Humility is sometimes seen negatively because it is equated with humiliation. But they are hugely different – as different as are starving and fasting.
Starving is a forced deprivation of food when it is essential. When a person starves, they feel distressed, and their body weakens as it consumes vital muscles in its desperate search for energy. To be in a state of starvation is painful and harmful.
In sharp contrast, fasting is a voluntary abstinence from food for a higher purpose such as spiritual growth or health improvement. Though abstaining from food may be initially demanding, it is eventually uplifting. Rather than breaking down muscles, fasting burns fat and improves our health. Fasting is not meant to torment ourselves by depriving our body of something it needs; it is meant to enable us to perceive and pursue something higher while decreasing our disproportionate craving for food.
Like starvation, humiliation is imposed on us by externals. We feel humiliated when we crave respect but don’t get it – or worse still get its opposite, disrespect. Humiliation hurts severely because our ego hungers for respect but is deprived of it.
In sharp contrast, humility, like fasting, is chosen by us – we consciously turn away from our craving for respect to pursue a higher purpose. Though turning away from our ego can be painful, humility is not meant to torment us by depriving us of our basic need for self-worth; it is meant to free us for focusing on something bigger than ourselves, something whose pursuit infuses us with authentic self-worth far deeper than what might come by narcissistically massaging our ego. Indeed, the Bhagavad-gita (13.08) indicates that humility opens the door to wisdom, being its first characteristic.
One-sentence summary:
Humiliation is different from humility just as starvation is different from fasting – humiliation is imposed and painful, whereas humility is chosen and purposeful.
Think it over:
- How is humiliation like starvation?
- How is humility like fasting?
- What can you focus on to cultivate humility?
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13.08: 13.08: Humility; pridelessness; nonviolence; tolerance; simplicity; approaching a bona fide spiritual master; cleanliness; steadiness; self-control; … [ – all these I declare to be knowledge]
To know more about this verse, please click on the image
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