The Absurdity of Pride and the Peace of Humility: How We Can Reestablish Our Relationships with Other People, Other Groups, and Other Species to Live Peaceful Lives and Avoid Extinction

By Michal H. Hall

After several years of research into the new discoveries of science and cosmology and the new translations of the worlds religions, I have found that we are not only going extinct, but that we are the ones doing it through pride and arrogance. We as a species have developed an addiction to this ugly, disconnecting emotion. Totally lost to us is the unifying, sustainable emotion of humility. Clearly, unless we can recover humilitys natural state, we will continue in the violent, frightened, unjust lifestyle of pride, and we will force our own speciesand many others on the Earthinto extinction. This book maps out our personal, group, and species pride so there can be no doubt of its powerful influence inand lethal power overeverything about us. A study of how we can get out of pride and into a state of humility occupies most of the book because that is what we must do right now. If we are to live enjoyable and meaningful lives and have a future, we must throw off pride and enter into humility. This book is a map, guide, and call to hope for our joyful and sustainable future. Its a call to come out of our slavery to self to see and embrace other humans, groups, and species of the Earth. In this new state of humility, we will be released to see ourselves not just as citizens of the Earth, but as citizens of the cosmos. In humility, we will discover that we are not the center of anything but an important part of everything. We will throw off things like prides violence, illusions of control, worry, fear, anger, fighting, comparing, judging, competing, and taking everything personally. We will take on humilitys laughterespecially at ourselveslove, justice, peace, forgiveness, identifying with and appreciating everything, and being all-inclusive. The natural thing would have been for us to evolve into humility. It is the only way that any reflective species in the cosmos can ever hope to survive and flourish.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Apr 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781452594149

Michal H. Hall

The author began his formal education with advancing bachelor, master and doctor’s degrees. He became a progressive Presbyterian USA minister serving imaginative congregations for 40 years. He also taught in colleges and seminaries, did numerous television series on philosophy and religion in Atlanta, and produced television specials for PBS and AIB centering on the life and writings of Teilhard de Chardin. Over the years, he began seven large organizations to meet human need. Upon retirement, he took two years to study the amazing surge in scientific knowledge and the wisdom coming from the recently available translations of the world’s religious writings. In his travel and research, he found himself face to face with the fact that we as a species are not only going extinct, but also we as a supposedly intelligent species are the ones doing it. He now spends his days lecturing and writing on how we can release ourselves from pride’s destruction of our individual, group and species relationships to move into a real, sustainable state called “humility”.

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Copyright © 2014 Michal H. Hall.

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ISBN: 978-1-4525-9413-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-9414-9 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 04/18/2014

Contents

Introduction

I The Absurdity of Pride

The Problem

Pride in Individual Relationships

Child/Parent Relationships

Husbands, Wives and Committed Partners

Other Family Members

Friends

Pride in Group Relationships

Family Systems

Society

Sex

Religions

Nations

Pride in Species Relationships

How Species-pride Evolved

How we View the Earth Today

More Hard Words

Truth, Awe and Wonder

II Humility’s Hope

Suggestions for Releasing Pride to Take on Humility

As Individuals

Getting Motivated

First Being and Then Doing

Giving-up Illusions of Control

Reducing Worry and Fear

Reducing Anger and Fighting

Laughing at Ourselves

Not Taking Everything Personally

Being (and Celebrating) Love, Justice and Peace

As Groups

Always Struggling with Our Greed

Giving Up Comparing, Judging and Competition

Forgiving and Appreciating

Being All-Inclusive

Identifying with Absolutely Everything

Not Getting Hooked by Other Peoples Pride

Not Living Around Other’s Expectations

As a Species

Studying Science

Reconnecting with Other Species and the Earth

Depopulating the Earth

Identifying with a Much Wider Hope

A Summation: What is Real

Author Biography

Introduction

When I retired, I took two years to study the amazing surge in scientific knowledge, as well as the wisdom coming from the recent translations of the world’s religious writings. In this research, I found myself face to face not only with the reality that our species is going extinct, but that we, as a species, are the ones doing it.

The obvious next question has to be, why? Why would such an intelligent, advanced species do such an insane thing? After further research, I eventually found the answer. The reason we have spun off of a sustainable evolutionary course is because of a demented, renegade emotion called (among other things) arrogance or pride. It says, I am the most important person in the world; my group is superior to all other groups, and my species is so important that it can do anything it damn well pleases.

I have found that since we have moved out of our natural, sustainable evolution into humility/connectedness and into our present unnatural, unsustainable evolution of pride/disconnectedness, our lives have become chaotic and our future bleak. Unless we can quickly find a way to reconnect with each other, other species and our mother Earth, our species will dissolve.

This book challenges the silly escapes, shallow superstitions and addictive diversions that cover up our addiction to pride. (These same escapes also cover up our increasing drift into extinction.) This writing also outlines the extent of pride’s takeover, and offers suggestions on how we can reverse it to attain the freedom and peace of our lost humility.

I am not alone in bringing up this subject. The huge response to the pride catastrophes manifested in movies such as Avatar or The Lord of the Rings is a prime example. People are beginning to accept that our pending extinction is being caused by something deep and ominous. People are asking, why our day-to-day relationships are crumbling, and why the gross inequities of nations and wars continue. They certainly want to know why we are destroying ourselves and countless other species. Increasingly there is a cry to find some way out.

The abundant, ancient religious teachings affirming the merits of humility have long ago fallen on deaf ears, so we must find new and imaginative ways to reestablish the sanity of humility. Clearly if we are to live long and well in our personal relationships, our group relationships, and our species relationships, pride must be eliminated, and humility restored. This book dares to climb that mountain.

When I was in Atlanta, I had a retired professor friend who was greatly revered. He was a single, opinionated, gruff sort of fellow, but his funeral was one of biggest that Atlanta has ever seen. All I ever called him was McNair. He called me by my last name as well. I was forty, and, at the time I knew him, he was in his seventies. We had a long, enriched, fiery relationship full of mutual admiration and constant disagreement. Though these discussions are hypothetical, I have used my memory of him to set the tone for this discussion

I The Absurdity of Pride

In general, Pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.

- John Ruskin

We rise in glory as we sink in pride.

- Andrew Young

We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak.

- Martin Luther King Jr.

The more I enlarge the island of knowledge, the more I increase the shoreline of wonder.

- Sir Isaac Newton

"The fall of Man is not because he has disobeyed God. The fall is because he thinks he is God. The fall is because he thinks he is a separate entity.

- Osho

The name of every creature, every star, every galaxy is the Holy Name. The presence of every person, every parent, every child is the Sacred Presence. The One whose name is beyond definition is the One whose name is each of us, closer than our very breathing.

- John Philip Newell

The Problem

Off-track

(Dr. McNair enters my office, looks around suspiciously, sits down on the sofa, and puts his feet up. He opens a magazine and begins to read. As happens often, he begins our conversation by saying :)

So, what’s the meaning of life, Hall?

(I am always ready with some reply. On this occasion, I simply say :)

Well, lets see. Today, I think it’s evolving into connectedness.

Hum…weird, but interesting… Tell me what you mean.

It means recognizing and entering into the interconnected web of everything. It means not only being aware that we are but one small part of the vast weave of existence; it also means being aware that we actually are the animals; we are the plants: we are the Earth; we are the Milky Way; and we are the cosmos. One thing is certain: we are a hell of a lot more than just ourselves!

Is that what you’re working on so diligently here, Hall? Are you writing a book on this thing?

Yes, McNair. That’s what I was doing before I was interrupted.

Tell me…a book about what?

Well, I guess it’s a book about what’s real. It’s about how we constantly discard humility (that is real) and embrace pride (that is false). It’s about who we really are that has been lost as we’ve wandered off-course into misery and chaos. It’s about what must be done to change this deviancy and restore meaningful living. In many ways, it’s a book about hope.

Woe…wait a minute. I didn’t understand a thing you just said. All I heard was that we’re full of misery. What do you mean there, Hall? I don’t see any misery.

The truth is that misery is all about us. It’s everywhere. I tend to agree with the existential philosopher Albert Camus when he says that most of our days are absurd, and the rest are an attempt to cover that up.

However, contrary to Camus, I believe that our absurdity comes from a specific source. It comes from our evolution into (and addiction to) what is behind such words as arrogance, ego, greed, selfishness, and many more. I find that the concept being best described in the word pride. Pride is an altered state of being that leaves us believing that, I am the only thing of significance. I am the best. I am all that really matters. I am all that is.

Think about it, McNair. Prideful thinking is destroying our ability to relate. It is eating up our relationships with each other, with our various groups, and with the other species of the Earth. It’s disconnecting us from everything to leave this planet (and our future) in grave danger.

We find ourselves isolated, confused and afraid, cut off from everyone and everything. We are left within the dark prisons of ourselves experiencing loneliness, guilt and depression.

I don’t see that Hall. I mean, how do you think we’re supposed to be?

It’s obvious, McNair; were supposed to be connected. Who we really are is connected. We’re connected to each other, the Earth and the cosmos of which we’re a part. We’re connected to the amazing, interactive web of life and the ever-evolving cosmos. We should have evolved to experience the security, peace, and love of relaxed relationships within real community…relationships that should have been with everyone and everything. But we can’t now because we’re locked away in prides cave of deviant myths and rationalizations. We’re locked within ourselves.

But McNair let me say that the focus of this book is not just to point out the absurdity pride. The majority of it will focus on the humility we must somehow regain. This book will offer suggestions on how we can reclaim our natural state of humility to live in the peace and security of interconnectedness.

What are you talking about Hall? This all sounds crazy to me. How could you possibly come up with a weird idea like this? Spill it out boy.

Well, I originally worked on another book I called Who We Really Are, and Where We’re really Going. I researched it for a very long time, and, in the end, it became clear to me that something deep and sinister is fundamentally and lethally wrong with the evolution of our species.

Well of course things are wrong, Hall! We live in a state of sin, don’t we? We’re all debased in our various ways. It’s in the Bible. There’s nothing new about that?

Well yes, as you say western religions have long accepted the fact that we have moved off the track of our intended creation. The Greek word for sin is Hermartia which means, missing the mark. Other words for this can be found in most of the world’s religions. It’s not just a Western thing. The Eastern Religions speak of our living in false, outwardly oriented shadows that ignore the things of value.

What about Science? What does it say?

Science has also addressed our having gone astray. They talk about the fact that our present evolution is taking us into some dark and dangerous places. Up until recently it was thought that our overpopulation, our pollution and our destruction of the Earth’s ecosystems were merely threatening our survival. Now, we have clear evidence that it is far worse. Many believe it will only be a short time before we bring about the extinction of ourselves and most other life forms. Are you aware of that, McNair? Have you read about it?

Well I certainly hear a lot of negative talk. I hear stuff about what we’re doing to the air, water and land, but I have certainly not heard that we are going extinct. That’s crazy!

I had not heard of it until I did this study, but its all right there as clear as day. Of course its glossed over, covered up and ignored because it’s too threatening. Let me say that it was this fact that caused me to ask why. Why would an intelligent species that has only recently evolved, turn and destroy itself?

Hold it Hall. Not so fast. I can’t believe what you’ve just said. We can’t be going extinct! We’re not just another species on the Earth; no, we’re made by God to have dominion over everything. We’re not just dinosaurs or mammoths you know. Extinction is just not going to happen to us! Let’s stop this nonsense!

Give me a break, McNair. I was only trying to point out that science also attests to the fact that we have gone off-track. If you insist, I’ll stop, but let me say one thing more: Yes my friend, we can go extinct! That’s what we’re doing right now.

We can trace at least five previous periods of mass extinctions that have occurred on this Earth before. In life’s four billion years of evolution there have been many, many more, but now we can only look back far enough to document five.

Give me examples, Hall. Give me some evidence.

Well to begin with, 445 million years ago in the Ordovician period (when most life forms existed in the ocean) a mass extinction was caused by a dramatic drop in the sea level. 370 million years ago in the Devonian period, there was another one. It was followed by two more: in the Permian period 250 million years ago and the Triassic period 50 million years later. The most famous happened in the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago when an asteroid the size of a mountain hit the Earth wiping out most life forms including the dinosaurs. Obviously our ancestor (then very small mammals) survived…

So what? As I just said, nothing like that could possibly happen to us. God wouldn’t allow it…but if there were such a possibility, we would find some way to stop it. We’re a bit more advanced than the dinosaurs.

That’s the point. We are intelligent, yet we’re not only allowing this to happen; we’re the ones doing it! We’re bringing about another (and our own) mass extinction.

But don’t you want to ask why, McNair? Why would we do such a crazy thing? I asked, and I discovered something incredibly sinister behind it all. It is so powerful that it has even blinded us to the fact that we’re doing it!

And that brings us back to our original discussion. We were talking about the evidence that exists for our having moved off course. Certainly any discussion of our relationship with the Earth is evidence enough, but there is also a lot to be said about our individual and group relationships. Can we get on with that now, McNair?

Well, I guess so. But I’m still not buying this extinction business.

Look, McNair, I was responding to your remark that there is nothing wrong. When we go back three thousand years (our species has been evolving for two hundred thousand years), we witness the Greek plays that depict the stark tragedy and brutality of the human condition. Also most of our present books, plays, movies and television programs are about the angst, violence, helplessness, and utter disconnectedness of our troubled lives…about how we’ve lost our way.

And look at the countless polls that indicate just how painful life is. Most of us live dark, false, directionless lives that lead nowhere. When we honestly look at the human condition, it’s obvious that something of great and lasting value has been lost…something basic is missing. (I have also seen that many of our dreams are about being lost somewhere.)

All of this means that our species reflective evolution has gone awry. In fact, everything points to the fact that we have become one of Earth’s deviant evolutions that is about to die out. We are a part of an evolution gone wrong. Deep down, we can feel it. Deep down, we all know it.

Nonsense! I don’t see any such thing. You’re talking here like a negative, depressed maniac. You’re really scaring me. Get off this frightening track, Hall. How can you write a book about this stuff? I think you’re the deviant one here.

Oh great, McNair. I told you that you’d take it badly. You’re eliciting the same kind of escapist thinking that is keeping us in this mess. Nobody wants to face or even nod in the direction of our deteriorating individual, group and species relationships. We spend all of our time running away. We cover it up, but it’s still right there. It’s obvious, right in front of our noses.

And, boy oh boy, do we act it out! It’s obvious in our abuse of one another in violence, war, hunger, poverty, disease, and our constant abuse of this Earth. We can’t establish a world democracy that would advance cooperation and end these needless wars (together with our nuclear threats). And look at the prevalence of sex slavery involving children and women and the accepted financial slavery brought on by the world’s greed. I could go on, but all of this attests to the existence of some crippling disease, some spreading cancer, some deviant presence that lies hidden at the base of our psyche to warp our evolution.

Hold it Hall. What are you talking about? Do you really think that all of this stuff is attributable to pride? Be specific, boy. And, by the way, what do you mean by the word abuse?

Abuse comes from using our reflective powers to damage, hurt and destroy, rather than to build up, relieve and create. I’m talking about a culture that accepts and lives off of violence. I’m talking about a culture where we routinely hurt ourselves, other people, other groups, and, of course, the Earth.

I don’t know what you’re talking about Hall. Life is hard, but you don’t need to get all psyched up about it. The animal world is violent. All life is violent. We must accept it and go on.

Animals instinctively kill to survive. Why do we kill, McNair? Don’t we as reflective beings choose to kill? Look at us. We kill each other? We kill other animals? Does it come from our need to survive, or is it chosen…an act of chosen violence coming out of a culture of violence that comes out of pride? McNair, I hear you saying that we should just ignore all this violence that negates our humanity; ignore all of the abuses that are so accepted by our culture; and ignore the greed that denies who we are and who we’re meant to be? Come on, McNair.

Are we to ignore it when parents abuse their children, or when siblings, friends, or teachers, do the same? Also when we grow older and partners, co-workers, or bosses continue this disconnected madness, are we to ignore that too? Is that what you’re saying, McNair? And then, when we abuse them right back, so that the whole mess becomes cumulative and weaves its way through our thoughts and battered lives in a great vicious circle of pain, are we to just accept and affirm that too?

McNair, can’t you see that at the root of all of this is pride? At the root of this travesty stands the accepted lie that I am all that matters (my self, my groups, my species). We have lost sight of all other life forms on the Earth. We have lost sight of the common good and the interconnected web of life.

You’d better stop this sick tirade, Hall. It’s really gross. You’re not going to make any friends this way!

Maybe not, but somebody needs to speak out. Look at us. Instead of loving and caring for each other (and building a society of peace, unity and cooperation), we’ve evolved into lives of suspicion, fear and disdain for everything. Instead of rejoicing in each other’s talents and gifts, we’ve become jealous, condemnatory, and judgmental. Instead of working for the good of all (of which we’re a part), we focus only upon me, me, me. Instead of protecting and nurturing the Earth that has birthed us, we casually destroy it. Our societies are so awash in pride that our first reaction to everything is fear, and our first response is violence.

Timing

Ok, ok, Hall, please stop this. That’s not all there is to our species. Good Lord, man, what a negative picture you paint. Did you eat something that disagreed with you this morning? It can’t be all that bad, now can it? There’re a lot of good things going on –some very good things.

And what is all this evolutionary dead end stuff. The last time I checked we hadn’t stopped evolving. There’s plenty of time left for us to evolve into something more appealing. We’ll soon evolve out of these temporary problems you’ve just mentioned. And don’t forget, crazy people and groups have been predicting the end of the world since the beginning of time…"

I also used to think we had plenty of time, McNair. I’ve always been an optimist, feeling that our species was progressively evolving into peace, unity and love (all of which we know we must do in order to survive). I also used to believe that all we needed was just a little bit more time. Well, the problem is that the time has run out. I came face to face with that fact in my research.

Up until recently I believed that just as the elements of matter move together to form something greater (i.e. quarks to atoms, atoms to molecules, molecules to cells, and cells to bodies), and the elements of consciousness come together to elicit greater and greater awareness (as we see clearly in the evolution of life), that in the same way we as humans were in the process of coming together to form something greater. However, it’s now become clear to