Humility - The first virtue

HUMILITYHUMILITY
The first virtue!

Humility, the first virtue!
Humility is a virtue much forgotten amongst
you.
Of the many examples given very few have
been followed.
However, is it possible to be
charitable to your neighbour
without being humble?
Chapter 7 – Pride and Humility, The Gospel According to
Spiritism, Lacordaire Spirit

What is Humility?
The Humility came from Latin “Humus”, that
means “the ground under us” or “sons of
earth”. The same origin of the words Human
and Humanity.
Means that all of usMeans that all of us
are at the same high!are at the same high!
In terms of dignity, in terms of relevance
and in terms of possibility.
Based from video “What is Humility?”, Doctor in education Mário
Sérgio Cortella, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo,
Brazil, Youtube. 3

What is Humility?
“People that is Real Great knows
that they are small and that’s why
they grow...
People who arePeople who are very smallvery small think it’sthink it’s
already big and the only way foralready big and the only way for
them to grow isthem to grow is decreasedecrease OtherOther
people!people!”.”.
4
Based from video “What is Humility?”, Doctor in education Mário
Sérgio Cortella, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo,
Brazil, Youtube.

Small people, decrease the Others!
5

Does the power on Earth guarantee
of humility?
275. Do the power and consideration which a
man may have enjoyed in the earthly life give
him supremacy in the spirit-world?
No; for in that World the humble
are exalted and the proud abased.
Read the Psalms.”
The Spirit’s Book,
Allan Kardec.
6

How we can understand this
elevation and this abasement?
a) “Do you not know that spirits are of
different orders, according to their degree
of merit? Therefore, he who has held the
highest rank upon the earth may find himself
in the lowest rank in the world of spirits, while
his servitor may be in the highest. Is not this
clear to you ? Has not Jesus said that
‘Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased,
and whosoever humbleth
himself shall be exalted?” The Spirit’s Book,
Allan Kardec.
7

Are the “Poor in spirit” humbles?
1. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew, 5: 3)
2. Sceptics have mocked this maxim, as they
have mocked many other things they do not
understand. By 'the poor in spirit' Jesus did not
mean those devoid of intelligence, but the
humble, in as much as He said that the Kingdom
of Heaven would be for them and not for the
prideful.
The Gospel According to Spiritism, Chapter 7 – Blessed are the
Poor in Spirit, Allan Kardec.
8

What is being Humble?
“The humble avoid any way, the ostentation or
the expecting of recognition, by anothers, of the
good works that they are doing. He knows that
the good must be done without fanfare and in
silence, thus destroying the altars erected to his
vanity.
To be humble is to recognize our
smallness in face of the greatness
of the universe and have full
consciousness that everything
belongs to God”
Book “Diretrizes para uma Vida Feliz” (Guidelines for a Happy Life,
The Humbleness), Sergito de Souza Cavalcanti9

What is not Humility?
“There are those who understand humility,
the poor or the beggar, in other words,
those who have few material possessions.
Pure mistake, there is wealthy men that,
despite having lots of money, are truly very
humble (…)
There are many poor people
selfish and proud and many
rich people humble.“
Book “Diretrizes para uma Vida Feliz” (Guidelines for a Happy Life,
The Humbleness), Sergito de Souza Cavalcanti
10

What is not Humility?
Subservience
Servitude
Submission
Fear
Weakness
Omission
Adulation
11
MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE
WALL! IS THERE ANYONE
MORE SPIRITUAL THAN
I?

“By saying that the Kingdom of Heaven
belongs to the poor in spirit, Jesus teaches
that no one will be admitted without
simplicity of heart and humility of spirit;
that the ignorant person who possesses
these qualities will be preferred to the wise
person who believes more in himself than
in God.“
The Gospel According to Spiritism, Chapter
7 – Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, Allan
Kardec.
12
The “Kingdom of Heaven” belongs
to the simple of heart!

“In all circumstances Jesus put humility into the
category of virtues that bring Man near to God and
pride into the category of vices that keep Man
away from God. The reason for this is clear, for to
be humble is an act of submission to God, whereas
pride is a revolt against Him. For Man then, there
is far greater value for his future happiness by
being poor in spirit, as the world would understand
it, and rich in moral qualities.”
The Gospel According to Spiritism, Chapter 7 – Blessed are the
Poor in Spirit, Allan Kardec.
13
The “Kingdom of Heaven” belongs
to the simple of heart!

The Pride is
concerned about
who is right.
The Humility is
concerned about
what is right.
(Anonymous)
14
If the Humility is the virtue, what is
the vice it fights?

Pride
15
First child of
Selfishness!
Humility
Pride

Selfishness and Pride
“In fact, by observing the results of all
the vices and even of simple defects, it
can be recognized that there is not one
which does not more or less disfigure
the sentiment of charity, because all of
them have their beginnings in
selfishness and pride, which are the
negation of it ...”
Chapter 17 – Be Perfect, The Gospel According to Spiritism,
Allan Kardec
16

What is the greatest
obstacle to progress?
785. ”Pride and selfishness. I refer to moral
progress; for intellectual progress is always
going on, and would even seem, at the first
glance, to give redoubled activity to those
vices, by developing ambition and the love of
riches, which, however, in their turn,
stimulate man to the researches that
enlighten his mind, ...”
The Spirit’s Book,
Allan Kardec.
17

18
Saul understood God only as a
powerful and inflexible Sir. (proud?)
Saul: Persecutor of Christians

19
He needed to
close your material
eyes to open your
spiritual eyes
The Conversion on the way to
Damascus

20
Three years in the
desert to
overcome pride
and conquer
humility.
After 3 years in the desert: Paul
The name Paul originates
in the Latin Paullus. It
means "small", "short
stature".
20

21
Often LIFE "puts us on our knees" to
let go of our vices and conquer
virtues, beginning by the Humility!
Life asks us for Humility!

Great examples that have become
small!
22

Our greatest model: Jesus
“After washing the feet of his disciples,
including Simon Peter, who had at first
opposed this, the Lord told them that, very
truly I tell you, no servant is greater than
his master, nor is a messenger greater
than the one who
sent him.”
(John, 13:16 to 13:20.)
24

Great in Humility:
Emmanuel and Chico Xavier
5
Emmanuel, Spiritist Journal, Nova Luz (New Light),
2000 July
Humility is not in poverty, it is
not in indigence, penury,
necessity, nakedness and
hunger. Humility is when the
person have the right to
complain, to judge, to reprove
and to take any understandable
attitude in the personal brio,
but just blesses.

He not only preached and explained the
virtues; They lived them.
“Know thyself.”
“I only know that I know
nothing.”
He valued the reason well oriented
in the pursuit of good and truth.
26
Great in Humility:
Socrates, the Philosopher

 Educator, master of Allan Kardec and necessarily
precursor of the Spiritist doctrine.
 Integral Education: education of the head,
education of the hands and education of the heart.
 Education by the nature.
 The child learn
observing
and doing
not only listening.
Great in Humility:
Pestalozzi, the Educator

How can we practice Humility?
658. Is prayer acceptable to God?
“Prayer is always acceptable to God when dictated
by the heart, for the intention is everything in His
sight; and the prayer of the heart is preferable to one
read from a book, however beautiful it may be, if read
with the lips rather than with the thought. Prayer is
acceptable to God when it is offered with faith,
fervour, and sincerity; but do not imagine that He will
listen to that of the vain, proud, or selfish man,
unless it be offered as an act of sincere
repentance and humility.”
The Spirit’s Book, Allan Kardec.28

Why should we be Humble?
“Remember that good spirits only give their aid to
those who serve God with humility and
disinterestedness; they disown all who use
heavenly things as a stepping-stone to earthly
advancement, and withdraw from the proud and the
ambitious. Pride and ambition are a barrier
between man and God; for they blind man to the
splendours of celestial existence, and God cannot
employ the blind to make known the light.”
The Spirit’s Book, Prolegomena, Allan Kardec.
29

Virtue is among us!
“[...] virtue is not entirely banished from the
earth, as certain pessimists think. Undoubtedly
the evil still dominates, but when one
searches in the shadow, one notices that under
the weed there are more violets, that is, a
greater number of good souls than one
thinks. If they arise at such a time intervals,
true virtue is not in evidence, because
it is humble ...”
30
The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies,
Vol.6., 1863, Allan Kardec

… he content with the pleasures of the heart
and the approval of the conscience, whereas
the vice manifests itself Insultingly in the light;
Makes noise because he is proud. Pride and
humility are the two poles of the human heart:
one attracts all good; the other, all evil; one
is calm; the other, storm; consciousness is the
compass that indicates the route leading
to each of them. [...]
31
Virtue is among us!
The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies,
Vol.6., 1863, Allan Kardec

32
To conclude,
let’s hear Jesus again!
The Sermon
on a Mountain

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up a mountain and
sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach
them:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom
of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be
comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
33
The Beatitudes of Jesus
Matthew, 5, 1 to 12

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of
righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute
you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because
of me.
Rejoice and celebrate, because great is your reward in
heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets
before you.
34
The Beatitudes of Jesus
Matthew, 5, 1 to 12

The Question that Remains...
How can I "serve as
ladder" for my brothers
grow taller than I and
make their light shine?
https://www.slideshare.net/ricardoazevedo9216/humildade-a-primeira-virtude

Bibliography and ReferencesBibliography and References
 The Gospel According to Spiritism, Allan Kardec.
 The Spirit’s Book, Allan Kardec.
 Diretrizes para uma Vida Feliz, A Humildade, (Guidelines for a
Happy Life, the Humbleness),Sergito de Souza Cavalcanti
 What is Humility?, Mário Sérgio Cortella,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWZY9-6K4M4
 As relações no além-túmulo (The relations in the after death),
question 275. Grupo Espírita Cristão Despertar,
https://pt.slideshare.net/patriciafarias32/livro-dos-espiritos-q-275-e-apresen
 The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies, Vol.6., 1863,
Allan Kardec
 Why Humility First, http://www.oconsolador.com.br/
36

Humility - The first virtue

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