Were The Great Masters of Humanity really good people?

Question

There are many forms of "greatness" i'm sure but my question pertains to the likes of the following;
1. Buddha-was it necessary for him to desert his family to embrace his ideal?
2. Mohammed-he killed people at one stage-why did he need to?
3. Moses-he condemned the Egyptians and didn't exactly dislike the demise of the soldiers sent after him.
4. Jesus-he broke his mother's heart by giving up his life in martyrdom.
5. Mahatma Gandhi-he was supposedly slighty cruel to some of his inlaws.
I guess my basic question is this-such great founders of civilization and such good people but they failed to avoid hurting people, how so? Abstract and universal preaching sometimes perhaps hasn't alot in common with practical "in your home" action. Dont get me wrong-i truly respect and love these figures but its also healthy to question i believe.
So-your thoughts please?
Thanks.

Answer 1

it's difficult to know for sure, whether or not these things are true in the first place, as with storytelling so many things can be misinterpreted- or not completely factual, etc...

but having said that disclaimer-

the beings that you spreak of, were human beings who self~ realized in their particular lifetime, meaning they either achieved the status of enlightened master or some higher form of consciousness ( i believe that within consciousness there is a heirarchy or evolutionary pyramid...in other words you can be at high level or a lower level, but still way above the average level of human consciousness)


before reaching the level of which you speak- the state that we like to see these Great Beings...we forget that they were human beings..growing, in the process of becoming Great Beings. just like every single human being alive. we are all Bodhisatvas, all Great Beings in the making, just some on different levels, in different grades at school.

it makes sense that to reach that high level would take many many lifetimes, and that the closer you got to complete self~realization the more perfect your incarnations would be, but if you really think about it, the greatest opportunites for growth spring from pain and making mistakes...through which a great lesson is learned.

but what is a mistake? can we truly know what is right or wrong? it is from our limited human perspective that we judge things, and maybe cannot see the perfection of things. like how seemingly bad things give birth to greatness- from the highest perspective all is perfection.

it is complex, and deserves more discussion!

*peace

Answer 2

I have often wondered about this myself, and I don't even know if I can answer it properly. The only concepts I can draw on is that good and bad are subjective and that God is an imperfect God, and even the Masters had to re-learn basic life lessons in order to teach humankind. In order to teach good, you must have a knowledge of evil. Their goal was to teach humankind how to rise above their base nature. In order to have a good insight into human nature, one must have the human experience.

I apologize for expressing such jumbled thoughts, but it is my thought process at work.

Wow I quite like Cap'n Donna's and Zentrinity's responses.

Answer 3

whoa.......this is such deep thinking that it actually makes my brain hurt

i think that deep at the core of everybody we are not good but very mean people....even God who left the apple in the garden for Eve to eat....that was pretty mean, why leave it in the first place?

so, in my mind, Greatness is a a lie and should be erased from the dictionary, unless Great means big and none of these people were BIG people (unless popular means big, or great, but i am taking your use of the word great to mean really good)

I hope this was the healthy kind of answer you wanted to your healthy question

Answer 4

masters of humanity ''''
can someone master humanity?
The beliefs and ideals change so often
can humanity be mastered!/ "interesting"
Good question?
I'm sorry the question were they good people?
They seem to have been people trying to do GOOD things
I would say they were good at heart, and deed.
So Yes

Answer 5

“And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.” Matthew 19:16-17
ONE!