If I could travel back in time to meet a famous person, I would most like to meet and speak with Siddhartha Gautama: The Buddha. If by "enlightenment" one means a complete understanding of the universe, then Buddha, having achieved "enlightenment", would be fully capable of answering all questions relating to the origins, condition, and destiny of the universe.
Perhaps the first thing I would like to discuss, upon meeting Buddha, would be the events surrounding the birth of the universe. How and why did the universe come into being? Are contemporary physicists correct in assuming that all matter emerged spontaneously from a single point beyond time and space? The Big Bang! And does this theory compliment or contradict the theories of other great religious thinkers who claimed that all life emerged from a primordial source. The "void"
Following our discussion of the origins of the universe, I would like to ask Buddha a number of questions concerning the "human condition." Why are Mankind, the planet Earth and the universe structured the way they are? What is the purpose of life? Why does existence contain such drastic opposites: love and hate, good and evil, joy and suffering?
Having gained an understanding of both the universe and the human condition, I would then like to move on to a discussion of Mankind's destiny. What is then ultimate fate of the universe, and in turn, life? Is it true, as some great thinkers have suggested, that the universe and everything in it return to the void from which it emerged? And what about God? Is God a personal entity, as some religions claim? Or is God the impersonal source of all that exists? The impersonal source of the void!
Throughout history, intelligent men and women have thought deeply about God, fate, destiny, and the origins of the universe. The opportunity to have these questions answered by one who lived in the not too distant past, would truly be a remarkable experience.
There are many famous people in the history of human beings. And I want to meet almost all of them if possible. But if only one choice is available for me, I will choose the great thinker Confucius without hesitation. The reason for my decision goes as follow.
In the first place, from my point of view, Confucius had a great influence on the culture and history from ancient time to present society in China and almost no one could be comparable with him in this respect. At the earliest of human society, Confucius firstly advocated education and civilization and taught Chinese people how to build a civilianized relationship among people. There is no doubt that this idea benefited the development of the Chinese society. It is the result of education that makes Chinese people create abundant culture from one generation to the next. Therefore, Confucius had a significant influence on Chinese history.
In the second place, Confucius encouraged people to respect their parents, treat their friends honestly and have a loyal heart to their emperors. At that time, only when people accepted these ideas could they really understand their own responsibilities for family and the society. Without these Confucius thinking, people may not know what is supposed to be the correct behaviors when they live with family or survive in the society. It is Confucius's idea that gave them a clear guidance. Until now, these ideas still have great effects to the behavior of present people.
Last but not least, Confucius has broad knowledge in many areas, such as literature, astronomy and geography etc. It is this knowledge that helped him complete many famous works. Experts from all over the world have paid great attention on the research of these famous books because many useful ideas in the books are still beneficial to our society. For example, Confucius advocated that humans should live in harmony with nature. In the present society, people destroy forests in some areas, so living environment of human being has been damaged seriously. If we had observed Confucius ideas, this would not have happened.
In conclusion, Confucius is a great and famous thinker in the history of China. He provided us with the basic idea of education and civilization in human society, created the guidance of behavior for families and the society, and left us with abundant spiritual works. Therefore, he is the one who I want to meet most. I really hope that someday time could go back, so that I would meet him in the actual world.
If I could travel back in time to meet a famous person from history, I would like to meet Christopher Columbus. Without a doubt he was one of the greatest people who have ever lived. I choose him not only because he found
America in 1492, but also because he had all the qualities that can define a successful person to me: brave, adventure spirit, attic faith, determination and perseverance.
First of all, I am strongly impressed with his daring and adventurous spirit. What he wanted to do, in the eyes of the public at that time, was a risk. Risking his life, in addition to a number of ships and other people's lives. But he had great courage and had success.
Secondly, his attic faith in the scientific theory that the earth was round had also led him to success. Despite the fact that most people still adhered to the belief that the earth was flat and that ships would fall off the edge, if they sailed too far in any direction. Columbus trusted the scientific theory, which was accepted only by few intellectual elites. It was his voyage that proved it.
Another great attribute from Columbus is his strong will and perseverance. If I could meet him, I would ask him how, after having his idea---voyage to India by a daring new route, namely, westward---rejected by the English, French and Portuguese courts, he still found the courage to ask yet another monarch to support him. I would like to hear what Columbus said to the King and Queen of Spain to convince them that this plan would be profitable for them, when they knew that he had been turned down by three other monarchs and any amount of money, supplies, or men with which they provided him could potentially be a total loss. Columbus was so determined that he finally convinced them.
If I had a chance, meeting Columbus would be my first choice. I see Columbus as a man "...more stupendous than those which Heaven has permitted..." no matter what anyone says.
