I’m going to keep this week’s blog update brief, because it is humility week. While it is important to be a confident person, to brag too much about yourself and your accomplishments will lead to hubris (or excessive pride), the direct opposite of being humble.
Instead of writing what I did this week, I borrowed direct quotes from the Bible and the lessons of Socrates to illuminate Benjamin’s Franklin advice, namely to imitate Jesus and Socrates. The Bible does much in illustrating much about humility. We even know from history too much hubris can lead to one’s downfall (namely Caesar, Napoleon, and even Hitler). Meanwhile, I did research on Socrates to reaffirm what I already knew: he died defending his beliefs. Being that there was no historical work written by Socrates, everything that we know about him was written by Plato, Xenophon, Aristostle, and Aristophanes (Greek historians).
To try to be as “humble” as possible this week I did four basic things:
1) Give credit where credit is due. I complimented people and said “good job” when their accomplishments warranted it right to do so – at work, at school, and in hanging out with friends.
2. Don’t brag. I never like talking too much about my accomplishments or what I’m proud of. Instead, I seek to make the world a better place for the people around me.
3. Do what’s expected but don’t make a big deal about it. I try my best never to bloat or show off what I know. I know there’s many people that like to one-up people by always responding “Oh, I can do that”, or some words among those lines, but I always try my best to do so.
4. Do charity and give charity anonymously. Not only did I donate to a charity this week (which will remain unnamed), I also did my civic duty of participating in community service. Though I don’t blog about it every week, I try to maintain a balance of how much I do for myself, and how much I do for other people.
In the end, I will always follow the advice of Socrates, namely being to follow one’s self-development over one’s material wealth. As I strive deeper and deeper for self-actualization, I will never forget who I am, and will never bring people down by being full of myself.
Confidence is good. Over-confidence is terrible. I will not grade myself this week, given the circumstances of the week.
Next week: With Benjamin Franklin’s 13 moral virtues tackled, I move onto the Eightfold Path to Enlightenment, starting with Right View.
