The Measure of Greatness?

January 10, 2015

What does it mean to be truly great? Is greatness in all of us, or just the ‘chosen few’? What does greatness have to do – if anything – with fame, fortune and popularity? Greatness is something that’s has always intrigued me. And even though there’s a heavy dose of surrendering acceptance in the nature of my soul, when I open an internal space, something pretty often arises all by itself – a striving to learn, explore, evolve and grow. It’s a passion and commitment to evolutionary change. There’s no struggle in this, but there’s absolute determination and will. It feels totally spiritual to me. Does this bear any relation to greatness? Is it in you, and if so, what might you do to unleash it?…

Greatness is a way of unleashing yourself into the World

You recognise greatness when you see it. It has a sense and quality all of its own. It has nothing to do with popularity, fame or fortune, yet those who are recognised as having attained some level of greatness are frequently wealthy and/or popular.

Yet I put it to you, that no one who ever achieved true greatness, set out striving for it. What they did do, what they did discover, is a passionate commitment to something which gave them true joy and fulfillment in life. They found a way they could truly express, and in so doing, a vehicle for their expression arose – a way of unleashing it into the world.

They discovered something of great importance of great idealism, something much greater than their own selves even. Greatness is selfless, because it is ‘God’ – ‘the One’. Some people exhibiting greatness still have ego, yes, but ego was not the source of their greatness; to them, the expression of their art, of their being, is more important than their own well-being, than their own success; more important than their own breath. To me, this is the measure of greatness.

Don’t give up the dream of your greatness

Many will tell you, that when they discovered their passion, the place where their inner most yearning synchronised perfectly with some form of outer expression of it into the world, then the taste of it was the sweetest nectar possible. When you strike the sweet spot of your own existence, you cannot put a price on it. It’s immeasurable.

To me then, it has everything to do with unleashing the true nature of who you are – discovering, embodying and unleashing soul.

You instantly know when someone is doing this. They have shine about them; you look into their eyes and you see into the universe; there’s a warmth, that seems as though it can burn longer than the sun. It may be that they can’t find that all the time, but when they do find it, they’re expressing the nature of the timeless itself. To me, this is true greatness.

It’s because when you touch your greatness, you’re really touching the soul. And when you’re in the soul, you’re riding an internal wave, all the way back to the source; all the way back to God. You become a living, breathing expression of God. And that, is the measure of your greatness.

I put it to you, that greatness is in all of us, yet very few ever realise it. It’s because people get beaten down by the conditioning of life and then sell their dream too cheaply; they end up in lifetsyles that down serve them. And so the light of their soul is extinguished by the density of life’s conditioning.

Greatness happens when you find and express the true nature of your soul. So if your light is being squashed into a shoe that doesn’t fit, then no wonder if you’re not able to dance too well!

The other problem is we confuse greatness with popularity or material success. If what we feel called to do and express, doesn’t seem like it’s going to be popular or successful within society, then we give up, don’t bother; we hide our light under a bushel.

Your soul ray harmonic

No one who ever became truly great, modeled their success on someone else. For we are all unique. They may have been inspired by someone else, yes, but they found their own path, their own way of expressing. They didn’t worry about popularity – but for many who attained such greatness, they created their niche, and then popularity followed.

You are truly being great when you are expressing your soul; for your soul is an expression of God – which is absolute unbridled perfection. So what are the characteristics of your soul? How do you recognise them?

Expressing your soul is like being in love; there’s no formula for it, you just know it when you’re in it. It just feels ‘right’. There’s a sweetness to it, that connects you all the way back to the Source. It feels like the sense of home; you come back into who you truly are.

When people recognise the soul in them, or they’re been reacquainted with a lost aspect of it, they are frequently brought to tears. It feels like there’s been something priceless missing, which you didn’t even know what. But now you’ve found it again.

Greatness is continually striking the sweet-spot of your own being – a feeling of rightness inside. Society is continually luring people into dim shadows of this elixir – entertainment, soft comfort, desire, wealth, fame and distraction – but none of it will ever live up to the simple awesomeness of, and authenticity of, your own being. It’s a feeling inside that you can’t bottle or own. True greatness is continually dying and being reborn in the moment.

In this reacquaintance of your soul – the unleashing of your greatness – it helps to have a guide, to have pointers, so you can look for and attune to those qualities that have become buried in the sediment of your own life. At Openhand, we’re passionately dedicated to helping people reclaim these lost nuggets of soul gold – there’s nothing more rewarding and fulfilling than supporting someone in coming back to who they truly are.

In this passion, we recognise that the soul has seven key characteristics, that are common to all souls. Each soul appears to be a unique blend of these, like the seven rays of a rainbow. They vary from the surrendering unconditional love of the divine feminine; to the passionate, commitment and courage of the divine masculine (discover the rest of the qualities here…The Soul’s purpose and the Seven Rays).

Reflections of Greatness

Greatness surrenders but never gives up
Greatness never counts the cost
Greatness welcomes failure, as an opportunity to learn more
Greatness doesn’t court popularity or follow the masses
Greatness has a deeper sense of purpose, something greater than the small “I”
Greatness follows its passion, and doesn’t sell its dreams too cheaply
Greatness is a pathfinder, it breaks the mold, unleashing free flow
Greatness is patient but persistent
Greatness is passionately creative
Greatness doesn’t depend on the outcome
Greatness welcomes it’s reflection in the external mirror, but isn’t governed by it
Greatness expresses itself, unreservedly, but is never arrogant
Greatness isn’t put off by detractors
Greatness has tremendous self belief, gained by constant confrontation of what it is not
Greatness is constantly open to new opportunities or different ways of doing the same thing
Greatness is relaxed but aware
Greatness is inquisitive and innocent, but simultaneously wise
Greatness sees and honours the greatness in others
Greatness is continually dieing and rebirthing in each new moment.

Greatness hides in plain sight

It is certain to me, that this greatness is in everyone – because it is your own soul, an expression of the One. But I also observe that society frequently struggles to recognise God, and so doesn’t frequently value the God in you. The majority are so insecure about themselves, they’ll mostly only jump on someone else’s bandwagon. They wouldn’t recognise greatness right under their very noses.

Joshua Bell is one of the world’s finest violinists. He’s musical director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, a soloist and former child prodigy, known the world over for his phenomenal talent. The violinist is paid handsomely at sell out concerts on the top stages of the world. Yet in 2007, when, as an experiment, he rocked up to a busy metro station in Washington and busked for free, out of 1100 people who passed by, only 27 gave any money, and only 7 stopped to listen for any duration. He earned a paltry $52. Seven years later, when he made a well announced follow up at the metro station, this time thousands of people turned out to listen.

This must tell you something crucially important: you cannot value or under sell yourself, by attaching your greatness to the support, adoration, acceptance or popularity of the masses. They are simply too fickle, or else too tied up in society’s conditioning to see the real light within you. So why waste your time?

Make sure then, you don’t dilute your greatness by courting popularity. Greatness has nothing to do with the number of facebook likes you have!

Creating your own niche

In order to find and express your greatness, you need something to express into (the universe is a vast vehicle of expression for the One). It’s so that you can see your expression in the outer mirror of life. No so that you can ‘preen’ yourself, but so you can continually improve yourself; so you can learn, evolve and grow (because this is the nature of the soul).

This is a crucial measure of greatness: it’s all about personal growth. And when you commit yourself to the constant learning, evolving, growing experience of life, then you’ll be well on your way to discovering your greatness.

So it’s utterly invaluable to create your own niche. At Openhand, we call it Creating a Community of Common Interest. These are possibly friends, family and colleagues who resonate with your vibration and honour (at least to some degree) the greatness that you express. They give you great feedback loops of empowering energy, but also, they challenge you to grow. They express the truth to you, in a compassionate encouraging way.

So creating your own niche and building a community around that, is going to be of incredible importance in unleashing your greatness.

How to unleash the greatness in you

It is my passion in life to help people find and unleash their own greatness. So I find myself focusing a lot of energy on it. How can the greatness in me unleash the greatness in another? Here’s how we approach it at Openhand…

Become the observer of yourself; watch yourself keenly in all that you do
Let go of the need for the situation you’re in, to go a particular way
Recognise the purpose of EVERY moment is to unleash your Greatness and there is nothing else going on
Feel deeply into every moment through the five senses of sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing; let the psychic sixth senses activate.
Work to soften any internal resistance to what’s going on in the moment; feel your inner retraction, your tightness and reaction. Work to unwind this inside yourself
Now watch and feel for the arising of an authentic expression; perceived as a sense of rightness within you
Give all of yourself, all your emotion, passion and commitment to expressing this authentic beingness
Watch as your greatness manifests the world around you, creating new possibilities and paths
Walk forwards into the world on the path of light that the greatness of your soul creates.

The time has come to unleash your Greatness

We’ve been hiding our light for too long now, while only the relative few have truly found their greatness. They’ve been shining examples yes, but too many have placed them on pedestals, foreshadowing the greatness in their own selves.

Celebrate when someone achieves their greatness yes, but not at the expense of your own soul. You are every bit as wonderful, every bit as lovely, every bit as marvelous.

When you find your greatness, others around you may recognise, they may at first not. No matter. The feeling of it inside yourself is priceless. Don’t sell it cheaply! Don’t waste another moment without it. Now is the time to keep opening the internal space, making time and commitment for your greatness to reveal itself; then giving yourself – one hundred percent – fervently and with commitment to the revelation of it.

Remember, greatness is a feeling – that’s what you’re really looking for. It’s striking the sweet-spot of your own being. And when you do, there is absolutely nothing like it – certainly nothing worth selling it for. Your greatness is what the world needs right now.

From my heart to yours,

Open
(On behalf of Openhand)

About the Author

Open is a Spiritual Catalyst, with a deep sense of empathy and compassion for all sentient life. He works with an evolved, benevolent consciousness acting through the weave of life, helping people to reconnect with their true selves and realign with the universal flow. It’s a consciousness he was given to call “Openhand”.

Follow him on Facebook, here.

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