1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:08,400 Speaker 1: Greatness and goodness. Goodness simplicity greatness. These three are one, 2 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:13,599 and this trinity of perfection cannot be separated. All greatness 3 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:19,160 springs from goodness, and all goodness is profoundly simple. Without goodness, 4 00:00:19,199 --> 00:00:23,000 there is no greatness. Some men pass through the world 5 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:28,079 as destructive forces, like the tornado or the avalanche, but 6 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,359 these are not great. They are to greatness as the 7 00:00:31,399 --> 00:00:35,240 avalanche is to the mountain. The work of greatness is 8 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:40,479 enduring and preservative, and not violent and destructive. The greatest 9 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:45,799 souls are the most gentle. Greatness is never obtrusive. It 10 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:50,640 works in silence, seeking no recognition. This is why it 11 00:00:50,679 --> 00:00:55,640 is not easily perceived and recognized. Like the mountain, it 12 00:00:55,759 --> 00:00:59,119 towers up in its vastness, so that those in its 13 00:00:59,119 --> 00:01:03,359 immediate vicinyity, who receive its shelter and shade, do not 14 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,599 see it. Its sublime grandeur is only beheld as they 15 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,319 recede from it. The great man is not seen by 16 00:01:11,359 --> 00:01:15,840 his contemporaries. The majesty of his form is only outlined 17 00:01:15,879 --> 00:01:19,480 by its recession in time. This is the awe and 18 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:24,599 enchantment of distance. Men occupy themselves with the small things, 19 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:30,239 their houses, trees, lands, few contemplate the mountain at whose 20 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:35,280 base they live, and fewer still explore it. But in 21 00:01:35,359 --> 00:01:39,719 the distance these small things disappear, and then the solitary 22 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:46,000 beauty of the mountain is perceived. Popularity, noisy, obtrusiveness, and 23 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:51,879 shallow show. These superficialities rapidly disappear and leave behind no 24 00:01:52,079 --> 00:01:58,480 enduring mark, whereas greatness slowly emerges from obscurity and endures forever. 25 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:03,640 Jewish rabbi and rabble alike saw not the divine beauty 26 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:09,319 of Jesus. They saw only an unlettered carpenter. To his acquaintances, 27 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:13,719 Homer was only a blind beggar. But the centuries reveal 28 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:18,000 him as Homer, the immortal poet. Two hundred years after 29 00:02:18,039 --> 00:02:21,000 the farmer of Stratford, and all that is known of 30 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:26,520 him has disappeared. The real Shakespeare is discerned. All true 31 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,439 genius is impersonal. It belongs not to the man through 32 00:02:30,439 --> 00:02:34,560 whom it is manifested. It belongs to all. It is 33 00:02:34,599 --> 00:02:38,360 a diffusion of pure truth, the light of Heaven descending 34 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:43,840 on all mankind. Every work of genius, in whatsoever department 35 00:02:43,879 --> 00:02:49,000 of art, is a symbolic manifestation of impersonal truth. It 36 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:53,120 is universal and finds a response in every heart, in 37 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:57,680 every age and race. Anything short of this is not genius, 38 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:02,840 is not greatness. That work which defends a religion perishes. 39 00:03:03,599 --> 00:03:08,280 It is religion that lives. Theories about immortality fade away, 40 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:13,840 and mortal man endures. Commentaries upon truth come to dust. 41 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:19,199 Truth alone remains. That only is true in art, which 42 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,800 represents the true, That only is great in life, which 43 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:28,240 is universally and eternally true. And the true is the good, 44 00:03:28,879 --> 00:03:32,800 and the good is the true. Every immortal work springs 45 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:36,240 from the eternal goodness in the human heart, and is 46 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:40,919 clothed with the sweet and unaffected simplicity of goodness. The 47 00:03:40,919 --> 00:03:46,520 greatest art is like nature, artless. It knows no trick, 48 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:51,520 no pose, no studied effort. There are no stage tricks 49 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:55,280 in Shakespeare. And he is the greatest of dramatists because 50 00:03:55,319 --> 00:04:00,000 he is the simplest. The critics, not understanding the wise 51 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:05,439 simplicity of greatness, always condemn the loftiest work. They cannot 52 00:04:05,439 --> 00:04:11,240 discriminate between the childish and the childlike, the true, the beautiful. 53 00:04:11,439 --> 00:04:16,040 The great is always childlike, and it is perennially fresh 54 00:04:16,079 --> 00:04:19,800 and young. The great man is always the good man. 55 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:25,040 He is always simple. He draws from nay, lives in 56 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:30,319 the inexhaustible fountain of divine goodness. Within he inhabits the 57 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:35,439 heavenly places, communes with the vanquished great ones, lives with 58 00:04:35,519 --> 00:04:40,399 the invisible. He is inspired and breathes the airs of heaven. 59 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:44,120 He who would be great, let him learn to be good. 60 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:49,439 He will therefore become great. By not seeking greatness aiming 61 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:53,720 at greatness, a man arrives at nothingness. Aiming at nothingness, 62 00:04:54,079 --> 00:04:57,879 he arrives at greatness. The desire to be great is 63 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:04,000 an indication of littleness, of personal vanity and obtrusiveness, The 64 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:08,199 willingness to disappear from gaze, the utter absence of self 65 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:14,600 aggrandizement is the witness of greatness. Littleness seeks and love's authority. 66 00:05:15,399 --> 00:05:19,800 Greatness is never authoritative, and it thereby becomes the authority 67 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:24,519 to which the after ages appeal. He who seeks loses. 68 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:29,279 He who is willing to lose wins All men. Be 69 00:05:29,439 --> 00:05:34,720 thy simple self, thy better self, thy impersonal self, and 70 00:05:34,879 --> 00:05:40,639 lo thou art great. He who selfishly seeks authority shall 71 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:45,439 succeed only in becoming a trembling apologist, courting protection behind 72 00:05:45,439 --> 00:05:49,439 the back of acknowledged greatness. He who will become the 73 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:54,240 servant of all men desiring no personal authority, shall live 74 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:58,319 as a man, and shall be called great. Abide in 75 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:02,480 the simple and noble regions of thy life, Obey thy heart, 76 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:08,000 and thou shalt reproduce the foreworld again. Forget thine own 77 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:12,399 little self and fall back upon the universal self, and 78 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:17,360 thou shalt reproduce in living and enduring forms a thousand 79 00:06:17,439 --> 00:06:22,879 beautiful experiences. Thou shalt find within thyself that simple goodness 80 00:06:23,199 --> 00:06:26,839 which is greatness. It is as easy to be great 81 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:30,319 as to be small, says Emerson, and he utters a 82 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:35,279 profound truth. Forgetfulness of self is the whole of greatness, 83 00:06:35,879 --> 00:06:39,319 as it is the whole of goodness and happiness. In 84 00:06:39,399 --> 00:06:44,240 a fleeting moment of self forgetfulness, the smallest soul becomes great. 85 00:06:44,759 --> 00:06:48,399 Extend that moment indefinitely, and there is a great soul, 86 00:06:48,759 --> 00:06:54,720 a great life. Cast away thy personality, thy petty cravings, vanities, 87 00:06:54,759 --> 00:07:00,000 and ambitions as a worthless garment, and dwell in the loving, compassion, 88 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:05,160 selfless regions of thy soul, and thou art no longer small, 89 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:12,240 Thou art great. Claiming personal authority, a man descends into littleness. 90 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:19,199 Practicing goodness, a man ascends into greatness. The presumptuousness of 91 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:22,680 the small may for a time obscure the humility of 92 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:26,000 the great, but it is at last swallowed up by it. 93 00:07:26,519 --> 00:07:29,160 As the noisy river is lost in the calm motion. 94 00:07:30,759 --> 00:07:34,279 The vulgarity of ignorance and the pride of learning must disappear. 95 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:38,439 Their worthlessness is equal. They have no part in the 96 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:43,000 soul of goodness. If thou wouldest do, thou must be. 97 00:07:44,079 --> 00:07:48,560 Thou shalt not mistaken information for knowledge. Thou must know 98 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:53,839 thyself as pure knowledge. Thou shalt not confuse learning with wisdom. 99 00:07:54,399 --> 00:07:59,480 Thou must apprehend thyself as undefiled wisdom. Wouldst thou right 100 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:04,480 a living book, Thou must first live. Thou shalt draw 101 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:08,480 round thee the mystic garment of a manifold experience, and 102 00:08:08,519 --> 00:08:14,000 shalt learn in enjoyment and suffering, gladness and sorrow, conquest 103 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:18,079 and defeat, that which no book and no teacher can teach. Thee. 104 00:08:18,839 --> 00:08:22,839 Thou shalt learn of life of thy soul. Thou shalt 105 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:27,240 dread the lonely road, and thou shalt become. Thou shalt be. 106 00:08:28,399 --> 00:08:31,720 Thou shalt then write thy book, and it shall live. 107 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:35,759 It shall be more than a book let. Thy book 108 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:39,720 first live in THEE. Then shalt thou live in thy book. 109 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,919 Wouldst Thou carve a statue that shall captivate the ages, 110 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:48,159 or paint a picture that shall endure? Thou shalt acquaint 111 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:52,679 thyself with the divine beauty within thee. Thou shalt comprehend 112 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:56,799 and adore the invisible beauty. Thou shalt know the principles 113 00:08:56,799 --> 00:09:00,600 which are the soul of form. Thou shalt receive the 114 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:05,759 matchless symmetry and faultless proportions of life, of being of 115 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:10,759 the universe. Thus knowing thee eternally true, thou shalt carve 116 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:15,360 or in paint the indescribably beautiful. Wouldst Thou produce an 117 00:09:15,399 --> 00:09:20,759 imperishable poem. Thou shalt first live thy poem. Thou shalt 118 00:09:20,759 --> 00:09:24,840 think and act rhythmically. Thou shalt find the never failing 119 00:09:24,919 --> 00:09:28,559 source of inspiration in the loving places of thy heart. 120 00:09:29,919 --> 00:09:34,039 Then shall immortal lines flow from THEE without effort. And 121 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:38,519 as the flowers of wood and fields spontaneously spring, so 122 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:42,480 shall beautiful thoughts grow up in thine heart and enshrined 123 00:09:42,519 --> 00:09:46,159 in words as molds to their beauty, shall subdue the 124 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:51,000 hearts of men. Wouldst Thou compose such music as shall 125 00:09:51,039 --> 00:09:55,320 gladden and uplift the world, Thou shalt adjust thy soul 126 00:09:55,440 --> 00:10:00,360 to the heavenly harmonies. Thou shalt know that thyself, that 127 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:04,919 life and the universe is music. Thou shalt touch the 128 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:09,200 chords of life. Thou shalt know that music is everywhere, 129 00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:12,799 that it is the heart of being. Then shalt thou 130 00:10:12,919 --> 00:10:18,159 hear with thy spiritual ear the deathless symphonies. Wouldst Thou 131 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:22,960 preach the living word, Thou shalt forego thyself and become 132 00:10:23,039 --> 00:10:27,519 that word. Thou shalt know one thing, that the human 133 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:33,360 heart is good, is divine. Thou shalt live on one thing. Love. 134 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:39,240 Thou shalt love all, seeing no evil, thinking no evil, 135 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:44,600 believing no evil. Then, though thou speak but little, thy 136 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:47,799 every act shall be a power, thy every word, a 137 00:10:47,879 --> 00:10:52,919 precept by thy pure thought, thy selfless deed, though it 138 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:58,279 appear hidden, Thou shalt preach down the ages to untold 139 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:04,399 multitudes of aspiring soul. To him who chooses goodness, sacrificing 140 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:08,120 all is given that which is more than and includes all, 141 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:13,000 he becomes the possessor of the best communes with the highest, 142 00:11:13,759 --> 00:11:17,759 and enters the company of the great. The greatness that 143 00:11:17,879 --> 00:11:22,720 is flawless, rounded and complete, is above and beyond all art. 144 00:11:23,639 --> 00:11:29,000 It is perfect goodness and manifestation. Therefore, the greatest souls 145 00:11:29,039 --> 00:11:30,279 are always teachers.