What is humility?

Humility has no central authority. It does not know what-should-be. It has nothing to defend or assert.

So when ‘self-centeredness’ dies - there is nothing.
In this nothingness - there is no division and so we name it as ‘humility’?

**Yes, no-thing and everything. Including a lot of talking.

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When self-centredness is present, humility would seem to be automatically absent. In contrast, when self-centredness is absent, humility seems to appear naturally.

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Yes Sean.

So, one can be humble to others - only when there is no ‘me’ and ‘you’.

But, if there is ‘me’ and ‘you’ - even if we show that ‘we are humble’ - we expect something in return for this ‘self’ and it is not actual humility because the ‘pride’ is still there. Right?

Hello Viswa. What you say may well be true and it sounds like it is. All I can say is that in the moment that the self-centred “me” is not there, humility seems to be there automatically. Does that make sense?

It makes sense, but it’s misleading because humility is the absence of pride, arrogance, self-esteem, hubris, etc. It’s what is not there that matters.

That’s what I was saying, wasn’t it? When the self-centred “me” is not there, with all the things you listed, then humility is there.

You said that “humility seems to be there automatically”, suggesting something instead of nothing, i.e., the absence of everything we are, psychologically.

The humble human is the antithesis of the self-centered human. He/she is inscrutable and incomprehensible to us because they can’t be identified as anything we know. Humility is beyond our comprehension. We speak knowingly about it, but we know nothing about humility beyond what we can imagine, and humility is unimaginable.

If what you say is true, then you are theorizing here, surely. You are imagining humility, never having experienced it yourself.

We’ve all experienced humiliation, and that’s as humble as we get.

To imagine humility, I’d have to be absent. I can act like a humble human, but it’s an act of deception if not carried out for a humble purpose.

But you’re talking about humility yet say you’ve never experienced it - I don’t understand that.

I’m talking about what I cannot know about humility.

I am its opposite - aren’t you? I choose not to be humble because choosing is what I am, and what could be more humble than picking and choosing? It’s the ultimate humiliation, but it isn’t humility until humiliation is impossible.

I don’t see things this way. I would say that humility is observable in moments when self-centredness is absent. Have you never observed this?

How do you know it’s humility? Do you recognize it? How do you know when “self-centeredness” is absent? Are you looking for yourself and finding nothing but now?

At what point does self-centeredness come into being, I wonder? Is it when any kind of thinking occurs or only when a certain variety of thinking happens. K is of the opinion that the ego comes into being when we are engaged in the process of becoming. Given that we understand the consequences of becoming, of the what is and the what should be and all that, why is it that we are unable to root it out in ourselves? Is it that becoming manifests in subtle and not so subtle varieties? Just wondering …

K: … action creates the actor. That is, the actor comes into being when action has a result, an end in view,

We understand it but we don’t see it. We can’t see it and have knowledge, too, unless the knowledge is strictly technical. We can’t know more than we can see without believing, so we believe only that which can be demonstrated…and even then we have our doubts.

Hi Sean.

@Inquiry is right.

This “self-centeredness” is present always - and so whatever you observed - in the moments - are not actual humility.

Only if the ‘me’ totally dies - one can actually feel it - until then it’s only an imagination.

The usual meaning of humility is the quality of being humble and means putting the needs of another person before your own, and thinking of others before yourself. Isn’t this the control and power of the other? I’d want to find out what is the nature of humility for myself, where there is no other. Where I am standing feet on the ground. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin humilis, low, lowly , from humus, ground ;] the free dictionary.

How do we know anything? Is humility difficult to recognise in yourself and in others? Is anger difficult to recognise? How do you know when someone is angry? It’s often obvious when you are angry but sometimes you have to be listening and watching very carefully to see anger in yourself and others.

We’re talking about when there is no self-centredness but is this only an idea, a theory, or do we have personal experience of this? Have you ever listened to a friend telling you about a problem? You’re just listening to him, not analysing or judging. You listen with attention and feel for your friend who is suffering. This is not a thing of intellect, you are actually feeling a connection and feeling his pain. Is this a thing of imagination? How do we know anything?