What is Humility?

Most people are taught to be humble and meek from their earliest days. In India, humility is lauded as one of the greatest virtues. Accordingly, every person must show humility to every other, especially to his parents and grandparents, his uncles and aunts and anyone else older than him. The entire culture seems to have developed around this one central theme that each person must respect and accept everything put forward by all elders. Some traditions take this even further, where parents are regarded as supreme and that, in fact, the mother or matriarch in the family, is equal, or almost equal, to God.

Unfortunately, this ideology leads to the sad development that many people do not cultivate independent thinking for themselves, and instead submit to the way of life of their respective families. In turn, when they become the parents, they impose this on their children. The chain thus stretches far, with no end in sight, and very often wrong concepts are propagated across entire generations through this interpretation of "humility".

But we are all endowed with the capacity to think deeply about many things. That we fail to do so is our fault, because we always choose not to think deeply. Deep thinking offers much clarity about all the problems that face us, and it is not hard for us to cultivate, if only we want to. But most of us prefer to remain superficial and "shallow", thus missing many wonderful opportunities to become truly and inwardly free. Free even from many of the wrong concepts of the older generations.

True humility can only be before the Almighty God! Not anyone else! Man must not bow down and simply accept without thinking what his elders tell him just because they are older than him! Age is no synonym for wisdom! Nor is it noble to meekly accept the faith of one's parents!

Humility is one with worship. But worship in its purest form can only be offered to the Source, to the One God. Not to any other being, not even to the gods and goddesses, who are merely other created beings that stand on the higher planes, providing help and support.

The rigid interpretation of "humility" towards other people must be replaced with the more noble concept of "respect". Yes, we can show respect to our friends, teachers, kinsmen, elders and parents. But this "respect" does not imply a bowing down before their every whim and caprice. True respect entails allowing people their free will to believe what they wish, even when this does not correspond with one's own beliefs. Not to argue, resist or protest on the one hand, or to blindly accept and submit on the other, but to calmy let things take their natural course where it is a matter of personal relationships.

When people choose to give us advice, we must weigh and examine them according to the Laws of Nature, not our own personal opinions. If we can intuitively perceive that this advice fits into the framework of the Laws, then it would benefit us to heed this advice. If not, then we must naturally discard this advice, even if the giver is insulted thereby, as it is in many cases, because of the lack of genuine objectivity in nearly all matters.

But before God, there is no other possibility but to submit to Him. To submit to Him means to accept Him, His Word and His Commandments completely and wholly. Because He is God, He is Perfect, without fail. In Him there is only Life! Hence, the meaning of the expression: "Fear God!" This means to recognise His Will and live according to It without fail. His Will is synonymous with His Eternal Laws that maintain Creation. Before God alone, therefore, can there be true humility!