Part of the
practice of being human means learning to own more deeply who and what we are.
And for me personally, such a practice orbits around humility.
Let me be clear
about my definition of humility. It isn’t
about apologizing for who and what you are, but, as I say, avoiding favoritism and owning more fully
who and what you are—fabulous and inevitably, tragically flawed. One doesn’t
come without the other.
So, it seems to
me what we need to practice is holding them both in our awareness—embracing
them, living in the creative tension between them. For such an orientation
helps foster openness and an ability to cut ourselves (and others) some slack
for what it really means to be human.
It also
facilitates an ability to integrate the package and put it to creative use. Which
brings me to the word ‘balance’, a word I hate. So, I’m not advocating balance,
as such, but an artful, life-nurturing
asymmetry—a notion I have a great deal of confidence in (for more check this post out: An Artful Asymmetry).
The practice of humility,
then, is essentially part of the art of being human—an opportunity for
immersing ourselves more intelligently, creatively and deeply, in the mysterious
atmosphere which granted us life in the first place.
How cool is
that?
It’s pure,
pragmatic poetry.
