Humility & Humiliation

In the book "Holy Thirthankaras" by Daaji, a story from the life of the 11th Thirthankara of Jainism, Shreyans Nath, is narrated. Amongst his disciples, there was a monk who was unable to fast completely. He was insulted for this & another monk even spat into his plate of food. The "insulted" monk forgave the spitter instantly & as a result, his karma was exhausted immediately & he became liberated.

A similar idea is propounded in Matthew 5:5 (from The Sermon on the Mount) where it is stated, "The meek shall inherit the earth." This paradoxical quote interprets "the earth" to mean peace or everlasting liberation.

In Kathryn Hulme's book, "The Nun's Story", the ritual of the "Culpa" is explained. In a convent, it is the proclaiming of all your faults before your sisters. After that, the sisterhood are invited to complete, for charity's sake, those faults, which you might not have mentioned. For a new nun, it was a trial by fire.

Even in John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress", the pilgrim Christian had to pass through the "Valley of Humiliation" to get to the Celestial City, the abode of God.

In more practical worldly situations, the doctrine of civil disobedience (inviting a lot of humiliation) was employed by Gandhi in the freedom struggle. Later, Nelson Mandela in South Africa & Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the USA also used it.