Do We Need to Be Humble on Our Spiritual Journey?

William Blake asked a compelling question in his poem, The Everlasting Gospel:

“Was Jesus humble?”

He goes on to say that when Jesus humbled himself before God, God said:

“If thou humblest thyself, thou humblest me.”

When we realize that we carry the whole of the divine within us, we have no need to humble ourselves. This idea of needing to ‘stay humble’ comes from the concept that we need a mechanism in place to protect ourselves from the pride, vanity, and arrogance of our ego. It is based on the notion that our ego is a cause of suffering, but it is not.

The ego is actually a very valuable aspect of our earthly incarnation. It is the vessel through which the divine within us expresses itself in our physical world. The reason some say we need to keep the ego in check is that it speaks in a language that can be interpreted negatively.

When we do not honor ourselves- when we keep ourselves small, do not express our true feelings, go along with someone else’s plans for us- the ego sounds an alarm by conjuring feelings of anger, judgment, defensiveness, and false pride. Our instinctual reaction is to plug our ears and shut out these uncomfortable feelings. But when we allow ourselves to listen to what the ego is truly telling us, we uncover its core message:

“Hey — be more of yourself.”

This nudge to align with our divinity and give it full expression is simply irrelevant to the concepts of arrogance and humility. When we honor our true selves, there’s nothing to defend or prove. There’s no one and nothing we need to compare ourselves to. And when that goes away, what need is there to be ‘humble’?

We don’t need to be afraid of being arrogant or prideful. When we give our ego what it wants — to align with our true, divine self — it no longer needs to make itself heard so much.

Early in my spiritual journey, when I tried to stay small by hiding my true self, saying ‘yes’ when I wanted to say ‘no’, or brushing aside my accomplishments, something would happen to get me on an ‘ego trip.’ I would get cut off in traffic or feel disrespected in some equally small way.

These instances would trigger my defensiveness. I would get extremely angry and majorly react. Instead of judging myself for my reactions, I let the emotions move through me and began to ask, “What is here for me to see?” Doing so allowed me to see where I needed to commit to myself more fully and align more consistently with my power.

As I was in the process of writing this article, a lovely symbol manifested in my world that drives home this message perfectly. I took a picture of it.

It’s a beautifully decorated vintage van with a vanity plate that reads “BSum1.” There are two levels of wisdom here — the message of the plate itself, of course, but also the way that the van is presented. It is decked out in hearts and flowers — fully expressed. It also has what for some reason we call a ‘vanity’ plate, which is really just an opportunity for even greater expression. There’s nothing vain about that.

We don’t need to be afraid of being arrogant or prideful. When we give our ego what it wants — to align with our true, divine self — it no longer needs to make itself heard so much. That see-sawing between staying small and getting defensive will dissipate, and we will free ourselves up to express our unique magnificence.