Humility is a word that I relate very little to. Not only that, I have zero aspirations to embodying whatever that may entail. In short, it’s something I have little interest in.
On the other hand, I’m very interested in the quality of obedience.
I think the difference is that the former is a description of being whereas the latter connotes how one chooses and acts in this world. It would be similar to the contrast between being smart or intelligent vs. inquiring into reality. Maybe for some, becoming *something* is important—such as being humble or intelligent. But to me, acting in obedience or with curiosity is more compelling.
Also, I don’t think it works to aim toward humility, intelligence, or any of such states of being. I think it was Krishnamurti who said that intelligence is the *natural byproduct* of seeking truth, beauty, love, and so on. I believe the same can be said of humility, as being a natural byproduct of some process. My proposition here is that that process is that of obedience.
A quick word on obedience though.
Obedience comes from the Latin oboedire, or ob (“to”) + audire (“listen, hear”). So to become obedient isn’t to become someone’s dog, or to become a mindless follower. It’s to listen and to hear what’s being offered. If one doesn’t listen well, one can’t follow well. Or put in its logically-equivalent contrapositive, if one wants to follow well, one has to listen well. That is, to follow the whisperings of the universe, one must first learn to hear it. This to me is the true spirit of obedience. To become obedient is to quiet myself down, and listen intently for what’s being asked of me. When I do this well, I can hear things I couldn’t before. In particular, I come to hear where the currents of Life are flowing, and when I do, I mosey on over there and ride those currents. And life flows.
This is the upshot of obedience as far as I’m concerned. Not obedience to you or to my ego. Not obedience to some conceptual figurehead, but to Life itself.
And the wonder of it all is that it's a process whereby the self becomes thinned, little by little. And that's the grand prize! Less self = less suffering = greater freedom and joy. 😊
