The heart of humility

Before they were Olympic champions, the rowers known as “the boys in the boat” had work to do to “subsume their individual egos for the sake of the boat as a whole.” This quote from the book “The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics” by Daniel James Brown (p. 241) gets at the heart of the humility that was required to enable these athletes to find greater success than they had initially thought possible. The author claims that “no other sport demands and rewards the complete abandonment of the self the way that rowing does” (p. 178).

Humility was key to the rowers working as a cohesive team. And while most of us don’t have our sights set on an Olympic victory, still, the practice of getting ego out of the way is integral to success in any worthwhile endeavor.

Often, though, it can feel as if just the opposite is true: that it is the assertion of self – of personal desires and abilities – that propels us to the top. Yet, ultimately, that personal sense of self and competence is grounded in limitation. Our abilities can seem to fluctuate. So relying on what we think we’re able to do ourselves, even if it’s exceptional, eventually leads to our coming up short.

Christ Jesus’ life presents a more effective model. He claimed no selfhood apart from God and no personal distinction, but said, “I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27, New International Version). Yet his demonstration of healing power is unmatched in human history. Looking at his example, we can begin to understand that living with humility – setting aside a limited or material sense of self – actually illumines true, full individuality as the expression of God, Spirit.

We may think that emulating Jesus’ example is beyond us. But the master Christian came to demonstrate God’s allness and goodness for all people and for all time. And he showed what can be accomplished when we understand God as Love and our relation to this Love.

Jesus said, “By myself I can do nothing” (John 5:30, NIV). He humbly recognized his identity as sourced in God and God alone. This allowed Jesus to heal those afflicted with every sort of malady, including those that were life-threatening. He proved that success doesn’t rest on personal power, but on Christ, “the impersonal form of Truth” (Mary Baker Eddy, “Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896,” p. 310).

And the same holds true for us. The humility that causes human will to give way to divine Truth isn’t a mental exercise but is about allowing Christ to clarify our sense of who we are and our oneness with God, so that we see from the standpoint of spiritual sense. Christly humility enables us to admit we are each the image of God. We start to see our being in terms of purity and health, goodness and joy. The way of Christ is one of meekness, as well as a confidence that doesn’t fluctuate but has the constancy of divine Love and Truth.

At a time when I was feeling heavily burdened by parenting and work responsibilities, I suddenly had severe pain that confined me to bed. During a day of prayer, I struggled to release the feeling that if I wasn’t the one to do everything on my plate, it just wouldn’t get done properly. But this sense of ego had to go. As Christlike thinking turned me toward quietly listening to God, I realized I could stop feeling like the mover and shaker of my life and accept what Love was doing. With this meekness came a release of the pain.

Setting aside human ego in favor of our spiritual identity and capacities lets us see the truth of what Mrs. Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, wrote in her seminal work, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”: “Man is the expression of God’s being” (p. 470). Through humility we see our real self as God-expressed, wholly apart from a limited, mortal view. Peace and clarity, willingness and joy are not fault-ridden personal character traits; they come from the one infinite source and constitute who we are. And as we increasingly recognize and accept this true sense as the basis from which we live, we find healing and freedom.

This is the greatest victory we can ask for. Through humility we see our nature as God-sourced and God-maintained – and everyone else’s as well.

Adapted from an editorial published in the June 10, 2024, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.