18.66 When loyalty becomes self-destructive…
Loyalty is a glorious virtue— unless it is disastrously weaponized by the vicious. A tragic example of this is the Mahabharata character Karna. He was [...]
4.39 When loyalty becomes slavery
Loyalty is noble—until it starts choking our conscience. There’s a moment when standing by someone stops showing strength and starts showing weakness. In the Mahabharata, [...]
How can we be humble without letting ourselves be trampled by others?
Humility is one of the most treasured virtues in spiritual life, but it is often seen as weakness in material life. If we are humble, [...]
Protecting ourselves by defining and defending boundaries
Suppose a country has a hostile neighbor, who is constantly trying to infiltrate into its territory. If the boundary between the two countries is not [...]
Even if others don’t take us seriously, still we can take ourselves seriously
Suppose we have an important suggestion that can improve a project we are a part of. But our inputs aren’t allowed or asked or acknowledged [...]
No one has a right to mistreat you, not even you
No one has a right to mistreat you not even you Suppose someone repeatedly derided us. We would be incensed: “You have no right to [...]
Humility doesn’t take away our self-respect; it helps us respect the self
Some people feel that humility is demeaning, that it takes away their self-respect. This feeling stems from their misunderstanding that humility means to let oneself [...]