Humility Precedes Existential Growth

 

Chapter 25

Humility Precedes Existential Growth 

The penultimate Law in the SAL Theory states: Humility before Universal Laws is a prerequisite to lasting Existential Growth.  

Law 12

Humility before Universal Laws is a prerequisite to lasting Existential Growth.

Highly developed and refined self-action leaders have capacities that relatively few leaders authentically possess.

For example:

They can be tough without being condescending. 

        They can be strict without being rude. 

                And they can be confident without being conceited. 

Such persons understand what relatively few people ever fully internalize: that humility is a vital prerequisite to growth, progress, strength, and everything else that is meaningful and lasts.  

It's possible to have short-term success while simultaneously disregarding, or even flouting Universal Laws. In fact, evil masters of the SAL lowerarchy—like Adolf Hitler—often enjoy extraordinary successes for extended periods of time before natural consequences bring about their ultimate ruin. 

Though some evil people may be very smart and talented, they are never humble. 

Rather than bowing before Universal Laws, they foolishly try to get the Laws to bend to them; and in the long-run, it never works. 

Sir Isaac Newton
1643-1727

Self-action leaders, on the other hand, always prove more intelligent than their evil counterparts, in-part because they are humble. 

Humility breeds a practical accession of the scientific reality that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton's Third Law of Motion)—even if the reaction (consequences) are delayed; and consequences in life often are delayed, sometimes for long periods of time. 

Humble self-action leaders recognize the great truth that long-term consequences come home to roost for everyone, eventually.

Why?

Because Universal Laws apply to everyone.

        They are no respecter of persons.

And they ultimately control and govern absolutely.  

Self-action leaders understand the penetrating reality and truth that Universal Laws always collect payment eventually—and that payment will be multiplied by compound interest over time in the form of consequences that correspond directly to the choices we make. These consequences can be devilishly devastating on the one hand, or unspeakably beautiful on the other. It all depends upon our choices.

As such, it pays—big time—in the long-run to be humble before, and obedient to, Universal Laws and the True Principles they illuminate.  

What exactly is HUMILITY?

        And what exactly does it mean to be humble?

Boiled down to its fundamental core and distilled down to its purest essence, authentic humility is a natural outgrowth of pure intelligence supported by absolute honesty and complete integrity.

When you truly understand the way things really are, it becomes clear and obvious—a genuine no-brainer—that you should respect and adhere to True Principles rooted in Universal Laws.

After all, the consequences of failing to do so will never favor you in the long-run.

With a clear comprehension of the cornucopia of negative long-term consequences that naturally flow from disregarding Universal Laws, it is clearly foolish to knowingly and willingly choose the lasting pain that inevitably follows existential recalcitrance. Thus, the short-term "smarts" of evil are always unmasked eventually to reveal its colossal folly in the end. 

Authentic humility is measured by your willingness to seek after two basic things. 

First, you must seek out and embrace reality—the TRUTH—about yourself and others. This is a self-action leader's quest for self-awareness. 

Second, you must respond—take ACTION—according to and in harmony with that truth. This is a self-action leader's quest for integrity. 

To sum up, honesty, integrity, and self-awareness are hallmarks of and constitute the core components of HUMILITY. These three character attributes contribute to form the basic qualities of teachability and coachability—two vital characteristics of authentic humility that are absolutely essential to effectively exercising SAL in pursuit of Existential Growth.  

Charles H. Spurgeon
1834-1892

The famous nineteenth century Christian preacher, Charles H. Spurgeon, once succinctly surmised that: humility is to make a right estimate of oneself. 

"Humility is to make a right estimate of oneself."

—Charles H. Spurgeon

While certainly not the only definition of humility, we at Freedom Focused heartily agree that this is a useful and worthy definition. 

I personally really like this definition because it reminds me that humility is more than just recognizing and acknowledging my follies and shortcomings. It is also about recognizing, acknowledging, and then fully utilizing my strengths, talents, and capacities.

This equilibrium is important because there is nothing humble about saying you are bad at something when you are, in fact, quite good at it.  

Authentic humility should never be confused with exaggerated displays of self-deprecation. In fact, such ironic displays of pseudo humility are usually perpetrated by a prideful desire to appear humble to others.

There is nothing humble about that!    

Authentic humility is seeing things as they really are and then acting appropriately and wisely in complete deference to facts and reality. 

At times, humility will require YOU to acknowledge what you lack and then submit to truths, powers, and people above and beyond yourself. 

Real Wisdom is best
personified by...
HUMILITY!

At other times, however, humility will require YOU to recognize your assets and then courageously and shamelessly utilize your strengths and talents for the benefit of yourself and the instruction and mentoring of others. 

WISDOM is knowing the difference between the two and being able to generate the appropriate response based flexibly and fluidly on each and every singular situation in your life.  

In the end, humility is simply a process of seeing, recognizing, and acknowledging the complete and unvarnished TRUTH about everyone and everything—things as they were, are, and will be—and then acting in perfect deference thereto. 

It is that simple in theory.

        And it is that difficult in practice. 

In Your Journal

• Why do you think humility is such a vital prerequisite to Existential Growth?

• What do you think a KEY is to developing humility?

• Why do you think it's so difficult for people to develop humility?

• In what areas of your life are you already practicing humility?

• In what areas of your life might you benefit from being more humble? 

—Dr. JJ

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

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Chapter 24 Notes