A muddled and overly romantic attraction to mysticism and poetry posturing as teaching has long been my Achilles heel. This corrective comes at the right time.
Speaking of gurus, it is important to use accurate speech to convey the truth. So saying, the phrase “Devotion to an authentic guru is an exercise in humbleness.” could better be expressed as “Devotion to an authentic guru is an exercise in humility.” Humbleness? WTF?
i accept you said exactly what you meant. I understand you were referring to a conventional appearance rather than an internal realization. Happy to stand corrected, i thought you were referring to the internal realization. i was wrong. See below…
Humility tends to be the deeper, more philosophical term — it refers to an accurate, grounded sense of one’s own place in the world. It’s not self-deprecation, but rather a clear-eyed recognition that you’re not the center of everything. It often implies freedom from ego — you can hold your own worth without needing to assert it.
Humbleness is more behavioral and situational — it describes the quality of acting humbly, often in relation to others. Someone can be humble in a specific moment (deferring credit, not boasting) without necessarily having deep humility as a core trait.
A useful way to think about it: humility is the inner condition, humbleness is its outward expression. You can perform humbleness without having true humility — but genuine humility naturally produces humble behavior.
In practice, most people use the two words interchangeably, and that’s perfectly fine.
The distinction only really matters in careful philosophical or psychological writing.
The bad news about living in flyover country, you never get to know a Lama well.
The good news about living in flyover country, you never get to know a Lama well.
I remember a saying "The best Lama lives 3 valleys away."
It seems the popular teacher authors that inspired me the most are alcoholics who died of liver abuse and were sexual predators. So there's a diamond in the dross, but seeing one or the other can be problematic. Where does the line between the gem and the matrix of rubbish? It's especially worthwhile to see that were were looking at a mirror the whole time.
It took me 70 years, but I found a most excellent Guru!
A muddled and overly romantic attraction to mysticism and poetry posturing as teaching has long been my Achilles heel. This corrective comes at the right time.
Speaking of gurus, it is important to use accurate speech to convey the truth. So saying, the phrase “Devotion to an authentic guru is an exercise in humbleness.” could better be expressed as “Devotion to an authentic guru is an exercise in humility.” Humbleness? WTF?
I said exactly what I meant.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/humbleness
“the quality or state of being modest and lacking in pride or arrogance.
We need to teach a different kind of leadership, one where humbleness is more important than confidence.
the quality or state of being or feeling low in rank, importance, status, worth, etc.
We observed the humbleness of the local homes, but also the hard-working ethic of the people who lived in them.
the quality or state of being courteously respectful.
Respect and humbleness will get you far in dealing with people from other places and cultures.”
i accept you said exactly what you meant. I understand you were referring to a conventional appearance rather than an internal realization. Happy to stand corrected, i thought you were referring to the internal realization. i was wrong. See below…
Humility tends to be the deeper, more philosophical term — it refers to an accurate, grounded sense of one’s own place in the world. It’s not self-deprecation, but rather a clear-eyed recognition that you’re not the center of everything. It often implies freedom from ego — you can hold your own worth without needing to assert it.
Humbleness is more behavioral and situational — it describes the quality of acting humbly, often in relation to others. Someone can be humble in a specific moment (deferring credit, not boasting) without necessarily having deep humility as a core trait.
A useful way to think about it: humility is the inner condition, humbleness is its outward expression. You can perform humbleness without having true humility — but genuine humility naturally produces humble behavior.
In practice, most people use the two words interchangeably, and that’s perfectly fine.
The distinction only really matters in careful philosophical or psychological writing.
We will look the other way for the deviation of Industrial Music (ˆ𐃷ˆ)
Alcoholism is a disease, not a lifestyle choice.
Like all avoidable diseases, alcoholism begins with lifestyle choices.
The bad news about living in flyover country, you never get to know a Lama well.
The good news about living in flyover country, you never get to know a Lama well.
I remember a saying "The best Lama lives 3 valleys away."
It seems the popular teacher authors that inspired me the most are alcoholics who died of liver abuse and were sexual predators. So there's a diamond in the dross, but seeing one or the other can be problematic. Where does the line between the gem and the matrix of rubbish? It's especially worthwhile to see that were were looking at a mirror the whole time.
It's all perfect?
It's all rubbish?
It's all perfect rubbish!
Yes
Emaho
For a great deal more on this, readers could consider DJKR‘s refreshingly candid book, The Guru Drinks Bourbon, which aligns well with Malcolm’s post.