Showing posts with label Virtue development - humility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virtue development - humility. Show all posts

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Virtue Development, Part Five, Humility - invisibility


Humility, part five, invisibility
Becoming part of the whole, the whole world becomes holy.

People skilled at the virtue of humility have the ability to make themselves invisible. When their presence isn’t needed they can disappear. There is no need for a humble person to be in the spotlight. Rather they disappear into the woodwork.

A person practicing humility by making themselves invisible are not shy, they are not socially anxious, they easily fit into the whole. They are satisfied to become part of the scenery, to become one with All.

The person practicing humility is a Universalist knowing that every person has inherent worth and dignity and dropping the ego allows one to become part of the all with none being better or lesser than the rest but part of the whole. In this awareness every person becomes holy and the whole world is sanctified.

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Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Virtue development, Humility, part four, the yin and yang of humility


Humility, part four, The yin and yang of humility

Humility allows us to learn. Humility is knowing what we don’t know. Socrates said that the main characteristic of a wise person is to realize how little they know.

A person who is skillful in the virtue of humility shares with others what (s)he does know, and looks for people who can teach them what they don’t know.

A humble person both knows what they know and knows what they don’t know. This is the yin and yang of humility.

Unitarian Univeralists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning and it is in this searching that they demonstrate their humility.

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Virtue development - Humility, part three, the paradox of humility

Part three - the paradox of humility

To say, “Look how humble I am” is obviously not to be humble. To be vain and proud of one’s humility is a trick of the ego. Gratitude for the talents and abilities one has been given and achieved is the more humble way to enact this virtue.

In verse 17 of the Tao Te Ching it is written:




And so the humble person knows others and respects them. The humble person empowers others by sharing information, by teaching skills, by facilitating opportunities for people to use this knowledge and skills in ways that are satisfying and fulfilling.

A person of humility is often unrecognized for their contributions and needs and wants no recognition credit, but rather takes delight in the blossoming of others and oneself. It is this witnessing of positive developments that is enough.

Friday, March 6, 2020

Virtue Development, Humility, Part two, Walking with Love


Humility, part two - Walking with Love.

Humility is knowing that we have nothing to defend. When a person realizes that they are living in two worlds, the world of the ego, and the world of the spirit, a person can choose to spend more time in the world of the Spirit and less time in the world of the ego. Giving up defending the things of the ego is such a grand liberation. There is nothing any longer to fear. A person can just be ordinary.

Being ordinary a person can give up pretence, give up trying to save face, give up putting on airs and making things seem one way when deep down the person knows that they are another way.

In choosing to spend more time in the world of the Spirit the person feels safe, has more peace and bliss and is at home with God. Jesus told us to be “in the world but not of the world.”

We should always remember that we have a choice: to defend the ego, or to walk with Love. The practice of humility comes from the decision to walk with Love.

Monday, March 2, 2020

Virtue Development - Humility - Suspending judgment


Chapter Six - Humility
Suspending judgment.

Humility is one of the least understood virtues. Humility is not meakness, not submissiveness, not passivity, not allowing oneself to be oppressed and subjugated. Humility follows from faith, and honesty, and a nonjudgmental attitude, and kindness, and gratitude.

Humility comes from taking a “not knowing” position and an attitude of curiosity. Humility is giving up the need to be right and the admission of not knowing everything. In A Course of Miracles humility is called “defenselessness.” It is written in ACIM, “God’s teachers have learned how to be simple. They have no dreams that need defense against the truth.” ACIM.MT.4.VI:1-2

When a person understands who they really are, a part of God, they have no need to strut, to pretend, to hide behind a facade, to defend themselves from vulnerability. A humble person understands that they are invulnerable because of their essence, the Ground of their Being.

It is important to know what one doesn’t know. To cultivate an attitude of curiosity and a desire to love what one does not know is an important skill. Humility takes practice.

In our insecurity, we insist that our view of the world is the only correct way to perceive and understand things. Being willing to suspend judgment, to suspend certainty, to suspend righteousness in the service of giving everyone, even oneself the benefit of the doubt is the hallmark of the virtue of humility.

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