Humility is an Edge.
Its liminal moves constitute incarnation.
Humility is not an attribute highly praised in contemporary society. A Western age rich with pride, advance, and consuming exchange has little interests in such words. Humility is bound to religiosity. Wikipedia‘s interests extend at least this far. But in a post-enlightenment culture when religiosity, especially of the Christian type, are generally regarded as “behind the times,” stuck in superstition, and mythic consciousness the secular gaze offers little sympathies. Humility is associated with Christian piety, with connotations of servitude, lowness, and surrender – even egolessness.
Christ came to the world, humble. St. Paul‘s Letter to the Philippians 2:1-8 captures the enduring meaning: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not considier it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Humility has all the religious effect one might conjure – “obedient to the point of death…” Equal with transcendence and absurdity, the lesson humility offers seems both grandiose and desperately naive – just edgy enough to drive a 2000 year old movement of institution and belief.
Now, in age enormously critical of Christian hegemony and thoroughly disenchanted, the word, humility, offers enough edge to revitalize old soil. Humility comes from latin root, “humus,” meaning “earth” or “ground.” In agriculture humus refers to maturely composed soil rich with organic matter and stability. Humus is rich because it has undergone a process of transformation where microorganisms thrive and produce organic carbon. It is often called the “life-force” of soil. (thanks wiki)
The edge of humility is the space where religious meaning can be revitalized. We are asked to remain humble while the work of preparation continues to offer life new possibilities. The lesson of humility needs not a mere 2000 years, it is as old as the Earth itself, 4.3 billion years strong. Its soil bound between vacum and gravity, it is sure and stable; it constitutes our living memory and is boldly performing humanity – in the likeness of the hum-an.
The edge of humility is the space between the organic and the spiritual, the material and the divine. It is the “life-force” behind an incarnation, the space between God and Human. It lives us daily an an ecology of multitude. It breaths us and though we have forgot our former states, it matures us through its own convincing power.