What is Greatness?

Is it about how others perceive you or about how you perceive yourself? Is it about performing stupendous deeds of heroism? 

To me, obsessing about the above, only takes away something from the potential to be great. I think greatness is just the same as success. You might be great in your lifetime or, like van Gogh, much later, after you have died. I think greatness comes from doing what you naturally gravitate towards. For Krishnamurthy and Socrates, it was philosophizing, for van Gogh, it was painting, for Wodehouse and Hesse, it was writing. These are all forms of expression.

What about Alexander the Great? Did he express himself through his behavior? This brings up the question – What does expression encompass? To me, it includes being able to organize. Perhaps organize is a better word than express for it indicates an ability to structure expression.

In the heat of battle, how many of Alexander’s decisions came from conscious thought? Krishnamurthy said he was just a radio. The structure of Benzene came to Kekule in a dream. How could van Gogh have put conscious thought into a technique that was never known before? Most certainly, it was studied once his paintings became famous and I am sure several artists have consciously reproduced the same technique. But how many of them has that made great? 

Is it then perhaps then the ability to freely organize sub conscious creativity (I use creativity for want of a better word) greatness, to a small extent guided by conscious thought? I think the subconscious certainly has a great capacity to organize. How much of what we think is conscious thought subconscious? Can the line between the two be drawn? I have come from writing about greatness to writing about thought. The key to greatness is after all in the mind.