The concept of humility is floating around in my mind at the moment. It’s one of those concepts, (like many others), that I don’t quite have my own operational definition of. I don’t have a sense of what it actually means or how I would even describe it in words. So, I did what people do, and I Googled it.
Here’s what came up:
A modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness.
Then there was the “true meaning” of humility:
An attitude of spiritual modesty that comes from understanding our place in the larger order of things
Then the “best meaning”:
The ability to accurately view your talents and flaws while being void of arrogance.
Huh. Thanks, Google (I guess)...
This happens quite a bit. I don’t have a conceptual understanding of something, so I look to something outside of myself to learn. Very human. Very practical. Very habitual. No problem. But, I am coming to see that keeping words entirely conceptual is completely unhelpful.
Whatever the word humility is, what is the non-conceptual experience that it's pointing to?
What does truly embodying humility (or any other remotely spiritually adjacent concept) look and feel like in reality?
How does humility move?
Without the conceptual label, what even is it?
Substitute humility for any word, really. Awakening. Enlightenment. Love. Peace. Fear. Anger. Pain. What does any of it actually mean? Can any concept ever be truly understood by anyone?
If our experience of life is created fresh in each and every moment and we can only perceive within the confines of this meat suit’s current level of capability, how could anyone’s experience and embodiment of a concept be the same?
How much do human brains have to sort, prune, warp, alter, and bastardize direct sensory experience in order to come to some sort of believable agreement about anything language-based?
How deluded is a human being who believes, with such conviction, that their thoughts, opinions, and beliefs are “right” and “true” and anyone they perceive is not in agreement is “wrong”?
How can that possibly be?
And do all of these questions arise because humility has opened the door to inquiry?
I don’t know. I can’t know.
And there is so much freedom (and maybe humility..?) in that.