18 Dec How much arrogant does life allow us to be? (MICHAEL NEILL)
‘Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less.’
Syd Banks
In this sense, humility is humanity. It’s nothing to do with high or low self-esteem; it’s about recognizing the fact that we’re one of six billion waves in the ocean of life, each no more or less important than any other.
Without my having to do anything about it, the sun comes up in the morning and the stars twinkle at night.
Before I’ve even gotten out of bed, the Earth has spun a third of the way round its axis and six billion people have done the best they know to do to increase their happiness and mitigate their suffering.
And since I’m not in charge, I get to relax and enjoy the ride. Rather than cower in recognition of my own weakness and even helplessness in the face of forces far greater than my own, I’m set free.
Free to appreciate my life when things are going my way and to handle them with grace when they’re not.
Free to love and contribute to people when they behave the way I want them to and to continue to love and contribute to them when they don’t. Free to go out and create the life I want when things seem easy and free and to continue to move in that direction or even give up and go back to the drawing board when they seem hard.
And in the end, that seems to me to be the core of all our desires: the freedom to be able to enjoy our life and be a contribution to the whole in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, as best we can for as long as we’re here.
How things ultimately turn out isn’t up to us. It never was. But if we do our bit and play our part, it’s remarkable how far we can go.
The Inside-Out Revolution
Neill Michael
