Pride is often viewed as a negative, something to be avoided. Similarly, humility is seen as an inherent good, being made the absence of pride. As we have examined before, the fear of pride is misdirected, and we deserve to be proud of ourselves. But where does that leave humility?
As pride is good in doses, humility is good in swaths—pride keeps you attuned to your progress, while humility reminds you of the distance yet ahead. Reclaiming pride is hard, necessary work. It becomes complicated, however, when pride reaches its excessive, passionate form: arrogance.
Humility, then, becomes the counterbalance to pride. The two are not dichotomic; rather, any person making progress in any area of their life deserves both.
Everyone is on their own journey and every single step is progress. Progress that they made, and credit deserves to be given where it is due. But, while dwelling on current and past progress is certainly comforting and, at times, exhilarating, it is vitally important to anchor this by looking forward at the journey remaining. When you look forward, you won’t likely see an end in sight, especially if it is self-improvement-based. Like looking back upon a lake but turning ahead to see the ocean.
This is humility: seeing how much is left ahead of you and returning to a realistic view of how far you’ve come. It is so easy to become locked into the current moment of progress and build a fortress around it. Exclusively looking back narrows the view both by limiting our own potential for continued progress and by encouraging us to pass judgement on those who are on the path behind us.
This mistakenly allows us to believe that we are aspirational and enterprising, while those behind us are deficient. This is damaging to the human spirit and to our shared existence; it is our duty to continue to progress and to help those who are behind us navigate the rough terrain with more ease than those who came before.
Narrowly laying claim to one specific location on the journey of progress is antithetical to human nature. Sharing, being compassionate, working together for a common goal. These are the things that have allowed society to grow through every stage of its evolution to the increasingly-globalized society of today.
Monopolizing progress and building defenses against sharing hard-won wisdom do not engender a spirit of cooperativity. Rather, they are arrogant and hypocritical; every single person has to be taught every single thing they know, every new step of progress. That includes those who gatekeep. They weren’t born inherently with the knowledge they have now, yet they safeguard it as though they were. As Stoic adviser and writer Seneca says: “truth belongs to everyone” (Letters from a Stoic).
The ocean of humility, though, allows us to see our equality with everyone else. As we approach the ocean from the shore, the enormity of what lies before us becomes palpable. As we look around us, we see the distance of our peers— some standing immediately in front of us, some behind, while still others appear as small as specks on the horizon. Every single person in some phase of the same journey, each making hard-fought victories and deserving to be proud of themselves. Some people are wading their way into the vastness, farther than we could ever imagine.
Compared to the scope of it, though, we must remember that none of us has come very far— and there is so much further to go.
Edited by Jeremy Harr and Abigail McKay Cherry
On Humility
This is very thought provoking Noah. Food for thought as they say. Thank you Noah, I'm going to take this in slowly. We would be an advanced society if everyone believed in these ideas.
Well written and beautifully sad. Hugs.