Below is an excellent primer on the essence of humility and how to move from arrogance to humility as offered by St. Francis / Gandhi in a recent edition of the An Hour with an AngeI blog radio show. I love Steve Beckow’s (one of the interviewers) transparent sharing in this piece…Plus, the exercise St. Francis explains for using the heart to move from arrogance to humility is a real keeper!
Excerpt from …
St. Francis Reveals at Least One of His Later Lives: As Mohandas Gandhi
http://the2012scenario.com/2012/09/st-francis-reveals-at-least-one-of-his-later-lives-as-mohandas-gandhi/
… SB: I have so much to ask you and I know I’m not going to have time. I think you know that I too enjoy the birds, especially. You have anticipated some of my questions, and I’d just like listeners to know that, that you’ve already answered some of the questions I had of you, but one question I would like to investigate with you is can you explain to us, as a person who knew this subject very well, the essence of humility?
SF: It is humility… let me back up. And for this day I will refer to my life as Francis… and I would be happy to come back and talk to you again at another time also, you know.
SB: Please do.
SF: For now is a time when I am coming forward to speak yet again. Arrogance, the belief in the supremacy that one knows everything, and one is most important on the planet, has been a true cancer of humanity. And that arrogance has led to many of the difficulties that your planet — and mine — has experienced, that there is one right way. And of course that is absurd.
Humility, humility is being in the awe of God. It is surrender to your infinite place within that unified field, within that love, within that eternal, non-changing energy. When you connect in what I have called in every lifetime in divine contemplation, when you allow yourself and practice discipline — a very unpopular term! —— when you are disciplined enough to be in that place of divine union, the sense of wonder renders you humble.
And if you truly — not for a moment, but for a lifetime — can truly look at yourself within the grander scheme and unfoldment, and truly embrace the gift that you are given in and out of form, to be part of this majesty, to be part of that fabric, to help build and create and make what is old new again, then you are in humility.
It is the deep anchoring and recognition that you are all and you are insignificant — and insignificant does not mean less than— but your meaning comes in connection and service to others. Yes, there have been times when I went for periods of time into seclusion as a hermit, but that was to reach a deeper level of contemplation and union, and then to come back to share that energy, to share that love, that absolute bliss with my community, to hold the vision, not for self-grandeur, for that is meaningless, and it is oh, so temporary.
SB: I have to apologize to readers because I’ve thrown my script away. It’s useless. Perhaps you could take us a step further with this, Francis, and help us to understand. What is arrogance? Why are people arrogant? What is it that they accomplish by being that way? What are they trying to do? What is arrogance?
SF: Arrogance is extreme sense of self importance. And arrogance is truly simply a manifestation of a lack of self-worth and self-love, that you position yourself because you are so afraid that people will think you without substance or power that you puff yourself up to look and to feel important. And the danger of arrogance is that it leads to behaviors that are not of love.
A true leader is never arrogant, for a true leader shepherds, does not control. So arrogance — and I am speaking now not only in the human sense; I am speaking in the spiritual sense — because the core of arrogance is believing that you’re better than God. Can you imagine? But that is the true substance of arrogance, that you place yourself above Source and One and therefore All. And you do so because you are afraid, you are afraid that God doesn’t recognize how important you are and he doesn’t love you enough. Therefore you deny and you place yourself above.
So, arrogance has no place on Earth or anywhere else. It leads to destruction.
SB: I feel arrogant at times, and not only that, I enjoy the feeling of arrogance. It has some kind of quality about it that’s, oh, very pleasant, very — I don’t know, something to flirt with. But when I do feel arrogant, I declare it right away, so that it’s out there, so that I’m visible, so that I don’t allow myself to just be that way and hide it.
How does one move from arrogance to humility when one feels arrogance?
SF: First of all, I agree with you, my friend. Arrogance is very seductive, is it not?
SB: Oh, yes.
SF: You know, we don’t talk about sin, and it is a passé term in many ways. But it is because some people always see sin as something that is grievous in nature, something that is injurious. But what you think of as arrogance, or what people have called through the papist hierarchy as sin, is in fact very often seductive.
So, you are correct in one of the first steps is to declare, oh, I am feeling arrogant! I feel like I know better than anyone else, including God, because I do not understand the Plan, and I am sure that I know better.
When you look at that, the first thing to do is to laugh. That is one of the things that my beloved Clare never ceased to show me and teach me, was the ability to see the humor in some of these ridiculous beliefs and behaviors. So, if you can look at arrogance as a temporary moment in time when you can say, “Oh, Source/One is allowing me the feeling of this superiority,” and then say, “but I know it is not of truth, for I only know a piece of this firmament, of heaven, of this eternal energy.”
And so what you do is you take the arrogance and you go into your heart, humbly, without reservation, and say, “Can you please show me more?” And as soon as you do that, what happens is the wonder comes, because you will be shown more. And that will bring you to the place of humility.
SB: That is a wonderful share with us, a wonderful teaching, Francis.
Read a full transcript of this interview here:
the2012scenario.com/2012/09/st-francis-reveals-at-least-one-of-his-later-lives-as-mohandas-gandhi/Audio Version here:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/inlight_radio/2012/09/25/an-hour-with-an-angel
Who is St. Francis?
Saint Francis of Assisi (born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone; 1181 – died: October 3, 1226) was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men’s Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. Though he was never ordained into the Catholic priesthood, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history. He was pronounced a saint by Pope Gregory IX On July 16, 1228. He is known as the patron saint of animals, the environment and one of the two patrons of Italy (with Catherine of Siena), and it is customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of 4 October. [2]
Since his incarnation as St. Francis of Assisi, Francis has reincarnated several times, both in the East and other locations. He has often incarnated in places of extreme poverty or sickness, where the balance has been out of alignment, often for centuries. His favorite occupation when incarnating with humanity has been to incarnate as one who tends to the sick, ill debilitated or disabled, because these are the teachers and the holders of great compassion and mercy. [3]
In a recent interview (channeled through Linda Dillon) Francis confirmed his recent incarnation as Mohatma Gandhi and explained that along with tending to the meek of heart, of soul, of countenance, he also works with the animal kingdoms and is a keeper and patron of the environment, of the air, of the water, of the land, of the trees, of the flowers, of the plants. Many are not aware that St. Francis is also of the Emerald Ray and thus enjoys working with Archangel Raphael and Jesus for the upliftment of the kingdoms and the Gaia herself. [3]
NOTES:
[1] http://www.blogtalkradio.com/inlight_radio/2012/09/25/an-hour-with-an-angel
[2] Wikepedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi)
[3] http://www.blogtalkradio.com/inlight_radio/2012/09/25/an-hour-with-an-angel
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