Whitaker encourages us to let humility be our constant companion.
The greatest friend of truth is Time,
her greatest enemy is Prejudice
and her constant companion is Humility.
-Charles Caleb Colton
Several years ago I was given an assignment during a brief but intense mentoring experience: List those things in life that humble you and bring you to a sense of awareness of the divine.
My first thought was simple enough: Ok, no problem, this will be easy. Wrong! Two days into the assignment I was begging for mercy. This is what I wrote:
Do not ask of me such a task, for the remainder of my present life would be consumed from dawn to dusk in the answering. Ask yet what does NOT humble me and my task would be done for to that I can say NOTHING and move on.
This task brings about the larger question of what keeps me from seeing and feeling that which humbles me. For if I know in my heart of hearts that all things humble me should I not then live in a constant state of awareness and reverence? Yet I know I do not. My awareness and reverence ebbs and flows as the tide. Therefore, what shields have been placed over my eyes, my ears, my skin, my mind and my heart that prevent this constant state. And who has placed them there? Have I? Or some external force? And if some external force, did I not somehow give it my explicit or implicit permission to do so? And to what end? Could these shields be protectors rather than impediments? Perhaps they are both, at different times. Could not a constant state of humility interfere with our life's work as much as a constant state of self involvement?
Perhaps what we seek is the ABILITY to move to a state of humility at any time and the mindfulness to do so, that we may not forget our true purpose in this lifetime. There are many fascinating and intricate goings-on in the world these days which can devour our spirit and lead to laziness, arrogance and self indulgence which divert us from our intended path.
If we are mindful enough to recognize when we are being led astray and can consciously return ourselves to a state of humility then we can continue on with the requisite love, grace and passion.
Democratic Dilemmas and Divine Inspiration examines the significance or relevance of the idea that the U.S. Constitution was, as many believe, divinely inspired. How much did that belief matter to founders of the nation and how much does it matter no
