It happens that humility is utterly gone from much of the West, with the virtue one of the most important to Chivalry. It happens that at one time, knights had to humble themselves before God, before the bones of the saints and to the Church lest they become little more than bloodthirsty animals.
Make no mistake there was such a time when this was the norm’ for knights, with cruelty a common trend in the courts of the likes of Edward I, Edward III & Henry V. A lack of humility and ever grander imperialistic courts became ever the norm, though this doesn’t seem to sit well with most English historians. Many of whom, don’t like to think about the costs and cruel actions they inflicted upon the Scots, Irish and French, and even the Spanish at one point.
In turn though, the French courts of Louis XIV, XV & XVI were all a disgrace, and shows a severe lack of humility that makes the excesses of the Edwardian kings look humble.
Why the criticism of these various courts? Simple, it must be levelled evenly and it must be acknowledged that by the standards of the times, these rulers were considered lacking in humility.
Still though, they could at least build though. Building something beautiful requires humility, art requires it as does architecture. Because it necessitates the recognition that man is tiny in comparison to God. To create something beautiful you must acknowledge that there is something greater than thyself.
A good example of this, is in the castles built by many of these rulers (Versailles notwithstanding as it is to some measure an abomination), there is a reason that a cathedral is built like a finger or a blade pointed upwards; it is pointing towards where people believed God to be.
Humility is not being afraid to say ‘I don’t know’, and it is also a matter of thinking of something other than yourself. The Japanese are quite good at this. They bow to others in order to humble themselves, the idea not being to be submissive but rather to connect to another human being, and not focus only on yourself.
Being amongst the most individualistic people on earth, as there is not a single Japanese person at all like the next, they know to humble themselves for the good of not only the society but themselves. They are always keen it seems to me, to not simply bow but to help another, to set aside time from themselves for another person. And they do this in a quest for connection, as it is human connection beyond what you might get from a computer screen or in the case of the medieval knight slashing at those before you, but the positive, simple connection of praying together, helping another, and otherwise helping another member of the community.
Humility breeds connection. Who wants to spend time with a pompous fool, who will only look down upon your every effort and thought? It isn’t much fun.
There is a reason that Marcus Aurelius once said in his Meditations; ‘Do not act as though you will live a thousand years, so long as it is within your power… be good’. Truly words to live by and really it is about acknowledging not only our own innate mortality but the simple fact that we can’t and shouldn’t live forever. To aim to do so is a perversion against nature, and a denial of nature. Humility is about recognising what’s out there, bowing before it and acknowledging we have our own place within the space that nature exists.
It is not about trying to worship the self, but the world around yourself. Because, once you remove humility, you get a civilisation bent on self-destruction, a people without chivalry and without virtue. You get an era of darkness much as that which haunted Rome near the 5th century. But when you have humility, you get an era like that of the 3rd century of that same civilisation.
Humility is interconnected to art also because it means devoting hours everyday, to something larger than yourself, something that requires continuous work. It is about making yourself small for what is a greater whole.
Nowhere is this truer for those of us aspiring after the shadows of Tolkien & Howard; we strive to give nations’ national epics, but how does one do that? Do we do that by making the story about ourselves? Do we make self-inserts? No, we must divorce ourselves in that regard and focus on every individual pebble, every blade of grass and every character within the story, and dedicate it to a single virtue, to the whole of the ideals and philosophies of Bushido/Chivalry.
In such stories as the Legend of Huma, Huma is always keen to humble himself by asking for help or not being afraid to ask for more information from those around him, be they Magius or Gwyneth.
In turn, you might also find this theme of humility all throughout the Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion, as it is the lack of humility of Feanor and Ar-Pharazon that bring them and their societies down. It is the humility of the likes of Beren, of Elendil and even of Samwise that saves the whole of the world a number of times.
It is through the act of humility that people are able to 'focus on something outward and contribute to something greater than themselves, be it art, the tribe, their pets and so on. It is lack of humility that arguably to some extent foments madness, and narcissism as seen on titktok, on twitter and youtube, and a lack of humility that makes women sell themselves or treat their dogs or children as mere toys and say ‘oh well its no big deal, I’m just living my best life’. It is also what makes men prideful and stupid, and say things like ‘oh women are all trash, are not human, trafficking or harming them isn’t that big a deal’.
Lack of humility leads to pride, which leads to the other 6 Sins, while humility ought to lead eventually to faith and the other Virtues.
In regards to the knights of medieval Europe, it was the only way for them to earn the respect and appreciation of those around them. Notice how well-spoken of St-Louis and his immediate favourites are, in comparison to those of Edward I? That’s no coincidence, as Eddy tended to mistreat his English subjects just as he did his Welsh ones or his Scottish foes. Humbling oneself is ‘humiliating’ sure, but sometimes it is healthier in the long-term.