How many times during the day do we feel pain because our pride is hurt? Pride, the exacerbation of self importance, consists of being infatuated with the few qualities we possess and, often, of imagining ourselves to possess those we lack. It hinders all personal progress, because in order to learn we must first believe that we do not know. In the words of one Tibetean saying: " The water of good qualities does not pool on top of the rock of pride." Conversely: " humility is like a vessel placed ground level, ready to receive the rain of qualities. "
Humility is a forgotten value in today's word. Our obsession with the image we have to project of ourselves is so strong that we have stopped questioning the validity of appearances and endlessly seek better ways to appear.
What image should we project? Politicians and movie stars have media advisor whose job it is to create a favourable image for their client with the general public, sometimes even teaching them how to smile. Newspapers are devoting more and more space to their "people pages," with grabby headlines on people in the news, their ratings of whose in and who is out . In all of this what place is there for humility, a value so rare that it might almost be consigned to the museum of obsolete virtues?
The concept of humility is too often associated with self contempt, a lack of confidence in our abilities, depression linked to a sense of powerlessness, or even to an inferiority complex or a feeling of unworthiness. This represents a significant underestimation of the benefits of humility. Says S. Kripal Singh: "True humility is freedom from all consciousness of self which includes freedom from the consciousness of humility. The truly humble man never knows that he is humble. " Not feeling that he is the centre of the universe, he is open to others and sees himself as part of the web of interdependence.
