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Buzzy Izzy ...
(Impatiens walleriana Hook. f.)
A monk introduced himself to the Zen teacher Hsuan-sha (b. 835). He said, "I have just entered this monastery. Please show me where to enter the Way."
"Do you hear the sound of the valley stream?" answered Hsuan-sha.
The monk said, "Yes."
"Enter there!"
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Know honor,
Yet keep humility.
Be the valley of the universe!
Being the valley of the universe,
Ever true and resourceful,
Return to the state of the uncarved block.
*Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching. Trans. Gia-Fu Feng, Jane English.
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A Sufi tale -
A conqueror said to the wise fool Mulla Nasruddin, "Sir, all the great rulers of the past had honorific titles with the name of God: God-Gifted, God-Accepted, and so on. How about such a name for me?" Nasruddin said, "God Forbid!"
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Humble, from humilis, "on the ground," from humus, "earth": i.e. "dirt, soil."
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A Christian story - Gospel of Luke 14.1, 7-11 -
One Sabbath day, he [Jesus] entered the house of one of the leading Pharisees for a meal, and they were all watching him closely.
Then, he gave a word of advice to the guests when he noticed they were choosing the seats of honor.
"When you're invited to a wedding feast, don't sit down in one of the best seats. It might happen that a more distinguished guest than you has been invited. Then, your host might say, 'I'm afraid you must give up your seat for this fellow.' And, then, with shame, you will have to sit in a lowly seat. Rather, when you are invited, sit in a lowly seat so that when your host arrives, he may say to you, 'Come, my friend, we have a much better seat for you.' That is the way to be honored in the eyes of your fellow guests. Everyone who exalts themselves will be lowered, and those who humble themselves will be lifted up."
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A Jewish story -
A Hassidic sage, Rabbi Elimelech (b. 1717), was traveling home. He had visited a city. Many Hasidim followed him, walking behind his carriage. When departing the city gate, the Rabbi got out, told his coachman to drive on, and walked among them. The Hasidim, astonished, asked for an explanation. "When," replied the Rabbi, "I saw the great devotion with which you were performing the good work of following me, I could not bear to be excluded from it!"
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Jesus spoke: if we lift ourselves in pride, we will be lowered, while if we lower ourselves, we will be lifted. This is not for Life is for or against us, and not as punishment, but for this is how Life is.
Whatever good others credit us with, we let it flow through us. When others praise us, we allow it to draw us closer to the source of the adoration, even as Elimelech was drawn to be among those who cherished him.
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Being humble does not mean we refuse praise or do not celebrate our accomplishments. As a young Protestant preacher in my twenties, people would often speak well of my messages to congregations. I would deflect the praise. Later, a teacher taught me to accept the compliments and say something like, "Thank you, I put a lot of work into that sermon."
What is humble about rejecting the compliments or commendations of others? False humility can be mistaken for true humility. Again, as said above, we let it flow through us with gratitude. We can look upon the good we do and celebrate, for it is good.
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A Story from the Desert Fathers -
The devil appeared to a brother in the disguise of an angel of light, saying to him, "I'm the archangel Gabriel, and I was sent to you." "Make sure you were not sent to somebody else," said the brother, "for I'm not worthy to see an angel," and the demon immediately disappeared.
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Many of our inner ills, our "devils," would be resolved with a spirit of humbleness. In modesty, says the spiritual contemplative François Fénelon (b. 1651), is the delight of "heaven on earth."
Certainly, pride fills the self with the self: we sometimes use the word "puffed up" for arrogance. Humbleness allows one to be like the valley-spirit, as the Taoists say, and one can receive the inflow of Grace.
Being like a mountain, one cannot receive while being like a valley, one can receive. The emptiness of the valley is its capacity to welcome. By lowering oneself, rather than being haughty, spaciousness is present to host Grace.
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Now, what is meant by the Taoist Sage saying for us to return to the way of the uncarved block of wood? The Chinese Pu refers to our natural, simple being. We return back before artificiality of self-presentation and tendency toward complication of mind. Pu, in Taoism, is linked with ziran, lit. self so. Often in my work I use True Self or Innocence for our natural self in contrast to the ego. The True Self is our self, the self so; the ego is an addition shaped by genetics, family, culture.
Humility, then, allows a return to innocence - not innocence in contrast to guiltiness but innocence prior to both. Thus, we are freed into spaciousness through adopting the valley spirit. The prideful person lacks room for the inflow of the Good, True, and Beautiful - not for being bad but for not being able to receive.
A full cup does not have room to be filled, does it? But more, we want to be a cup without a bottom or top.
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From a theistic perspective, an intimate relationship with God can be a powerful agent toward an edifying humiliation. Devotional spirituality can be a means to return to self so. When one communes with God, one returns to the Heart, the point at which the self encounters That beyond the self, beyond all created things -
Somehow I must relate myself to something more than I am, more than I can be when I am completely and thoroughly expressed.
I must know clearly that it is God who is the Author and Creator of my life. ... This is the secret of humility - I cannot be humble unless I have truly found something about which I must be humble. There can be no health in me, nothing but a sickening arrogance and stalking pride until my relation to God scales me down to size. Without that experience, I am unbearable to my friends and a burden to myself. This I must say and in its light order my ways and direct my path.
*Howard Thurman. "Not We Ourselves," in Meditations of the Heart.
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*©Brian K. Wilcox, 2023
*Brian K. Wilcox, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
*François Fénelon. A Guide to True Peace: or A Method of Attaining to Inward and Spiritual Prayer.
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