MM#242--Humility 100x Over

Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now here's your host, David Kaiser.

Hello, i am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute. As is our new custom, let's kick it off with the opening quote. Humble people recognize their own inadequacy, qualities and abilities and press them into service, doing good without attracting attention or expecting the applause of others. The virtue of humility helps a person to control his disorder, desire for his own excellence, and therefore it helps to create an atmosphere which makes it possible for people to get along together. however, our description of this virtue speaks about recognizing one's strong points and shortcomings, and this has nothing to do with rejecting one's self-pride. Pride is not an enemy of humility. There is also the vice that has to do with advocating one's honor and good name. Therefore, it is clear that to be humble, one needs to be realistic, recognizing one's self for what one is that is the only way to use all of our qualities, etc. To do good. We can all find things in our makeup that we don't like, potential we fail to realize, qualities which are not developing. The truth of the matter is that if we begin to take a good look at ourselves, we come to realize we're not worth a great deal. The logical thing to do is to accept the situation and try to take oneself in hand, though some people take refuge in pride, emphasizing what they have, what gives them the edge over others, in order to justify their whole existence. And that quote comes to us from Character Building by David Isaacs, from chapter 19, on the virtue of humility. Now, humility is the bedrock of all the virtues. It is an extremely hard virtue to attain. It's exclusive. In that way, it's quite slippery. Once you think you have it, then you second guess yourself, because that would be quite prideful to say I have it attained, the virtue of humility. It's a paradox. Like that, you see what I mean. As I say it, it becomes self-evident. But humility is important. In fact, humility might be one of the most important of all the virtues To seek and to cultivate. Why? Because in the owner manual of life of this life. The Holy Bible, the Creator, who helped to inspire those words, wrote this When pride comes, then comes disgrace. But with humility comes wisdom Proverbs 11-2. And later on in that same book this was written Humility is the fear of the Lord. It wages our riches and honor in life, proverbs 22-4,. And at a banquet style gathering, the God made man reminded us. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted, luke 14-11. Let's go back to our book to dig further into this great virtue. The virtue of humility takes on its fuller meaning when a person looks at himself in relation to God, because in that way his inadequacies are compensated for by God's greatness. Humility means looking at ourselves as we really are, honestly and without excuses, and when we realize that we are worth hardly anything, we can then open ourselves to God's greatness. It is there that our greatness lies. According to St Thomas Aquinas, the true measure of a man is not taken by looking at him alongside others, but rather in his relationship to the Creator. The same happens with pride, which is not primarily thinking one is better than others, but rather an attitude to God, man's position as a creature, which is inherent in his makeup is the first statement of his humility. And it is this that, in practice, pride desires and destroys. Pride destroys man's sense of himself in relation to his Creator. Like a boat not tied to a dock, it's just floating out there, subject to the wind and the waves, yet humility views this relationship correctly. Humility ties that same boat or that same human being to a dock to stabilize itself. It has a proper relationship to the land when it's tied to the dock. One last quote from the owner's manual of life. The God-made man, jesus Christ, said this in the Holy Gospel, according to Matthew Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden, light, lowly in heart, can be translated as being humble, god-made man in his image. He wants to shower us with graces. But if pride steps in, whether in our external actions or in our thoughts or in the slight movements of our heart, god reminds us when should we view them in relation back to him, so that they always are in their proper place? We always stress the pursuit of truth here at the Mojo Academy. There is not my truth or your truth, but there is a real, objective truth. You and we need to learn it and pursue it. The proud man, it was once said, has little interest in knowing the truth about himself. The humble man is always eager on what needs to be worked on within himself. There's tons of good books out there to help us learn and grow in this virtue. But let's turn to a great little book I found titled Cultivating Virtue Self-Mastery with the Saints. There is no author attributed to it, as it was translated from the Italian by a member of the Order of Mercy from Hartford, connecticut. But let's grab just one short quote from this gem of a book for our next nugget of wisdom Humility is the foundation of all the virtues. Therefore, in a soul where it does not exist, there can be no true virtue but the mere appearance only, and like manner, it is the most proper disposition for all celestial gifts. And finally, it is so necessary to perfection that, of all the ways to reach it, the first is humility, the second humility and the third humility. And if the question were repeated a hundred times more, i should always give the same answer. And who said this? The great Saint Augustine. So in today's module minute, let us meditate and pray on Saint Augustine's quote. In fact, let us write it down and, in the silence of our own hearts, ask our Creator how can we, how can I improve in this great virtue? Will you shower me today, o Lord, with the graces of humility? Perhaps for the rest of our lives we can ask this same simple prayer, and perhaps we can give Saint Augustine's advice to others, that humility is the foundation of all the virtues. And then, when asked, we can repeat with Augustine humility, humility and humility, one hundred times over.

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.