The PATH: Humility, Responsibility, and Insignificance
sent by J.W. Bertolotti | May 16, 2022
Welcome to The PATH — A weekly reflection with three timeless insights into daily life.
1. Humility
A strange paradox of knowledge is the more we learn about a particular topic, the more our humility grows. The poet Goethe said, “We know accurately only when we know little; doubt grows with knowledge.”
Modern research backs up this point. The Dunning-Kruger effect reveals that people with limited knowledge or competence in a given intellectual or social domain vastly overestimate their own knowledge or competence. According to Dunning and Kruger,
The effect is explained by the fact that the metacognitive ability to recognize deficiencies in one’s own knowledge or competence requires that one possess at least a minimum level of the same kind of knowledge or competence.
Similarly, the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said more than 2,000 years ago, “Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know.”
In my interview with Dr. Beverly Lanzetta (author of A New Silence), she explained humility refers to modesty and the absence of arrogance and pride. By discerning what is meaningful in our lives, humility gives us the strength to break through the wounds of the ego. Humility practiced daily strengthens your being and provides fortitude along the path.
The Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky offered this advice, “The cleverest of all is the person who calls themselves a fool at least once a month.”
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2. Responsibility
“Freedom without responsibility is an oxymoron,” observed Viktor Frankl. Frankl suggested that the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor on the East Coast be supplemented by a “Statue of Responsibility” somewhere along the West Coast.
In the classic Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl explained,
Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness.
The notion of responsibility is also stressed throughout existentialism. The philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in Existentialism Is a Humanism, Not only is man what he conceives himself to be… man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. Such is the first principle of existentialism.
Spiritual traditions also highlight the need for personal responsibility. “We ourselves must walk the path,” insisted the Buddha. Put another way, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, “No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross… but you yourself alone.”
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3. Insignificance
In Things Know One Else Can Teach Us, author Humble the Poet tells the story of an encounter with Dr. Roberta Bondura, the first Canadian woman to go into space. Humble asked, what was it like to see Earth from space? “Well, it was a really nice view. But, I think it will be much more transformative when we start traveling to Mars,” said Bondura.
“Why’s that?” asked Humble. Bondura responded,
Because at one point, when traveling from Earth to another planet, we’ll look out the window and won’t be able to see either. It will be empty, cold, and lonely and will remind us how insignificant we really are.
When I started the In Search of Wisdom podcast, I didn’t expect much talk of being insignificant. However, more than a few guests have stressed the point.
The interview with Oliver Burkeman (author of Four Thousand Weeks) suggested cosmic insignificance therapy. Burkeman writes,
To remember how little you matter, on a cosmic timescale, can feel like putting down a heavy burden that most of us didn’t realize we were carrying in the first place. This sense of relief is worth examining a little more closely, though, because it draws attention to the fact that the rest of the time, most of us do go around thinking of ourselves as fairly central to the unfolding of the universe…
Although just because our place in the universe may not be as grand as we think. It does not mean that we are of any less importance. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”
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Thank you for reading; I hope you found something useful. If so, please consider sharing it with others.
Each week, we send a short reflection with three insights to help you live your highest good. If you are not a subscriber to The PATH, you can sign up here to receive it right to your inbox.
Image credit: The Print Collector by Honore Daumier (c. 1857–1860)
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