER OVER OTHERS WHILE THE POSSESSION OF DOLLARS DOES. ROCKEFELLER, CARNEGIE AND THEIR KING WERE NOT AFTER DOLLARS BUT POWER. IT IS THE STRUGGLE FOR THE HIGH PLACE. IT DEVELOP ABLE PEOPLE, CUNNING PEOPLE, RESOURCEFUL PEOPLE, BUT NOT GREAT PEOPLE.

           I WANT YOU TO CONTRAST THESE TWO IDEAS OF GREATNESS SHARPLY IN YOUR MINDS. LET ME STAND BEFORE THE AVERAGE AMERICAN AUDIENCE AND ASK THE NAKE OF THE GREATEST AMERICAN AND THE MAJORITY WILL THINK OF ABRAHIM LINCOLN. IS THIS NOT BECAUSE IN LINCOLN ABOVE ALL THE OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SERVED US IN PUBLIC LIFE WE RECOGNIZE THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE? NOT SERVILITY, BUT SERVICE. LINCOLN WAS A GREAT MAN BECAUSE HE KNEW HOW TO BE A GREAT SERVANT. NAPOLEAN, ABLE COLD, SELFISH, SEEKING THE HIGH PLACES, WAS A BRILLIANT MAN. LINCOLN WAS GREAT, NAPOLEAN WAS NOT.

THE VERY MOMENT YOU BEGIN TO ADVANCE AND ARE RECOGNIZED AS ONE WHO IS DOING THINGS IN A GREAT WAY YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF IN DANGER. THE TEMPTATION TO PATRONIZE, ADVISE, OR TAKEN UPON YOURSELF THE DIRECTION OF OTHERS PEOPLE'S AFFAIRS IS SOMETIME ALMOST IRRESISTIBLE. AVOIND, HOWEVER, THE OPPOSITE DANGER OF FALLING INTO SERVILITY, OR A COMPLETELY THROWING YOURSELF AWAY IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS. TO DO THIS HAS BEEN THE IDEAL OF A GREAT MANY PEOPLE. THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HAVE BELITTLD THEMSELVES AND GIVEN UP ALL ELSE TO GO ABOUT THIS DOING GOOD - PRACTICING AN ALTRUISM THAT IS REALLY AS MORBID AND AS FAR FROM GREAT AS THE RANKEST SELFISHNESS. THE FINER INSTICTS WHICH RESPOND TO THE CRY OF TROUBLE OR DESTRESS ARE NOT BY ANY MEANS ALL OF YOU, THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE BEST PART OF YOU. THERE ARE OTHER THINGS YOU MUST DO BESIDES HELPING THE UNFORTUNATE, ALTHOUGH IT IS TRUE THAT A LARGE PART OF THE LIFE AND ACTIVITIES. AS YOU BEGIN TO ADVANCE THEY WILL COME TO YOU. DO NOT TURN THEM AWAY. BUT DO NOT MAKE THE FATAL ERROR OF SUPPOSING THAT THE LIFE OF COMPLETE SELF- ABNEGATION IS THE WAY OF GREATNESS.

TO MAKE ANOTHER POINT  HERE, LET ME REFER TO THE WRITINGS OF THE 18TH CENTURY SWEDISH PHILOSOPHER, EMMANUEL SWEDENBORG. HE DIVIDED ALL PEOPLE INTO TWO GROUPS. THOSE WHO LIVE IN PURE LOVE, AND THOSE WHO LIVE IN WHAT HE CALLED THE LOVE OF RULING FOR THE LOVE OF SELF. SWEDENBORG SAW THIS SELFISH  LOVE OF POWER AS THE CAUSE OF ALL SIN. IT WAS THE ONLY EVIL DESIRE OF THE HUMAN HEART FROM WHICH ALL OTHER EVIL DESIRES SPRANG. HE SAW IT AS THE RULING PRINCIPLE IN THE HELLS WHERE THE SPIRITS OF LOST PEOPLE SCHEMED AND STRUGGLED FOR DOMINION OVER ONE ANOTHER, AND TO ENSLAVE ONE ANOTHER, JUST AS THEY HAD DONE UPON THE EARTH.

OVER AGAINST THIS HE PLACES PURE LOVE. HE DOES NOT SAY LOVE OF GOD OR LOVE OF OTHERS, BUT MERELY LOVE. NEARLY ALL RELIGIONISTS MAKE MORE OF LOVE AND SERVICE OF GOD THAN THEY DO OF LOVE AND SERVICE TO HUMANKIND. BUT IT IS A FACT THAT LOVE OF GOD IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO SAVE A PERSON FROM THE LUST FOR POWER. SOME OF THE MOST ARDENT LOVERS OF THE DEITY HAVE BEEN THE WORST OF TYRANTS. LOVERS OF GOD ARE OFTEN TUYRANTS, AND LOVERS OF OTHER PEOPLE ARE OFTEN MEDDLESOME AND OFFICIOUS.

                 TWO THINGS ARE NECESSARY, FIRST, THE MAKIN OF THE THOUGHT FORM, AND SECOND , THE ACTUAL APPROPRIATION TO YOURSELF OF ALL THAT GOES INTO AND AROUND THE THOUGHT-FORM. WHEN YOU HAVE MADE YOUR THOUGHT-FORM. YOU ARE ALREADY INTERNALLY WHAT YOU WANT TO BE. NEXT YOU MUST BECOME EXREMELY WHAT YOU WANT TO BE. YOU ARE ALREADY GREAT WITHIN, BUT YOU ARE NOT YET ACTUALLY DOING THE GREAT THINGS. YOU CANNOT BE BEFORE THE WORLD THE GREAT ACTOR, OR LAWYER, OR MUSICIAN, OR PERSONALITY YOU KNOW YOURSELF TO BE, NO ONE WILL ENTRUST GREAT THINGS TO YOU AS YET FOR YOU HAVE NOT MADE YOURSELF KNOWN. BUT YOU CAN ALWAYS BEGIN TO DO SMALL THINGS IN A GREAT WAY.

                  HERE LIES CAN ALWAYS BEGIN TO DO SMALL THINGS IN A GREAT WAY. YOUR OWN HOME, IN YOUR STORE OR OFFICE, ON THE STREET, EVERYWHERE, YOU CAN BEGIN TO MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN  AS GREAT , AND YOU CAN DO THIS BY DOING EVERYTHING YOU DO IN A GREAT WAY. YOU MUST PUT THE WHOLE POWER OF YOUR GREAT SOULD INTO EVERY ACT, HOWEVER SMALL AND COMMONPLACE, AND SO REVEAL TO YOUR FAMILY, YOUR FRIENDS, AND NEIGHBORS WHAT YOU REALLY ARE. DO NOT BRAG OR BOAST OF YOURSELF, DO NOT GO ABOUT TELLING PEOPLE WHAT A GREAT PERSONAGE YOU ARE, SIMPLY LIVE A GREAT WAY. NO ONE WILL BELIEVE YOU IF YOU TELL HIM YOU ARE A GREAT MAN OR WOMAN, BUT NO ONE CAN DOUBT YOUR GREATNESS IF YOU SHOW IT IN YOUR ACTION, IN YOUR DOMESTIC CIRCLE BE SO JUST, SO GENEROUS, SO COURTEOUS, ADN KINDLY THAT YOUR FAMILY , YOUR WIFE, HUSBAND, CHILDREN, BROTHERS, AND SISTERS SHALL KNOW THAT YOU ARE A GREAT AND NOBLE SOUL. IN ALL YOUR RELATIONS WITH OTHERS BE GREAT, JUST, GENEROUS, COURTEOUS, AND KINDLY. THE GREAT ARE NEVER OTHERWISE.

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