humility

This article describes the expression. For other meanings, see Humility (disambiguation) .

The expression humility comes from the Old High German  diomuoti ('willing to serve ', actually 'disposition of a servant'). In the Christian context, humility denotes the creature's attitude towards the Creator, analogous to the relationship between the servant and the master, more generally the “virtue that can arise from the awareness of infinite lagging behind the perfection sought (deity, moral ideal, exalted example)”. In the Luther Bible , the term was used to translate the biblical expression ταπεινοφροσύνη tapeinophrosýnē ( ancient Greek ) or its Latin translation humilitas .

Humilitas (humility), personification on the portal of San Giovanni, Florence

Definition of terms

The humble person freely recognizes and accepts that there is something beyond his reach, something higher.

A distinction must be made between humility as an inner attitude and the outer expression of humility, the humble outer appearance. Ideally, both match. However, those who act humble need not be humble. Conversely, the one who appears haughty can have real pride and an inner humility associated with it. Those who display their (alleged) humility are proud, not humble. Humility then exists only in appearance.

The "false humility" is either such a humility only in appearance or in another sense: the "false humility, self-humiliation, slavish sense". What is considered to be false humility depends on one's worldview. Thus, humility of one person in front of another person is generally seen as “false humility”. The expression creeping (in the sense of self-humiliation towards people) denotes false humility towards certain people or a corresponding basic attitude.

A master-servant relationship, however, is only one with oppression and / or creeping behavior if the (false) humility relates to a dualistic relationship in which master and servant are viewed as contending over potential absolute sovereignty (and where the current master holds the suppressive, authoritarian, egoistic, absolutist part). In contrast, z. B. the variant where the servant is (at least partially) defined as a subset of the larger whole, called master , or the one where the servant and the master form an inseparable unit (such as child and father / mother), whose relationship in the originally healed normal case is based on trust and goodwill / love.

A distinction must also be made between humility and humiliation as public humiliation or shame that the strong inflicts on the weak. The humble in the best sense of the word can find himself humiliated by lack of humility, arrogance ; equally, however, such humiliation can be used as a weapon against pride.

Humility as a virtue and as a bad attitude in religion and philosophy

Humility among the Greeks and Romans

Humility, like submission, presupposes a master-servant relationship (such a relationship does not, however, have to be understood as compulsive and exploitative, otherwise it was the above-mentioned false humility). It was a neglected attitude among the Greeks and Romans.

God (= lion) shows his grace to the humble - San Pietro fuori le mura (Spoleto)

Humility as a (Jewish and Christian) religious attitude

Humility means acknowledging the omnipotence of God. Accordingly, humility describes the inner attitude of a person towards God.

Humility plays a special role in Jewish and Christian thought. In both the Old and New Testaments , humility is an essential quality of the true believer - one who is at peace with God. The root of the Hebrew word used contains the meanings of "bow down" or "bow down". In the Old Testament, humility is opposed to pride ( Prov. 29:23  EU ).

God humiliates people in order to bring them (back) to him (e.g. Dtn 8,2-3  EU ), and people humiliate themselves before God in order to be accepted by him (e.g. 1 Kings 21.29  EU ; 2 Chr 7.14  EU ).

“To walk humbly with / before his God” completes God's claim to man ( Mi 6,8  EU ). “I dwell on high and in the sanctuary and with those who are crushed and humble in spirit, that I may refresh the spirit of the humbled and the heart of the broken” ( Isa 57.15  EU ; similar to Isa 66.2  EU ).

Contrary to some forms of religious life, in which humiliation was more in the foreground, in today's Christian spirituality humility is not seen as a belittling or as a denial of one's own worth, but as a realistic self-assessment of the person in his position in of the world: its own insignificance in comparison with the greatness of God, but at the same time its dignity and its worth as a creature and child of God. The false humility is also indicated in 1 Tim 4,1-4  EU : in the coming times people will appear who preach asceticism and false holiness.

Examples of a humble and ultimately blessed life are in the Bible in the Old Testament Job and in the late scriptures Tobit . According to the Christian view, people can still learn from these events today. Furthermore, a conclusion from such stories can be seen that in the Christian faith, humility is the key to everything. Only the humble will receive the Lord's blessings.

According to Meister Eckhart , humility is a basic requirement of Christian life:

• "Because perfect humility goes to the destruction of oneself and places oneself among all creatures."

• “The surest foundation on which this perfection can rise is humility; for whose nature creeps here in the deepest base, whose spirit flies up to the highest height of the divinity. "

In the seventh chapter of the Rule of Benedict it also says: “We certainly have to understand this descent and ascent as follows: Through self-exaltation we descend and through humility we rise.” Further references to the goal of the humble person can be found among others in Francis de Sales and especially in his work Philothea (Instructions for the Pious Life) as well as in the Book of the Imitation of Christ, a writing that is mostly attributed to Thomas von Kempen .

Pope John XXIII wrote among other things:

• “My humble and now long life has developed like a ball under the sign of simplicity and purity. I don't mind recognizing and repeating that I am nothing and that nothing counts as a pure nothing. The Lord made me be born of the poor people and has thought of everything else. I let him do it. "

• "As long as someone has not put his self under his feet, he is not free."

To delimit misconceptions, Francisco de Osuna says:

“Some understand by humility a tightness of the heart and the flat and petty disposition of a person who is only interested in the insignificant. Others think humility is sickly looking and lowliness manifested in posture, dress, and behavior. Some mistake humility for cowardice and fear, which dominate some so that they do not venture into great things. Finally, some feel that it is humble not to have skills or not to use those that are available but to hide them. All of these views are wrong and have nothing to do with humility. "

The humility in modern philosophy and politics

For Nietzsche , humility was "one of the dangerous, slanderous ideals behind which cowardice and weakness, and therefore also submission to God, hide." Kant tried to break humility out of Christian dogma and defined it as follows:

• "The consciousness and feeling of the insignificance of his moral value in comparison with the law is humility (humilitas moralis) (Metaphysics of Morals, A 94)". Humility is "so indirect an indicator of the real dignity of the human being as a free rational being".

In the philosophical context, one speaks of humility of being as a "basic attitude of the real philosopher towards reality".

Humility in psychology

According to Fromm ( The Art of Loving ), humility is the emotional attitude corresponding to reason and objectivity as a prerequisite for overcoming one's own narcissism . According to Siegbert Warwitz , humility, understood as “courage to serve”, “willingness to subordinate”, is a variant of the character trait courage : in the triad “pride-courage-humility” it forms the positive counterpoint to the negatively connoted appearance of pride. In the sense of "modesty", it is diametrically opposed to "arrogance". In the area of risk, humility can manifest itself in the acceptance of a difficult or dangerous requirement that exceeds one's own competencies. It can show itself in the withdrawal before an overpowering nature or in the bow before the greater achievement of an opponent.

Carl Gustav Jung mentions the concept of humility in the context of individuation :

“Verily, the way leads through the crucified one. That is to say, by him for whom it was not enough to live his own life and who was therefore elevated to glory. He did not teach what is knowable and worth knowing, but lived it. It cannot be said how great the humility must be of those who take it upon themselves to live their own lives. "

Humility in ethology

The behavioral biology of humans and animals describes the demonstrative gesture of submission in a confrontation, which could lead to aggression and possible injuries, as a "gesture of humility". The inferior animal signals its inferiority to the other , for example within an intra-species hierarchy , in order to effect an inhibition of aggression in the superior . A comparable - often unconscious - behavior can also be observed in human disputes. It can be used instinctively, but also consciously methodically. The verbal or gestural gesture of appeasement signals peace to the opponent. It serves to de-escalate conflicts in the social-psychological area and justifies itself to maintain one's own self-confidence under the saying “The wiser gives in”. In the encounter between humans and dangerous animals in the wilderness, “making oneself small”, for example by animal filmmakers and zoologists , is used in a targeted manner in order to enable a danger-defused approach.

See also

• Humility
• Devotion

literature

• Eve-Marie Becker : The concept of humility in Paul. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-16-154171-1 .
• Rudolf Damerau: The humility in the theology of Luther. Studies on the foundations of the Reformation; 5. Schmitz, Giessen 1967.
• Anselm Grün : Humility and Experience of God. Four towers, Münsterschwarzach 2018, ISBN 978-3-89680-585-0 .
• Hermann-Otto Leng: Dimensions of Humility. German Science Publishing House, Baden-Baden 2015.
• Horst Dietrich Preuss u. a .:  humility . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE). Volume 8, de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1981, ISBN 3-11-008563-1 , pp. 459-576.
• Eckhard Zemmrich: Humility. To understand a key theological concept. In: Ethics in Theological Discourse. 4, Berlin 2006.

Web links

Commons : Humility  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wikiquote: Humility  - Quotes

Wiktionary: humility  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Remarks

1. ^ Georgi Schischkoff : Humility. In: Philosophical Dictionary. 22nd edition. 1991, ISBN 3-520-01322-3 . After: Nicolai Hartmann : Ethics. 3. Edition. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1949, p. 476: “Humility is the consciousness of infinite lagging behind, in which all comparison fails. It measures its own being against perfection as it understands it, as deity, as a moral ideal or as a sublime model. "
2. ↑ cf. on this Nicolai Hartmann: Ethics. 3rd edition, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1949, p. 476 f.
3. ^ Nicolai Hartmann: Ethics. 3. Edition. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1949, p. 476.
4. ^ Nicolai Hartmann: Ethics. 3. Edition. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1949, p. 476.
5. ^ Rainbow / Meyer, Dictionary of Philosophical Terms (2005), ISBN 3-7873-1738-4 / Humility
6. ↑ Meister Eckhart: On Seclusion , Tract 9). In: Ders .: Vom Wunder der Seele , 1990, p. 23 (24).
7. ↑ Meister Eckhart: On Seclusion , Tract 9). In: Ders .: Vom Wunder der Seele , 1990, p. 23 (27).
8. ^ Pope Johannes XXIII .: Spiritual diary : From: Bühlmann: Johannes XXIII. 3. Edition. 2000, p. 69.
9. ^ Pope John XXIII: Spiritual Diary . From: Bühlmann: Johannes XXIII. 3rd edition, 2000, p. 75.
10. ↑ Francisco de Osuna : Sinking. Way and direction of contemplative prayer. 2nd Edition. Herder, Freiburg i. Br. U. a. 1984, ISBN 3-451-07938-0 , p. 105.
11. ↑ ^{a b} Article “Humility”. In: Martin Gessmann (Hrsg.): Philosophical dictionary. 23rd edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2009, ISBN 978-3-520-01323-1 .
12. ↑ Quoted from article “Humility”. In: Regenbogen / Meyer: Dictionary of Philosophical Terms . 2005, ISBN 3-7873-1738-4 .
13. ↑ Article “Humility”. In: Schischkoff: Philosophical Dictionary . 22nd edition 1991, ISBN 3-520-01322-3 .
14. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings. 2nd Edition. Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, p. 42.
15. ↑ Carl G. Jung : The Red Book - Liber novus. Patmos, 2009, ISBN 978-3-491-42132-5 , p. 308.
16. ↑ Konrad Lorenz: About animal and human behavior. From the development of the theory of behavior. Collected Treatises. Volume 1, Piper, Munich 1965.