“Humility was largely meant as a restraint upon the arrogance and infinity of the appetite of man. He was always outstripping his mercies with his own newly invented needs. His very power of enjoyment destroyed half his joys. By asking for pleasure, he lost the chief pleasure; for the chief pleasure is surprise. Hence it became evident that if a man would make his world large, he must be always making himself small” (GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy).
Chesterton’s work is so rich all it takes is a little quote to stir the mind up. Humility is one of those words that whole books can be written to try to explain it’s meaning. Pleasure and humility seem to be partners that dance with one another. This is how I understand it. But what I find difficult is to enjoy the pleasures God gives us in any sustaining way. In a culture that allows me to access anything I want exactly when I want it, well, it’s easy to see how my appetite for pleasure can run wild and steal the joy out of everything.
If I want a new song, I download it. If I want a cup of coffee, I choose from 10 places in Westwood and get it. If I want to watch the latest movie, I go see it at one of eight theaters. If I crave In-n-Out burger, I walk down the street and devour it. In such a wealthy (literally in a bad economy we are still rolling in the dough compared to many in the world), diverse culture like ours in the U.S. it’s quite difficult to not only understand humility, but to invite it in as a way of life.
The sad part about a culture like ours is that it steals the simple pleasures and moments of surprise also, like the rolling of beach waves against the shore or simply sitting and watching a sunset or staring at a plant because it’s just too much to comprehend so we need to stop and meditate on God’s beauty.
God has given us opportunities to practice humility, not to limit us, but to liberate us so we can fully experience pleasure. We can fast from food and/or beverages. Food never tasted so good as after fasting. We can wait for the movie to come out on DVD. Then the story might actually move us on a deep level. We can serve and get to know the poor in our cities rather than serving ourselves. Then it makes our own friends/family/community feel like a gift again. We can be silent. Then it will be a joy to speak and we might actually have something encouraging to say. These are just a few ways I can think of to practice humility on the day to day and therefore a renewed sense of pleasure. God is on our side.
