Don't Be Humble

Don’t Be Humble

““Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek,” but what is meekness?  “Blessed are the humble,” but what is humbleness?  Can a man who has no ego be humble?  How can he be humble?   Who will be humble?  A man who has no ego has no way to be meek or to be humble.  He cannot be an egoist on the one hand; he cannot be a humble person on the other hand.”

“To teach surrender is to give you a strategy to hide your ego, to sublimate your ego.  Yes, that’s the right word, sublimation.  A Freudian word, very significant, you can sublimate anything, so much so that recognition becomes impossible.  You may even start thinking that this is the vey opposite of the original thing.  Meeting a humble man you feel how egoless he is – he also feels who egoless he is. The ego has come from the back door and now it is no longer condemned, but appreciated.”

“And why is a meek person, a humble person appreciated?  That too is a strange story.  He is appreciated because he fulfills everybody else’s ego.  Just see the whole game of it.  Why do you appreciate the humble person?  - because being humble to you, he buttresses your ego.  And because your ego is buttressed, you in response buttress his humbleness.”

“Now a vicious circle is created.  He will become more and more humble because everybody loves his humbleness.  He gains respectability, and everybody enjoys his humbleness because everybody is being satisfied by his humbleness – it is a deep satisfaction for the ego.”

“I want you to understand it clearly: ego and surrender are two sides of the same coin.  I don’t teach the ego, so how can there be any place for surrender in my vision?  I don’t teach you to be meek, I don’t teach you to be humble.”

“I teach you to be authentic, integrated individuals with immense self-respect.” – Osho “The Magic of Self-Respect” pg. 223

A very significant teaching by Osho.  Some of the most dangerous people out there are the people who are “humble.”  They have some of the strongest, biggest, and most destructive egos out there that are very well hidden.  A “humble” person is like a cop in uniform that is corrupted, extremely dangerous.  He appears to be good, but in reality he is a very dangerous criminal.  An arrogant person of course has a big ego, you see it right away, you know how to handle this person, he gives no surprises.  He is like the hardened criminal with a long criminal record, you always know to keep your eyes open. 

But the “humble” person acts as if he has no ego, but in reality, he has one of the strongest egos out there.  You find a lot of these “humble” people as professors, teachers, religious leaders, practitioners of the softer Arts such as Yoga and Tai Chi. You find them all over the Martial Arts.  You find a lot of them in Aikido, Tai Chi, Wing Chun, and Tae Kwon Do.  A lot of the practitioners of the Martial Arts who are unfit, will be “humble”, they will try to gain your respect through their “humbleness.” 

A lot of the practitioners of the combat sport will be the opposite, they will not be humble, they will be very arrogant and prideful, very proud of their athleticism, they have big egos and they are very proud of it.  The ego is very deceptive, both expressions are the same, they are the ego.  The prideful fighter is an egoist and the “humble” Martial Artist is an egoist as well.  The ego of the “humble” Martial Artist can actually be more dangerous than the ego of the prideful fighter.  You mistakenly think that the “humble” Martial Artist has no ego, but really he has a very strong and dangerous ego that is hidden beneath the surface.  To break free from all of this, you simply are not arrogant and you are not humble, you are simply authentic, you are simply your true self, you are natural.