When the effort that finishes last in time has the same value that finishes first, when the quality of the immortal, timeless soul is honored instead of the time-bound personality and body, when your giving is not impeded by fear of vulnerability, when the size, color, or shape of what you receive or do not receive does not matter, you will know the power of a humble spirit.
Gary Zukav, page 215
In Chapter 15: Power, Zukav explains that there are four basic characteristics of the authentically empowered human being: humility, forgiving nature, clarity and lovability.
I am stuck on humble. The authentically empowered human is first of all, humble. I want so badly to be humble but I wonder if I am operating from a truly humble spirit or if my ego is just trying to create an image of humility so I feel spiritually superior? When I read the above passage, which by the way could have been taken from a passage in the Tao Te Ching, I began to question just how truly humble I am.
When the effort that finishes last in time has the same value that finishes first...
(There is definitely a verse in the Tao that pretty much covers this notion...I just cannot remember where it is right now.) If we put just as much effort in the beginning of our endeavor as we do in the end...without faltering, without getting caught up in the need to competitively get ahead or "win". If we are not concerned with how we place in the scheme of things or in comparison to others...valuing what we do without attachment to outcome, unconcerned whether we are first or last, ....then we will know a humble spirit.
When the quality of the immortal, timeless soul is honored instead of the time-bound personality and body....
When we recognize and salute ( as in "Namaste" ) , appreciate and revere the soul in ourselves and others; when we see and revere the endless, changeless nature of it over the impermanent, unreal and insignificant nature of the "little me" which is made up of body and mind, a false identity we create...then we will know a humble spirit.
When your giving is not impeded by fear of vulnerability...
When we can give of ourselves without fear of what will happen to "little me" , without fear that we will expose its weaknesses and imperfections when we put ourselves out there to give what we have to give, that we may be setting it up for failure, leaving it defenseless and unprotected , taking away from it in order to give therefore creating loss, ...if we can get beyond that fear and that notion that we have to defend "little me"so that we can give freely from the heart ...then we will know a humble spirit.
When the size, color, or shape of what you receive or do not receive does not matter...
When we perceive Life's offerings without judgement, and distinction, labeling or describing...when we don't demand that Life gives us certain, specific things in a certain, specific way...when we trust Life enough to let it decide what we should have or what we shouldn't have...not grasping or pushing away...when we openly accept Life as it unfolds in front of us without attachment to any of it, appreciating all of it...then we will know a humble spirit.
When we can stop asking for or grasping for those things we do not need even when the mind tells us we do, if we can simply trust that the Universe has our back...that it knows what we truly need and it will provide, if we see that when we don't get that promotion or that publication that is just the Universe's way of saying we really didn't need it for our growth...and that broken leg or divorce...may be exactly what you needed on your journey toward love and wisdom....then we will truly know a humble spirit.
Working on it. What about you?
A humble spirit does not ask for more than it needs, and what it needs the Universe provides. A humble spirit is content with the fulfillment of its authentic needs,and is not burdened with artificial needs. page 216
Gary Zukav (1989/2014) The Seat of the Soul. New York: Simon and Schuster
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