Having My Way

2

HUMILITY: THE WAY OF FREEDOM

The spirit of God delights to dwell in the hearts of the humble.

—ERASMUS

No person known to me has more than scratched the surface in making the case for human freedom. It is not for the lack of valiant effort; thousands are trying, and their efforts range from name-calling to masterful expositions of the principles of political economy—yet with little if any success. We have been missing the boat; we simply have not hit upon the way. It is time to search beyond our normal explorations.

I am convinced that the route to human freedom is largely psychological, consisting in an awareness of and an adherence to that which is beyond the physical or material. True, this is an ancient idea, but it may sound strange to many in this day and age:

This influx in the mind [insight, intuition, discovery, invention, and so on] seems to me to be something I receive. I do not seem to generate it myself. If it came from me, I would suspect it; I would doubtless see it as a rationalization of my own hidden desires and aspirations. . . . This is something fresh and apart—not me. This is life flowing. This is life in a rhythm of incessant flowing and ascension. What is it? Who knows? “There is something,” as Emerson said; and that is all I need by way of philosophy. There is something, and it works.1

In this passage, Emerson and Dillaway were describing something in the Cosmic Order over and beyond their own minds or anyone else’s. This “something” has been and is variously referred to as God, Jehovah, Brahma, the Creator or Creation, Infinite Intelligence or Mind or Consciousness. No one can catalogue the Infinite; we may know that it is but not what it is. It is beyond mundane categories, which is the point of the second Commandment: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. . . .” In a word, there is indeed a mysterious Universal Power, but no more than an awareness of its presence is possible. Awareness, however, is all that is necessary.

A concept or idea is not to be summarily dismissed simply for being mysterious! Dig below the surface of the commonplace and mystery is there. No one knows what electricity is. Yet, we are aware of this form of radiant energy and harness it to our use. Our understanding of gravitation scratches the surface, and the same goes for memory, the atom, the sun in our galaxy, a lily, or the human cortex.

Let us recognize this fact: of none of these things—any more than of God—do we have more than an inkling of its nature! These everyday samplings of the Universal Power come to seem commonplace in our experience, and so we fail to recognize that our knowledge of them consists of mere inklings: we behave as if we were the Source, as if they were of our own hand. The Source—the Universal Power, whatever it is—is not thought to be of our own hand and, as a consequence, is often derided as sheer mysticism. Actually, this Source is no more esoteric than are any of its trillions of manifestations: all forms of life, a raindrop, the ring of your phone, a pencil, or power steering.

I am beginning to appreciate the importance of Voltaire’s pronouncement to Frederick the Great:

If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent Him. But all Nature cries aloud that He does exist, that there is a supreme intelligence, an immense power, an admirable order and everything teaches us our own dependence on it.

Dependence? Human freedom is out of the question in the absense of this awareness, that is, without a profound belief that there is “something” over and beyond our finite minds. Why? Humility, in this unique sense, is an absolute prerequisite to freedom, and it cannot function in the soul of man when he falls into the error of believing that ideas and material blessings are of his own little hand. The achievement of humility is the key to our problem’s solution. I am suggesting that the way of humility is the way to freedom—the way we have been overlooking.2

What is humility in its highest sense? It is knowing that one’s knowledge is imperfect or incomplete. Inklings, yes; all-wise, never! Humility, as here used, is an awareness that the individual is not the originator but only the receiver of intelligence. Recognized is the fact that man, at best, only intercepts or tunes in understanding, truth, wisdom flowing from “something” higher than himself. This awareness is the essence of humility.

Man is not the Almighty and, in all humility, should know it. According to Erasmus, the spirit of God delights to dwell in those so graced. Goethe, using still another term for this “something,” further clarifies the meaning of humility in its highest sense:

Nature understands no jesting; she is always true, always serious, always severe; she is always right, and the errors and faults are always those of man. The man incapable of appreciating her she despises and only to the apt, the pure, and the true, does she resign herself and reveal her secrets.

I have referred to humility as a psychological rather than a religious concept. Many of the leaders and followers of organized religions have exhibited far too much arrogance to be held up as models of humility. Witness the crusades! Or the millions who were slaughtered in central Europe to advance the glory of God!3 Or the present-day advocacy of coercive force from thousands of pulpits to achieve “social goals”! I repeat that the way to freedom is through humility, not arrogance.

Try to imagine a society of know-it-alls, everyone believing himself to be the source of wisdom; all dictocrats, each attempting to dominate all the others. Freedom could not grace such a society—all arrogance, no humility! Indeed, it seems unlikely that such a society could exist. Nature could not reveal any of her secrets to such people; they already know everything. “Blind leaders of the blind.”

On the other hand, imagine a population composed mostly of individuals blessed with humility as here defined. Under such circumstances any dictator, or even the least hint of the domineering trait in any person, would be looked upon with disfavor. Demagogues would have no charisma; their siren voices would afford little if any attraction; their schemes to domineer would be ignored. When the domineering trait is curbed, freedom reigns! And the process is to acquire and develop the quality of humility!

Finally, there is a thought without which true humility is unattainable: think not of the tyrant as a fool, only of the domineering trait as foolish. It has been wisely said, “Hate not the sinner, only the sin.”

• 1See “The New Science and The New Faith” by Dr. Donald Hatch Andrews, The Freeman, April 1961.
• 2Ibid.
• 3Father Joseph, a devout Capuchin monk and chief advisor to Cardinal Richelieu, believed that the political ascendency of France was the way to bring God to humanity. For an interesting account of this arrogance—the end justifies the means—see Grey Eminence by Aldous Huxley (New York: Harper & Bros., 1941).