Modesty and Humility
-- Cutting through the Confusion

Modesty and humility too easily fall into inverted snobbery

Modesty and humility are upheld as virtues in the teachings of the vast majority of religions - including those of Buddhism. On the face of it, this looks like commonsense because it is the ego that seeks to impress others and feel that it has status. However, if you stop and think about it, a lot of this doesn't really add up. It comes down to morality speak, which is about following rules and judging on people and not living a life of love, empathy and fully aware and responsible free choice which arises naturally from our core essence if we allow it to do so.

If we have special roles (such as being a teacher of self realization) or particular strengths, undoubtedly any egotistical ostentation in flaunting these publicly would not be a positive or helpful thing for our self realization process. On the other hand, the so-called modesty and humility taught and practised widely in religions is very negative in two important respects:

• Ego trip
  It actually feeds the people's egos, because instead of accepting and acknowledging in a relaxed fashion their strengths and, in the case of advanced practitioners, their special roles, people are then showing off with the implicit message, "Look what a virtuous practitioner / highly spiritual person I am with all this modesty and humility and self denial!" Yes, it's a sort of inverted snobbery or egotistical showing off. It's also plain dishonest. For a distinctly realized 'master' to say "I have little [or even no] realization" or, without qualification, "I'm just an ordinary monk / person" (a particularly strong custom rife in Tibetan Buddhism and publicly exemplified by the Dalai Lama) is simply telling lies. Pretence and true spiritual paths do not mix.

• Negative programming
  It gives practitioners a lot of negative programming which actually stunts their spiritual progress and prevents them from realizing their unique gifts and true abundance and potential as enlightened beings, making them instead fixated on their practices and following the path laid down to them by their guru, 'master' or religious cleric. Actually, to be able to stand our full height and in relaxed fashion to acknowledge our strengths openly where it is appropriate and constructive for us to do so is an essential part of letting go of the negative patterns and self beliefs that we carry. And once we are clear of negative programming, our natural and most healthy and enlightened state is that of joyfully celebrating in our unique gifts - not bowing our heads in 'humility' - a mockery of the beauty and splendour of our true nature. To me, the common slight stoop and slightly bowed head of so many Buddhist monks is an abomination - a travesty of what a true spiritual path is about. It is also harmful for the body and the whole energy system to maintain such a distortion; all those monks would do well to take up the Alexander Technique!
  
  There have been certain great spiritual teachers who did not live in that distorted and limiting way and didn't encourage others to do so. Unfortunately the general response to such teachers - particularly after their death - has been not to follow their example but to stick them on pedestals and, in one way or another (according to the particular tradition), to worship them! Not that it's always called worshiping. For instance, in various Buddhist traditions it is customary and seen as very important to do huge numbers of prostrations to particular buddhas which are just deified representations of major teachers of the past, or, even worse, illusory or astral entities presented as great buddhas which have been introduced covertly by the dark forces into the traditions as supposedly greatly beneficial higher beings with the aim of luring practitioners into illusory realities to take them away from the Light after their death.

  Although I mention this here in relation to Buddhism, I must stress that the same thing is happening generally in religions and spiritual paths. Whether the supposed higher beings be angels, archangels, Jesus, Mohammad, God, Allah, Shiva, Krishna, ascended masters, guides, or any other name or description, the dark forces are involved, and the only safe way to open to the Ultimate is through opening to our core essence (which is actually the Ultimate as far as we can ever know what is the Ultimate) and letting go of any notion of apparently external beings of any kind. To relate to a supposedly higher being in any way whatsoever is straightaway disempowering yourself, implicitly denying the true Divinity which is your very own true nature and that of all living things, and empowering the dark forces over you.

  So, diverted by the covert control of dark entities (which I understand to be at least covertly interfering to some extent with virtually everyone), people invert the message which those teachers were bringing in by example, and actually use those teachers to disempower themselves by in various ways declaring themselves to be lesser beings. What use is that?

I would go as far as saying that, far from being virtues, modesty and humility are actually scourges upon Humanity. Apart from eliminating ego-driven ostentation and showing-off (which can be achieved in other ways), there is no positive or worthwhile purpose served by them, and they simply program people into being untrue to the stature of their true selves and to live pathetically diminished travesties of the lives that they could be living and which would be enlightened manifestations of their 'Divine' true nature. If you are living on the basis of love, empathy and aware and responsible free choice rather than the ego and its desires and compulsions, then you have every (sacred) reason to manifest ALL your personal power* and splendour.

* I'm NOT referring here to the willful use of 'special powers', however, for, generally speaking, any tendency to do that gets us embroiled with the dark forces again. What I mean here by personal power is the natural healing power of your love and positivity, which would tend to catalyze the opening up of those qualities in other people around you and with whom you interrelate.

Let's be clear about pride

Okay, now I've got so far, let us bring in the dreaded 'P' word - Pride. A clear distinction needs to be made in any teachings at ALL levels, between egotistical pride on the one hand and, on the other hand the self esteem and rejoicing in oneself (and others) which is intrinsic to a balanced and enlightened being.

I have seen this latter use of the word in some teachings in the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition, and then it was called vajra pride. While I'm actually happy with the use of adifferent expression for the positive meaning, in common usage the two meanings are hopelessly confused under use of the one word, and any teachings need to take this into account and make it clear that only the egotistical, negative form of pride which compares other people unfavourably against oneself is to be avoided and countered, while the other, positive sort needs to be actively encouraged. This is what needs to replace all the culturally based and dark-force instigated stuff about humility and modesty. Let us stand our full height and tune into such a mantra as "I'm great, unique and beautiful - you're great, unique and beautiful too".