As Metaphysicians, we understand that the Christ Consciousness {the Consciousness that is the realization that we are a part of God or Creation Energy} is a part of our very being. This knowledge, this understanding should elicit certain behaviors from us…. among those are to be gentle, kind, humble, meek, and patient.
Kind, gentle, and patient have been taught and presented as acceptable and desirable behaviors for most folks…. Meek and humble are not words many of us would find as a positive description. Can you imagine as an employer looking at the resume of someone applying for a position and in listing their qualifications is the phrase…. “I consider myself meek and humble”…..these words would not open many doors in our world today or garner much respect in most work situations…..
In Divine Metaphysical philosophy we teach that we are governed by The Universal Laws….and.. the Christ Consciousness is within and always available to us.
The acceptance of that knowledge should enable us to be strong and able… more confident human….But how does meek and humble benefit our Spiritual Walk and what do these words really mean??
Definitions include….. humble–showing a consciousness of one’s defects, lowly… and for meek– submissive, spiritless. Going a bit further….synonyms to these words are: lowliness, modest, confusion, sense of shame, disgrace, holiness, reverent, godly, pure, spiritual, saintly, sacred. A bit confusing????
In trying to understand how these words applied to my Spiritual Walk, I turned to some of the many writings of humility and how it pertained to life and the understanding of our Christ Consciousness.
I concluded genuine Spiritual humility is the realization that everything you are….or have….is a gift from God and you are serving others as you share these gifts.
This attitude becomes essential for success in spiritual life. Our connection with Source, Christ Consciousness…is where all goodness, all accomplishments have become manifest. Humility is a deep abiding gratitude… A KNOWING… that we are One with God as well as one with each other.
So how do we become humble??? By losing our self conceit, our ego, and becoming willing to be open to the guidance of Source ….By expressing gratitude… By going “into the gap”, the “space between our thoughts where ‘God’ resides” and connecting with that TRUTH. …and By serving.
Our ego….e-g-o…. edging god out…. does not want our connection to our Christ Consciousness growing… Then the ego would lose control… and for most folks, the ego has been in control a very long time. This is where the difficulty lies. Practicing humility lessens the ego’s hold over us, thus, through our ego we are lead to believe that humility is being less than. Humility is a step towards becoming aware of our Higher Self, the awareness of our truth.
This awareness, and importance of it,.has been told in all spiritual philosophies. Here are some examples:
A Kipsigis Proverb from Kenya: “It is humility that exalts one and favors him against his friends”.
From the Qur’an: “Successful indeed are the believers who are humble in their prayers, and who shun vain conversation, and who are payers of the poor and who guard their modesty”
From the Bhagavad Gita: “Be humble, be harmless, Have no pretension. Be upright, forbearing; Serve your teacher in true obedience, keeping the mind and body in cleanness. Tranquil, steadfast, master of ego. Standing apart for the tings of the senses, Free from self…..
From Lao Tzu author of The Tao te Ching: I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.
Our most known Avatar and Master Teacher practiced true humility….and the story goes:
It was before Passover and Jesus knew the time had come for him to leave this world. Jesus knew that he had come from God and would go back to God. During the paschal meal {the meal preceding the Feast of the Passover….. this was the last meal that Jesus ate with the disciples before the Crucifixion….which has come to be know as The Last Supper} Jesus rose from the table, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel. Then… he washed the feet of the Apostles. It was the custom in those days for a person entering a house to take off their sandals so as not to bring in dust or dirt from the road. The Apostles had done this, but they had neglected to wash their feet. Generally the host had a servant perform this service for guests. As Jesus continued this menial task, awe and shame silenced the Apostles, until Jesus came to Peter, who protested: “You shall never wash my feet”… Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part in me.” Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” After Jesus had washed his disciples’ feet and had put his outer garment back on, he sat down again. Then he said: “Do you understand what I have done? You call me your teacher and Lord, and you should, because that is who I am. And if your Lord and teacher has washed your feet, you should do the same for each other. I have set the example, and you should do for each other exactly what I have done for you. I tell you for certain that servants are not greater than their master, and messengers are not greater than the one who sent them. You know these things, and God will bless you….if you do them.
This beautiful gift was more than the washing of feet, it was demonstrating humility…. One-ness…. service without ego…..
How can we come to live this realization of humility???
Here are some characteristics of humility to apply in our life:
The humble person doesn’t need titles and position to maintain a sense of their dignity…. doesn’t need those things or rest on those things for a sense of who they really are.
This is a story from an old book by Donald Hankey. It’s called The Beloved Captain….
“We all knew instinctively that he was our superior…a man of finer fiber than ourselves. I suppose that was why he could be so humble without loss of dignity. For he was humble, if that is the right world, and I think it is. No trouble of ours was too small for him to attend to. When we started our troop marches, for instance, and our feet were blistered and sore… as they often were at first, you would have thought they were his own feet from the trouble he took. Of course, after the march, there was always an inspection of feet. This is routine. But with him, it was no mere routine. He came into our room and if anyone had a sore foot, he would kneel down on the floor and look at it as carefully as if he had been a doctor. There was no affectation about this. No striving after effect. It was simply that he felt that our feet were important and that he knew that we were careless, so… he thought it best at the start to see to the matter himself. Nevertheless, there was in our eyes something almost spiritual about this care for our feet. It seemed to have a touch of the Christ about it and we loved and honored him the more.”
The interesting thing is this– that it is the person who stoops like that, like Jesus, whom people in the end honor as a king and the memory of whom they will not let die.
The humble person may have a title and position but they do not need that title…. All that person truly needs is to know that they are serving… they are living in their Higher Self.
The humble person notices other people. The humble person treats with care those who very often can do them little or no good. Those who they might not otherwise ever notice.
Christian Herter was the governor of Massachusetts in the 1950’s. This is a story from his campaign. HE CAME ACROSS SOMEONE WHOM HE WAS ABOUT TO IGNORE, BUT FOUND HIMSELF HAVING TO NOTICE!! He was having a really hard day campaigning….. missed his lunch….. and came in the late afternoon to a church barbecue…. really hungry. As he moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line.
“Excuse me,” the governor said. “Do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?” “Sorry,” the woman told him. “I’m suppose to give one piece of chicken to each person.”
“But I’m starved,” the governor said.
“Sorry,” the woman said again. “Only one to a customer.”
Governor Herter was apparently a modest and unassuming man but he decided this time he would throw a little weight around.
“Do you know who I am???” he said to this woman. “I’m the governor of this state!”
“Do you know who I am???” the woman replied. “I’m the lady in charge of the chicken…..Move along mister!”
The Governor told the story on himself so he apparently learned the lesson! But sometimes we don’t notice “the lady in charge of the chicken”—or the waiter at the table, or the person in the kitchen, or the clerk at the counter, the cleaning person…. or the poor….or the person with a disability….or the homeless…or the illiterate…. those who are out of our sight…who hide as much as they can their problem…. who fade away from our recognition. The humble person notices other people…. even if they seem to be way down at the bottom of the list. PAUSE
The humble person leads, and does so by serving. Quietly….getting on with what needs to be done….to touch and influence for good in the lives of others…. without the need for recognition.
The “pay it forward” that comes from the heart!
Humility. Not passivity.
Humility. Not the lack of assertiveness. Sometimes humble people are very assertive on behalf of others…..
Humility. The lack of arrogance and rudeness.
Humility. Not the most popular personality trait in our instant gratification culture today.…
I will end with a poem attributed to Mother Teresa:
Mother Teresa’s Anyway Poem
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
Just do it anyway!!
