Growing True Humility

The Midrash says that blessings come from anavah, humility. Meaning, that blessings will only come to a person when he or she awakens humility within. So, how do we awaken humility?

We know that Moses is viewed as the most humble person who ever lived in this world. The Tiferet Shlomo explains that when we talk about humility, referring to Moses, we are not talking about the humility of a person. Anyone can achieve some level of humility. The humility we are talking about when we speak about Moses is a level of true humility, which is the only way to connect to all the blessings. Moses merited speaking directly to the Creator because he accomplished true humility through the enormous levels of connection and revelation he reached as a result of his spiritual transformation and personal growth.

Humility does not simply mean that we are spiritual and know that it is not good to act with ego or speak condescendingly to people. While working on developing humility is okay, it is not the anavah, humility, that Moses had and that we should strive for. So, what is the true humility of Moses?

As we get closer and closer to the Light of the Creator, we naturally start seeing how small we actually are. The Kedushat Levi uses the analogy of a little candle: the further away it is from the sun, the more it can light up the darkness, but the closer it is to the sun, the less light it creates because it is overwhelmed by the light of the sun. The same is true of us. As we grow spiritually and develop a closer connection to the Light of the Creator, humility will come naturally to us. This is not something a person has to work on. If we are getting closer to the Light of the Creator, it becomes clear to us how tiny and small we are. If humility is not coming to us naturally, it is an indication that we need to work to develop this ability. And since humility is the basis for all blessings, this is the question we have to ask ourselves: is humility coming to me naturally?

Unfortunately, even for those of us who are working on ourselves spiritually, wanting to become humble is work, and if it is work, then it is an indication that we are far from the Light of the Creator and getting further away. Because if we are truly getting closer to the Creator, humility will come naturally to us; as we get closer to the Light of the Creator, we naturally see how little and insignificant we are in comparison. If humility is not coming to us naturally, it is a clear indication that we are not getting closer to the Light of the Creator, that we are not growing, and, as such, all the great things that we do and all the great things people see about us mean absolutely nothing.

We think that working on ourselves means restricting our reaction when someone does something negative to us because we know that it is important not to have a great ego and we want to be spiritual about it. Although behaving this way is okay, it is not true humility, and it is also not an indication that we are growing.

If we are growing and connecting strongly to the Light of the Creator, humility comes naturally. If humility is not coming naturally to you, forget about everything else that you are doing, forget about everything else that people see about you, because it means you are not growing or connecting more strongly to the Light. When we are growing, our own insignificance becomes clearer every day. But if the diminishment of our ego is not coming naturally, it is the clearest indication that we are not growing in our connection to the Light of the Creator.

Therefore, it makes no difference what anyone thinks about us or what we are doing. All that matters is that we ask ourselves this simple question: Is my humility growing naturally day by day? The answer is that if you’re getting closer to the Light of the Creator, then humility has to be coming naturally to you.