3 results for tag: Ezra Taft Benson

How Humility Will Make You the Greatest Person Ever

I value few human characteristics more than humility in myself and others. Humility is possibly the foundation of all truly amazing human characteristics. If you cannot accept how great and awful you can be, how can you receive or offer help?
Many years ago, I heard a friend discussing his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor. He quoted his sponsor speaking on humility, "When I was new, I really needed humility. Today I actually want humility." I think this speaks to the core of the importance and value of humility in life. When we experience humility in our lives, we know how amazing and beautiful we can be. We are also aware of how dark and self-centered we can be. We recognize that they are all part of being human. ...

Why You Don’t Need To Be Right All The Time

The need to be right can at times feel like a drug. Our culture often reinforces this need to be right all the time through the media, politics and our education system. But what if you found out the reasons why you don't need to be right all the time? Is knowing the potential consequences of needing to be right all the time enough to create space for letting the rest of the 7 billion people who you share the planet with also be right sometimes?...

Spiritual Training in Humility: The Janitor Part I

“Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right.”   Ezra Taft Benson

Spiritual Training on Humility: The Janitor Part I

It was the Winter of 1993-1994. I had only once visited the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center, Labsum Shedrup Ling, in Washington, New Jersey. A good friend and I decided we’d spend New Year's together on a retreat at the center. The retreat focused on The Buddhist Lineage, which I had no idea what that meant upon arrival. Before I dive in, I would like to mention that I knew very little about Buddhism or Tibetan Buddhism in general when we signed up to take part; my friend did. I just knew that I had an Inner Connection with Buddhism. The first time I noticed him was during the first shared meal. He sat somewhat distant from most guests, but I could tell he lived there. He wore plain grey pants and a shirt that most janitors wear. He seemed almost disinterested in the events and happenings around him. The man appeared to be enjoying his meal as if content and grateful just to be there. The first thought I had while watching him was, "WOW! If this is what their janitors are like, I can't wait to see the monks! I am definitely going to become a Buddhist." He helped clean up as if he does it every day, and part of what he does there. He showed people where to find things as a typical worker would do at any place else. But there was something very different about this janitor. He was so simple and radiant in his way of being, smiling simply but beautifully with a rare sincerity. I noticed myself staring and observing him beyond what is socially acceptable, but I couldn't stop myself. He was special in a way that I had not known before. I was in awe of how this man carried himself and the Inner contentment that was his being. I remember thinking, "Where do they find janitors like this in Tibet?" Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, he was an older Tibetan man, possibly in his sixties, with those facial features that only men and women that have walked this earth for a while and have learned more than the rest of us express. The lines on their faces seem deeper and richer, as if each one is telling a story. ...