08/07/2025
True humility is not in where we are but how we live. When we are most successful, we are trusting in Wisdom, holding ourselves in simplicity, accepting help - our most brilliant moments come from patience, self restraint, & quiet teachings rather than grand expositions of greatness.
Through the Greek word ‘hubris’ we learn the dangers of self glorification as the downfall that separates us from the flow of divine natural order.
Recently reminded and immersed in the Odyssey, I recall a cautionary tale about glory; this enduring reminder of the dangers of pride, the limits of human will, and the beauty of humility and homecoming.
~The Humble Work~
Odysseus carved his name into the world with a severe cunning, flashing blade, upon broken men and ships.
And so, the gods carved their lessons into him.
Each storm a chisel to his pride.
He could have stayed in the quiet glow of his hearth.
Smoothing cedar beams into oiled perfection.
Hearing Penelope’s loom at dawn.
Teaching Telemachus the weight of wood, wisdom and peace.
Rooting his spirit in the soils of his beloved Ithaca.
With a longing for those immortal songs,
He cast himself into waves that never loved him.
Worshiped his name above the whispering gods…
And paid with years of salted wanderings.
Starved for home, for humble peace.
So let me remember:
The gods are vast,
life is brief,
Pride is a ship that leaks beneath gilded sails.
Rather to be a quiet craftsman.
Shaping simple gifts with patient hands and heart…
Than to forever chase my own reflection across a restless sea.
Greatness is not in the world’s applause,
Rather, in the silent & simple devotion to the work that calls me home.
