Modesty, Self-esteem and Esteem for Others
Modesty is a value that arises from good and healthy self-respect, which in turn is anchored in a good character and in the virtues that must be nurtured. Modesty is thereby a value that every human being should be aware of under all circumstances and build upon, for modesty is the starting point for true happiness, peace, freedom and harmony. For in modesty lies the fundamental value that prevents selfishness and self-highlighting and elevating pride from which the human being thinks of himself/herself as something significant and of greater value and thus distinguishes himself/herself to others and is of the mistaken opinion that he/she is of greater usefulness and perfection than any other. But healthy self-respect alone forbids such thinking, for it determines that not only one's own, but also the self of every other human being must be respected, in an appreciative manner, by not overestimating respect for one's own person and that of one's fellow human beings, but keeping it within the framework of moderation and modesty, so that there is no overestimation. The same applies, however, to undervaluation, to which no right may be conferred. An overestimation of one's own self or that of one's fellow human beings, as well as an overvaluing of respect in one's own or another's wise, inevitably leads to hubris, to inappropriate and elevated pride, to conceit, a thirst for recognition, arrogance and imperiousness, as well as to glorification, bondage and worship. In the first instance, these unworthinesses are related to one's own person, and in the other form of the unworthiness, they are related to one's fellow human beings, when they are overvalued. Thus these Ausartungen [to get very badly out of control of the good human nature] rest in the overvaluation of one's own self-esteem in the one form and in the overvaluation in the esteem of others, which is applied to fellow human beings.
If there is no self-esteem and no esteem for others, then modesty has no chance, which means that no foundation for higher qualities can be created. Interpreted self-respect causes all virtues to atrophy or not to develop in the first place, but it produces self-overestimation in every form, as well as self-righteousness, self-aggrandisement, haughtiness, conceit and presumptuousness, as well as boastfulness, arrogance, vanity, craving for recognition and assumptions, etc., while with translated estimations of others, humans are idolised, elevated to heroes, saints, masters, idols, ones to be worshipped, representatives of god and gurus, etc., to whom one falls in bondage, because a strong humility, unfreedom, subservience, defencelessness, dependence, slavery and servitude as well as a serfdom of strange form, a subordination and lack of independence arise. Therefore, a differentiation must be made between a good and healthy self-esteem and esteem of others and a degenerated self-esteem or esteem of others. But there is also the case of too little self-esteem and esteem of others, which also corresponds to a form of degeneration and causes damage. The case of too little self or other estimation leads to the fact that one's own person or the fellow human being is held to be incapable and worthless or inferior, etc. To disparage oneself or one's fellow human in this form and to disparage one's abilities, virtues, thoughts and feelings as well as one's character and personality, etc. has nothing to do with modesty, however, which manifests itself in such a wise that inner modesty, as well as modesty shaped by thoughts and feelings and by activities and deeds, exists, and thus in a tempered modesty, in which self-conquest, modesty, contentment, restraint, patience, simplicity, self-indulgence and unpretentiousness as well as forbearance, economy and tolerance are also anchored, among many other positive values.
Too little modesty brings discord, quarrels, envy and hatred, because behind them there are still hidden, in certain forms, cravings, desires, wishes, lusts, vices, presumptuousness, immoderateness, licentiousness and covetousness as well as cravings, greed and avarice, etc., which are able to break through again and again powerfully or surreptitiously. Therefore, only the true and the most appropriate modesty should be cultivated, as well as the most appropriate self-esteem and estimation of others. Like too little modesty, too little self- esteem and esteem of others should be avoided, which would lead to the erroneous view that nothing can be achieved at all, and this must be considered in all respects, including the finding of truth in the Creation and in its law-based aspects. However, it is also so with regard to character and personality as well as with regard to worldly concerns and activities, family life, interpersonal relationships, nature, all forms of life and the universe. Thus, one must never be too lacking in self-esteem or too lacking in modesty or in the esteem of others, but rather everything must always be determined in a tremendous courage of responsibility, through which one's own well-being, that of one's fellow human and that of all living beings and existences is realised. Therefore, a healthy self-confidence and trust in others, as well as a healthy and effective modesty and an appropriate, sincere and value offering self-esteem and esteem for others, are of necessity and of value, but never under- or exaggerated unworthiness, for it is precisely these that the human being cannot utilise for his/her life and progress.
Eduard, 12 years old
May 4th 1949
Human Nature
Human nature, in itself, is completely neutral in its core, as is the case with the human-creational spirit-form. In contrast to the spirit-form, however, human nature is formed by two components, namely the negative and the positive, while the form of the spirit does not contain the positive and the negative, but only the neutral-positive-equalisedness and the harmonious, whereby the spirit-form of the human being, like the Creation and the pure spirit-forms themselves, is only able to absorb and process that which is of neutral-positive-equalisedness and harmonious, which leads to a purely neutral-positive evolution. In contrast to this is human nature, whose core is formed in negative and positive, whereby the human being is able to act in one wise or another, because his/her will is also free to do and not do as it accords to his/her own state of mind. This means that the human being can form his/her thoughts and feelings as well as their activities and deeds both negatively and positively and indeed through their own will, through their own decisions, opinions and ideas as well as according to their own disposition and assessment, etc. Thus, the human being forms, out of his/her nature, which is neutral in its core and which contains the positive and negative components which are also neutral in themselves, his/her inner and outer being and thus the personality, which is also identical with the consciousness of a human-material nature. The positive and negative components, which are neutral in themselves, correspond to dormant energies which only acquire effective power through the human's thoughts, feelings, emotions and through his/her activities and deeds and thus produce very specific negative or positive effects, which in turn manifest themselves in the form of thoughts, feelings, emotions, actions and the entire work. Thus it follows that the human being determines everything negative and positive himself/herself through their own will, since freedom of will is given to them and they build up the neutral negative-positive energies themselves to negative or positive effect and bring them to bear. This means, however, that the human being is responsible for all of his/her thoughts, feelings and emotions as well as for all his activities and deeds themselves, consequently no higher power is responsible for them, as well as not fellow human beings or situations, events and experiences etc., if they are effects and phenomena, etc. caused by themselves, if they therefore consciously or unconsciously determine the cause and effect of their thoughts, feelings, emotions as well as their activities and deeds themselves.
Even before birth, the developing human being possesses the potential of his/her human nature and thus also the neutral energies of the negative and the positive. But there is also the neutral-positive-equalised potential of the energies of the spirit-form, which contains the creational-spirit being in its purest essence. And this potential is basically what the human being should recognise and strive for, whereby the potential of human nature, i.e. its negative and positive energies, should be used progressively in balance and harmony and thus in a creational-law-based sense. If this happens, then the whole thing forms a valuable basis for a genuine and healthy self-confidence, which enables the human being to survive even in the most difficult situations of life and thus to overcome and master even the most difficult psychological difficulties. However, if the creational spirit potential of the spirit-form is not recognised and not strived for, nor the potential of human nature and its core, then the human being tends, out of his/her own conscious or unconscious endeavour, to turn solely to that which is negative or to the negative degenerations, to every situation and life, etc. to see only negatively and accordingly to lead a way of life which consists only of failures or of melancholy, hatred, lack of love, joylessness, visions of doom and gloom and other evils through which the human being enters his/her own captivity by themselves, from which they can no longer free themselves without outside help and a clear, rational thinking, whereby the clear and rational thinking, however, is rarely still found and brought into application. In this situation, the human being usually does not view his/her situation from a larger and healthier perspective, consequently they are not able to recognise and accept – because they do not want to be detached from the negative – that everything and everyone, and thus also the negative, has certain positive aspects. All things of life and all existence are always relative, and thus not final, nor do they exist in perfection. For this reason, every cause and effect, as well as every event, every situation and everything, etc., must be viewed from different angles. This leads to the realisation that not only problems with one's own person, etc. break in, because if the view of everything is expanded and everything is perceived truthfully and not only superficially, then the facts are recognised correctly, from which then also the understanding arises that not only one's own personality faces problems that relate to a certain thing or to several of them, but that, by far, many other humans still have to bear the same or even more difficult and heavier burdens and problems to overcome. The realisation therefore shows that the personal situation is not unique, but that other humans have to struggle with the same wrong and with the same agonies deprivations, efforts, pains, suffering, anguish, tribulations, unsatisfactoriness, oppression, burden, toil, hardship, worry, distress, trepidation, poverty, grief and affliction, as well as with the same sorrow, the same oppression and misery and with the same need, dejection, depression, melancholy and with many other evils. So there is no human being in the world who alone is unhappy and whose condition and situation, etc. would be unique and completely hopeless compared to others, because everyone has their fate in their own hands, because everyone determines and forms it themselves, insofar as everything goes right and the human being perceives and exercises his/her self-responsibility.
Eduard, 14 Years old
February 3rd 1951
ORIGINAL GERMAN SOURCE: Bescheidenheit, Selbstachtung und Fremdachtung und Die Menschliche Natur
Ausartung(en) = a very bad get-out of the control of the good human nature
This is an authorized translation of a FIGU publication. This translation contains errors due to the insurmountable language differences between German and English. The British-English language has been specifically elected by the Plejaren as being the most suitable English language variation for the translation of all German FIGU publications.