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In Christian theology, kenosis (Ancient Greek: κένωσις, romanized: kénōsis, lit. 'the act of emptying') is the "self-emptying" of Jesus. The word ἐκένωσεν (ekénōsen) is used in the Epistle to the Philippians: "[Jesus] made himself nothing" (NIV),[1] or "[he] emptied himself" (NRSV)[2] (Philippians 2:7), using the verb form κενόω (kenóō), meaning "to empty".
The exact meaning varies among theologians. The less controversial meaning is that Jesus emptied his own desires, becoming entirely receptive to God's divine will, obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross, and that it encourages Christians to be similarly willing to submit to divine will, even if it comes at great personal cost. The phrase is interpreted by some to explain the human side of Jesus: that Jesus, to truly live as a mortal, had to have voluntarily bound use of his divine powers in some way, emptying himself, and that it says that "though [Jesus] was in the form of God, [he] did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited," suggesting that Jesus was not "abusing" his divine status to avoid the implications of a mortal life. This interpretation is contested by others, who consider this to overly downplay the divine power of Jesus, for example.
Etymology and definition
The term kenosis comes from the Greek κενόω (kenóō), meaning "to empty out". The Liddell–Scott Greek–English Lexicon gives the following definition simplified for the noun:[3]
emptying, depletion, emptiness (of life) (Vettius Valens)
depletion, low diet, as opposed to plerosis, fullness (Hippocrates)
waning (of the moon) (Epicurus)
New Testament usage
The New Testament does not use the noun form kénōsis, but the verb form kenóō occurs five times (Romans 4:14; 1 Corinthians 1:17, 9:15; 2 Corinthians 9:3; Philippians 2:7) and the future form kenōsei once.[a] Of these five times, Philippians 2:7 is generally considered the most significant for the Christian idea of kenosis:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself (ekenōsen heauton), taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name...
— Philippians 2:5-9 (NRSV)[5]
Christology
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Kenotic Christology
Philippians 2 is sometimes used to explain the human side of Jesus's existence. In early Christianity, some groups propounded beliefs of a fully human Jesus who was especially honored and raised up by God (adoptionism), while other groups argued for a fully divine Jesus that was more like a spiritual apparition (docetism). The Chalcedonian doctrine that prevailed was that Jesus had a dual nature, and was both fully human and fully God. Kenotic Christology essentially states that in order to truly live a human experience, Jesus, despite being a preexisting divine being, voluntarily humbled himself. He could still perform miracles, heal the sick, and dispense reliable moral doctrine, but was not using divine might to resolve all of his problems as a mortal, and struggled through all the usual human problems. Thus, Jesus needed to sleep and eat; was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness; could become frustrated at fig trees not being in season; stated that no one knows the day or hour of the end of the world;[6] and so on.[7]
Gottfried Thomasius is the first theologian to discuss and expound upon kenotic Christology by name. Other theologians associated with kenotic Christology include P. T. Forsyth, H. R. Mackintosh, Charles Gore, Fisher Humphreys, Donald G. Dawe, and Roger E. Olson.[7]
Eastern Orthodoxy
Orthodox theology emphasises following the example of Christ. Kenosis is only possible through humility and presupposes that one seeks union with God. The Poustinia tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church is one major expression of this search.
Kenosis is not only a Christological issue in Orthodox theology, but also relates to Pneumatology, matters of the Holy Spirit. Kenosis, relative to the human nature, denotes the continual epiklesis and self-denial of one's own human will and desire. With regard to Christ, there is a kenosis of the Son of God, a condescension and self-sacrifice for the redemption and salvation of all humanity. Humanity can also participate in God's saving work through theosis; becoming holy by grace.[8]
In Eastern Orthodoxy, kenosis does not concern becoming like God in essence or being, which is pantheism; instead, it concerns becoming united to God by grace, through his "Energies". Orthodox theology distinguishes between divine Essence and Energies. Kenosis therefore is a paradox and a mystery since "emptying oneself" in fact fills the person with divine grace and results in union with God. Kenosis in Orthodox theology is the transcending or detaching of oneself from the world or the passions, it is a component of dispassionation. Much of the earliest debates between the Arian and Orthodox Christians were over kenosis. The need for clarification about the human and divine nature of the Christ (see the hypostatic union) were fought over the meaning and example that Christ set, as an example of kenosis or ekkenosis.[9]
Catholicism
Pope Pius XII, in his 1951 Sempiternus Rex Christus, condemned a particular interpretation of Philippians in regards to the kenosis:
There is another enemy of the faith of Chalcedon, widely diffused outside the fold of the Catholic religion. This is an opinion for which a rashly and falsely understood sentence of St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians (ii, 7), supplies a basis and a shape. This is called the kenotic doctrine, and according to it, they imagine that the divinity was taken away from the Word in Christ. It is a wicked invention, equally to be condemned with the Docetism opposed to it. It reduces the whole mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption to empty the bloodless imaginations. 'With the entire and perfect nature of man'—thus grandly St. Leo the Great—'He Who was true God was born, complete in his own nature, complete in ours' (Ep. xxviii, 3. PL. Liv, 763. Cf. Serm. xxiii, 2. PL. lvi, 201).[10]
In John of the Cross's thinking, kenosis is the concept of the 'self-emptying' of one's own will and becoming entirely receptive to God and the divine will. It is used both as an explanation of the Incarnation, and an indication of the nature of God's activity and will. Mystical theologian John of the Cross' work "Dark Night of the Soul" is a particularly lucid explanation of God's process of transforming the believer into the icon or "likeness of Christ".[11][12]
Unitarianism
Since some forms of Unitarianism do not accept the personal pre-existence of Christ, their interpretations of Philippians 2:7, and the concept of kenosis—Christ "emptying" himself—take as a starting point that his "emptying" occurred in life, and not before birth. However, as Thomas Belsham put it, there are varying views on when in life this emptying occurred.[13] Belsham took this to be at the crucifixion, whereas Joseph Priestley[14] took this to be in the Garden of Gethsemane when Christ did not resist arrest. The Christadelphian Tom Barling considered that the "emptying" of Christ was a continual process which started in the earliest references to Christ's character, Luke 2:40,52, and continued through the temptations of Christ and his ministry.[15]
Gnosticism
The equivalent to kenosis in Gnostic literature is Christ's withdrawal of his own luminosity into himself, so as to cease dazzling his own disciples. In the Pistis Sophia, at the request of his disciples, "Jesus drew to himself the glory of his light".[16]
Kenotic ethic
The kenotic ethic is an interpretation of Philippians 2:7 that takes the passage, where Jesus is described as having "emptied himself", as not primarily as Paul putting forth a theory about God in this passage, but as using God's humility exhibited in the incarnation as a call for Christians to be similarly subservient to others
Ego death is a "complete loss of subjective self-identity".[1] The term is used in various intertwined contexts, with related meanings. The 19th-century philosopher and psychologist William James uses the synonymous term "self-surrender", and Jungian psychology uses the synonymous term psychic death, referring to a fundamental transformation of the psyche.[2] In death and rebirth mythology, ego death is a phase of self-surrender and transition,[3][4][5][6] as described later by Joseph Campbell in his research on the mythology of the Hero's Journey.[3] It is a recurrent theme in world mythology and is also used as a metaphor in some strands of contemporary western thinking.[6]
In descriptions of drugs, the term is used synonymously with ego-loss[7][8][1][9] to refer to (temporary) loss of one's sense of self due to the use of drugs.[10][11][1] The term was used as such by Timothy Leary et al.[1] to describe the death of the ego[12] in the first phase of an LSD trip, in which a "complete transcendence" of the self[note 1] occurs.
The concept is also used in contemporary New Age spirituality and in the modern understanding of Eastern religions to describe a permanent loss of "attachment to a separate sense of self"[web 1] and self-centeredness.[13] This conception is an influential part of Eckhart Tolle's teachings, where Ego is presented as an accumulation of thoughts and emotions, continuously identified with, which creates the idea and feeling of being a separate entity from one's self, and only by disidentifying one's consciousness from it can one truly be free from suffering.[14]
Definitions
Ego death and the related term "ego loss" have been defined in the context of mysticism by the religious studies scholar Daniel Merkur as "an imageless experience in which there is no sense of personal identity. It is the experience that remains possible in a state of extremely deep trance when the ego-functions of reality-testing, sense-perception, memory, reason, fantasy and self-representation are repressed [...] Muslim Sufis call it fana ('annihilation'),[note 2] and medieval Jewish kabbalists termed it 'the kiss of death'".[15]
Carter Phipps equates enlightenment and ego death, which he defines as "the renunciation, rejection and, ultimately, the death of the need to hold on to a separate, self-centered existence".[16][note 3]
In Jungian psychology, Ventegodt and Merrick define ego death as "a fundamental transformation of the psyche". Such a shift in personality has been labeled an "ego death" in Buddhism, or a psychic death by Jung.[18]
In comparative mythology, ego death is the second phase of Joseph Campbell's description of the Hero's Journey,[4][5][6][3] which includes a phase of separation, transition, and incorporation.[6] The second phase is a phase of self-surrender and ego-death, after which the hero returns to enrich the world with their discoveries.[4][5][6][3]
In psychedelic culture, Leary, Metzner, and Alpert (1964) define ego death, or ego loss as they call it, as part of the (symbolic) experience of death in which the old ego must die before one can be spiritually reborn.[19] They define ego loss as "... complete transcendence − beyond words, beyond spacetime, beyond self. There are no visions, no sense of self, no thoughts. There are only pure awareness and ecstatic freedom".[19][20]
Several psychologists working on psychedelics have defined ego-death. Alnaes (1964) defines ego death as "[L]oss of ego-feeling".[10] Stanislav Grof (1988) defines it as "a sense of total annihilation [...] This experience of "ego death" seems to entail an instant merciless destruction of all previous reference points in the life of the individual [...] [E]go death means an irreversible end to one's philosophical identification with what Alan Watts called "skin-encapsulated ego".[21] The psychologist John Harrison (2010) defines "[T]emporary ego death [as the] loss of the separate self[,] or, in the affirmative, [...] a deep and profound merging with the transcendent other.[11] Johnson, Richards and Griffiths (2008), paraphrasing Leary et al. and Grof define ego death as "temporarily experienc[ing] a complete loss of subjective self-identity.[1]
Conceptual development
The concept of "ego death" developed along a number of intertwined strands of thought, including especially the following: romantic movements[22] and subcultures;[23] Theosophy;[24] anthropological research on rites de passage[25] and shamanism;[23] William James' self-surrender;[26] Joseph Campbell's comparative mythology;[4][5][6][3] Jungian psychology;[27][3] the psychedelic scene of the 1960s;[28] and transpersonal psychology.[29]
Western mysticism
According to Merkur,
The conceptualisation of mystical union as the death of the ego, while the soul remains the sole bearer of the self, and its replacement by God's consciousness, has been a standard Roman Catholic trope since St. Teresa of Ávila; the motif traces back through Marguerite Porete, in the 13th century, to the fana,[note 2] "annihilation", of the Islamic Sufis.[30]
Jungian psychology
According to Ventegodt and Merrick, the Jungian term "psychic death" is a synonym for "ego death":
In order to radically improve global quality of life, it seems necessary to have a fundamental transformation of the psyche. Such a shift in personality has been labeled an "ego death" in Buddhism or a psychic death by Jung, because it implies a shift back to the existential position of the natural self, i.e., living the true purpose of life. The problem of healing and improving the global quality of life seems strongly connected to the unpleasantness of the ego-death experience.[18]
Ventegodt and Merrick refer to Jung's publications The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, first published 1933, and Psychology and Alchemy, first published in 1944.[18][note 4]
In Jungian psychology, a unification of archetypal opposites has to be reached, during a process of conscious suffering, in which consciousness "dies" and resurrects. Jung called this process "the transcendent function",[note 5] which leads to a "more inclusive and synthetic consciousness".[31]
Jung used analogies with alchemy to describe the individuation process, and the transference-processes which occur during therapy.[32]
According to Leeming et al., from a religious point of view psychic death is related to St. John of the Cross' Ascent of Mt. Carmel and Dark Night of the Soul.[33]
Mythology – The Hero with a Thousand Faces
See also: Dying-and-rising god and Descent to the underworld
The Hero's Journey
In 1949, Joseph Campbell published The Hero with a Thousand Faces, a study on the archetype of the Hero's Journey.[3] It describes a common theme found in many cultures worldwide,[3] and is also described in many contemporary theories on personal transformation.[6] In traditional cultures it describes the "wilderness passage",[3] the transition from adolescence into adulthood.[25] It typically includes a phase of separation, transition, and incorporation.[6] The second phase is a phase of self-surrender and ego-death, whereafter the hero returns to enrich the world with his discoveries.[4][5][6][3] Campbell describes the basic theme as follows:
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder. Fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won. The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.[34]
This journey is based on the archetype of death and rebirth,[5] in which the "false self" is surrendered and the "true self" emerges.[5] A well known example is Dante's Divine Comedy, in which the hero descends into the underworld.[5]
Psychedelics
See also: Shamanism, Neo-shamanism, and Beat Generation
Main articles: The Psychedelic Experience and Bardo
Concepts and ideas from mysticism and bohemianism were inherited by the Beat Generation.[22] When Aldous Huxley helped popularize the use of psychedelics, starting with The Doors of Perception, published in 1954,[35] Huxley also promoted a set of analogies with eastern religions, as described in The Perennial Philosophy. This book helped inspire the 1960s belief in a revolution in western consciousness[35] and included the Tibetan Book of the Dead as a source.[35] Similarly, Alan Watts, in his opening statement on mystical experiences in This Is It, draws parallels with Richard Bucke's 1901 book Cosmic Consciousness, describing the "central core" of the experience as
... the conviction, or insight, that the immediate now, whatever its nature, is the goal and fulfillment of all living.[36]
This interest in mysticism helped shape the emerging research and popular conversation around psychedelics in the 1960s.[37] In 1964 William S. Burroughs drew a distinction between "sedative" and "conscious-expanding" drugs.[38] In the 1940s and 1950s the use of LSD was restricted to military and psychiatric researchers. One of those researchers was Timothy Leary, a clinical psychologist who first encountered psychedelic drugs while on vacation in 1960,[39] and started to research the effects of psilocybin in 1961.[35] He sought advice from Aldous Huxley, who advised him to propagate psychedelic drugs among society's elites, including artists and intellectuals.[39] On insistence of Allen Ginsberg, Leary, together with his younger colleague Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) also made LSD available to students.[39] In 1962 Leary was fired, and Harvard's psychedelic research program was shut down.[39] In 1962 Leary founded the Castalia Foundation,[39] and in 1963 he and his colleagues founded the journal The Psychedelic Review.[40]
Following Huxley's advice, Leary wrote a manual for LSD-usage.[40] The Psychedelic Experience, published in 1964, is a guide for LSD-trips, written by Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Richard Alpert, loosely based on Walter Evans-Wentz's translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.[40][35] Aldous Huxley introduced the Tibetan Book of the Dead to Timothy Leary.[35] According to Leary, Metzner and Alpert, the Tibetan Book of the Dead is
... a key to the innermost recesses of the human mind, and a guide for initiates, and for those who are seeking the spiritual path of liberation.[41]
They construed the effect of LSD as a "stripping away" of ego-defenses, finding parallels between the stages of death [web 2]and rebirth in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and the stages of psychological "death" and "rebirth" which Leary had identified during his research.[42] According to Leary, Metzner and Alpert it is....
... one of the oldest and most universal practices for the initiate to go through the experience of death before he can be spiritually reborn. Symbolically he must die to his past, and to his old ego, before he can take his place in the new spiritual life into which he has been initiated.[12]
Also in 1964 Randolf Alnaes published "Therapeutic applications of the change in consciousness produced by psycholytica (LSD, Psilocybin, etc.)."[43][10] Alnaes notes that patients may become involved in existential problems as a consequence of the LSD experience. Psycholytic drugs may facilitate insight. With a short psychological treatment, patients may benefit from changes brought about by the effects of the experience.[43]
One of the LSD-experiences may be the death crisis. Alnaes discerns three stages in this kind of experience:[10]
Psychosomatic symptoms lead up to the "loss of ego feeling (ego death)";[10]
A sense of separation of the observing subject from the body. The body is beheld to undergo death or an associated event;
"Rebirth", the return to normal, conscious mentation, "characteristically involving a tremendous sense of relief, which is cathartic in nature and may lead to insight".[10]
Timothy Leary's description of "ego-death"
In The Psychedelic Experience, three stages are discerned:
Chikhai Bardo: ego loss, a "complete transcendence" of the self[note 1] and game;[19][note 6]
Chonyid Bardo: The Period of Hallucinations;[44]
Sidpa Bardo: the return to routine game reality and the self.[19]
Each Bardo is described in the first part of The Psychedelic Experience. In the second part, instructions are given which can be read to the "voyager". The instructions for the First Bardo state:
O (name of voyager)
The time has come for you to seek new levels of reality.
Your ego and the (name) game are about to cease.
You are about to be set face to face with the Clear Light
You are about to experience it in its reality.
In the ego−free state, wherein all things are like the void and cloudless sky,
And the naked spotless intellect is like a transparent vacuum;
At this moment, know yourself and abide in that state.
O (name of voyager),
That which is called ego−death is coming to you.
Remember:
This is now the hour of death and rebirth;
Take advantage of this temporary death to obtain the perfect state −
Enlightenment.
[...][45]
Research
Stanislav Grof
Stanislav Grof has researched the effects of psychedelic substances,[46] which can also be induced by nonpharmacological means.[47] Grof has developed a "cartography of the psyche" based on his clinical work with psychedelics,[48] which describe the "basic types of experience that become available to an average person" when using psychedelics or "various powerful non-pharmacological experiential techniques".[48]
According to Grof, traditional psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy use a model of the human personality that is limited to biography and the individual consciousness, as described by Freud.[49] This model is inadequate to describe the experiences which result from the use of psychedelics and the use of "powerful techniques", which activate and mobilize "deep unconscious and superconscious levels of the human psyche".[49] These levels include:[29]
The sensory barrier and the recollective-biographical barrier
The perinatal matrices:
BPM I: The amniotic universe. Maternal womb; symbiotic unity of the fetus with the maternal organism; lack of boundaries and obstructions;
BPM II: Cosmic engulfment and no exit. Onset of labor; alteration of blissful connection with the mother and its pristine universe;
BPM III: The death-rebirth struggle. Movement through the birth channel and struggle for survival;
BPM IV: The death-rebirth experience. Birth and release.
The transpersonal dimensions of the psyche
Ego death appears in the fourth perinatal matrix.[29] This matrix is related to the stage of delivery, the actual birth of the child.[50] The build up of tension, pain and anxiety is suddenly released.[50] The symbolic counterpart is the death-rebirth experience, in which the individual may have a strong feeling of impending catastrophe, and may be desperately struggling to stop this process.[21] The transition from BPM III to BPM IV may involve a sense of total annihilation:[21]
This experience of ego death seems to entail an instant merciless destruction of all previous reference points in the life of the individual.[21]
According to Grof what dies in this process is "a basically paranoid attitude toward the world which reflects the negative experience of the subject during childbirth and later".[21] When experienced in its final and most complete form,
...ego death means an irreversible end to one's philosophical identification with what Alan Watts called skin-encapsulated ego."[21]
Recent research
Recent research also mentions that ego loss is sometimes experienced by those under the influence of psychedelic drugs.[51]
The Ego-Dissolution Inventory is a validated self-report questionnaire that allows for the measurement of transient ego-dissolution experiences occasioned by psychedelic drugs.[52]
View of spiritual traditions
Following the interest in psychedelics and spirituality, the term "ego death" has been used to describe the eastern notion of "enlightenment" (bodhi) or moksha.
Buddhism
Zen practice is said to lead to ego-death.[53] Ego-death is also called "great death", in contrast to the physical "small death".[54] According to Jin Y. Park, the ego death that Buddhism encourages makes an end to the "usually-unconsciousness-and-automated quest" to understand the sense-of-self as a thing, instead of as a process.[55] According to Park, meditation is learning how to die by learning to "forget" the sense of self:[55]
Enlightenment occurs when the usually automatized reflexivity of consciousness ceases, which is experienced as a letting-go and falling into the void and being wiped out of existence [...] [W]hen consciousness stops trying to catch its own tail, I become nothing, and discover that I am everything.[56]
According to Welwood, "egolessness" is a common experience. Egolessness appears "in the gaps and spaces between thoughts, which usually go unnoticed".[57] Existential anxiety arises when one realizes that the feeling of "I" is nothing more than a perception. According to Welwood, only egoless awareness allows us to face and accept death in all forms.[57]
David Loy also mentions the fear of death,[58] and the need to undergo ego-death to realize our true nature.[59][60] According to Loy, our fear of egolessness may even be stronger than our fear of death.[58]
"Egolessness" is not the same as anatta (non-self). Where the former is more of a personal experience, Anatta is a doctrine common to all of Buddhism – describing how the constituents of a person (or any other phenomena) contain no permanent entity (one has no "essence of themself"):
the Buddha, almost ad nauseam, spoke against wrong identification with the Five Aggregates, or the same, wrong identification with the psychophysical believing it is our self. These aggregates of form, feeling, thought, inclination, and sensory consciousness, he went on to say, were illusory; they belonged to Mara the Evil One; they were impermanent and painful. And for these reasons, the aggregates cannot be our self.[web 3]
Taoism
The Taoist internal martial artist Bruce Frantzis reports an experience of fear of ego annihilation, or "ru ding":
I was in Hong Kong, beginning to learn the old Yang style of Tai Chi Chaun when ru ding first struck me… It was late at night, at a still and quiet terrace on the Peak, where few people came after midnight…the park was quiet, and the moon and the sky felt as though they were descending downward, putting enormous pressure on every square inch of my skin, as I tried to lift my arms with the expansive energy of tai chi…I felt as if Chi from the moonlight, stars, and sky penetrated my body against my will. My body and mind became immensely still, as though they had dropped into a bottomless abyss, even though I was doing the rhythmic slow motion movements…At the depth of the stillness, an overwhelming, formless fear began to develop in my belly…. Then it happened: an all-consuming, paralyzing fear seemed all at once to invade every cell in my body… I knew if I kept practicing there would be nothing left of me in a few seconds… I stopped practicing… and ran down the hill praying hard that this terror would leave me…. The ego, goes into a mortal fear when the false reality of being separate from the universal life force is threatened by your consciousness having reached an awareness of connection to everything in existence. The ego spews forth all sorts of terrifying psychological and physiological reactions in the body and mind to make meditators petrified of leaving the state of separation.
Bernadette Roberts
Bernadette Roberts makes a distinction between "no ego" and "no self".[61][62] According to Roberts, the falling away of the ego is not the same as the falling away of the self.[63] "No ego" comes prior to the unitive state; with the falling away of the unitive state comes "no self".[64] "Ego" is defined by Roberts as
... the immature self or consciousness prior to the falling away of its self-center and the revelation of a divine center.[65]
Roberts defines "self" as
... the totality of consciousness, the entire human dimension of knowing, feeling and experiencing from the consciousness and unconsciousness to the unitive, transcendental or God-consciousness.[65]
Ultimately, all experiences on which these definitions are based are wiped out or dissolved.[65] Jeff Shore further explains that "no self" means "the permanent ceasing, the falling away once and for all, of the entire mechanism of reflective self-consciousness".[66]
According to Roberts, both the Buddha and Christ embody the falling away of self, and the state of "no self". The falling away is represented by the Buddha prior to his enlightenment, starving himself by ascetic practices, and by the dying Jesus on the cross; the state of "no self" is represented by the enlightened Buddha with his serenity, and by the resurrected Christ.[65]
Integration after ego-death experiences
Psychedelics
According to Nick Bromell, ego death is a tempering though frightening experience, which may lead to a reconciliation with the insight that there is no real self.[67]
According to Grof, death crises may occur over a series of psychedelic sessions until they cease to lead to panic. A conscious effort not to panic may lead to a "pseudohallucinatory sense of transcending physical death".[10] According to Merkur,
Repeated experience of the death crisis and its confrontation with the idea of physical death leads finally to an acceptance of personal mortality, without further illusions. The death crisis is then greeted with equanimity.[10]
Vedanta and Zen
Both the Vedanta and the Zen-Buddhist traditions warn that insight into the emptiness of the self, or so-called "enlightenment experiences", are not sufficient; further practice is necessary.
Jacobs warns that Advaita Vedanta practice takes years of committed practice to sever the "occlusion"[68] of the so-called "vasanas, samskaras, bodily sheaths and vrittis", and the "granthi[note 7] or knot forming identification between Self and mind".[69]
Zen Buddhist training does not end with kenshō, or insight into one's true nature. Practice is to be continued to deepen the insight and to express it in daily life.[70][71][72][73] According to Hakuin, the main aim of "post-satori practice"[74] (gogo no shugyo[75] or kojo, "going beyond"[76]) is to cultivate the "Mind of Enlightenment".[77] According to Yamada Koun, "if you cannot weep with a person who is crying, there is no kensho".[78]
Dark Night and depersonalization
See also: Depersonalization
Shinzen Young, an American Buddhist teacher, has pointed at the difficulty integrating the experience of no self. He calls this "the Dark Night", or
... "falling into the Pit of the Void." It entails an authentic and irreversible insight into Emptiness and No Self. What makes it problematic is that the person interprets it as a bad trip. Instead of being empowering and fulfilling, the way Buddhist literature claims it will be, it turns into the opposite. In a sense, it's Enlightenment's Evil Twin.[web 4]
Willoughby Britton is conducting research on such phenomena which may occur during meditation, in a research program called "The Dark Night of the Soul".[web 5] She has searched texts from various traditions to find descriptions of difficult periods on the spiritual path,[web 6] and conducted interviews to find out more on the difficult sides of meditation.[web 5][note 8]
Influence
See also: Influence of Timothy Leary
The propagation of LSD-induced "mystical experiences", and the concept of ego death, had some influence in the 1960s, but Leary's brand of LSD-spirituality never "quite caught on".[79]
Reports of psychedelic experiences
Leary's terminology influenced the understanding and description of the effects of psychedelics. Various reports by hippies of their psychedelic experiences describe states of diminished consciousness which were labelled as "ego death", but do not match Leary's descriptions.[80] Panic attacks were occasionally also labeled as "ego death".[81]
The Beatles
John Lennon read The Psychedelic Experience, and was strongly affected by it.[82] He wrote "Tomorrow Never Knows" after reading the book, as a guide for his LSD trips.[82] Lennon took about a thousand acid trips, but it only exacerbated his personal difficulties.[83] He eventually stopped using the drug. George Harrison and Paul McCartney also concluded that LSD use didn't result in any worthwhile changes.[84]
Radical pluralism
According to Bromell, the experience of ego death confirms a radical pluralism that most people experience in their youth, but prefer to flee from, instead believing in a stable self and a fixed reality.[85] He further states this also led to a different attitude among youngsters in the 1960s, rejecting the lifestyle of their parents as being deceitful and false.[85]
Controversy
The relationship between ego death and LSD has been disputed. Hunter S. Thompson, who tried LSD,[86] saw a self-centered base in Leary's work, noting that Leary placed himself at the centre of his texts, using his persona as "an exemplary ego, not a dissolved one".[86] Dan Merkur notes that the use of LSD in combination with Leary's manual often did not lead to ego-death, but to horrifying bad trips.[87]
The relationship between LSD use and enlightenment has also been criticized. Sōtō-Zen teacher Brad Warner has repeatedly criticized the idea that psychedelic experiences lead to "enlightenment experiences".[note 9] In response to The Psychedelic Experience he wrote:
While I was at Starwood, I was getting mightily annoyed by all the people out there who were deluding themselves and others into believing that a cheap dose of acid, 'shrooms, peyote, "molly" or whatever was going to get them to a higher spiritual plane [...] While I was at that campsite I sat and read most of the book The Psychedelic Experience by Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (aka Baba Ram Dass, later of Be Here Now fame). It's a book about the authors' deeply mistaken reading of the Tibetan Book of the Dead as a guide for the drug taking experience [...] It was one thing to believe in 1964 that a brave new tripped out age was about to dawn. It's quite another to still believe that now, having seen what the last 47 years have shown us about where that path leads. If you want some examples, how about Jimi Hendrix, Sid Vicious, Syd Barrett, John Entwistle, Kurt Cobain... Do I really need to get so cliched with this? Come on now.[web 7]
The concept that ego-death or a similar experience might be considered a common basis for religion has been disputed by scholars in religious studies[88] but "has lost none of its popularity".[88] Scholars have also criticized Leary and Alpert's attempt to tie ego-death and psychedelics with Tibetan Buddhism. John Myrdhin Reynolds, has disputed Leary and Jung's use of the Evans-Wentz's translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, arguing that it introduces a number of misunderstandings about Dzogchen.[89] Reynolds argues that Evans-Wentz's was not familiar with Tibetan Buddhism,[89] and that his view of Tibetan Buddhism was "fundamentally neither Tibetan nor Buddhist, but Theosophical and Vedantist".[90] Nonetheless, Reynolds confirms that the nonsubstantiality of the ego is the ultimate goal of the Hinayana system.[91]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_death
There is an unavoidable paradox in a Christianity that calls its leaders to be humble. This was brought home to me a few years back, on a Sunday morning after church. The assistant pastor had preached the sermon, and in the process of making his point (which I don’t recall!) he had included himself among those who needed to respond to the message. This didn’t bother me in the slightest; it is deep in our preaching tradition, and, if sincere, is very effective, to my thinking. But afterwards in the courtyard I heard a shocked reaction. Samir is a Muslim, the husband of one of our members, who sometimes attends church social functions and visits very rarely on Sunday mornings. We had gotten to know him well enough for him to share with us his honest disgust at what he had heard: how could the church foster someone as a leader who was so clearly a loser? As I attempted to respond briefly but meaningfully, my mind was suddenly spinning at the challenge of bridging the gap between a sincere and legitimate question, and the complexity of the full theological answer it deserved.
Philippians 2:5-11, a text on the short list of any consideration of Christian humility, is also a locus classicus for incarnational theology, with its dense and poignant narration of the path that Jesus took from glory to abasement and back to glory. Paul’s emphasis is not on the Christology, but on the model it provides to the Philippians of a Christian spirituality: “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus “ (Phil. 2:5). Paul wants his readers to consider how Jesus followed his path, even if the Church has tended to give much more attention to the substantive issues of nature, essence, form, attributes, deity, and humanity.
Philippians is known as an epistle of joy—a recent reviewer has noted “the countless popular studies on Philippians…, many with the word joy in the title somewhere”1—but the foreground of serious distress, for the church as well as for the imprisoned apostle, is increasingly acknowledged.2 Paul commends the mind of Christ (or attitude, or way of thinking, as it is sometimes translated) because he knows that the Philippian community is struggling: God has been “granted” it to them “to suffer for his sake” (Phil. 1:29). In this extremis, Paul commends to his flock the essential mind-set that was Christ’s in the pain of his own distress: “he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death” (Phil. 2: 8).
Humility and obedience, then, go a long way in giving us the content of the “mind of Christ,” that is, the basic orientation and even motivation that governed all that Jesus said and did (and suffered to be done) during his earthly ministry. The humility is layered and textured: accession to the will of the Father, involving the relinquishing of heavenly prerogatives, the entrance into the existence of the slave rather than a lord, and finally experiencing death itself, and an ignominious death at that. The obedienceis entirely strategic, accomplishing the redemption that is the will of God.3To refuse it would entail an unholy “grasping” or “exploitation” (Phil. 2:6). So this is a humility and an obedience that have the essential character of peace and joy, as the epistle as a whole indicates, and as is clear in the depictions of Christ in the Gospels. In the “mind of Christ,” joy, humility, and obedience define each other.
Much theological effort has been expended on Paul’s observation that “Christ Jesus, being in the form of God,… emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness” (Phil 2: 6-7). Several “kenotic” theories (from kenosis or “emptying”) have been propounded over the centuries to help explain what was laid aside and what retained in the astonishing act of incarnation. Something of a consensus is emerging on the front of Pauline studies, which understands the passage in the following way: “form of God” and “form of a slave/human likeness” point not to a mere surface appearance, but to authentic existence God and as a human.4 Further, those translations—and there are many—which read that “although he existed in the form of God,… he emptied himself” ought to be corrected to more accurate phrasing: “being in the form of God” or even “because he existed in the form of God,… he emptied himself.” That is, the self-emptying is not to be seen as a divestment of deity; on the contrary, it is an expression of deity. Jesus is able to do it because he is God. The act of incarnation is an elegant expression of what God can do that is otherwise to us incomprehensible: in the being and existence of God, he took as well the being and existence of the creature. Surely he “emptied himself” of something; above we used J. B. Lightfoot’s language, that he divested himself of heavenly prerogatives. Without ceasing to be God, he became human. As N. T. Wright has written, “The pre-existent son regarded equality with God not as excusing him from the task of (redemptive) suffering and death, but actually as uniquely qualifying him for that vocation.”5
I suggest that there is a key here to the paradox in which Christians are called to exercise leadership in humility.6 If Paul describes deity as being able elegantly to function as humanity, it is not a stretch to understand Christian leadership as intended to function and to be empowered precisely in humble solidarity with humanity. Many are the prerogatives of the professional ministry, some of which are arguably necessary to the task. But all professional honors and privileges and prerogatives cut against the very grain of the ministry itself unless they become part of the resources by which we exercise Christian leadership in the mind of Christ: to be there for others, to listen to others, to pray for others, to exert and network for others, and to speak the grace of God to others in the diligence of obedience.
“If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand. Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself…” (Phil. 2:1-6, The Message7).
—Theopulos
To refuse to do it would entail an unholy “grasping” or “exploitation” (Phil. 2:6).
1 D. A. Carson, New Testament Commentary Survey (6th ed.; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007), p. 115.
2 See, for instance, Gregory L. Bloomquist, The Functioning of Suffering in Philippians (JSNT Sup 78. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993).
3 Romans 5:12-21 offers a further meditation on the value of Jesus’ obedience: if by disobedience the world was plunged into loss and death, “so by the one man’s obedience” loss and death are overturned decisively.
4 The progress of this discussion can be followed in contemporary critical commentaries such as Peter O’Brien, The Epistle to the Philippians(NIGTC. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991) pp. 186-270, or, more briefly, Margaret Thrall, “The Epistle to the Philippians,” in Keck, et al., eds, The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IX (Nashville: Abingdon, 2000), pp. 500-517.
5 Cited in O’Brien, p. 216.
6 Robert J. Wood, a Quaker and sometime dean of Yale University Divinity School, addresses the proclivity of many in his communion to “regard the term ‘Quaker leadership’ as an oxymoron;” he has much to say to other groups in his essay, “Christ Has Come to Teach His People Himself: Vulnerability and the Exercise of Power in Quaker Leadership,” in Richard J. Mouw and Eric O. Jacobsen, eds., Traditions in Leadership: How Faith Traditions Shape the Way We Lead (Pasadena: The De Pree Leadership Center, 2006) pp. 208-221. The citation is from p. 209.
7 Eugene Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language(Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2002), ad loc.
Just to see if it was possible, I printed a very limited edition of posters on my Arab platen. That accounts for the need to fold the sheet – it would not fit onto the platen flat. The type is 10-line sans in wood, from Hayloft Press run by the late David Wishart.
"Nature is constantly sending even its oldest scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious blunder." ~Alfred Austin (Alfred Austin was the English Poet Laureate after the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The British do like their Alfreds!)
I am truly humbled that these beauties choose to grace my summer garden! HMM!
O God, please teach all Men the Holy ways of dating.
Always in the good intention for Family Love within Humanity.
That they may learn to truly understand a Woman’s Heart,
To know each other peacefully and romantically - mindful of each other’s feelings.
Please help them to have the Holy Virtues of Humility and Kindness –
In everything they say and do to each other with sweetness and thoughtfulness.
As the most honorable and righteous Men for God -
Are the ones who truly give utmost respect in protecting Women’s purity and chastity.
To put God’s Wisdom if the person is for a lifetime commitment.
That to bring God’s Love in Humanity be the goal of all Women and Men.
Amen.
There is nothing more humbling than helping the elderly. It's an amazing feeling , having the ability to see what your future holds. When you are young you never stop to realize that your youth has an expiration date.
I used "Texture 108" by Ellen van Deelen for the background.
www.flickr.com/photos/41904174@N06/6390740513/in/photolis...
The quote is from Rick Warren's blog: rickwarren.org/devotional/english/cultivating-community
Many people attribute this quote to C.S. Lewis but that is a false assumption according to "Quotes NOT by C.S. Lewis"
www.essentialcslewis.com/2014/01/26/quotes-not-by-lewis-a...
Cool poster representing David Archuleta as a Hobbit in Lord of the Rings. Made by a FOD (fansofdavid.com) contributer.
As an exercise in humility the Black Nun wished to be buried where everyone entering the Friary would walk upon her remains
Bonamargy Friary is supposedly haunted by the ghost of the Black Nun, Julia McQuillan, who lived there alone after the Friary fell out of use in 1641.
There is a common story that the Black Nun was murdered on the steps leading to the upper floor of the Friary while looking out the slit window. Legend has it that bad luck will befall anyone who walks on the step where she fell. (check out the photo of the steps - the one that is third from top is the step where she is supposed to have been murdered. It is untrodden and unworn
compared to the others)
Week 5 Tea or Coffee (Royal Doulton with hand painted Periwinkles (1071 – 1075) 03/01 – 06/2020 ID 1074
Thomas Hart Benton
American b.1889; Neosho, MO d.1975; Kansas City, MO
The Lord is My Shepherd , 1926
Tempera and oil on canvas
The Lord is My Shepherd portrays Sabrina and George West, an elderly couple who lived near the artist on the island of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts. Throughout his career, Thomas Hart Benton took a heroic view of the American People, and here he emphasized the couple’s hands, gnarled and roughened by the labor of fishing, farming, and tending sheep. He also underscored the West’s piety and humility, drawing the painting’s title from the needlepoint sampler hanging in their otherwise spartan kitchen. Although their interaction appears slightly awkward—he looks off into space while she gazes intently at the lower part of his face—this may be explained in part by the fact that both Wests were deaf and communicated by lipreading as well as sign language.
Purchase 31.100
From the Placard: The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hart_Benton_(painter)
Path to Divine through humility.
O YE WHO HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING TO ACHIEVE NEARNESS TO GOD AND THE SOLACE OF HIS ACCEPTANCE, HAS ALLUDED YOU THEN TRY THE PATH OF HUMILITY. THIS PRESCRIPTION WILL CURE THEE OF ALL THOSE AILMENTS WHICH ARE KEEPING THEE FROM GOD.
"I was an Anglican and I did not know Our Lady. I was invited to a pro-life protest a few years ago by a Catholic friend of mine and during that we prayed the rosary. This was the first time I'd ever prayed it and in doing so I remember being struck to my heart by having an awareness of Mary's humility, purity and love. In comparison to what I saw going on around me, her faith in holding onto the child, in her obedience in saying yes to God. That's what strikes me: her humility, her love, her purity and her faith." ~David from England Medieval statue of Our Lady and the Holy Child from St. Louis Museum of Art, St.Louis, Missouri, USA.
If there is any advice Col. Kirk Gibbs can give to his successor, it is this: Lead with honor and humility.
As Gibbs, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District’s 61st commander, prepares to relinquish command of the LA District July 19 to Col. Aaron Barta, he offered up some advice and reflected on the past three years as the leader of one of the largest Corps districts in the country.
There are many things Gibbs said he is proud of when it comes to the LA District, but three things stand out: the District being recognized two years in a row as a "Best Place to Work" in the Corps; completing Weed Army Hospital at Fort Irwin, California – the Department of Defense’s only Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Platinum, carbon-neutral, net-zero certifiable hospital – on time and within budget; and the one-on-one time he was able to spend with employees in the District.
It is the people Gibbs said he will miss the most – the employees and the District’s close partners across the four-state area.
“I have never focused on relationships like I have here in this District, and I sincerely believe it is part of the District's culture,” he said. “When projects are tough, the close relationships get us through those challenges and ultimately deliver the program.”
During his time with the LA District, Gibbs has overseen a multimillion-dollar program that provides engineering, construction, planning, contracting, real estate, emergency operations, environmental and regulatory services to military, federal, state and local governments across a 226,000-square-mile area of Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. That also includes leading about 750 military and civilian personnel with a wide array of expertise.
But leading people is nothing new to Gibbs, who has served for more than 24 years as an active-duty Soldier, leading both military and civilian personnel.
“Each person is different, and I have learned that good leaders get to know each person individually and then lead them in a way that brings out the best in that employee,” he said.
Providing priorities and a solid intent on the District’s missions, particularly disaster response operations, helps employees stay focused on what’s really important, he said.
Gibbs will now serve as the chief of staff at the Corps’ headquarters in Washington, D.C. There, he said, he hopes to be an advocate for all of the Corps’ districts nationwide.
“I feel that this District and the great people are responsible for giving me the incredible opportunity of being the Corps’ chief of staff,” he said. “The people have taught me so much, and I will take that with me to make a positive impact on the Corps’ enterprise and help our Districts deliver our programs in civil works, military, Interagency and International Services, real estate and regulatory.”
Gibbs knows how the importance of mentors and having a good support system have played in shaping his career, and he credits his parents with instilling in him respect for others; his wife, Kim, who taught him to endure all challenges, no matter how great, with grace and dignity; and his former chief of staff – Col. Steve Hill – for giving him tough jobs to prepare him for success.
“(Hill) gave me tough jobs that I thought he could have done at the time, but as I look back, the toughest assignments he gave me in that civilian organization at the Corps headquarters prepared me for District command and enabled me to achieve the goal of commanding at the battalion, brigade and District levels,” he said. “I also remember he told me I would be a chief of staff for the Corps one day. He was preparing me for that. I didn't believe him, but that is my next job.”
And, as for additional advice he can share with Barta, Gibbs provided these words of wisdom:
- Be prepared to change leadership style when leading a District of professional civilians. Don't lead them in the same way as Soldiers;
- Engage with people and get around to see them across the District's entire area of operation. Don't sit behind a desk;
- Study hard initially and learn the policies, processes and programs. “You will never be the expert, but you must prepare yourself to make effective decisions as quickly as possible”;
- Always provide a commander's intent and an end state. The civilian workforce appreciates that; and, lastly,
- Lead with honor and humility. “It isn't about you. It is about the District's people and our vital mission.”
As for the future of the LA District, Gibbs said he hopes future leaders continue to change the culture to an organization that is more risk tolerant in streamlining processes and moving projects forward; deliver the Department of Veterans Affairs and Customs and Border Protection programs phenomenally – on time, within budget and to the highest quality; and to remain a "Best Place to Work" in order to retain and recruit talent to the high-cost living area of Southern California.
“I want the District to do what it always does and ‘knock those programs out of the park,’” he said.
On the final night of Navaratri, we celebrate Goddess Siddhidatri. She is the ultimate form of all the devis so far, and the sashtras say She can only be worshiped after all of the other forms have been venerated.
She is the one who delivers ultimate success, and in fact, those who worship Her with full devotion are bestowed all eighteen forms of success. According to the Puranas, even Lord Shiva achieved salvation through Her grace. She grants perfection and the power to act with gratitude and humility, revealing the Love of God.
As we do every night of Navaratri, we performed a guru-puja, kalash-puja, yajna, abhishekam, and arati, as well as Divya Prabandham satsangs from different speakers. Tonight we also had a ceremony to venerate all nine devis.
paramahamsavishwananda.com
bhaktimarga.org
On the final night of Navaratri, we celebrate Goddess Siddhidatri, who is an aspect of Maha Lakshmi. She is the ultimate form of the Nava Durgas, and the shashtras say she can only be worshiped after all of the other forms have been venerated.
She is the One who delivers success. Those who worship Her with full devotion are bestowed the eighteen forms of success. According to the Puranas, even Lord Shiva achieved salvation through Her Grace. She grants perfection and the power to act with gratitude and humility, revealing the Love of God.
paramahamsavishwananda.com
bhaktimarga.org
O God, we have intense Reverence for You.
You may be invisible in our eyes,
But Your mighty good deeds to touch our Heart is ever-powerful!
We bow in utmost sincerity to seek Your mercy.
We seek Your forgiveness O God!
Please look upon us renewed sinners for we need You.
We are nothing without You O God,
And to You we all depend.
For You O God is the source of our Salvation.
Amen.
Posted on the first anniversary of the shootings in Tucson, Arizona on January 8, 2010 -
"We've seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems. Much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.
"But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized - at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do -- it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.
". . . As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together,"
~ President Barack Obama, January 12, 2010
"Humor and humility were essential aspects of Norman Rockwell's character, so when asked to do a self-portrait that would announce the first of eight excerpts of his 1960 autobiography, 'My Adventures as an Illustrator,' the result was lighthearted and self-deprecating." - from the museum label
Hochmut and Demut
Two key concepts for understanding Amish practices are their rejection of Hochmut (pride, arrogance, haughtiness) and the high value they place on Demut or "humility" and Gelassenheit (German, meaning: calmness, composure, placidity) — often translated as "submission" or "letting-be," but perhaps better understood as a reluctance to be forward, self-promoting, or to assert oneself in any way. The willingness to submit to the Will of God, as expressed through group norms, is at odds with the individualism so central to the wider American culture. The Amish anti-individualist orientation is the motive for rejecting labor-saving technologies that might make one less dependent on community; or which, like electricity, might start a competition for status-goods; or which, like photographs, might cultivate individual or family vanity. It is also the proximate cause for rejecting education beyond the eighth grade, especially speculative study that has little practical use for farm life but may awaken personal and materialistic ambitions. The emphasis on competition and the uncritical assumption that self-reliance is a good thing — both cultivated in American high schools and exalted as an American ideal — are in direct opposition to core Amish values.
Separation from the outside world
The Amish often cite three Bible verses that encapsulate their cultural attitudes:
"Be not yoked with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" (II Corinthians 6:14)
"Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord." (II Corinthians 6:17)
“And be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
Both out of concern for the effect of a parent's absence on family life, and in order to minimize contact with "English" (everyone not of German descent), the Amish prefer to work at home. However, increased prices for farmland and decreasing revenues for low-tech farming have forced many Amish to work away from the farm, particularly in construction and factory-labor, and, in those areas where there is a significant tourist trade, to engage in shopwork and crafts for profit. The Amish are ambivalent about both the consequences of this contact and the commoditization of their culture. The decorative arts play little role in authentic Amish life (though the prized Amish quilts are a genuine cultural inheritance, unlike hex signs), and are in fact regarded with suspicion, as a field where egotism and a display of vanity can easily develop.
If there is any advice Col. Kirk Gibbs can give to his successor, it is this: Lead with honor and humility.
As Gibbs, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District’s 61st commander, prepares to relinquish command of the LA District July 19 to Col. Aaron Barta, he offered up some advice and reflected on the past three years as the leader of one of the largest Corps districts in the country.
There are many things Gibbs said he is proud of when it comes to the LA District, but three things stand out: the District being recognized two years in a row as a "Best Place to Work" in the Corps; completing Weed Army Hospital at Fort Irwin, California – the Department of Defense’s only Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Platinum, carbon-neutral, net-zero certifiable hospital – on time and within budget; and the one-on-one time he was able to spend with employees in the District.
It is the people Gibbs said he will miss the most – the employees and the District’s close partners across the four-state area.
“I have never focused on relationships like I have here in this District, and I sincerely believe it is part of the District's culture,” he said. “When projects are tough, the close relationships get us through those challenges and ultimately deliver the program.”
During his time with the LA District, Gibbs has overseen a multimillion-dollar program that provides engineering, construction, planning, contracting, real estate, emergency operations, environmental and regulatory services to military, federal, state and local governments across a 226,000-square-mile area of Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. That also includes leading about 750 military and civilian personnel with a wide array of expertise.
But leading people is nothing new to Gibbs, who has served for more than 24 years as an active-duty Soldier, leading both military and civilian personnel.
“Each person is different, and I have learned that good leaders get to know each person individually and then lead them in a way that brings out the best in that employee,” he said.
Providing priorities and a solid intent on the District’s missions, particularly disaster response operations, helps employees stay focused on what’s really important, he said.
Gibbs will now serve as the chief of staff at the Corps’ headquarters in Washington, D.C. There, he said, he hopes to be an advocate for all of the Corps’ districts nationwide.
“I feel that this District and the great people are responsible for giving me the incredible opportunity of being the Corps’ chief of staff,” he said. “The people have taught me so much, and I will take that with me to make a positive impact on the Corps’ enterprise and help our Districts deliver our programs in civil works, military, Interagency and International Services, real estate and regulatory.”
Gibbs knows how the importance of mentors and having a good support system have played in shaping his career, and he credits his parents with instilling in him respect for others; his wife, Kim, who taught him to endure all challenges, no matter how great, with grace and dignity; and his former chief of staff – Col. Steve Hill – for giving him tough jobs to prepare him for success.
“(Hill) gave me tough jobs that I thought he could have done at the time, but as I look back, the toughest assignments he gave me in that civilian organization at the Corps headquarters prepared me for District command and enabled me to achieve the goal of commanding at the battalion, brigade and District levels,” he said. “I also remember he told me I would be a chief of staff for the Corps one day. He was preparing me for that. I didn't believe him, but that is my next job.”
And, as for additional advice he can share with Barta, Gibbs provided these words of wisdom:
- Be prepared to change leadership style when leading a District of professional civilians. Don't lead them in the same way as Soldiers;
- Engage with people and get around to see them across the District's entire area of operation. Don't sit behind a desk;
- Study hard initially and learn the policies, processes and programs. “You will never be the expert, but you must prepare yourself to make effective decisions as quickly as possible”;
- Always provide a commander's intent and an end state. The civilian workforce appreciates that; and, lastly,
- Lead with honor and humility. “It isn't about you. It is about the District's people and our vital mission.”
As for the future of the LA District, Gibbs said he hopes future leaders continue to change the culture to an organization that is more risk tolerant in streamlining processes and moving projects forward; deliver the Department of Veterans Affairs and Customs and Border Protection programs phenomenally – on time, within budget and to the highest quality; and to remain a "Best Place to Work" in order to retain and recruit talent to the high-cost living area of Southern California.
“I want the District to do what it always does and ‘knock those programs out of the park,’” he said.
Somehow this one ended up a lot pinker than I expected it too! Ah well. The second block has more color. :)
A quick snapshot to show you how the Humility Now shoot went for the release of there summer line!
Models: Santana Iglesias & Edgar Alfred
Thankyou SO much Zack Hughes for helping me out!!! Everyone check out his work: www.flickr.com/photos/zamphotography
O God, thank You for loving fathers.
For they are grateful to God for the Gift of Life.
As the greatest gifts we receive from our fathers is affection and warmth.
As the meek and gentle hands of our father lifts us up.
To carry us as helpless babies.
To bring joys, gladness and laughter.
That fathers may be humble to be as gentle as their own babies.
To bring meekness and gentleness throughout Humanity.
For Humility is the source of strength of loving fathers.
Amen.
Gesture of humility on Holy Thursday 2008 Pope www.FranciscusI.org Pope-Francis www.PopeofHearts.com PopeofHearts Pope-Franciscus www.PopeFranciscusI.com Jorge-Bergoglio Pope-of-Hearts
If there is any advice Col. Kirk Gibbs can give to his successor, it is this: Lead with honor and humility.
As Gibbs, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District’s 61st commander, prepares to relinquish command of the LA District July 19 to Col. Aaron Barta, he offered up some advice and reflected on the past three years as the leader of one of the largest Corps districts in the country.
There are many things Gibbs said he is proud of when it comes to the LA District, but three things stand out: the District being recognized two years in a row as a "Best Place to Work" in the Corps; completing Weed Army Hospital at Fort Irwin, California – the Department of Defense’s only Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Platinum, carbon-neutral, net-zero certifiable hospital – on time and within budget; and the one-on-one time he was able to spend with employees in the District.
It is the people Gibbs said he will miss the most – the employees and the District’s close partners across the four-state area.
“I have never focused on relationships like I have here in this District, and I sincerely believe it is part of the District's culture,” he said. “When projects are tough, the close relationships get us through those challenges and ultimately deliver the program.”
During his time with the LA District, Gibbs has overseen a multimillion-dollar program that provides engineering, construction, planning, contracting, real estate, emergency operations, environmental and regulatory services to military, federal, state and local governments across a 226,000-square-mile area of Southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. That also includes leading about 750 military and civilian personnel with a wide array of expertise.
But leading people is nothing new to Gibbs, who has served for more than 24 years as an active-duty Soldier, leading both military and civilian personnel.
“Each person is different, and I have learned that good leaders get to know each person individually and then lead them in a way that brings out the best in that employee,” he said.
Providing priorities and a solid intent on the District’s missions, particularly disaster response operations, helps employees stay focused on what’s really important, he said.
Gibbs will now serve as the chief of staff at the Corps’ headquarters in Washington, D.C. There, he said, he hopes to be an advocate for all of the Corps’ districts nationwide.
“I feel that this District and the great people are responsible for giving me the incredible opportunity of being the Corps’ chief of staff,” he said. “The people have taught me so much, and I will take that with me to make a positive impact on the Corps’ enterprise and help our Districts deliver our programs in civil works, military, Interagency and International Services, real estate and regulatory.”
Gibbs knows how the importance of mentors and having a good support system have played in shaping his career, and he credits his parents with instilling in him respect for others; his wife, Kim, who taught him to endure all challenges, no matter how great, with grace and dignity; and his former chief of staff – Col. Steve Hill – for giving him tough jobs to prepare him for success.
“(Hill) gave me tough jobs that I thought he could have done at the time, but as I look back, the toughest assignments he gave me in that civilian organization at the Corps headquarters prepared me for District command and enabled me to achieve the goal of commanding at the battalion, brigade and District levels,” he said. “I also remember he told me I would be a chief of staff for the Corps one day. He was preparing me for that. I didn't believe him, but that is my next job.”
And, as for additional advice he can share with Barta, Gibbs provided these words of wisdom:
- Be prepared to change leadership style when leading a District of professional civilians. Don't lead them in the same way as Soldiers;
- Engage with people and get around to see them across the District's entire area of operation. Don't sit behind a desk;
- Study hard initially and learn the policies, processes and programs. “You will never be the expert, but you must prepare yourself to make effective decisions as quickly as possible”;
- Always provide a commander's intent and an end state. The civilian workforce appreciates that; and, lastly,
- Lead with honor and humility. “It isn't about you. It is about the District's people and our vital mission.”
As for the future of the LA District, Gibbs said he hopes future leaders continue to change the culture to an organization that is more risk tolerant in streamlining processes and moving projects forward; deliver the Department of Veterans Affairs and Customs and Border Protection programs phenomenally – on time, within budget and to the highest quality; and to remain a "Best Place to Work" in order to retain and recruit talent to the high-cost living area of Southern California.
“I want the District to do what it always does and ‘knock those programs out of the park,’” he said.
St Margaret, Hopton-on-Sea, Norfolk
The chancel windows, by Edward Burne Jones for the WIlliam Morris workshop, are insured for a million pounds.
Chris Kelly's bronze sculpture in Duke Street, Barrow-in-Furness, of former Great Britain and Barrow rugby league stand-off Willie Horne. Horne played 461 games for Barrow between 1943 and 1959. He scored 1,818 points and captained the Shipbuilders in three Wembley Challenge Cup finals, lifting the trophy in 1955 after a 21-12 victory over Workington Town. He also skippered Lancashire, England and Great Britain, and was awarded a testimonial by Barrow in 1955. Horne died in 2001 at the age of 79, six years after being made a Freeman of the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. The sculpture, depicting Horne in full flight, is opposite the main entrance to Barrow RLFC's Craven Park ground. It was unveiled in May 2004 by Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the North West Development Agency.
A plaque at the base of the sculpture details Horne's glittering playing career and numerous rugby league achievements, before concluding: Willie is regarded by many as the greatest stand-off half of his generation, and by some as the finest of all time. A quiet hero, he was revered throughout the global rugby league community but most of all here, in his own back yard, where he was both idolised as a sporting genius and respected for being a decent man. It is fitting that this memorial stands here, just a drop-kick away from Craven Park where his sublime artistry baffled the best defences in the world and thrilled the roaring terraces of the post-war era. Talented and even gifted rugby league footballers the world shall yet see, but for us there can only ever be one Willie Horne, a unique man with magic in his fingers and humility in his heart.