Humility - Definition and Overview

Humility is the state of being humble. While people may have different ideas about the meaning of humility, a protypical humble person is generally thought to be unpretentious and modest: someone who does not think that he or she is better or more important than others. Humility is not to be confused with humiliation, which is the act of making someone else feel ashamed, and is seen as something completely different.

Humility in religion, spirituality, and philosophy

In religion and spirituality, humility is generally considered a positive value. In monotheistic religions, humility can be seen as a form of respect towards and acknowledgment of a supreme being.

Humility in Christianity

In Christianity, humility, or meekness, is seen as a virtue, encompassing three skills:

1. yielding ones rights and possessions to God,
2. earning the right to be heard rather than demanding a hearing, and
3. responding properly to anger when others violate one's personal rights.

Amongst the benefits described (or at least claimed) in the bible are wealth in heaven, honour, wisdom, eternal life, unity and others.

Selwyn Hughes, a contemporary Christian author, suggested that humility for Christians is not about lowering yourself down to something tiny, and thus insulting God's work, but rising to the fullest height of your ability and then comparing yourself with God. [1] (http://www.everydaywithjesus.com/docs/author.htm)

Other views of humility

Mahatma Gandhi is attributed as suggesting that attempting to sustain truth without humility is doomed to cause it to become instead an "arrogant caricature" of truth. [2] (http://www.geocities.com/rkvenkat/chastity.html) [3] (http://www.mkgandhi.org/epigrams/h.htm)

Some other schools of thought, such as Objectivism, have seen self-abasement as antithetical to morality.

Humility is considered an important virtue in taoism. The following quote describes how a wise person should see his accomplishments, according to the Tao Te Ching (77.4)

[a wise person] acts without claiming the results as his; he achieves his merit and does not rest (arrogantly) in it: -- he does not wish to display his superiority.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Humility

• Article called "How Much Space Do You Take?" on Aish.com (http://www.aish.com/spirituality/growth/Path_of_the_Soul_2__How_Much_Space_Do_You_Take%24.asp)
• World scripture: Quotes from religious texts about humility (http://www.unification.net/ws/theme128.htm)
• I'm glad that I'm a nobody: A positive psychology of humility (http://www.meaning.ca/articles/presidents_column/humility_nov03.htm)