How to be Humble
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How to be Humble
The following quotation comes from the Rule of St Benedict, Chapter 7. Referring to Jacob’s ladder, Benedict writes:
The descent we make by self-exaltation and the ascent by humility. The ladder is our life in this world which God raises to heaven if we are humble in heart.
Benedict gives us twelve rungs that we must use to climb towards heaven, each one teaching us how to humble ourselves.
What do all of these rungs have in common? Why does it mean ultimately to humble oneself? It seems to me that humility is about the negation of self in the service of God and other people. Put more simply, it is about not pushing oneself forward. It is therefore about turning away from one’s own will, which so much of the time is about self-exaltation, self-promotion, and the stroking of the ego. But there must be something to turn to, and that is the will of God and the service of others.
This is why the first step given by Benedict is ‘to keep the fear of God in mind at all times’: Life is not about me, as if the universe were created to revolve around me and as if everything were set up for my comfort and convenience. Everything is ultimately about God and his purposes. He is God and I am not.
We are forbidden to do our own will, for Scripture says to us, ‘Turn away from your own will’ (Sir. 18:30). Similarly in the Lord’s Prayer we ask that God’s will be done in us (Matt. 6:10).
This fear of God naturally leads on to the second step towards humility which ‘is not to love your own will and not to take pleasure in satisfying your own desires’.
Again, this is very helpful because it gives us a way of thinking about difficult things in life, tasks that must be done, acts of devotion, charity or goodness that we don’t necessarily feel like doing. There may actually be a greater blessing in carrying out these actions precisely because we must subvert our own will in doing so: I don’t feel like doing this good deed but I have an opportunity to prefer what is right and good in the sight of God over my own will. Thus, the will is subverted, a step towards godliness and humility is taken. The power of the prideful ego is lessened and one grows in devotion to God and his purposes.
The other steps fit this pattern of negating the self before God and others.
Submit to your superior with complete obedience.
‘Cling to patience with equanimity, practising obedience when you encounter painful and difficult experiences and even unjust treatment. You should endure all this without growing angry or running away’.
This is one of my favourites and a great piece of advice: don’t become angry in the situation you face, but don’t run away either. Stay there and practice maintaining your equilibrium before the Lord: patience, obedience, resilience, faith.
Humble confession to the abbot.
Translated into our world: regular and honest sacramental confession, including ‘all the wicked thoughts that spring to mind’. But, more generally, a willingness to be open about your sin and failings with other people. The thing that you don’t want to confess is the thing that you most need to confess.
The monk must ‘be content with the lowest position and most menial treatment, and to consider himself incompetent and worthless with regard to everything he is told to do’.
And, in case you wonder if you are hearing this correctly, step number 7:
The monk should ‘not only…claim that he is beneath everyone else and worse than them, but also (must) be convinced of this deep in his heart’.
What do you do though if you encounter sin and incompetence in other people? How can you think about yourself if you are genuinely gifted or blessed in a particular area? Are you to convince yourself that you are not gifted or blessed?
I say it’s a matter of emphasis, recalling to mind Christ’s words in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘Remove the log from your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s’ (Matt. 7:5). If you spend all of your time thinking about your own sin and failure before God, you will have no time or space to criticise your brother.
Follow the rule of the monastery.
Again, this is about submitting the individual will to some higher purpose and authority.
The monk should keep his tongue in check and refrain from speaking.
‘The tenth step towards humility is to avoid being easily provoked to laughter, for it says in Scripture that ‘the person who raises his voice in laughter is a fool’ (Sir. 21:20).
The monk should ‘speak gently and without laughter, but with humility and seriousness’.
These steps are quite challenging because we live in such a garrulous age in which we are positively encouraged to share our every thought with the world. But there is humility being slow to speak and quick to listen (James 1:19), preferring the opinions and thoughts of other people to those of oneself.
What’s wrong with laughter? Nothing in particular. Laughter is a good gift of God. But I think what Benedict has in mind here is the kind of thoughtless, cackling laughter that speaks not of genuine mirth but of nihilistic despair. The kind of laughter that is had by those who cannot take anything in life seriously, who want to make light of everything, who laugh out of insecurity or a desire to make other people like them. You know the type.
The monk should display humility in his behaviour.
This is emphatically not to impress other people, which would be sin, but is a reminder to the monk of his commitment to holiness and of his humble status:
He should always have his head bent, his eyes fixed on the ground, regarding himself at all times as guilty of his sins, and imagining that he is already appearing before the dread judgement. He should constantly repeat to himself in his heart the words of the publican in the Gospels who said, with his eyes fixed on the ground, ‘Lord, I am a sinner and not worthy to raise my eyes to heaven’ (Luke 18:13).
These steps to humility point to a broader principle that Benedict teaches about the spiritual life and human nature. It is summarised at the end of the chapter. Once he has practiced these things for a while, the monk will reach the perfect love of God…
As a result, all the things he did out of fear he will begin to perform without effort, out of habit and naturally, no longer out of fear of hell but as a good habit out of the love of Christ and delight in virtue.
The point being that that which we begin by a godly effort of the will eventually becomes part of who we are and that which we accomplish automatically, without thinking and, in a sense, without effort. The monastery is ‘a school for the Lord’s service’ (Rule of Benedict, Prologue) but we can apply this principle in our own lives. I put it more strongly: we must apply this principle in our own lives if we are to grow in our faith. That is, we must have a rule, practicing prayer, devotion, and, meditation upon Scripture and the outworking of these things in our lives through acts of humble service and love. As we discipline ourselves before the Lord in these ways, we gradually but inevitably change into the image of Christ. The monastery is therefore a symbol of this life of practice and transformation that can be implemented in even the most secular, modernised context today.
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