I think there is something to learn from the Shakers. They were a religious sect back in the 19th Century known for producing chairs that it’s said will last a thousand years. Yet none of the craftspeople took credit for their work. They believed that the act itself was its own reward, and invested themselves fully in their work, as a form of prayer. Of course, traditions in the East believed, too, that “a warrior learns to meditate in every act,’ as Socrates says to his pupil, Dan Millman, in the movie, Peaceful Warrior.
The Shakers really seemed to espouse the value of humility, which doesn’t have many endorsements today, probably because you can’t endorse and be humble at the same time. I have an uncle, 95, confined to a nursing home and not allowed visitors during the pandemic. He’s survived Covid-19, a broken femur, surgery, a hospital stay. He hasn’t seen his family in months except through a back window. Yet he’s usually cheerful, quick to smile and to laugh. He exhibits a guilelessness and an innocence which the world is designed to obscure.
My uncle and the Shakers don’t think they’re humble. They don’t try to be humble. The thought of it never occurs to them. In this sense, humility has a lot to do with happiness.
Some people try to be happy, and they usually end up unhappy. Happiness can’t be pursued for its own sake, or it eludes us. That’s why almost none of the formulas for happiness work in the long run. Happiness happens when we live rightly, and by living rightly I’m not talking about conforming to any objective moral standard. I’m talking about being congruent with our inner selves, whether that, to us, means following the teachings of Socrates or of socialism. Happiness happens when we least expect it, when we’re not trying to be happy.
Humility, like happiness, can’t be sought for its own sake. It’s the byproduct of other efforts, and sometimes of other non-efforts. In fact, it often comes when we stop trying for something: a promotion; a dream job; a lot of money. Its most frequent accompanying act is surrender. And surrender, unlike resignation, is often a difficult task. Like a work of art, surrender can’t be consciously and deliberately effected any more than humility can be acquired. We’re not in control of it. Surrender can’t be accomplished, since it’s the opposite of accomplishment.
To be humble is not to be conscious of humility, since as soon as I become conscious of it, it’s like becoming conscious that you’re falling asleep. It wakes you right back up into its opposite state. This is why humility is such a rare trait, found most often in the very young, and the very old. For the young aren’t trying to be anything except themselves, in the moment. And the old have given up trying to be anything anymore. Wisdom, therefore, is written in the bookends of life. It’s written into life’s beginning and its end, and is usually not found written in many of the chapters in between. Wisdom, like humility, is something you have the least of when you think you have the most of it. Socrates made that observation, and he never tried to be anything.
My job is to give up trying to be anything other than myself.
© 2022 by Michael C. Just
Mike’s novel, The Dirt: The Journey of a Mystic Cowboy, is available in softcover or eBook formats through Amazon.
You can purchase the book through this website. Or go straight to amazon at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+dirt+journey+of+a+mystic+cowboy&crid=1S40Q4BXSUWJ6&sprefix=the+dirt%3A+journey+of+a+m%2Caps%2C180&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_23
Mike’s other titles, including The Crippy, The Mind Altar, and Canyon Calls, are available through this website or through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002
Four of his short stories have recently been published online:
Lies, Ltd. has been published by The Mystery Tribune @ Lies, Ltd.: Literary Short Fiction by Michael C. Just (mysterytribune.com)
The Obligate Carnivore has been published by the Scarlet Leaf Review @ Category: MICHAEL JUST – SCARLET LEAF REVIEW
I See You, Too has been published by the 96th of October @ I See You, Too – 96th of October
Offload, a short story about a man who can heal any disease, is now live and can be read at The Worlds Within at Offload – The Worlds Within