In our world, it seems that humble people are well respected. Humility is better than arrogance isn’t it? However, I would like to talk about one example of what I know about when humility becomes your ego.
There was a very humble woman. She was well respected by people around her. People thought she was very humble even though she had status and glory. At first, she was humble as a result of acting so. One day she thought, I should really say this but it is humble not to.
Isn’t it true that “Humility” is a result of being humble? Isn’t this your ego if you act with humility because you want people to like you? If this thought comes up, a consciousness of protecting your self-image appears.
So she did not say what she should have said. Instead she safely acted with “humility”. Such “Humility” happened repeatedly and consciousness of “Humility” equals to “Respect” stayed in her. She pretended to act with “Humility” instead of being humble as a result of her actions. She did not lower her value, she wanted to be respected by people.
One day she realizes “Something is wrong”. She has not been humble but she wanted to be respected which was her ego. From that moment, she stopped acting with “Humility”. She started to speak from her heart to people when she did not agree with those people. As a result, people respected her not only because she was humble but also because she could give important advice. She became a more respected person.
Do you remember the following writings from “Story of Ms. Hayashi and her son”?
There was a composition on his high school entrance exam. The title was to be announced on the day of the exam. I asked him afterwards what the title of the composition was. He said the title was “Importance of Kindness”. He told me that he however never acted because kindness was important. So I did not know what to write.” I know that his kindness comes when he really feels in heart and as the result of his action, he was kind. He does not act kindness by thinking “it is important to be kind”, but he naturally does it. I know this by observing him for a long time.
Please read this and replace “Importance of Kindness” to “Humility”. As a result of feeling truly from the bottom of heart, he acted with “Kindness”. I know him well and I believe that he applies this way of “Kindness” to other actions such as “Humility”. “I want people to think of me as this!” is totally different from the action to take as is. If you want to be humble, let’s do “True Humility”.