Humility exalteth man

When you mention humility people look askance.  It is such an old fashioned word.  Today the language is all about self confidence, that can do, capable, independent spirit we all long to have.  But humility, no, that is something we just wish others would have!  I was having a discussion about this with some friends and one felt that humility felt to her like being on her knees and being told to get lower.  That prompted an interesting discussion about what humility actually is and about self esteem and pride.  It was fascinating to hear all the different perspectives on this issue.

There’s a lovely quote about humility by Rick Warren

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less. “

So humility is not about thinking less of yourself but about taking the focus somewhere else entirely.  St Augustine put it differently but more practically in terms of building foundations.

 “Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.”

 

What a lovely image of us needing to build foundations to what we are and humility providing those very vital structures.  Something solid on which everything else can be built.  

The benefits of humility and the dangers of pride are dealt with beautifully and succinctly in this quote from Baha'u'llah.

“Humility exalteth man to the heaven of glory and power, whilst pride abaseth him to the depths of wretchedness and degradation.”

So if we are to become greater than we are now, start by building the foundations, acquire humility.  We need to build ourselves on something solid and pride does not help.