False Humility

"False humility is what slaves show to their masters. Slaves know that if they do not

obey their masters blindly, if they do not show this kind of outer humility, the master will punish them."

Sri Chinmoy

...

http://www.livinglifefully.com/humility.html

(What do we 'the aam aadmi' do, when facing a policeman, Incometax official, Municipal Corporation clerk, Court-Judge, Political Neta, A goonda, An RTO license-Giver, that boss who is powerful enough to show us the door, but not competent enough to assess our worth.......and all those Government people where, it is safe to 'play-a-little-humble'!)

And then when it comes to a really safe area, where we can afford to be a little gentle, little kind, little mild..... the humility is overtaken by that suppressed frustration of having 'played-humble' and we let off the steam at those who are meek, submissive, helpless, and perhaps really humble while looking at us! In effect, one set of relationship is corrupt, and the remaining one get spoilt, often by the residue of having borne the brunt of those corrupt ones!

Perhaps, that 'acceptance' might work .... Suppose, during our visit to a large zoo, somehow the latch at the lion's cage got loose, and the King came out for a walk, and we happened to come into his way there... Humility does not work (like it works with our Minister saab!... )... We simply do what we can... There is only that fear... once the danger is over (some zoo keeper manages the King and his route is routed back into the cage)... the danger is over, the fear subsides, and we have a hearty laugh over it... now we are a bit more-confident even, with that spouse! (Asli sher ko dekh liya aamey saamney, tu kya cheez hai!).. There is a subtle 'acceptance' about what can be expected out of an hungry, ferocious lion... still better, what cannot be expected out of a lion (that it would allow us to shout at it, stare at it, etc...)... Where as, while dealing with other human beings, we often fail to recall, or remember that .... only in human species, there is a possibility of too much of varied and reactionary-behaviour pattern(instead of animal like 'instinctive-response-only')... It is this failure perhaps, which.... over a period of time, affects our ability to remain our true-natural-self ... At villages, we still find people to be a bit-more-humble, than our metro-counterpart.. may be they deal less with pretentious people, and therefore, 'happen' to offer less vulnerability to contagiousness associated with dumping of frustration !

If so, .. if these reasons seem to be a few of the possible contributory ones, to force us into pretended-humility, and its adverse consequences/side-effects, then ... obviously, the true humility becomes an 'effort' (and, we are somewhere driven towards trying-to-be-humble, when we know what we are really lacking!... it is the inner fight within us, to further suppress that frustration, and we try to 'become-kind' and gentle... it comes no where near a genuine kindness, and it now looks like 'false-humility'... the other person repels at this... often the 'other-person' is one with whom we are too-much inter-dependent, and hence knows us a bit too well!)... Maybe, honest confessions might do better...! But, it has to accompany a firm resolve to dissolve such residues right within ourselves better and better each time! Seek help to strengthen that resolve, instead of seeking a tolerance for that 'sorry, I had a very bad day today!'... It strengthens the bonds better, and our spirit gains dominance over our weaknesses.... The spirit when, it can afford to manifest itself better, always radiates a true-humility... naturally, no other way!

Humbly yours,

psn (3rd December, 2014)