I have got into a lot of trouble in my life because I was arrogant.
I will ask my family and friends to please excuse me if you find my quoting from the Bible a bit off putting. I have always looked for wisdom wherever I could get it and have not limited myself in any way in my search. Some people may not like it but I will ask my social circle to please bear with me.
In India there is emphasis on not having a strong ego and being part of the community and not creating trouble or offending people. I think that it is the threat of harassment and communal violence that has led to this emphasis.
I had reasons for my behaviour. Of course I suffered from a mental ailment but there were philosophical reasons also. I took Emerson’s essay on Self Reliance seriously and for me my nature or internal impulses were the only things that counted. I was completely self absorbed.
From a Google search:
In his essay, “Self Reliance,” Emerson’s sole purpose is the want for people to avoid conformity. Emerson believed that in order for a man to truly be a man, he was to follow his own conscience and “do his own thing.” Essentially, do what you believe is right instead of blindly following society.
https://emersoncentral.com/texts/essays-first-series/self-reliance/
As I said earlier, I had a mental ailment and the above message was definitely not was the remedy for it. But that is not the point I wish to make in this article.
I want to list down here the real reason why it is wise to be humble. Being humble will enable you to live the good life, to have life more abundantly which is what Jesus wanted for us.
The reason for being humble is implied by the parable of the elephant and the five blind men. This story is told below:
The parable of the blind men and an elephant is a story of a group of blind men who have never come across an elephant before and who learn and imagine what the elephant is like by touching it. Each blind man feels a different part of the elephant’s body, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk. They then describe the elephant based on their limited experience and their descriptions of the elephant are different from each other. In some versions, they come to suspect that the other person is dishonest and they come to blows. The moral of the parable is that humans have a tendency to claim absolute truth based on their limited, subjective experience as they ignore other people’s limited, subjective experiences which may be equally true.[1][2] The parable originated in the ancient Indian subcontinent, from where it has been widely diffused.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant
By being humble you free yourself of identification with your own point of view (or the mind) and you are thus in a better position to see what the other person is trying to show you. You accept that you are blind and that there are equally valid points of view other than yours. In this way you experience many facets of life.
Next it is written in the New Testament – Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
I am interpreting being poor in spirit as not being identified with the ego. Given what is narrated above it makes sense to be poor in spirit or not being identified with the mind and its antics.
This may have implications as regards the way we live our day to day life. Suppose someone insults you and you feel angry. What would be the best way to respond (and not react) to the situation?
The first thing to do – if you are following my argument – is to acknowledge that the other person has his own viewpoint. It may not be a valid viewpoint (since he is blind) but then neither is yours.
Having done that the next step is to trying to understand what the other person is seeing, what he is trying to show you. This includes understanding his motives and intentions.
If you do that you are much more likely to see the point of your situation and understand what you need to do in your self interest.
This is likely to be somewhat unpleasant. Who will like to admit that a person who is insulting you is within his rights to do so? But that is what I am asking you to do.
Try it.
You will notice that I have not made any judgement of right and wrong, good or bad. That is because that is not your job unless you are a judge in a court of law.
God is running the Universe and there is an elected government that is running the country. God will separate the wheat from the chaff.
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