From the perspective of Kabbalah succinctly stated “those who are big-shots are meaningless, and those who are humble are awesome!”
By zevi770 · March 15, 2016
Why is this?
Just because, as the Rogatchover Goan said “I would rather be with a wicked person who knows he is wicked than with a righteous person that knows he is righteous” – what is so bad of thinking highly of myself?
The answer is that it sets up a cascade of emotions resulting in evil.
It goes like this.
a. We all want life to be good because we like to feel good b. we wish to not be lower though we don’t mind being egotistically higher than another, hence c. we become jealous if another has it better than us, hence d. jealousy like anger is not a constructive but destructive force, its result is to demean and take away (similar to the story of jealousy where King Solomon ordered a baby disputed by two women to be sliced in half, giving half to each one and the real mother preferred the baby be given to the other, for the one who wanted the baby, out of jealousy, only wanted to spite and in spite there are no limits.)
In other words, as God so clearly teaches us in the Ten Commandments “Do not be jealous.”
So when a person is arrogant, it sets up cascade, for when I see myself as great I likewise see myself as entitled to my wishes and obviously no one gets even half of what they want (as our imagination’s ability to desire is far greater than anyone’s capacity to fulfill it) so now like a two year old throwing a tantrum, we are upset and hence we begin to oppress others – I know it’s sick but reality isn’t rational.
On the flip side, a person who is humble and doesn’t see themselves as special doesn’t expect to get their way, hence is happy pretty much with whatever they do get (this I have seen empirically in Africa where the poorer one is, usually the happier they are, for happiness as we see in children is a natural state; however when we feel life is unjustified – hence it is a psychological state that makes us unhappy) and the happy person is a non-judgmental person hence the natural instinct for social interaction – love – hence unity, prevails.