Dear friends,
It has often been said that humility is a mark of spirituality, and this is so. But “humility” needs to be well understood, I think, to really grasp what that means.
Interestingly, Yogananda defined “humility” as “self-honesty.” If we have any conscious awareness, we want to be better than we are. I am sure that is true for everyone reading this. But in our quest, it is quite natural to envision ourselves as perhaps better than we are in fact—or worse! As for the better, this is because we tend to see the world the way we want it to be. That’s why it is so easy to see everyone else’s flaws and peculiarities and so hard to see our own. (The challenge of seeing your own flaws is not because they are so tiny. Good try!)
Being overly self-critical is just as much an error and lack of self-honesty. We are all here to learn. We all have deep subconscious drives. We just hope our “craziness” is not of the self-destructive or societally difficult kind. So when we see someone who is especially challenging in some way, the proper response is compassion—and why would that not be true for ourselves as well?
Self-honesty is to see oneself closer to the reality we actually are. To accept that we have things to learn and limitations, but to know that ultimately we will overcome them. There is no cause for discouragement and no cause for pretending to be a saint when we may perhaps have some distance to go. The first step to overcoming a personal quirk is to accept that it is there. The first and coincident step towards true humility is to be self-honest and see every one of us as a child before Spirit.
May we each set aside our desires, fears, and critical natures so we can see reality for what it is. That reality includes friends, family, and even ourselves. We are each a child of Spirit and should be respected as such inwardly, regardless of what the world tells us. As students, we also ought to remember how much we still have to learn.
Blessings,
David G., manager
for the Gang at East West