The Path of Humility is to Love our Neighbor as Ourself

Yesterday was an interesting meditation on Humility in and of itself.  It feels like everything that happened was either an example of arrogance or self-effacement.  I saw it in my own actions, and those around me.

Arrogance and self-effacement feel like they are two of the cardinal errors gripping our world today.  They touch and taint everything, and nearly everyone.  Every time I watch the news I see another example of them in the media, often with disastrous effect.

I wonder where this comes from?  It obviously didn't happen overnight.

Sorrow grips me as I write this.  I want to weep for the state of the world, but I know that it has always been a mess, and will always be a mess, only the make up of the clutter changes.  All any of us can do is change ourselves, and in so doing, affect a great change on the world itself.

How do you interact with a world where some people see themselves as Chosen and the rest as less than dirt?

The state of the world arises from a distortion of Tzelem Elohim, the image of God.  We are all made in the image of God, having the imprint of the Creator in our hearts.  You don't have to be a believer to see this.  Carl Sagan used to say that we are "Star Stuff," and J Michael Straczynski wrote, "We are the Universe trying to understand itself."  Whatever the language or the words, we are all saying the same thing.

Our problems arise either from the aggrandizing of this image, or its defacement.  We revel in humor born out of insults.  Each joke chips away at the dignity of Human Life.  Or, we set our species, or nation, or ethnic group, or worse of all, our leaders, up on pedestals to be worshiped and obeyed.

The answer is an honest appraisal of ourselves, neither over praising our own virtues, nor celebrating the faults of others.  This is a middle path of its own.

Christ gave us two commandments, "The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these (Mark 12:31 (NAS))."

Forget all the harping on the 10 Commandments, this is the one broken more than any other.

We either love ourselves and hate our neighbor, or love our neighbor and hate ourselves, but the real challenge in life is to do both.

Throughout my life, I have struggled with self-esteem.  It is hard for me to not hate myself.  Why?  My culture taught me to.  I am fat, gay, and think too much.  Three of the mortal sins of pop culture.  It was not until I realized that it doesn't matter what others think of me, that I saw myself as I am: a flawed person trying to be better.

This is the great call and challenge of Compassion and Humility.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  So long as you do that, you are on the right course.