Message from the Headmaster
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves…”
Philippians 2:3
Dear Students, Parents and Carers
What Is Humility and Why Does It Matter?
Throughout Shore’s history, humility has been particularly prized as a distinctive which differentiates it from some other educational institutions in Australia and beyond. Humility has been thought to be an essential attribute of a good Shore man. The question arises of exactly what we mean by humility. Often it has been interpreted as keeping silent, not letting others see into the excellence of Shore. Is this still appropriate in a society where there is a great deal of “noise”, and Shore may, therefore, not be noticed?
Our Executive Leadership Team, amongst other activities, accept the task of individually reading and making accessible summaries of some of the current literature relevant to schools. I am very indebted to Mrs Sarah Taylor, our Director of Community Engagement, for her summary of a fine book, Humilitas, by Rev Dr John Dickson, currently a Professor in the USA but Australian home grown, a lecturer in Ancient History at Sydney and Macquarie Universities and, until recently, also part time Senior Minister at the Anglican Church in Roseville. In summary, this is what he says.
The most influential and inspiring people are often marked by humility. True greatness, in other words, frequently goes hand in hand with a virtue that, on the face of it, might be thought to “curb achievement and mute influence.” John Dickson believes it does the opposite.
Humility does not mean humiliation, even though both words are offspring of a single Latin parent (humilitas). Nor does it mean being a doormat for others, having low self-esteem or curbing your strengths and achievements.
Having strong opinions is no hindrance to humility, either. One of the failings of contemporary Western culture is to confuse conviction with arrogance.
John Dickson puts forward that the solution to ideological discord is not “tolerance” as viewing all viewpoints as equally true and valid, but an ability to profoundly disagree with others and deeply honour them at the same time.
In Hebrew, Greek and Latin the word used to describe humility means “low,” as in low to the ground: the Hebrew anawa, the Greek tapeinos, and the already-familiar Latin humilitas. Used negatively, these terms mean to be put low, that is, ”to be humiliated.” Positively, they mean to lower yourself or “to be humble.”
Humility is the noble choice to forgo your status, deploy your resources or use your influence for the good of others before yourself. More simply, he writes that the humble person is marked by a willingness to hold power in service of others.
He writes that it is impossible to be humble in the real sense without a healthy sense of your own worth and abilities. Wise leaders hold nobility with humility. Overbearing ego and debilitating self-abasement are generally avoided in all wisdom traditions. Many traditions call for balance.
He also writes that humility is a choice. Otherwise, it is humiliation. Finally, humility is social. It is not a private act of self-deprecation — banishing proud thoughts, refusing to talk about your achievements and so on. This is what he calls simple “modesty.”
He suggests that humility, when it is rightly understood, has often marked the most influential and inspiring people in history, whether religious figures like Buddha and Jesus or social activists like William Wilberforce, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.
Humbly acknowledging limitations and refusing to engage in competency extrapolation are not signs of weakness. They demonstrate realism and are, therefore, strengths.
Most of us have an exaggerated sense of our own abilities. Whatever our skills and expertise, what we don’t know and can’t do far exceeds what we do know and can do. Despite the power of self-deception, a good dose of humility is common sense.
The Universe. …the mysterious harmony of the laws of nature should lead thinking people — whether believers or otherwise — to an attitude not far off humility.
Humility is beautiful.
In ancient cultures, honour was universally regarded as the ultimate asset for human beings and shame the ultimate deficit — so much so that academics frequently refer to Egyptian, Greek, and Roman societies simply as “honour-shame cultures.”
And the difference came about not through a slow evolution of ethical reflection but through a kind of humility revolution.
Cruciform: How a Jew from Nazareth Refined Greatness
The modern Western fondness for humility almost certainly derives from the Judeo-Christian worldview’s peculiar impact on Europe.
John Dickson explains that what established humility as a virtue in Western culture was not Jesus’ persona, or even his teaching, but rather his execution — or, more correctly, his followers’ attempt to come to grips with his execution.
Honour was proof of merit, shame the proof of worthlessness. But what does this say about the crucified Jesus? That was the question confronting the early Christians. Logically, they had just two opinions. Either Jesus was not as great as they had first thought, his crucifixion being evidence of his insignificance, or the notion of “greatness” itself had to be redefined to fit with the fact of his seemingly shameful end.
Christians took the other option. For them, the crucifixion was not evidence of Jesus’ unwilling humiliation (humilitas) but proof that greatness can express itself in humility (humilitas), the noble choice to lower yourself for the sake of others.
This was a humility revolution. The highly honoured Jesus lowered himself to a shameful cross and, yet, in so doing became not an object of scorn but one of praise and emulation. Honour has been redefined – if the greatest man we have ever known chose to forgo his status for the good of others, reasoned the early Christians, greatness must consist in humble service. The shameful place is now a place of honour, the low point is the high point.
The Apostle Paul, in his famous “Christ Hymn”, summarised this:
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:3-8).
The point he makes is not that only Christians can be humble; rather, humility came to be valued in Western culture because of the upheaval of the honour-shame paradigm of the ancient world.
He writes that while we don’t need to follow Christ to appreciate humility or to be humble, it is unlikely that any of us would aspire to this virtue were it not for the historical impact of his crucifixion on art, literature, ethics, law and philosophy. Our culture remains cruciform long after it stopped being Christian.
John Dickson does not encourage you to allow others to walk all over you, which would be ‘humiliation.’ Instead, he defines humility as opening yourself up to the vulnerability of being wrong, receiving correction and asking others how they think you could do better. Humility generates learning and growth.
He writes that that a healthy self-worth is rooted far more in service than achievement, far more in giving than taking. Achievement is a fragile basis for self-esteem.
Mistakes of execution are rarely as damaging to an organisation, as a refusal to concede mistakes, apologise and make good the issue “with generosity and haste.”
Few are considered more trustworthy than those who choose to use their power for the good of others.
Humility does not mean believing things any less; it means treating those who hold contrary beliefs with respect and friendship. This is an important distinction. The author advocates that we hold our convictions firmly but do so with a soft heart toward those who hold contrary convictions.
Applying Mrs Taylor’s excellent summary to Shore, it appears that humility is not self-abasement but consideration of others and a lack of baseless boasting. We need to teach our boys the skill of disagreeing well, which is far to be preferred to the current cancel culture which often applies in such situations.
In a changing society, which is awash with images and information, our School Council are considering how best to tell the Shore story in a manner which does not hide Shore away but which also lacks the self-aggrandisement that is often repugnant in our culture. There may well be a place for Shore declaring an authentic image of excellence, rather than leave negative views in our wider community unchallenged. Humility, as defined by Dr Dickson, is not hiding our light under a bushel, but being realistic about strengths which exist within our School, and declaring these with integrity in the context of a desire to serve our community.
Dr John Collier
Headmaster
