Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the Benjamin Franklin quote, “To be humble to superiors is duty, to equals courtesy, to inferiors nobleness,” is one of my favorites from that sage man. We are seldom humble today, even to our superiors… let alone our inferiors. Our culture disdains humility and instead promotes hubris. What a sad thing this is. When we act with pride and look down our nose at those who have less, are less educated, or believe differently then we do, we do ourselves a great disservice. This is magnified when we harbor hate in our hearts. If we want to live in a better world we must discard hate and instead nurture love in our hearts.
Humility and love go hand in hand. He who has love of his fellow men in his heart is able to be humble. Love is a selfless emotion and humility is a selfless attitude. Therefore it is only when we love humanity that we are able to really treat others as human beings. Love allows us to see others, whether they be our superiors, equals or inferiors, in society, business or government, as deserving of our humility.
To have hate in our hearts makes humility impossible. When we hate this or that group we see others as demons that we must punish. Hate is a selfish emotion and begets pride and prejudice. We compare ourselves with those we hate and find them unworthy. This has the effect of lowering us to the level of animals. It is not possible to be humble to someone we hold in disdain.
Since humility is the start of nobleness, we can say that hate destroys the noble nature we all have within us, while love fortifies that nobility. Have you ever wondered why some people go through life and don’t seem to notice the slings and arrows? It is because they nurture love in their hearts and thus are noble. It is only through a certain nobility that we can see burdens for what they are… opportunities to grow. But when we fill our hearts with hate, we lack nobility and see every setback as a personal affront. Our anger at the world grows as does the hate and therefore meanness and selfishness.
A nobleness of heart effects the person who has it for the better. That person who is noble is also strong. He or she has lower blood pressure, higher self esteem and more friends. Lower blood pressure because they can accept the world as it is, higher self esteem because nobility begets self esteem, and more friends because nobility is also magnetic. There is a whole host of benefits that follow someone who is noble of heart.
Meanness on the other hand has a direct effect on the World and on the person. Those who are ignoble cannot have self esteem because meanness begets jealousy. That emotion and attitude is based on a self loathing that comes from comparing oneself to others. We damage ourselves and the World when we are mean of spirit, because malevolency is contagious, just as is nobility. The world is better for everyone, when people are noble, but it is diminished when people are nasty.
The quality of life is made better for everyone where people are noble. As nobility is contagious those who come into contact with noble people are made more noble themselves. Human beings have three parts, mind, body and spirit, nobility derived from the love of mankind strengthen all three, while ignoble attitudes weaken them. In our modern World such wisdom as this is seen as antique and quaint, but the truth is, it is needed now more than ever. We forget the sage advice of our forefathers at our own and our children’s expense. To be humble is to have nobility… and what else does this wicked world need more than a dose of nobility? So I say… Right on Ben!
Sincerely,
John Pepin
