Description
Humility is the quality of being humble. Dictionary definitions accentuate humility as low self-regard and sense of unworthiness. In a religious context humility can mean a recognition of self in relation to a deity (i.e. God), and subsequent submission to that deity as a member of that religion. Outside of a religious context, humility is defined as being "unselved"—liberated from consciousness of self—a form of temperance that is neither having pride (or haughtiness) nor indulging in self-deprecation.
Humility is an outward expression of an appropriate inner, or self regard, and is contrasted with humiliation which is an imposition, often external, of shame upon a person. Humility may be misappropriated as ability to suffer humiliation through self-denouncements which remains focused on self rather than being low in self-focus.
Humility, in many religious and philosophical traditions, is seen as a virtue which centers on low self-preoccupation, or unwillingness to put oneself forward. It contrasts with narcissism, hubris, and other forms of pride and is an idealistic and rare intrinsic construct that has an extrinsic side.
