Mike, You are missing the Christian definition of humble that Ernie referenced. It is not about submitting to one's superior in an old British sense of social class; rather, it is about listening to God. If we presume to tell God what is in our best interest, then we are lacking humility. Arrogance is the presumption that we can usurp the infinite intelligence of God with our human will. Humility allows God to work through us for a higher purpose. Ernie can probably elaborate more eloquently.
One thing is clear in our discussion today... words matter. If the terms progressive or humility have loaded meanings that distract the casual reader from the true message, then we need to find better words. Chris -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Michael Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 5:42 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [RC] On humility Aristotle placed pride as the proper mean between humility and vanity. Why not fulfill our agenda with pride? One of central pieces of our ideology is that we freely usurp parts of anything right, but that doesn't mean that we need to fight placidly, as if we're only borrowing the truth. A certain sense of purpose in implementation is a virtue, even if we aren't the 'true believer' type. Keep in mind St. Thomas Aquinas' definition of humility, that it "consists in keeping oneself within one's own bounds, not reaching out to things above one, but submitting to one's superior." Is that really what we want to be- people who submit themselves to servitude? -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
