ARROGANCE AND HUMILITY

A little bit of knowledge can make some people arrogant. When they feel they know more than others, they assume an air of superiority. They parade their knowledge around and regard themselves as experts.

Most of them are stuck in this mode, but the few who continue to learn will eventually absorb enough knowledge to realize how much more they still do not know. This realization takes the wind out of their sails Human beings are insignificant gnats compared with the vastness of what can be known.

The more this process continues, the more humbling it is. Your perspective widens every time you gain another level of understanding, and that perspective reveals even more branches of knowledge, even more distant horizons. You begin to understand why Newton said he was like a boy on the seashore, playing with pebbles and shells that represented his life’s work, while an entire ocean of great truths stretched out in front of him, completely unknown and undiscovered. If Newton, one of the most brilliant minds in history, felt that way about learning, then how much more humble should we be?

The Tao Today

Keep in mind that ignorance leads to arrogance. The less someone understands how incredible the universe is, the more he thinks of himself. Clarity leads to humility. Once you start getting a clearer concept of existence itself, being humble simply becomes a most natural state.

The Tao of Joy Every Day

~ Derek Lin