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The Principle of Humility |
The Principle of Humility is to resist a false sense of self importance. This planet is but a speck of dust in the universe; a small rock orbiting a medium size star in a galaxy of billions of stars in a universe of trillions of galaxies. We exist but for an instant of time. There are possibly billions of other planets that have life that are far more advanced than we are that we wouldn't even be good enough to be considered food. So how important can we really be?
This principle is based on the idea that we should do the best we can and work together to try individually and collectively to figure out who we are and why we are here, where is here, and what being here means. Humility is to realize that our knowledge is very limited and that the more we learn the more we find that we don't know.
Too many people take themselves too seriously. They think that they are "chosen" and have a special relationship with some deity, and that the deity is dependent on them. Too many people are vying for social position resulting in the burden of self importance. People want to have "meaning" in their lives and want to believe that they are here for some special "purpose"; that they have some cosmic role to play and that reality is dependent on them. People with big egos are too easily misled and manipulated and are far less effective in maintaining integrity than those who are unburdened by maintaining their perception of self importance.
Our world view is that it is more likely that we are here for no particular reason at all. That we are random events and that nothing that happens on this planet is significant to the universe. If this entire galaxy were to blow up today - it would take 2.2 million years before anyone in the next galaxy would even know it happened - assuming that there is anyone in the next galaxy and that they even care. So - in that context - how important are we and why are we wasting so much time and effort trying to convince ourselves we're significant? We can lose that burden and accept that we are nothing special and move on to have fun and explore our reality as it really is.
An exaggerated sense of self importance often affects one's perception of reality the way it really is. It makes people subject to being easily fooled or manipulated into believing bullshit in order to justify their self importance. It creates an addiction to maintaining a self image as a member of the herd and allows others to manipulate your well being in order to ensure that you maintain social status within the group that you belong to. It is a tool that others use against you to make you live the lie.
Humility allows us to accept doubt and to express doubt and to understand that doubt is not a personal insult but an expression of our quest for reality. Humility helps us to accept scrutiny, to be accountable, to be responsible, and to preserve the integrity of our quest for reality. We express doubt from a place of humility and we accept doubt from a place of humility. Humility allows us to be inclusive, to maintain peace and avoid war. To allow wisdom to rule over emotion. Humility prevents us from giving or accepting excessive ego treats leading to moral masturbation and a false sense of self importance.
The Principle of Humility is to leave the self importance burden behind so that you don't have to waste time and effort on bullshit and avoid being manipulated into cult behavior. It is important to be humble. We choose to be of service - not to be served. It is part of our discipline and our wisdom and allows us to move forward in the Sacred Direction. |
