Very often in the past I used to hear the word, humility. Without understanding its meaning well and having similar phonetics, I thought it was an adjective form of humiliation. What a thought I had!
In fact, despite they are similarly spelled and next to each other in a dictionary, their meanings differ and oppose each other. Humiliate means to make somebody feel ashamed or stupid and lose the respect of other people. It has a very negative and downbeat sense. On the other hand, humility is the quality of not thinking that you are better than other people or the quality of being humble. It has very positive and upbeat value. And I later learn that this is the very quality needed in building enduring greatness in life. It is one of the virtues shared by many great leaders from the past and the present the world over.
Without saying a word, through their countless self-effacing actions, they all let us know that humility is the key to endure greatness. Humility is the mental state in which you have given up your place for others. A place for pride no longer exists. Humbleness engulfs the selfishness. A person with humility is brave enough to give credit where credit is due. Preference to capture all the glory for him/her vanishes.
It is indeed a very rare characteristic for many successful people. Every now and then, we hear sad ending stories of these very successful men and women around the world. Not many people can sustain their successful lives. Why so? Most of the successful people have pride and arrogance. They all believe that they are the smartest in the crowd or the biggest fish in a pond. A person without humility tends to humiliate or disgrace others. They turn their friends into foes. Without humility and being thinking the smartest, they stop learning from others as well as from their own mistakes. They transform themselves into unwise men and women. They no longer listen from others who care for them. They misapprehend all the circumstances and situations they are in. They do not think to apologize for their wrong doings. They become heartless and keep doing mistakes again and again. In very short, lack of humility leads one to stop learning and misconstrue all the contexts. Downfall is the end result.
Though humility is not a tangible commodity, we know it when we see it and feel it when we hear it. Everyone loves those with humility. Every religion in the world preaches and praises about humility. Buddha asked his disciples to give up all possessions and go from house to house to bag food in order to understand about the humility and disassociate ones from the pride. Jesus preached his believers to live modest and forgive enemies. Many stories on humility can be taken from the Dhammapada, the Bible and the Holy Koran. All religions in the world teach everyone to live in modesty.
Elizabeth Goudge said, “Truly great men and women are never terrifying. Their humility puts you at ease.” Indeed, great leaders are loved the world over. We never fear of Mother Teresa or Plato or General Aung Sann. We read and learn many inspired stories of these great leaders for their humility and humanity in this world. Nowadays, many leadership studies identify “humility” is the key to transform good to greatness. Numerous positive psychology studies indicate “humility” is the key to happiness.
From these anecdotal evidences from religious as well as from scientific point of views, I truly believe that humility is very fundamental in transforming good one into great. A person with the humility never says “I’m the one”. They all believe in “all for one and one for all”.
MAX
12 July 2010
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