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77 sats \ 1 reply \ @Scoresby 14 Nov \ on: Favorite thinkers/ideas on ego and humility? AskSN
Humility sure doesn't get much press in our culture.
I seem to remember Nikos Kazantzakis' Saint Francis had some good passages on the topic. But it's been a decade since I read it.
It's such a tricky thing to nail down. I used to be quite interested in it, but often found that describing humility often slips into something that looks like "being down to earth" or even "having self-confidence."
I'm curious how you describe humility.
Also if you have any passage from the Dao that you found particularly good on it.
Thanks for the Kazantzakis recc. I will give it a look.
As far as I have worked out (standing on the shoulders of giants) to me it all seems to be about 1) knowing yourself and your limits and respecting those limits. and then proving that you respect those limits with your behavior, rather than just saying you do 2) repairing what wrongs you have caused 3) keeping your promises 4) carrying your downside, that if you take risks you are the one who bears the cost of failure, not finding ways to push that others, no blaming others, asking for exceptions, making excuses, etc.
As for Lao Tzu, he is a master for a reason. So many good ones that really make you think (paraphrasing):
- The best is like water: it benefits all things and does not contend. It dwells in low places that others avoid.
- Rivers run to the sea because it lies below them. Thus it becomes king of a hundred valleys.
- I have three treasures: compassion, frugality, and not daring to be first under Heaven.
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