Humility Came Knocking

Humility came knocking,

I didn’t expect her call

perched upon my pedestal,

too high,

too proud to fall.

 

I wants to be special,

different to you:

richer or poorer,

more powerful or meek,

the cleverest or the fool,

most honest or best thief.

 

Blinded by illusions of difference and pride,

it matters not the story I tells;

all I wants is to stand apart –

hidden behind barriers

that obscure the heart.

 

I’s arrogance deludes us.

It fools us

as I creates masks that smile and pout,

while in the shadows below

lies pain and suffering,

which I projects out.

 

The deception of separation is the seed of all war;

I fights I,

pain fights pain

in the conflicts of domination, hate, and material gain.

 

Now

is the time to face this darkness:

to look within

and heal this madness.

 

Humility is true,

a quality of love;

the truth of singularity –

the essence that’s divine.

 

Not better or worse,

right or wrong,

but the realisation of unity:

of being one

with all.

 

So when humility comes knocking,

it would be wise to let her in.

 

At first she taps quite gently:

embarrassment

(flushed upon the skin)

and an awkward silence,

let us know she’s been.

 

Allow this discomfort,

don’t distract, hide, or deny:

resist the urge to rush around being busy,

leave the TV off,

the vodka in its bottle.

 

Be still,

be quiet,

aware of the humbled and tormented I.

 

Hold it in compassion,

embrace its pain,

and when its defences react,

ignore I’s propensity to blame.

 

This is healing:

the path of inner peace,

the letting go of conflict,

the humbling of I.

 

When we fail to listen to humility’s gentle tap,

she will return,

insistently knocking –

for there is no going back.

 

Ignore her at your peril,

or she may enter with a hammer;

crashing through illusions,

no lie left unturned,

I-dentity in turmoil –

its foundations burned.

 

Welcome humiliation,

 the reaper of creation:

walking before the light;

scything through delusion;

paralysing I with fright.

 

So when you feel a gentle nudge –

a little discomfort upon I’s door,

open with gratitude

before the door’s no more.

 

Stop fighting what is:

surrender to life –

accept the lessons

before they bring strife.

 

Let us pray

for the day

that humility comes knocking.

For embarrassment and shame

can help us to observe I’s game

and be guided to truth:

the knowing through embodiment

of the blessing of at-one-ment –

the enlightenment

that I

was a lie.