SHOSHIN: Humility

LUKE Luke 18:9-17
Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Let's get some housekeeping issues out of the way first.

• There is nothing wrong with trying to live a good life: to fast, to tithe. The Pharisee wasn't ridiculed for that. He was slammed because of his attitude.
• But don't you love it when a Pharisee gets slapped around? It's like when the traffic cop gets stopped for speeding, or David Letterman makes fun of Martha Stewart.

The topic is humility today. To start with: humility isn't the same as humiliation, although one can lead to the other. When a person gets too big a head, the universe steps up with a dose of humiliation to knock him down a peg or two. Next time, if you got the previous lesson, the universe will be happy to skip the humiliation. If not, the universe keeps trying... one humiliation after another.

• President Johnson was so sure of himself when he flooded Vietnam with soldier after soldier... he was sure he was doing the right thing even though 50-thousand young men came home dead... his pride led to his downfall. Before he died, LBJ got it... he said he knew he was so wrong about the war.
• President Nixon was full of cock-sure pride when he covered up the Watergate break-in... so far as I can tell, the humiliation he suffered never got Mr. Nixon to come off his pride.
• Now we have invaded Iraq, and we have finished a coup in Haiti... and government pronouncements never leave room for discussion... full of pride... no chance that a mistake was made... so, we'll see.

There's a parochial school on the Texas coast that had a sign full of bravado about the school's football team: COUGAR PRIDE. I was talking to the school chaplain: "Isn't pride a sin?" He told me the kind of pride he was talking about isn't the same kind of pride that is mentioned in the Bible. I said, "Of course not. But you know, 'Biblical pride' would come with blinders so you wouldn't know you were prideful." He just laughed.

You've heard the phrase, "bring it on!" When I hear it, I want to run for cover. When we have the attitude of "Bring it on", the universe will keep bringing things on. Pride says "I can handle anything that comes along", so the universe takes you at your word. Johnny is humble and admits he can't handle something, so the universe gives it to you. It isn't being mean: you said you could handle it. More often than not, the universe is able to bring things that we wish it hadn't brought. More often than not, we find that we can't handle everything. And when we crack, it is humiliating.

We all crack if we're lucky. President Nixon never cracked, and that is so sad for him. He reacted like a cat doing something stupid: I meant to do that.

Humble mind knows there's some scary stuff out there, but we don't have to do everything by ourselves. The philosopher, William James, in "The Varieties of the Religious Experience" calls this "deflation of ego." And rather than being a bad thing, he says it is the beginning of enlightenment.

Humble mind has faith. Humble mind isn't cock-sure in thinking that we can do everything ourselves. It is the kind of faith that says: when we are required to walk off a cliff (and we all have to walk off cliffs from time to time), one of two things will happen. Either there is an unseen ledge just below our sight, or we will be taught how to fly.

Humble mind lets go, and lets God. Nobody claims to be able to walk off the cliff. Our strength doesn't come from ourselves. Humble mind knows that sometimes God does calm the storm. Humble mind knows that other times God lets the storm rage and calms his children. Humble mind knows that this calming does not come from ourselves alone.

Humble mind notices the calm and reacts with gratitude, not pride.

There is another aspect to humility that doesn't involve faith, but is one of the most important aspects to our spiritual growth.

A Japanese word describes this better than anything we have in English.

SHOSHIN. It kinda-sorta means BEGINNER'S MIND. You grow when you have SHOSHIN. You stop growing when you lose it.

When we think we already know everything about something... when our mind is full of pride... we stop growing.

With SHOSHIN, even a guru continues to grow.

SHOSHIN is an empty mind, ready to be filled. The beginner's mind in English often means you're just stupid. The Japanese word means your mind is empty. You wouldn't say an empty glass is stupid: it is merely empty. SHOSHIN isn't stupid: it is humility, not humiliation.

There's always something we don't know... always something we can't handle... always something we need to turn over to our guardian angel or ascended masters. If you think otherwise, the universe will continue to rage until it makes its point.

Keep SHOSHIN, and let God help us. God can handle the storms: it's why he makes the big bucks.