Oh Lord, it’s Hard to be Humble, When You’re Perfect in Every Way

In 1980 singer-songwriter Mac Davis released a song titled “It’s Hard to be Humble.”  The title of this article is the first line of the song.

The second line of the song is as outrageous as the first:  “I can’t wait to look in the mirror, cause I get better looking each day!”

The song is likely a parody (deliberate exaggeration for comic effect) but it did shine a spotlight on pride and humility. (You can listen to the song here.)  And if, as many say, pride is the deadliest sin, it seems like being humble is the best protection and defense against that sin.  So why isn’t humility a Cardinal Virtue?

St. Augustine tells us that “Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues.”  And St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta seems to agree:  “Humility is the mother of all virtues.”

But the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” tells us that humility is not a Cardinal Virtue:

“1805 Four virtues play a pivotal role and accordingly are called “cardinal”; all the others are grouped around them. They are: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.”

And the Catholic Encyclopedia tells us that humility is “annexed to temperance.”  Saint Thomas Aquinas agrees (Summa Theologiae, Question 161, Article 4):  “humility is accounted a part of temperance.”  So it is not a Cardinal Virtue in and of itself.

Yet Jesus is often said to be the model of humility. (I can’t ever recall Him being referred to as the model of temperance. Can you?)  Why, then, is humility not a Cardinal Virtue?  Why is it only “annexed to temperance?”

Temperance

Temperance, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “may be defined as the righteous habit which makes a man govern his natural appetite for pleasures of the senses in accordance with the norm prescribed by reason.”

To dumb that down a bit, temperance is the virtue that helps us keep everything in balance and in perspective.  Like one or two beers are okay but 14 beers are too much.  Or, it’s okay to spend five minutes trimming one’s beard and mustache, but spending an hour doing so smacks of vanity.

But temperance is more than balance.  It is also the practice of will power and self-discipline.  It is the difference between being self-indulgent and being in control of our thoughts, desires and appetites.  It’s stopping after two beers or saying five minutes of beard and mustache trimming is enough.

So temperance is that virtue which helps us control our own behavior and keep everything in balance.  How then, does humility “annex” to it?  And why do the likes of St. Augustine and St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta place being humble above temperance?

Humility

The Catholic Encyclopedia says “The virtue of humility may be defined: “A quality by which a person considering his own defects has a lowly opinion of himself and willingly submits himself to God and to others for God’s sake.”

The Cambridge Dictionary does not quite agree with this definition.  It says that humility is “the quality of not being proud because you are aware of your bad qualities.”

Father Dwight Longenecker offers yet another definition of being humble.  He says, “Humility is knowing your place. In other words, it is knowing yourself – the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Aquinas, however, says that humility is a virtue needed “to temper and restrain the mind, lest it tend to high things immoderately.” He writes “humility consists chiefly in man’s subjection to God.”

The Catholic Encyclopedia goes on to say that humility is annexed to temperance “because temperance includes all those virtues that refrain or repress the inordinate movements of our desires or appetites.”

Humility then, as the encyclopedia says, “is a repressing or moderating virtue opposed to pride and vainglory or that spirit within us which urges us to great things above our strength and ability . . .”

As such, humility “is included in temperance just as meekness which represses anger is a part of the same virtue. From what we have here stated it follows that humility is not the first or the greatest of the virtues.”

Okay, But . . .

St. Benedict devoted an entire chapter (chapter seven) of his Rules for monks to humility.  (At first glance some of the rules seem a bit over the top, but Father Abbot Philip Lawrence, OSB, adds commentary that puts them in perspective.)  References to prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, however, are only scattered throughout the Rules.

Of course, St. Benedict wrote his rules for monks living the monastic life.  As such, obedience to superiors, while exhibiting humility, was also a good rule for maintaining order.  Still, it’s evident that Benedict put some thought into what being humble means.

St. Benedict writes “10 The first step of humility, then, is that a man keeps the fear of God always before his eyes (Ps 35[36]:2) and never forgets it.”

According to this esteemed saint then, humility starts with fear of God.  Proverbs 1:7 also tells us:  “Fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.”  And Sirach 1:14 says, “The beginning of wisdom is to fear the Lord.”

(Just as an aside here, Msgr. Charles Pope offers a very good explanation of Fear of the Lord here.  In short, it is the filial fear a loving child has toward a loving parent.)

Proverbs 11:2 also tells us that “When pride comes, disgrace comes; but with the humble is wisdom.”

Being Humble Leads to Wisdom

So it would seem that Fear of the Lord leads to being humble which leads to wisdom.  And a wise person would know that he or she needs to keep everything in balance and in perspective.  It is also in being wise that we discern the need to practice will power and self-discipline.  So this could mean that temperance comes from wisdom which comes from Fear of the Lord – and from humility.

And even Aquinas seems to waffle a bit on how humility and temperance are connected (Question 161, Article 2):  “. . . knowledge of one’s own deficiency belongs to humility, as a rule guiding the appetite. Nevertheless humility is essentially in the appetite itself; and consequently it must be said that humility, properly speaking, moderates the movement of the appetite.”

I may be wrong here, but it sounds like Aquinas is saying humility brings about temperance.

As such, I would argue that St. Augustine and St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta are correct – humility should be first among the virtues.  If temperance comes from wisdom and wisdom comes from humility, which comes from Fear of the Lord, then humility should be a Cardinal Virtue and temperance should be attached to it.

Of course, in all humility, my opinion isn’t worth much.  The opinions of St. Augustine and St. Mother Teresa, however, are worth noting.

The Absence of Humility

Wherever it is ranked, however, humility is, unfortunately, a virtue that far too many people lack these days.  There are a lot of people running around today whose sense of self-esteem – pride – is off the charts.  This could be the Dunning-Krueger Effect at work.

As Psychology Today tells it, “The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area. This tends to occur because a lack of self-awareness prevents them from accurately assessing their own skills.”

In other words, their sense of self-esteem is way too high. They simply don’t know what they don’t know.

What’s more, “Those with limited knowledge in a domain suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach mistaken conclusions and make regrettable errors, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it,” say Cornell University psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger.

Such people also tend toward “confirmation bias” in an attempt to “protect their self-esteem.  People like to feel good about themselves, and discovering that a belief that they highly value is incorrect makes people feel bad about themselves. Therefore, people will seek information that supports their existing beliefs. Another motive is accuracy. People want to feel that they are intelligent, and information that suggests one holds an inaccurate belief or made a poor decision suggests one is lacking intelligence.”

Humility & Politics

The Dunning-Kruger Effect (and confirmation bias) is obvious everywhere today – especially in the political arena.  Too many politicians today seem to think they are smarter than God.  Either that or their desire for power (and the money that usually accompanies power) has completely dwarfed their fear of God. And lacking Fear of God, they lack humility – and true wisdom.

Today, too many politicians espouse man-made laws that are contrary to God’s laws.  Murdering babies is okay, they say.  Two men or two women should be able to get married.  Men and women should be able to mutilate their bodies in a futile attempt to change their sex.  Schools should have more authority over children than a child’s’ own parents.  And anyone who disagrees with any of this stupidity should be shamed, silenced, prosecuted, and put in jail.

While our county does need strong leaders, it does not need leaders who think they are ‘perfect in every way.’  We do not leaders who have no fear of God.  We do not need leaders who are not the least bit humble and lack and true wisdom.

Be an Informed Voter

Remember this before you vote next month.

Take time between now and Election Day to download a sample ballot and research the candidates.  Learn what the candidates for every elected position believe – and this includes judges and even school board candidates.  (Even school board candidates often have websites on which they state their positions on the many issues impacting education today.)

This also holds true for any propositions or proposals on the ballot in your state.  Make sure you understand what is being proposed before you check ‘yes’ or ‘no.’  As Robert Marshall notes at Catholic Culture, three states have “disastrous sexual liberty” amendment proposals on their ballots in November.

Do not vote based on what you hear in political commercials.  Let the negative, often untrue, attack rhetoric go in one ear and right out the other.

Do your homework.  Take the privilege of voting seriously.