Professor Richard P. Hardy Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada
Conference at Marist Symposium Rome, Italy, 1-4 April 1997
To seek the authentic self and to love this self by claiming it is an essential part of the process of human development. Consequently, this activity becomes the basic trait of today's Christian seeking wholeness in a post-modernist spirituality. To lack self-esteem and to keep oneself mired in the notion that one is only and always a sinner destroys not only human development and maturity [1], but makes the person unable to truly take her/his part in God's salvific intent for the world. For it is only in proportion to knowing the self and living it authentically that we con tribute to establishing the reign of God. Today, the Spirit moving in in dividual lives as well as in the community challenges believers with the necessity of discovering the real self despite the encrustations which have accrued over a lifetime. To be part of the process of salvation which is wholeness, the believer and the believing community need to see, affirm and live out of the very core of who they are - for this is in fact the life of God within them. To do this is to be humble.
When thought of in this way, Father Jean Claude Colin's approach to humility through humiliation seems not only drastic, but counter productive - at least at first sight. We need but remember how he speaks of what he did to a Marist sister'...who had been trailing behind and going round in circles over small imperfections she could not shake off. 'I knew what she was made of,' he said, 'and I wanted to get her out of it. So, one fine day, I assembled the community, and put her on her knees in the midst of all the Sisters. I thoroughly humiliated her, telling her that no one knew what to do with her. It was a stroke of grace!'[2] Could such a thorough humiliation really be grace?
The Constitutions of the Society themselves seem to offer a justification for such actions. For in #429 we read, 'Moreover, since humiliation is the path to humility, just as reading or study is the path to knowledge, if they are truly wise let them not shun humiliation, or at least suffer it patiently, in order to reap the fruit of humility.'[3] While Father Colin might have felt fully in keeping with the Christian tradition by quoting Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, it nonetheless is a quote which bespeaks a complexity which often is not understood.Yet, there are other sections in writings about the founder that offer some very interesting insights and other possibilities of interpreting him and his actions, especially as regards humility. People saw him as gentle with others. They note how he would prepare them for his corrections.[4] And we even find him speaking in terms of Faith and dark night - evidently taken from John of the Cross - which has some important grounding for humility,• even if Father Colin does not speak of it explicitly in this context. Scholars who are experts in this area will address the actual meaning which Jean-Claude Colin ascribed to humility and the process of developing this virtue. What I have been asked to do is to see how humility and self-abnegation might be viewed within the context of a present day notion of spirituality in the Christian tradition.
HUMILIATION AND HUMILITY
Today's spirituality and psychology affirm the goodness of the person and the need for self-respect and self-affirmation. The old ideas of humiliation and humility as being denial of the self and seeing oneself as the lowliest of the low seem to be in direct contradiction to what we would affirm today. Such an approach would scar individuals for a lifetime, making it impossible for them to fulfill their deepest aspirations for Christian growth. Furthermore, it would condemn them to a life of frustration as they attempted to build the reign of God here and now.
While we can say this in 1997, we have to remember that it was not so long ago that some people in religious communities saw humiliation as a positive reality to be advanced in the formation of religious. Novices might be asked to do things which would make the novice look foolish.(6) Such attempts to humiliate the novice in order to make her/him less unique, some felt, would be a constructive step to that novice•·s growth in humility. Moreover, they saw this approach as making the religious more pliable to obedience to superiors. While persons who had the authority to form religious might have felt they needed to do this, often it stemmed from a lack of conviction that God is the one who accomplished salvation or wholeness and not themselves.[7]
Humiliation as a way to humility might be possible, but to understandits role, we should look at what it is. Humiliation is seen as an embarrassing event or situation which may be either subjective or objective. A subjective humiliation is something that happens to a person or that one does personally that is perceived by the person as being embarrassing or reduces the esteem one might have had in the eyes of others. An objective humiliation is again something done to or done by the person which is perceived by others as destructive of the person's self-esteem or standing in the community. [8)Such a thing can bring positive results depending on the way in which the person who is the subject of the humiliation reacts to it. There is no doubt that it is painful. But it can challenge the person to look and see the real self which the person is. From this insight the person can fight the perception of destruction of one's self-esteem when it is unwarranted or one can see that indeed it is revelatory of an inauthenticity in which the person has lived. The recognition of that inauthenticity leads the per son to a truthful perception of the self and this acknowledgement of the self as such is humility as is the acknowledgement and rejection of whatever was falsely attributed to the self.
Perhaps we should look at the word 'humility' itself for a more accurate sense of what is entailed. The word humility comes from the word 'humus' meaning ground.[9] To be humble, we might say, means to be of the earth (humus). Therefore, some would say it means that one is lowly and should co sider oneself of no value. Such an interpretation comes from a viewpoint which sees all material things as so corrupted that we should avoid them as such as possible. In other words, it stems from a dualism which became the bane of Christianity and spirituality since St. Augustine of Hippo. Hismanichaean-dualistic notions contributed to a theology which denigrated created reality. Because of this negative view of creation, humility came co be seen as denying all that one was because one was still creature. This is precisely where the problem comes into the equation. Too often people thought that to consider oneself as lowly meant one should consider oneself as worthless and evil because one was of the earth. Thus, they thought a person had little if anything of value in oneself.(10)
Whereas, the reality is that a humble person is one who discovers and affirms one's very situation in truthfulness. One sees oneself as grounded; that is, deeply rooted in the gift of creaturehood. Roberta Bondi tells us that in early Christianity, humility'... was the living out of the conviction that all human beings, every man, woman and child, are beloved creatures of God.'(11) The accent here is on the words 'beloved creatures.' The early community saw humility as that which empowered the believer to know and live one's reality as being God's gift in creation. Through it she/he realized one's own uniqueness as well as one's context of dependency upon the Creator whose love had made the person to be part of the wonder of creation with a particular role to fulfill in being who one is and has become in the process. To be a creature of God means that one has limits by reason of one's finitude.(12) Realizing that one is a creature implies that one knows how frail and limited one is in relationship to God and indeed to creation as a whole.(13) Yet the acknowledgement of that relationship involves the awareness of one's importance within creation precisely because of the 'specialness' of being uniquely loved by God. To be a creation of God means to be specially loved by God precisely because the very existence of a person or thing is the result of that Divine Loving from all eternity.
Humility then is an affirmation of relationship with God, with others, with the world. This affirmation is the realisation that all things are gifts from the loving God. A humble person is one who sees who she/he is and affirms this in all veracity. It means that the humble person becomes one in touch with the true self and affirms that by her/his actions and life. The more humble a person is the more one recognizes not only weak nesses, but strengths, talents and contributions one makes to the life of humanity and creation as a whole. Moreover, it is the recognition not only of one's own reality, but the gifts and strengths of all other persons and indeed of all elements of creation within that divine plan of wholeness re vealed in Jesus Christ. Hence the truly humble person cannot simply discard or look down upon another as useless or unimportant. Nor can the one who lives out of humility assume an authoritarian position by which one would lord it over others - even if one should be in an ecclesiastical position in an hierarchy of leadership.(14)
The Spirit of God leads a person, and indeed the whole community, to find and live out the real self which lies at the deepest center of one's being.· Every person spends a lifetime creating an image of one's self - an image that she/he wants others to see or thinks that others want to see. Over a period of time, the person gradually identifies with the image which has become the mask of the false self which one has created. The real self che person is and whom God desires the person to be becomes encrusted andell hidden behind the mask - even to the person, her/himself.
This means that until the mask falls away, the person cannot live the virtue of humility precisely because the person does not know who one really is - the authentic self in the deepest center of one's being. He/she only has occasional glimpses of that self. Yet, little by little life itself with all its events and choices gradually chips away at the maskteaching a point where the self can not only be seen, but may break through to consciousness and a lived existence.(15) Such a breakthrough is essential. Life itself contains events which naturally break apart the masks human beings cultivate with such energy. People need but learn to live life in a deeply conscious way and question life's challenges in relationship to who they are and who they desire to be. Thus, formation in humility is not to humiliate people, but to empower people to look at life and live it more and more consciously. In this way the person and the com munity become lifegivers to themselves and others.
With God, the human being is co-creator of life and wholeness. Yet, the person can accomplish this creative and indeed salvific task only by being fully the self who one is - for this is the person created by God in the plan of creative wholeness (salvation). The masks must be dropped. In fact, they must be destroyed. One must let go of the masks of inauthenticity so that the real self may be lived and thus become part of that creative plan for wholeness which God has made.
It is for this reason that Jesus really finds one thing and one thing alone terribly contrary to all that he stands for. That is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy as mask means that one is not living the reality which is the gift God has made the person to be. And it is this inauthenticity (hypocrisy) which hinders the unfolding of the salvific plan of wholeness which will result in the establishment of the reign of God.
In this context, humility is the seeing and knowing and affirming the God-givenness of 'who I am'. Furthermore, it is by living out (as fully as possible at any given time) of that 'selfness' that the person actually contributes to ·the ongoing development and becoming whole of creation. This living out of the self is true humility. For as we have already seen, humility is knowing ourselves as we are in our situation of creaturehood and relationship to God, others and the world. However, to arrive at this point the person needs to have gone through a process which enables one to see through the mask to the authentic self. How is this done?
For John of the Cross, the arrival at that point of humility comes in a process of self discovery through what he calls the nights of the senses and the nights of the spirit. Through the nights of the senses God challenges the person to let go of sensible delights in prayer and things of the spirit. Thus, they come to a purer Faith in God alone, not simply in or for God's gifts of consolation and delight in things of God.[16) These nights of the senses provide one with a deep knowledge of the self which produces a real humility in them; that is to say, they know themselves better and do not judge others lesser than themselves as they did before.[17) Authentic self knowledge produces within them the realization of relationship with God and with others. Yet, the process of wholeness is not yet finished.Then, comes the darkest of the nights - the nights of the spirit. These passive and active nights of the spirit destroy all that one projected and presented as self and only Faith remains. This faith is so dark that God seems to have disappeared entirely. One cannot even pray for God seems awful to the person. Some cannot even think of God without horrible suffering.[18] It is a time in which the person nonetheless affirms God despite the darkness and despite the feeling that really there is no God at all. Some feel that everything they had thought God to be has been a product of their imagination. This is a time of denial of the self - that is, the false self that one had created in time. Letting go of that self, the person begins to see who she/he really is. It is painful at times. Yet it is also marvelous because the person sees not only one's limitations, but also one's unique contribution to life and creation which God has de sired from all eternity. The vision of the self becomes a vision of authenticity which is constructive of the very self and the creation in which God is intimately involved.
The person sees only what is truly there in the self. This enables theperson not only to see but to present that which is authentically the self. By so doing, she/he finds in the world a harmony of which the person is an intimate and necessary part. Not by denying the self and denigrating the self, but by affirming in all honesty who one really is through and in one's action in life.
To be alive and creative in grace is to be authentically who one is with all one's talents, failures and successes. Seeing who one is in this way does not mean that one remains purely on an introspective plane. Quite the contrary. This knowledge of one's creaturehood and limitations provides the person with new eyes with which to see the beauty and giftedness of others in the creative process.
Consequently, this humility moves the person into a real state of servanthood as regards others.[19] There is here a self-denial but only in the sense of letting go of selfishness in order to be of assistance to another and the other's full life here and now. The self-abnegation involved flows not from self-hatred, but from love of the other whom one sees as a valuable and beloved creature of God in her/his own right.
The Pedagogy of Humility
Today, we would provide the possibilities for authenticity, by daring to empower the person to discover the gifts which God has given the person and to enable the person to actualize these for the sake of humanity. John of the Cross provides us with some insights in the pedagogy when he speaks of spiritual directors.[20) For him, the spiritual director is one who listens to the Spirit leading each person along the path to wholeness for the self and the community. Listening and seeing that path, the director helps the person to hear and see the path and to follow it - even when the directo would prefer another path for the person. This path now seen is the path which the Holy Spirit determines as that which contributes to the salvation of the whole world. It is a positive movement and empowerment with vision which peers deep into the center of one's being.If one assists another in the discovery of who one is and particularlythe talents one possesses, one automatically gives courage, strength and determination to follow those paths of wholeness and to let go of whatever might keep one from those paths. Things which might keep one from those paths are the elements of the false self presented to the world.
To discover those talents and paths is necessary, not only for the in dividual, but for the community as a whole - the religious community and the human community. For this is where all will be enabled to become more fully the reality God desires for creation. Thus the community too must be humble. This is to say that the community must live in the realization that it does not have all the answers to which its members must adhere. Rather, in helping the individual member find his/her true self and in encouraging the talents found, the community will discover the direction for its own growth and development into an authentic community in the reign of God.
Only when that happens do the false masks of inauthentic community fall away to reveal a loving, compassionate reflection of the communion of those who live in the love of the Spirit. The community must let go of its own mask of authoritarianism and dogmatism which is but another name for pride. Then, in the process and in proportion as it lets go of that, it dares as community to move into creativeness of true servanthood which humility is.
Conclusions
Can Jean-Claude Colin's notion of humility and the way to it provide some assistance to today's view? It is my impression that what seems to concern Colin overall is that members of the society should be ready to do anything that is needed, even if it is something which one might experience as a humilitation.[21) In everything he wants to maintain the principle of living 'quasi ignoti et occulti.'[22) This might be another way of saying 'Don't stick out.' Be 'humble enough' to be unnoticed. He would even present Mary as the model of such humility.(23] She cooked and performed all kinds of lowly duties according to Colin and understood her place as beneath that of the Apostles, whom he presents as coming to seek her advice on church matters. (24] And this despite the fact that she was the 'Queen of Heaven'!
Colin's rather homely view of Mary was not new to him or the nineteenth century. As early as the sixteenth century in Spain we find authorities (male!) trying to control women by using Marian models to emphasize humility and obedience.(25] Gillian T. w. Ahlgren notes that 'Over the course of the sixteenth century, the religious virtue of humility pre scribed for women was defined in practice as withdrawal from the public sphere and dissociation from their own experience, authority, and power.'[26] Without ascribing to Colin such denegrating intentions, we might ask whether his view of humility and self denial contained such negative controlling elements?While Colin seems to put a great deal of emphasis upon humility and the necessity of its practice, especially within the community, he does not seem to really say WHY humility is good. In a contemporary spirituality, the notion of humility is meant to lead one into authentic human development and accomplish something positive in life.I believe Colin did have a sense of humility as authenticity and claim ing who one is and living out of that. His attempts to remove people from thinking of themselves as 'the center of the universe' reveals that. Per haps he felt that only by getting people to think of themselves as nothing (du neant), would they come to see their authentic self and live it. In this he certainly was a man of his time. I think he would say today, 'Seek to create the possibilities for wholeness for all people, but do not present yourselves as saviours of the world.'
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A postmodern spirituality affirms embodiment, mutuality and wholeness of the person and the community. The essential relationship that human beings have with each other, creation and God requires an authenticity that can only flow from self-esteem and appreciation of who one is and, therefore, what one can do. To hate oneself or to see oneself as useless hinders one from truly being honest and therefore contributing what he/she is to the process of the establishment of God's reign.
Only in the affirmation of the self with all one's talents and abilities can one grow humanly and indeed divinely. Implicit in the affirmation is the actualizing of those talents for the sake of others, indeed for the community of humanity which is the whole of creation. Because human beings are constantly interrelated, whenever one person develops and matures in the realization of who one truly is, the whole human community profits from it.Yet, there is more to the interrelationship of human beings. It is only in and with the community that persons can discover and live out of their true self. Therefore, groupings of society, churches and religious communities need to observe and listen to the persons who constitute them and challenge them to develop the strengths and talents they have, not deny them. Furthermore, communities as institutions must learn to accept to be challenged by their members so that they may shed the crippling structures of power and control which become the deadly virus of any and all institutions over time. In entering this context of mutuality, these institutions live and practice authentic Christian humility which can do naught but enhance their deeper humanitarian qualities in which their founders established them.
Questions for further reflection
How does the concept of humility as presented by Jean-Claude Colin differ from contemporary understandings of humility and self-esteem? Reflect on the implications of each approach for personal spiritual growth.
What are the potential dangers of using humiliation as a path to humility, according to the document? How does this contrast with modern psychological views on self-respect and self-affirmation?
How does the notion of the 'false self' and the process of uncovering the 'authentic self' play a role in achieving true humility? Reflect on the challenges of this process in contemporary spiritual practice.
In what ways does the article suggest that humility involves not only recognizing one's limitations but also affirming one's strengths and contributions? How does this understanding of humility enhance one's role in the community?
The article mentions the concept of 'masks' that individuals create over time. How does the removal of these masks relate to living authentically and practicing humility? Reflect on how this idea can be applied in personal and communal spiritual life.
How does the document relate humility to the concept of servanthood and the rejection of authoritarianism and dogmatism? Reflect on the importance of humility in leadership within religious and communal settings.
What role does the community play in fostering humility according to the document? How can communities balance the need for individual authenticity with the collective growth and development of the group?
Discuss
Song - Listen to the song “Who You Say I Am”
Closing prayer
Loving God, as we journey in our quest for true humility, help us to strip away the masks that conceal our authentic selves, so that we may live fully in the truth of who You created us to be. Grant us the grace to see both our strengths and weaknesses, and to embrace them as gifts from You, meant to serve others in love and humility. May we, like Jean-Claude Colin, learn to walk the path of humility with gentleness and compassion, recognizing Your presence within us and in the community around us. Guide us to be instruments of Your peace, living out our true selves in service to Your greater glory. Amen.
(Audio Available)
