Inner Humility, Shared Life

Neville's Inner Vision

On the level of consciousness, Paul’s counsel to esteem others above self is not a prescription for better manners but a creation of a new inner reality. When I, or you, fix attention on your own affairs, you orbit the narrow circle of fear, pride, and lack. But to let each esteem others better than themselves is to grant the inner I AM permission to enlarge the field of identification. In the quiet of imagination you must decide to inhabit the state where others' good is your own, where the achievement of another is not a threat but a missing piece returning to the whole. By looking not only on your own things but on the things of others, you dissolve separation and awaken to the truth that all is one in God. The verse invites us to revise the inner image until humility becomes natural, not forced; the attitude you cultivate inwardly becomes the outward conditions you meet.