HUMILITY

I know two basic kinds of Humility -- false and genuine.

The practise of False humility creates a facade of phony self-deprecation, sometimes masquerading as sympathy, or "understanding", or sometimes as "joking". It is an activity we do, often to avoid being with a genuine feeling, like embarrassment. False humility feels like both a manipulative strategy to engineer others' opinions of "me", and a defence tactic to preemptively ward off fear of vulnerability and external criticism by getting in first. But coming, as it seems to, from a soft-spot of negative self-image, and from the secret files of my Inner Critic, criticism is not avoided. False humility is The Mole at work, critically undermining ourself from within, destroying genuine confidence and replacing that with its opposite -- hubris. But "I" thinks that anything I do to myself doesn't do any harm. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Genuine humility has a very different feel to it, for both the wearer and those with whom he/she comes into contact. Genuine humility is not something to be done; it is a way of being to come from. Humility is characterised by a complete absence of self-importance, and a propensity to surrender to whatever, grateful for any new, fresh opportunities and possibilities this experience may provide.

False humility is a cunning stratagem of pride and arrogance, flowering from a flawed perception of self, and self importance. Consequently, I see the polar opposite of Humility to be Self-Humiliation.

True Humility feels like a quiet radiance; it is one's life's expression, an energy that underlies and gives a wholesome flavour to all that we do. Humility is that true power that never seeks to enforce itself. Humility fosters dignity, humanity, empathy (not sympathy) and grace.
Humiliation wallows around in sentiment and wounded pride. In humiliation we cede to others every scrap of authority and power in the matter.

Humility is knowing and living your Place and Purpose in the natural order of all things.
Dignity arises from living your Purpose (whatever you create that to be) in harmony with the natural order of all things. So the two are not quite synonymous; humility without feeling particularly dignified is possible, for brief periods. True dignity arises when we drop our defensive embarrassments about our shortcomings

In a state of Humility, ego takes a back seat, delivering the messages and memos.
In a condition of humiliation, ego, in the driver's seat, succumbs itself and subjects you to the egos of others. Humiliation sucks. Dignity, alignment and integrity go out the window.

When ego tries to own humility, it becomes "virtue"
(If the image of a politician pops to mind, you are forgiven).........
God protect us from all virtuous people!