What makes a Great person?

[Akashic_Librarian]

Just what makes a Great person? A great Leader? A Great Lover?

This is what I think, but I want to know what YOU think!


A great person:

A great person, for me, is one who has no fear and no regret. They are compassionate to all people and equally patient with those who resist unjustly.

A Great Leader:

He/She should care equally about all people in all nations, not just the country assigned to that person. They should care about all opinions and follow only their own reasoning powers. They shouldn't fall to black mail, or crush under pressure and should be fair but just.

A Great lover:

A great Lover is someone who, to me, is sensitive and strong, who is willing to defy the odds to win. Someon ewho will always suprise you and never leave you. Someone who should care about you with all their heart.

[John Hill]

Interesting question.

I agreed with some of what you said but I do think a great person can have fears. Although a great person would see an opportunity when a fear arose and take measures to address that fear and by doing so, he or she would be better for the experience.

A great person in my view does not judge others no matter what and can forgive in all circumstances. A great person does not have to change the world but he will have compassion for others and will never hesitate to give assistance to those in need.

A great leader puts himself in the shoes of those who he or she is leading and would not ask someone to perform a task he would not be prepared to do himself.

A great lover, hmmm that's a tricky one... remembers your birthday!

John

[Jill]

I think a great person is one who sincerely apologizes for their mistakes, and also learns from them so they do not keep repeating them.

They also forgive others for theirs.

[Michael Chui]

I distinguish Fear as an emotion from Fear as a process. That is to say: fear isn't something you receive as feedback: it's an active movement during which you change along some continuum (which can be defined as simply as "Afraid <-> Courageous"). Thus, someone who "isn't afraid" is instead simply "not fearing".

Using that, I think I can agree with Akashic Librarian's definition of a great person.

[ethereal]

I think of David Deida's "The way of a superior man" as a guideline to how men should live. In it, it stresses the importance for men to find their deepest purpose so that they may give their fullest gifts to the world. A man with purpose (alternatively you may think of someone who has connected with his higher Self) will do whatever it takes to fulfill his destiny, and that makes a man great, whatever his purpose may be.

The female counterpart, "Dear Lover", stresses that for females, their greatest offering to the world is to radiate and spread love to their lovers and to the rest of the world.

[DiscoDan]

What is a great man?

A great man is one who spends 80% of his time deliberately making himself the best man he could possibly be, and spends the other 20% of his time bringing out the best in the people around him.

A great man always expects the impossible from those around him, and, in the end, helps them achieve what they never believed they could, even in their wildest dreams.

A great man stands up for both what he believes in and who he believes in no matter how much adversity he faces; he will always see positive opportunity, even in the most dire of circumstances.

But most importantly, a great man is always willing to forgive, no matter what happened in the past, because a great man only looks to the future.

This is what it means to be a great man.

[wilsonng]

he who can leave the world a little bit better , and a little bit happier than when he came on.

[Milo Riano]

A great person for me is someone who defines the game and is not defined by the game itself.

[Man of Kent]

a great person is one who is humble and would, ironically, dispute the fact that others called them great.

[Shamou]

A great man is someone who is a highly influential individuals, either from personal charisma, genius intellects, or great political impact. (from Wikipedia)

However, whether that person is a so called "good person" is opened to debate... because what can be termed "good" by one person could called "evil" by another...

If you take Adolph Hitler as the quintessential example... though reviled by most... he could not have attained his status without the staunch support of admirers and followers...
.

[Sam988]

For me a great person is someone that's successful in whatever they go into.

Conveniently, my name, Samuel, means (translated) "the one who God hears and is someone who acts with determination and justice and only rests when his goals are achieved. The reward for this attitude is being successful in virtually all of his endeavours. From the hebraic, "heard by God" or "name of God"

Significado e origem dos nomes, de A a Z


I love the meaning of it

[Old Soul]

I think we are all great:-)

The Commoner

Read me a poem by a commoner
A verse and rhyme from his soul
On a crumpled piece of paper
A humble story told
Read me a poem by a commoner
whose devil's danced in ink
Yet held his grace and composure
A real human I think
Read me a poem by a commoner
Who fought and won his despair
Yet continued onward and still dared to care
Read me a poem by a commoner
who lived his life unrehearsed
Identified with common folk
from a tear and smile
stained verse...

[Plato]

Originally Posted by Akashic_Librarian

Just what makes a Great person? A great Leader? A Great Lover?

Everything you're not mate.



JOKES!

Good question. I say variety is the spice of life and there are loads of different types of person who are 'great' in their own way.

[Jason S]

Great men are the winners we love to watch win, because they radiate their enjoyment for life back to us. They have a tremendous capacity to handle ambiguity... they take what the world gives them and redefine it on their own terms; great men turn adversity into an opportunity to excel--they turn heartache into innocence, suffering into love, grief into rebirth.

Great men have the courage to believe that they truly cannot fail, and inspire others to become great in the same way.

[NotesMaeve]

I have an idea of where this is going.

I don't think a great person sets out to be great, but just sort of falls into it.

A great person knows better than to vainly think about how they want to be remembered, because they're not foolish enough to paint themselves into a corner, and no one wants to ruin really hot shoes.

A great person may not remember everyone's name, but remembers endearing nicknames, and often which one goes to what person.

A great person always keeps a secret or two.

A great person does not need their posse with them at all times. They know who's earned the title of friend the hard way.

A great person is someone who is still changing and growing.


A great person knows how to extend themselves without being a doormat.

A great person works beyond fear and regret, rather than not experiencing it.

[Amandaaa]

A great Lover is someone who, to me, is sensitive and strong, who is willing to defy the odds to win. Someon ewho will always suprise you and never leave you. Someone who should care about you with all their heart.

A great man is one who spends 80% of his time deliberately making himself the best man he could possibly be, and spends the other 20% of his time bringing out the best in the people around him.

i agree with you guys.




also-- all great people must be openminded.

and the best are those who live with their hearts.
..people who have a sense of passion, and use it to make the world a better place.

[Amandaaa]

A great person for me is someone who defines the game and is not defined by the game itself.

*ooooo, i like that one too.




i think everyone already said it all...

[inverse Paranoid]

A great person is someone who discovers his/her life purpose, achieves it, and then asks for more.

[Akashic_Librarian]

Originally Posted by Jason S

they take what the world gives them and redefine it on their own terms; great men turn adversity into an opportunity to excel--they turn heartache into innocence, suffering into love, grief into rebirth.

I really like this one, it makes a lot of sense to me!

[Livgivare]

A great leader is a person who puts aside all the common sence in todays world about anti terror laws and creating a lesser democratic world just because to gain fear and stupid actions of the people this leader is responsible to lead. A Great leader is someone who looks at the bigger picture and don't go by the three-months-report that the whole world seems to suffer from. Great leaders for me is: Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Kui (spelling?), Ghandi, Kofi Annan, Albert Einsten, Dag Hammarskjöld, Al Gore, Olof Plame and many more. I think that sometimes a great leader has to do as the child did in the HC Andersen tail about the Leader with new clothes, just tell the leader that he is infact really naked. This goes with leaders of companies too because they also lead a position of power and shall look beyond the short term thinking. A great leader of a company also thinks about the world and not just selling things that easily gets broken or are just made out of childrens hands, I have a hard time handling IKEA by this standards. (Guess who I have the hardest time handling in todays world haha)...yes one of them is Ingvar Kamprad and the other one we get ridd of in at least shorter then a year starting today...hehe

A great person to me is one who are honest with who that person is, try to listen to others, can evoke new thinking and loving deeply for the people in the circle of friends and family, who balance real life good with equal parts of being a working person, a parent, a worker and to be able to get at least a few minutes for themselves each day. This person is not affraid on ones own emotions and action but never act out on the ones that harm the most. (this is extremely hard I know).

A Great lover is one who looks far beyond the sex part of life and look at all the aspects of life and the person who s/he loves and take the whole package of the partner. So if you find out that your partner is having cancer or diabetes you don't leave that person just because you didn't knew or didn't think something could change. You are in love with the person and the personality not the sickness or lack of sickness.

I myself have a hard time to live up to this, but I think those types of matters are really important to me.

By the way a few other top names that comes to my mind of great people are Ola Salo, Elvis Presley, Lady Diana, Jean Michel Jarre, Bob Geldoff, Percy Barnevik (Former top leader in Sweden that changed his life arround from being a totally greedy person to the one person who helps India out the most today), Anni-Frid Lyngstad (The dark-haired ABBA-girl who has got a fund for schools and children who cares about mother nature), Charlie Chaplin, Astrid Lindgren, Jan Egeland and many others that are just like those.

Love Leelene

[Stu]

Researchers in the field of positive psychology took the strengths and virtues of what it means to be a great person from most civilizations, past and present, and found that there were many common strengths and virtues in those civilizations, 24 to be exact.

Wisdom and Knowledge
o Creativity
o Curiosity
o Open-mindedness
o Love of learning
o Perspective wisdom

Courage
o Bravery
o Persistence
o Integrity
o Vitality

Humanity
o Love
o Kindness
o Social intelligence

Justice
o Citizenship
o Fairness
o Leadership

Temperance – strengths that protect against excess
o Forgiveness and mercy
o Humility and Modesty
o Prudence
o Self-regulation [self-control]

Transcendence - strengths that forge connections to the larger universe and provide meaning
o Appreciation of beauty and excellence
o Gratitude
o Hope
o Humor playfulness
o Spirituality

So to be a great person, you should attempt to strengthen all these traits within yourself.

The list is from this Wikipedia page, and you can find out more about positive psychology here.

[songwriter]

Originally Posted by Stu

Researchers in the field of positive psychology took the strengths and virtues of what it means to be a great person from most civilizations, past and present, and found that there were many common strengths and virtues in those civilizations, 24 to be exact.

Wisdom and Knowledge
o Creativity
o Curiosity
o Open-mindedness
o Love of learning
o Perspective wisdom

Courage
o Bravery
o Persistence
o Integrity
o Vitality

Humanity
o Love
o Kindness
o Social intelligence

Justice
o Citizenship
o Fairness
o Leadership

Temperance – strengths that protect against excess
o Forgiveness and mercy
o Humility and Modesty
o Prudence
o Self-regulation [self-control]

Transcendence - strengths that forge connections to the larger universe and provide meaning
o Appreciation of beauty and excellence
o Gratitude
o Hope
o Humor playfulness
o Spirituality

So to be a great person, you should attempt to strengthen all these traits within yourself.

The list is from this Wikipedia page, and you can find out more about positive psychology here.

I was about to post just the same thing.

Character Strengths and Virtues - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Livgivare]

Prudence? How does that fit into the list of being a great person?

Love Leelene

[songwriter]

It doesn't mean "cautiousness"

Prudence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Michael Chui]

You don't need such a big list, especially one that is redundant and meaningless without explanation of each item. My list is shorter:

Curiosity, Ambition, Intelligence, Discipline.

It's taken from here: the_sinistral: Is it so? It is so. The post itself is quite long, but it's worth reading in its entirety. It might be said that the author himself, my friend, is a great person.

[Dan.Linehan]

Just be awesome.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by Michael Chui

You don't need such a big list, especially one that is redundant and meaningless without explanation of each item. My list is shorter:

Curiosity, Ambition, Intelligence, Discipline.

You could make the same criticism of your list, could you not? As for it being big, well, isn't a person who can describe themselves with all the things on my list greater than a person who has just the things on your list? Especially when all the things on your list are also on my list?

[Michael Chui]

Originally Posted by Stu

You could make the same criticism of your list, could you not?

I'll admit that its clarity is a bit lacking without a few extra words, which I'll now provide:

Curiosity to question.
Ambition to become greater.
Intelligence to empower.
Discipline to achieve.

Originally Posted by Stu

As for it being big, well, isn't a person who can describe themselves with all the things on my list greater than a person who has just the things on your list?

Why don't you instead go through the dictionary and pull out every likable characteristic? Then you'd have an even bigger list!

To answer your question directly: No, because,

Originally Posted by Stu

Especially when all the things on your list are also on my list?

They're not, unless you see Ambition and Intelligence where I do not. Perhaps this "Perspective Wisdom" is Intelligence. You'll have to explain the concept to me.

Let me put it this way:

A great person is one who is curious, ambitious, intelligent, and disciplined. Such a person questions, aspires, understands, and achieves.

Is so-and-so great? Well, does she wonder and contemplate? Does he want more and better things? Does she comprehend and remember? Does he press on past distraction into success?

[Smarky]

I've spent a long time thinking about this subject, so this is a great thread. I think the problem is we have a long list of things at the moment in this thread. It starts getting complex.

What are you going to do? In a given situation are you going to be able to pause , read through a list and then think for 30 minutes or so to find the best response, or are you going to be in a situation when your going to have to react much quickier than that?

See the problem with this is it's just all ideals and blanket ideals at that, not your own, but what you think you should be. What is the point of following these? Your just trying to force yourself to be some ideal, and that's it, it's not even your own.

These values and things you see in other people and respect are mostly byproducts of who they are. If we all focus on the 'technique' we will never be fully genuine or master this. People that show these qualities show them out own sense of mastery.

Therefore to be great isn't what you should do is to become the best version of YOU? Just do whatever you want to do, follow your true heart, go for everything that is of interest to you. Surround yourself with what you love, not what you don't. Talk of only what intreasts you, what allows you to experience YOU, nothing else, don't care about what anyone else does or thinks, allow them to live in there own world too and respect and support that.

Live from your heart, it all comes from that. That's all you guys never need and you'll just be fine. Your all great to me *tear*

lol!

[Michael Chui]

Actually, Smarky, when I was told of these four words by my friend, they became mine. It has been a simple and direct way to remind me that I am not a great person, largely because I lack discipline, and thus have achieved less than I have desired to.