Luke 18: 9-14, Humble

Luke 18: 9-14, Humble

Luke 18: 13-14, “The tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other (the Pharisee); for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

What does it mean to be humbled? Humility is a quality of humanness; it speaks of being of the earth, being grounded, living in the limitation of the body/mind. Psychologically, the ego (conscious sense of self) does not like the idea of limitation. The psychic truth is that the ego is small in comparison to the larger Self (the totality of our psyche/soul that includes both conscious and unconscious aspects of our nature). Living with this truth consciously requires a humbling of the ego/self.

The experience of being humbled is different than that of being humiliated. To be humiliated evokes feelings of shame. Shame triggers feelings that one is “bad”, flawed, and deficient, unworthy; it paralyzes us. It prevents us from moving internally; we lose access to the ability to make sense of our inner experience with the outer world. Shame keeps the ego (conscious self) from knowing one’s self or Self/God Within. Humility allows one to know one’s self and the Self while accepting and integrating the limitations of humanness.

In today’s scripture, the tax-collector who felt his limitation, his smallness, in relationship to God is the one who is “exalted”. The Pharisee, who declared himself superior to others, was not. Here is an important symbolic message to our ego. The ego who recognizes and feels the necessity of the Self/God Within receives the energetic gifts of the Self. The ego that denies its limitations, and its need of the larger psyche, is not strengthened by the Self.

So much of who we are is unknown. The unconscious psyche is the residence of the Inner Divine Spirit; unconscious means unknown. When we can follow the tax collector’s example, and acknowledge our limitations--how we miss the mark of embodying our larger Self-- we forge a relationship to the Inner Divine that lifts us up. It energizes and strengthens our sense of self and resourcefulness for living in the world. Our experience of who we are becomes more real, more whole. We are able to consciously bear and relate to aspects of ourselves that have previously shamed us into non-existence.

Where do you shame yourself? Where do you act as if you are superior? Where are the places you feel humbled—a sense of your humanness with all its resourcefulness and its limitation? Call on the Inner Divine Spirit to strengthen and sustain you as you acknowledge and accept the realities of your ego consciousness. Open to receive the energies of the Self/God Within that heal shame and arrogance, and allow you to accept your humanness with humility.