What makes us great?

The ice age came and left, taking with it the wooly mammoth and the saber-toothed tiger, both great beasts! The receding age did not dispute their greatness; it did not frame them, bind their legacy in a book or place a head stone upon their remains.

Nature renews herself and disposes that which is redundant without hesitation; this may as well be the open secret of her consistent ‘greatness’.

Human history is a continuum of great civilizations that have risen and fallen throughout time. Many a people of these fallen civilizations secretly long for the sense of greatness that has been lost.

Why do great civilizations fall?

We can argue that the weightiness of ‘being great’ is selectively prone to the gravitational pull of humility. We can also assert that inner inertia and staunch resistance to change leads a stagnant civilization to its downfall.

However in my mind the most common cause is hubris. Pompous leaders who are disconnected with the prevailing reality have led many a great nation to its demise.

Complacent egotism, excessive pride, haughtiness and unrivaled confidence do not bring about the kind of ‘greatness’ that is lasting.

 Lasting greatness is brought about by the cultivation of courage in facing the unknowable, by tolerating our anxiety in the face of change, by upholding that which we truly believe in, by honoring the choice of a people who may choose a path that is different from our own and by withholding the exercise of our own power over others.

Much is demanded from civilizations that wish to remain great or hope to be reinstated.

Like nature, greatness too requires that we face life as it stands and corresponds with us today. It requires that we relinquish those ideas and institutions that are incongruent with our times in order to thrive.

History, be it individual, national or cultural can both inform our success and inhibit our progress. Like nature we too need to hold our changing identities lightly. Or we risk becoming a wooly mammoth protesting the end of the ice age.