Greatness is Choosing to Live.
Refuse to merely exist.
“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”
—Emerson, Self Reliance
The first day of middle school is the first time a person will make the most important decision of his or her life. It is the decision to proceed through life mindlessly or to live purposefully; it is the decision to settle or to grasp for something more; it is the decision to accept things as they are or to realize that you have the power to change things. Above all, it is the decision to be ordinary or to be great. Middle schoolers do not know at the time that they are making choices both small and large that are indicative of their future mediocrity, and in rare cases, of their future greatness. The sixth grade student has new expectations placed upon his or her shoulders and new choices to face: What should I wear? Who should I sit with at lunch? What type of music should I listen to? What clubs should I be a part of (or avoid)? …Who am I? Most will choose passively. The majority will decide for the individual and the individual will be unaware that a choice has been decided at all. Most middle schoolers will conform because the opinions of others matter to them. They will wear the same clothing brands and styles, listen to pop music, and hold the same opinions as everyone else around them. At the same time, there will be the stereotypical nonconformists. Often dressed in goth attire (but not necessarily), these nonconformists are led by a ring leader that attracts those who are unable to fit in with everyone else; those who have been ostracized are not unlikely to become a part of this clique. Ironically, the nonconformists tend to conform to each other because once rejected from the nonconformists there is nowhere else to go.
The typical middle schooler and the nonconformist clique are actually identical. Yes, that goth/punk kid with the purple hair, ill fitting skinny jeans and cheap faux leather jacket is fundamentally the same as the field hockey playing, Aéropostale wearing, Taylor Swift fan. They are both destined to live a perfectly unextraordinary life if they do not change their methodology in decision making. In both instances, they are both trying desperately to fit in with a chosen clique, and in the process they sacrifice their own individuality— the mechanism for greatness. The vast majority of middle schoolers begin their lives without mindful choices leading to the passivity in their lives to become a lasting habit.
But there is another fate.
The middle schoolers who are shocked by the sudden change in the social behavior of their peers may become something greater than the norm. The middle schoolers who are perplexed and frustrated by the lack of individual thought may, in fact, be in control of their own lives. The middle schoolers who dare to question why things cannot be as they see them— who dare to manipulate their environment— may become great.
Greatness can be comprehensively explained by breaking the concept down using fictional characters as paragons, or perfect examples. The great detective, Sherlock Holmes, serves as a perfect example. Holmes has been reinvented time and time again but one thing has always remained the same. He always has complete mastery of his chosen skill, deductive reasoning, and the rational reason for why he solves crimes is because of the love of solving. He is great for himself and only himself. His life is not about serving others— it is about the pursuit of his own, rational happiness. While his actions are indeed beneficial to everyone affected, Holmes did not set out with the intention of helping others; he acts in his own self interest as opposed to altruistically, and the world benefits anyway.
One of the more widely deviating Sherlock Holmes adaptations, House, illustrates the same concept in that Dr. Gregory House is not a doctor for the purpose of helping others and interacting with patients— but rather he is the best at what he does because he loves what he does. In all Sherlock Holmes adaptations, Holmes does what he does for his own sake, and that is what may inspire greatness in the individual.
Another fictitious character, Howard Roark of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, epitomizes greatness. He is described by Rand as what man might be and ought to be. He is the ideal. In The Fountainhead, Roark is a talented architect that aspires to build original buildings instead of the typical, gaudy, classical designs used by competing architects. He dreams of merging structure and function to create buildings that had a basis in reason. What makes Roark truly exceptional is his belief that a life of greatness, pursuing his own happiness, is the only one even possible to him. He cannot even fathom anything else. He is utterly self assured and completely oblivious to the fact that there is an alternate, lesser way of living. That same sense of unawareness was also apparent in how he viewed other people; he did not look down upon others or idolize them— they simply went unnoticed. Roark has a mentor, a few friends, and a lover who he cares about deeply and specifically but everyone else was simply invisible. He did not let others dictate his life. His life’s purpose was to do what gave him his greatest rational joy, to create innovative buildings. His life’s work is not about earning a living— his work is fundamentally inseparable from his soul. Howard Roark is his work.
Don Draper of AMC’s Mad Men, is another greatness paragon that reveals not only greatness but also self destructive actions that may cause suffering in one’s life. Don Draper is a genius copywriter/creative director for an ad agency in the 1960s. He loves the creative aspect of the job and when he gives a pitch for an ad campaign, it is an emotional experience for everyone who hears him. Don knows how good his ads are and because he is aware of the quality of his work, he will not compromise with his clients. Don Draper does not create ads so that he can have clients so much as he has clients so that he can create ads. Don is remarkable in the professional realm because he acts rationally, basing his decisions on conscious, logical, creative thought. His problems begin when he acts irrationally, when he acts on whims or fear of being alone. His irrationality is expressed in excess quantities of alcohol, a poor relationship with his children, and chronic cheating. All of these irrational actions cause problems in Don’s life and decrease his happiness while all of his rational actions involved in his creative work increase his happiness.
This is something you and I know intuitively. Although consciously recognizing that the source of unhappiness in our life is derived from acting irrationally should cause us to change our behavior, we often will not take action toward a happier and greater existence. A person’s inability to achieve greatness is directly linked to an absence of certain core credences about how the world operates.
Greatness is fundamentally dependent upon certain beliefs and desires including a belief in free will over determinism, a desire to control one’s own life, and the acceptance of the components of rational egoism or Objectivism. Objectivism is concisely and effectively explained in this video:
The belief in free will—believing that your choices actually matter and that you can actually control your fate under the framework of your circumstances is essential. If one does not believe that one’s actions can cause one to become great, but instead believes—irrationally—that one’s fate is predetermined by luck or some religious deity then one will not take the necessary actions to achieve greatness. Belief in determinism cripples action while belief in free will enables it. Once an individual accepts that choices matter, then the individual may choose to start making choices that would steer his or her life in the desired direction toward greatness— such as choosing to practice the given area of hopeful mastery. Further, to control one’s own life, it is essential to respond to one’s situation via reason as opposed to making a snap reaction based on whims or feelings that lack objective backing.
Someone who accepts free will and holds reason as a virtue above all else may still fall into the pattern of acting on whims, fear, or just plain apathy. What then? The inability to do as one wants, become great, despite philosophical acceptance and understanding of the fact that you are not just a pawn of an omniscient force, is a problem that must be looked at in the context of one’s own life. The most likely explanation is a build up of passive and irrational habits. Procrastination, excessive TV watching, a sedentary lifestyle, and mindless internet surfing are just a few habits that are difficult to break but are ultimately necessary to mitigate in order to boost self-efficacy and your chances of becoming greater.
Objectivism and rational egoism dictate that rationality is man’s highest virtue because it lends so extensively in the sculpting of one’s own life, man’s chief value. Our circumstances are uncontrollable but how we respond to the uncontrollable is a choice we must make. It is a choice we must make every single day. One may deny choosing but the consequences of not choosing to take control of one’s life, the choice to be ordinary and to live passively is, choosing to spend your precious, finite life solely existing—not living—and merely passing time until the day you die is the greatest horror there is.
So choose. Choose to be.
And then choose to be more.
If you like what you just read, please hit the green ‘Recommend’ button below so that others might find this essay.
If you liked this essay, then you might like:
or…
