Self-esteem and Humility...

Why does the ego play roles? Because of one unexamined assumption, one fundamental error, one unconscious thought. That thought is: I am not enough.

Other unconscious thoughts follow: I need to play a role in order to get what I need to be fully myself, I need to get more so that I can be more. But you cannot be more than you are because underneath your physical and psychological form, you are one with Life itself, one with Being.

In form, you are and will always be inferior to some, superior to others. In essence, you are neither inferior nor superior to anyone.

True self-esteem and true humility arise out of that realization. In the eyes of the ego, self-esteem and humility are contradictory. In truth, they are one and the same.


~ From: A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle