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140583
Theology 151 - N
Theological Essay
Great. Excellent. Magnanimous. These ideals have been continuously thrown at us
ever since we entered the four pillars of this institution we call school. We are told to work
harder and to excel, that we often mistake excelling with being the best. Its not even enough
that we are the best we have to be the rose among the thorns, the crme de la crme, The
Number 1. Even the songs we listen to and the movies we watch fixate on humanity striving
to be the best and the greatest that we become influenced with this kind of mindset and makes
us so engrossed in being great and to do things greatly.
Greatness is put on a very high pedestal that when you think of great, you automatically
think of the richest, smartest, most talented, and most influential. But think of someone who
you think is the most influential or smartest, and later you might be able to think of someone
else whos better at that. Thus, the reality is that no matter how excellent one is, there will
always be another one who is greater. And even those greatest that we know of, there will
always be others greater than them as well. So to dream of something greater than us will
only lead to a never ending cycle to be great without actually being able to reach such
greatness. This definition of greatness makes it unattainable. What then is a more attainable,
more human, and a deeper sense of greatness?
The phrase greater than myself connotes that there is something out there of value,
and that this something needs to be in our possession in order to say that the self has achieved
its fullest potential. True enough there is something greater than ourselves. We are only a
material reality of a greater spiritual and eternal reality, a transcendent; and our task is not to
understand the extent of the eternal, rather to make this eternal a part of the material world, to
allow it to manifest in the material world1 . To dream of this greatness then is not like reaching
for the cosmos, but instead it is to live a life of entirety. This can be better understood by
looking at the etymology of the word great, and by doing so we can look at a very different
meaning to the phrase greater than myself.

1 cf. Sandra Marie Schneiders, Religion vs. Spirituality: A Contemporary Conundrum? Spiritus 3/2
(Fall 2003): 166.
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Great is a common English translation for the German word gro2. However, gro in
German may mean several things depending on what you are describing. Gro does not only
mean great or big, but it also means coarse and simple. And I think this is a rather more
mundane sense of greatthat maybe greatness isnt a quality of perfection, of smoothness,
and of security. Greatness does not secure yourself a life without challenges, a life without
stress. Realistically, living consists of a mixture of human struggles of life and death,
sacrifice and tragedy, heroic accomplishments and deeds, unfulfilled hopes and dreams 3; and
being great, dreaming of greatness and not dreaming of anything less, is to dream of exactly
these and not one without the other. One of the manifestations of this sense of greatness can
be found in Moses life when he lead the Israelites out of Egypt. These Israelites have been
calling to God because they wanted to free themselves from the oppressive Egyptians4.
However, they did not expect that this freedom would mean the loss of security, food, and
shelter that they had when they were slaves of Egypt. Instead what they came across was the
desert which was described as a terrible, simple place, where living is reduced to survival.
Ones needs are absolutely basic shelter, simple food, drink and enough clothing to protect
one from the sun and from the cold Human life becomes very precarious in the desert. All
sorts of complications fall aside, and the business is survival.5 The desert connotes
something deeper than mere geographical location. The fact that the Israelites had to go to the
desert manifests the greatness that was being talked about earlier. To be able to attain
greatness that they wanted, sacrifices must be made, and thus a life of coarseness, and a life
of simplicity.
On another note, gro also means whole or total, similar to its use in the English
language as in gross income. So dreaming of greatness must also then mean dreaming of
wholeness, of a sense of totality. This is a definition of great that is closer to the essence of
living as humans and as individuals. We live in a world which constantly makes us feel as if
we are doing very little to make a noticeable difference. This is partly because there are so

2 read as gross
3 Dennis Olson, This is the Blessing: Deuteronomy 33-34, in Deuteronomy and the Death of Moses

(Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 1994), 170.

4 Exodus 2: 23-24
5 Charles Conroy, Moses Journey of Leadership, in Journeys and Servants (Quezon City: Catholic
Biblical Association of the Philippines, 2003), 27
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many people who have very brilliant ideas that change lives, change perspectives, even
change how a whole generation lives their lives. The world never fails to make us feel like we
are a sawdust particle that can easily be lost in the expanse in other words, we are made to
feel small and unimportant. We live in a world where people like Al Gore, Mark Zuckerberg,
Princess Diana, and Oprah Winfrey exist, and this makes us question what exactly is our
purpose. Questioning is not entirely a bad thing though. In fact, questioning what ones
purpose truly is is very important in order to live a life with direction. Asking Who am I? is
good because it keeps us down to earth. It keeps us in self-knowledge.6 This is why the
sense of wholeness and totality of greatness is much more substantial and definite because
when you realize that greatness isnt individuality as is, and you shift that perspective into
greatness as being a part of a functioning whole, or simply by being that allows something to
be whole, then ones individuality becomes more sensible. This is also the very essence of
our intrinsic valuethe fact that we as individuals, no matter how small a part we play, allow
this world to function. Our role might not even be as big as discovering fire or the cure to
cancer, rather it can be as simple as directly or indirectly impacting the society we live in, and
leaving traces of our lives with the people we see and communicate with every day. It is a
kind of greatness that is not merely a possession that could easily be lost or let go of; rather,
and more importantly it is a kind of greatness that is a mission. As Tamara Cohn-Eskenzi said
Humankind is embedded in a larger world which human beings can and do play a unique,
decisive role.7
More than that, if greatness concerns itself with the greater whole, it must also mean
that greatness does not necessarily manifest only in the specific action that is great or the
person who is great; rather greatness must be in the process itself that eventually contributed
to the greatness that is the person and his final work. Such as in the life of Moses who was
not able to see his work upon its completion. Even famous people in our time also share the
same story: Galileo Galilei who died in 1642 but his theories were only accepted in the 19th
century, Van Gogh who wasnt famous at all in his lifetime and whose works were recognized
only years after his death, Mendel and many more. Even the late Martin Luther King Jr. was

6 Charles Conroy, Moses Journey of Leadership, in Journeys and Servants (Quezon City: Catholic
Biblical Association of the Philippines, 2003), 30
7 Tamara Cohn-Eskenzi, ed., Breishit, in The Torah: A Womens Commentary (New York, New York:
URJ Press, 2008), 3
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assassinated before he could see the day that the Negros are finally recognized as humans and
given rights. Moses and all the others were only a vehicle for redemptive, healing, and
saving actions that will open the future for the sake of others. 8 To capture this essence is not
to merely say I have a dream greater than myself, rather I have a dream that which I dream
not for myself but for future generations. (1421)

8 Dennis Olson, This is the Blessing: Deuteronomy 33-34, in Deuteronomy and the Death of Moses
(Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press, 1994), 171.