Who left the best example?

[Spiderman]

Of all people to walk the Earth, who would you say left the best example of how to live and had the best teachings?

I admire Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Ghandi, Buddha, and those who displayed great Charity, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, nonviolence, love for enemies, tolerance of other beliefs, and humility.

 

[Spiderman]

I admire Jesus as well , especially his teachings on loving your enemies, but where I disagree with Christ is on his teachings that lead people to be bigoted and despise what others hold as sacred.

Buddha didn't do that.

 

[Quintessence]

My parents.

 

[Spiderman]

My parents.

You are very blessed! We all wish we could say that about our parents. Mine don't come close!

 

[Quintessence]

You are very blessed! We all wish we could say that about our parents. Mine don't come close!

I'm well aware that I'm fortunate in this regard. While so-called famous people hold no sway with me, I managed to grow up with excellent role models in terms of living an honorable life. Perhaps the most important lesson they have left me with is of accepting people for who and what they are; perfect love and perfect trust that comes with no conditions and is simply granted. It's a lesson that certainly helps me in my day job, where I interact with people from all walks of life. They know they can come into my office and not be judged.

 

[sun rise]

There are many examples of how to live in the past. But the past is the past. Today I believe there are those who work quietly with no media propaganda. They may get noticed by the 'positive news' media and sometimes rarely by the mainstream media but sometimes they just do their work quietly. The Good News Network: Positive Stories 24/7 is one source reporting on these people.

As far as the best teaching, these people's lives are the teaching in deeds not works. But all the great ones have taught the same basic message about the principle of love/compassion/kindness and non-egoic service to humanity/nature.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Of all people to walk the Earth, who would you say left the best example of how to live and had the best teachings?

I admire Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Ghandi, Buddha, and those who displayed great Charity, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, nonviolence, love for enemies, tolerance of other beliefs, and humility.

I've always taken it to be oneself.

 

[Muslim-UK]

Michael Hart, in the 100: A
Ranking of the Most Influential
Persons in History, 1978.

MUHAMMAD (PBUH), No. 1

From the 100, a Ranking of the
Most Influential Persons in
History, by Michael H. Hart

My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most
influential persons may surprise some readers and may be
questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who
was supremely successful on both the religious and secular
levels.

Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one
of the world's great religions, and became an immensely
effective political leader. Today, thirteen centuries after his
death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive.

The majority of the persons in this book had the advantage of
being born and raised in centers of civilization, highly
cultured or politically pivotal nations. Muhammad, however,
was born in the year 570, in the city of Mecca, in southern
Arabia, at that time a backward area of the world, far from the
centers of trade, art, and learning. Orphaned at age six, he was
reared in modest surroundings. Islamic radition tells us that he
was illiterate. His economic position improved when, at age
twenty-five, he married a wealthy widow. Nevertheless, as he
approached forty, there was little outward indication that he
was a remarkable person.

Most Arabs at that time were pagans, who believed in many
gods. There were, however, in Mecca, a small number of
Jews and Christians; it was from them no doubt that
Muhammad first learned of a single, omnipotent God who
ruled the entire universe. When he was forty years old,
Muhammad became convinced that this one true God (Allah)
was speaking to him, and had chosen him to spread the true
faith.


No one can study the life of the Final Messenger of GOD and not have admiration and a deep respect for the man, whose legacy will be amongst us for all time.

 

[Laika]

Of all people to walk the Earth, who would you say left the best example of how to live and had the best teachings?

I admire Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Ghandi, Buddha, and those who displayed great Charity, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, nonviolence, love for enemies, tolerance of other beliefs, and humility.

There are an estimated 108,200,000,000 (or 18.2 billion) people who may have existed in human history since 50,000 BC. Since we didn't get national census until the 19th century, the over whelming majority of mankind is totally anonymous. Those that we do know rely on inaccurate and incomplete historical records.

I would guess most of mankind have probably lived fairly reasonable lives based on the universal biological constants of wanting to live and thrive as part of their communities and as a species as a whole. They developed the virtues necessary for living and for being part of a society without necessarily having a specific moral teaching in mind. It is true there would be those who are explicitly anti-social perhaps due to psychopathy, and those who lived through extreme times and had to make moral choices we would not willingly want to make ourselves. But it probably still not a large fraction of the overall figure.

The people we think of as the moral teachers or spiritual leaders, rather than the millions of followers who try to live out the principles set before them. Even if those individual figures may be gifted or have acquired greater knowledge and wisdom, in the end, it is the followers that determine the consequences of the doctrine and practice it as part of their day to day lives.

Humanity has moral reserves that it can draw on and that we should not under-estimate ourselves by comparing each other to singular exceptions, especially if our knowledge of them is partly based on myth. I would think the best spiritual leaders taught us how to grow as people rather than simply how to be right or good in a more fixed sense. Whilst this is somewhat biased by an evolutionary viewpoint, its would seem learning to live with being wrong and improving ourselves that counts as we deal with the complexity of being living, breathing organisms who have to adapt our ideas to new surroundings. The evidence of human goodness is often right in front of us if we are willing to see it as it is something that most of us do most of the time.

 

[BSM1]

John Wayne.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Copernicus
Darwin
Einstein
Faraday
Tesla

 

[Jeremiahcp]

I have, everyone should be copying me.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I have, everyone should be copying me.

I have, everyone should be copying me.



How am I doing so far?

 

[Jeremiahcp]

I have, everyone should be copying me.



How am I doing so far?

Good attempt but you need more flare in your pinkie.

 

[blü 2]

Of all people to walk the Earth, who would you say left the best example of how to live and had the best teachings?

Not one person. The culture of the ancient Greeks. They got us thinking about art, architecture, poetry, drama, politics and protodemocracy and the critiquing of politics, the writing of history, protomedicine, mathematics and the concept of 'proof', observation of nature and the drawing of conclusions, coherent theology, philosophy and such questions as what is the good life, and so on.

All of which are still with us for the good.

 

[Spiderman]

Michael Hart, in the 100: A
Ranking of the Most Influential
Persons in History, 1978.

MUHAMMAD (PBUH), No. 1

From the 100, a Ranking of the
Most Influential Persons in
History, by Michael H. Hart

My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most
influential persons may surprise some readers and may be
questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who
was supremely successful on both the religious and secular
levels.

Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one
of the world's great religions, and became an immensely
effective political leader. Today, thirteen centuries after his
death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive.

The majority of the persons in this book had the advantage of
being born and raised in centers of civilization, highly
cultured or politically pivotal nations. Muhammad, however,
was born in the year 570, in the city of Mecca, in southern
Arabia, at that time a backward area of the world, far from the
centers of trade, art, and learning. Orphaned at age six, he was
reared in modest surroundings. Islamic radition tells us that he
was illiterate. His economic position improved when, at age
twenty-five, he married a wealthy widow. Nevertheless, as he
approached forty, there was little outward indication that he
was a remarkable person.

Most Arabs at that time were pagans, who believed in many
gods. There were, however, in Mecca, a small number of
Jews and Christians; it was from them no doubt that
Muhammad first learned of a single, omnipotent God who
ruled the entire universe. When he was forty years old,
Muhammad became convinced that this one true God (Allah)
was speaking to him, and had chosen him to spread the true
faith.


No one can study the life of the Final Messenger of GOD and not have admiration and a deep respect for the man, whose legacy will be amongst us for all time.

I find Muhammad to be a bit too violent and too intolerant of polytheists. You know he personally cut off many heads?

I'm more fond of the merciful and forgiving

 

[HonestJoe]

Of all people to walk the Earth, who would you say left the best example of how to live and had the best teachings?

I find the people who provide the best examples to live by don’t seek fame for it by definition. Most famous people don’t provide the best examples, if only due to the corruption of fame itself.

 

[Muslim-UK]

I find Muhammad to be a bit too violent and too intolerant of polytheists. You know he personally cut off many heads?

I'm more fond of the merciful and forgiving

That's because unlike Mr Hart, you haven't studied the life of the Final Prophet of God using authentic sources, had you done so, you would very likely have a very different outlook.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Of all people to walk the Earth, who would you say left the best example of how to live and had the best teachings?

I admire Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Ghandi, Buddha, and those who displayed great Charity, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, nonviolence, love for enemies, tolerance of other beliefs, and humility.

Ghandi, maybe - he did great things, but he was by no means a perfect person.

The Buddha strikes me as a character that people just glom stories onto: you want your kids to eat their vegetables? Tell them about how the Buddha ate his.

Mother Theresa... I think her status on a pedestal is completely unwarranted and that she was a despicable self-promoter who left a trail of death and human misery in her wake.