Theos-Talk Archives (October 1996 Message tl00541)

liesel f. deutsch writes:
>> If someone else were to think I was important, I would attempt to make
>>myself unimportant through humility, and by showing them how they are in
>>sat my equal.  I wish to be equal with all humanity, but not equally
>>egotistical.
>
>Scuse me, John, in all humility, I think I AM IMPORTANT. As long as Jesse
>Jackson goes around telling black kids to say "I AM SOMEBODY", and as long
>as Serge King tells me that if you don't know what to heal in a person, you
>start healing their self-confidence, because many of people's ailments come
>from lack of it, I'm going to go around thinking that I am important. Where
Yes, Liesel, you are important, and so am I, as is everyone.  I suppose what I
am trying to say here is that I do not believe that one person is any more
important than the next.  Normally if someone tells me that I am important,
they are saying this because they feel that I am more important than they.
Because I am modest, therefore, through my humility, those who have thought me
more important find themselves as my equal, just as they should.  I have also
found that it is much easier to learn from someone if you neither look up to
them or look down at them.  This point of view also serves as a more efficient
relationship between "student" and "teacher", for if the student knows he is
equal with the teacher, then he also knows that he has as much to teach the
master as the latter does to him.  And if the master knows that he is equal
with his student, then he will not ignore what the student has to teach.  (I
apologize for the "he" and "his", but this is how I write, and I am sure you
know that I do not write in this way to demean you)

>I get humble is when I see another human being who has learned to do things
>better than I. I also get humble when I remember that, in spite of all that
>I have learned & achieved, I still have a long ways to go. I happen to think
>that most people who act humble are acting, because they think it's the
>thing to do, but they don't have the foggiest as to what real humility is.
Some do not, as they only know what it looks like on the outside.  I think
also that many people define humility as a state of being lower than another.
I looked up the word in fear that I had used it incorrectly, but found that I
had not.  One of the definitions refers to the "lowness", but it is not the
principle definition.  What I meant by humility is modesty.  And, as the first
definition states (for humble), I am conscious of my own defects and
shortcomings and I am not proud or self-assertive.  This shows when I am face
to face with others.  I do not know how I come across on these posts, but I
assure you I do not mean to act as though I am higher than you, for I do not
feel that way at all.

>Humility, I think isn't something you acquire consciously, you just have it.
>I'm not saying I have it, I'm saying I've had the good fortune of meeting
>people who were truly humble.
>
>Liesel

If you do not feel that you are better than anyone else and if you feel that
recognition is unimportant ...then you are humble.  And if you do not feel
this way, you can acquire it.  All you have to do is change your views on
others and yourself and realize that you are equal and not higher or lower,
regardless of what anyone may tell you.

---
The Triaist