On humility and humor

by Elder Sophrony of Essex

When one approached the Elder, one felt that he had a very deep humility, a humility which was not a result of ascetic effort per se, effort to seem humble, but was an alteration and transfiguration of his being. Continue reading “On humility and humor”

On Humility and the Humble Outlook

by Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi

Βlessed and favoured people who are humble are meek, calm, serene, attached to virtue, opposed to evil, untroubled by any circumstance or threat. They live in the bosom of the faith, like infants in the maternal embrace of grace. They never live for themselves, because they’ve forgotten what that is. They’ve become one with the others; they become all things to everyone, in order to bring solace to them. They cry with those who are weeping and rejoice with those who are glad. Continue reading “On Humility and the Humble Outlook”

True Autonomy is Achieved through Humility

True autonomy is achieved through humility, in other words through the emptying of the self in order to make room for all others. The saints imitate the humility of Christ in His sacrifice on the Cross. The emptying of the self is the greatest Christian virtue. God raised Christ on high in return for His self-emptying and humility. This is why those who imitate Christ’s humility as a human person also partake in His elevation as God and human. Continue reading “True Autonomy is Achieved through Humility”

The logic of modesty – why it pays to be humble

Why do people make anonymous donations, and why does the public perceive this as admirable? Why do we downplay our interest in a potential partner, if we risk missing out on a relationship? A team of scientists, consisting of Christian Hilbe, a postdoc at the Institute Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria), Moshe Hoffman, and Martin Nowak, both at Harvard University, has developed a novel game theoretic model that captures these behaviors and enables their study. Their new model is the first to include the idea that hidden signals, when discovered, provide additional information about the sender. They use this idea to explain under which circumstances people have an incentive to hide their positive attributes. Continue reading “The logic of modesty – why it pays to be humble”

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