Thread: Greatness, and its meaning

Nelson Mandela


All of us have a greatness inside waiting to be realised.

but in some of us it is a little too close to the surface...

Jerusalem Syndrome

"For example, an affected person may believe themself to be an important historical religious figure, or may be influenced by important religious ideas or concepts (such as causing the second coming of Christ Christ)"

Watch for these symptoms;

"2. Declaration of the desire to split away from the group or the family and to tour Jerusalem alone. Tourist guides aware of the Jerusalem syndrome and of the significance of such declarations may at this point refer the tourist to an institution for psychiatric evaluation in an attempt to pre-empt the subsequent stages of the syndrome.

If unattended, these stages are usually unavoidable.

4. Preparation, often with the aid of hotel bed-linen, of a long, ankle-length, togalike gown, which is always white.
5. The need to scream, shout, or sing out loud psalms, verses from the Bible, religious hymns or spirituals. Manifestations of this type serve as a warning to hotel personnel and tourist guides, who should then attempt to have the tourist taken for professional treatment.

Failing this, the two last stages will develop.

6. A procession or march to one of Jerusalem's holy places.
7. Delivery of a ‘sermon’ in a holy place. The sermon is usually very confused and based on an unrealistic plea to humankind to adopt a more wholesome, moral, simple way of life. "

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionar...lem%20syndrome

Whoa! That's crazy.
Maybe its something in the water.

Howdy,
That happens here in Utah at the Mormon Temple, people occasionally show up saying they are a profit....

M.R.

I was thinking in Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

>All of us have a greatness inside waiting to be realised.

I would agree with that... so then, work hard to be productive. Research is such a fun thing, particularly when you're an undergrad, because you get to explore whatever you want, and there is no deadlines or limits, and if your research screws up (which it will), it doesn't matter, what matters is that you learn... cheers on that!


PS, shouldn't it be something like...

bool The_Question = to(b) || !(to(b))

?? =)

>>How about what literary figure that embodies the qualities of greatness?

are you talking about an author or a character? if author I mentioned one in my OP, if character, then I have to think about it

I would agree with that... so then, work hard to be productive. Research is such a fun thing, particularly when you're an undergrad, because you get to explore whatever you want, and there is no deadlines or limits, and if your research screws up (which it will), it doesn't matter, what matters is that you learn... cheers on that!

I agree with that

Getting slightly back to the real world, I'd say that Stephen Hawking needs to be put on the list.

Originally Posted by Zach L.

Getting slightly back to the real world, I'd say that Stephen Hawking needs to be put on the list.

why? sure he is an extraordinary man, but I certainly would not call him Great, per my definition/outlook

Originally Posted by elad

I meant literary characters as they don't have the trappings of the real world to deal with and can be molded to embody whatever qualities are desired, in this case---greatness that mirrors greatness in reality.

dammit, this bugging the hell out of me...I can't think of one truly great literary hero. I'm starting to think if one actually exists. Can greatness be achieved in an X number of pages. I suspect not; in almost every story, the character goes through somesort of a growth process, so we see him in the "prime" for a relatively short time - not enough time to make him great (??). Very interesting question elad.

Another idea, is that the character must embody greatness; must represent the idea of greatness - one such character (not main) was Father Zossima from Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov".

Originally Posted by axon

why? sure he is an extraordinary man, but I certainly would not call him Great, per my definition/outlook

The man has overcome a horribly crippling disease and has pretty much rewritten the way we see the universe. Seems pretty great to me.