Humility and the divine

This post was also inspired by a news article:

https://www.psypost.org/2019/10/new-psychology-study-identifies-hypo-egoic-nonentitlement-as-a-central-feature-of-humility-54657

I loved this one.

I believe I have written in the past about how humility does not mean putting oneself down or being afraid to acknowledge anything good about oneself. I take my cue from Ezra Taft Benson's defining pride as "enmity between God and man", and figure that the secret is loving more. Then it is okay to like what is good about you, knowing that it is not a reason to look down on others.

(Frankly, when you are allowed to like yourself and enjoy good things about you, I think having good feelings toward others can be easier.)

Obviously I was thrilled to find a study that backs me up. It was less thrilling but still kind of interesting to find a term for that specific aspect of humility, hypo-egoic nonentitlement: "they do not think that they are entitled to be treated special as a person because of their accomplishments or positive characteristics."

That was all very interesting, and I recommend the article, but what really got my attention was the list of other non-egoic phenomena: flow, mindfulness, awe, and mystical experiences.

My growing political philosophy - which I am not ready to write extensively about yet - focuses on the destructiveness of competition, if you will, where even many people who claim to be progressive and eschew bigotry still fall easily into racist and sexist behavior because there is such a draw to putting others down. That might fall under egoic (or even hyper-egoic) entitlement. It worries me greatly, but it is something that I have tended to think about more in terms of economics, politics, and social relations.

What struck me here was the personal. There is a definite logic to seeing that a narcissistic person might not be awe-struck that often; what could be greater than themselves? It also goes some way toward explaining the reduced chances of mystical experiences.

Those are things I value anyway, and I have a growing appreciation for mindfulness. Maybe it was "flow" that struck me most.

I associate flow with creativity, but I have felt it at times while doing tasks that were not necessarily creative. There is a sense of things coming together, and inter-relatedness. Connection.

I have known many people who were amazingly creative and amazingly kind, and have thought perhaps that one of the rewards of creativity was that they found a satisfaction that did not require domination or superiority toward anyone else. Perhaps it was actually reversed, where they could be creative because they could embrace equality and egalitarianism already. That would be something that could make us free.

Some of these gifts may come without a lot of intent. I can't imagine mindfulness not taking work, but that might be just be me. There are still a lot of forces leading toward ego and entitlement, even if it merely starts defensively. It may take more work now than it used to.

Mainly I just wanted to share that there is a better path, and reading about it gave me a glimpse of perfection and beauty (which might relate to the awe-inspiring and the mystical). I am grateful for that. I am grateful for the intangible beauty that you can touch if you will just reach out.