(1458)
Humiliation—See [Bargain-making]; [Timidity].
Humiliation, Light in—See [Light in Humiliation].
HUMILITY
Dr. Franklin, writing to a friend, says:
The last time I saw your father he received me in his study, and, at my departure, showed me a shorter way out of his house, through a narrow passage, crossed by a beam overhead. We were talking as we withdrew, and I, turning partly toward him, he suddenly cried, “Stoop! stoop!” I did not know what he meant till I felt my head hit against the beam. He was a man that never failed to impart instruction, and on this occasion said, “You are young, and have to go through the world; stoop as you go through it, and you will miss many hard thumps.” This advice, thus beat into my head, has been of singular service to me, and I have often thought of it when I have seen pride mortified and men brought low by carrying their heads too high. (Text.)
(1459)
True exaltation is always accompanied by corresponding humility. Truly great souls never rise in conscious self-aggrandizement. They sink in self-esteem and are bowed low under a sense of responsibility in proportion to the splendor of their achievements.
In the Alps the eagle soars up higher and higher till its figure is a mere speck in the zenith. Among the mountains is a lake in whose bosom is a perfect reflection of the dome of the heavens. The traveler in these regions, standing by the lake, sees everything above mirrored in the lake. The flight of the eagle higher than the mountain-tops, as reflected in the lake, seems to be a descent lower and lower. The higher the flight the deeper the bird seems to be diving downward. (Text.)