Benjamin Franklin is a paragon for education and humility. He’s celebrated for his creativity, inventions, and discipline. But humility didn’t come naturally to Franklin. In fact, he struggled to control his ego throughout his life. It is likely because of this feature that he advocated for humility–he intimately understood the hazards of rampant pride.
A Story of Ben Franklin’s Pride
Ryan Holiday tells in Ego is the Enemy how Franklin returned to visit his hometown of Boston seven months after leaving for Philadelphia. He wore a new suit, a new watch, and he had lots of coins in his pocket. He wanted to impress the city he had left, showing them he’d made it big in Philadelphia. In reality, he was only a print shop employee.
One day in Boston, Franklin met up with Cotton Mather, a respected Bostonian and a former adversary. Franklin kept up his performance of self importance as they were walking down a hallway together. Suddenly, Mather exclaimed, “Stoop, stoop!” But Franklin was oblivious, being too busy in his posturing. Franklin ran right into a low ceiling beam, hitting his head hard and nearly falling over.
Mather quipped smartly to Franklin that he carried his head too high.
Let this be a caution to you not always to hold your head so high. Stoop, young man, stoop—as you go through this world—and you’ll miss many hard thumps.
That marked the beginning of Franklin’s lifelong endeavor to tame his ego.
Stoic Humility
Intentional humility is core to stoic philosophy. Stoics practiced this to reign in their pride, for excessive pride was a despicable trait that led to demise. Marcus Aurelius was the most powerful man in the world at one time, yet he constantly humbled himself, as recorded in his journal Meditations. He did this to remind himself that he was only a man, susceptible to the fallibilities of human pride.
Seneca, despite being one of the wealthiest people in the Roman empire, experimented with poverty so as not to become accustomed to the privilege of his wealth. In doing so, his aim was to be the master of his situation, not a slave to it.
Stoics practiced premededitatio malorum, the “premeditation of evils,” to remind themselves that what they have is not permanent; their situation could change at any moment. Although it may seem pessimistic to consider such possibilities, in reality, it’s a useful tool. By understanding the impermanence of their status and fortunes, stoics humbled themselves.
If these people of great historical importance understood the gravity of grounding themselves, why should we think our situations are any different?
We too can lose everything in the blink of an eye. If we’re boastful, believing we deserve everything we have, then we will likely feel like a victim of tragedy when we lose them. But if we choose to appreciate the role luck plays in our lives and internalize the impermanence of it all, we make ourselves more resilient. And being resilient makes us more able to withstand whatever is thrown our way.
Humility is Required to Learn
Stories have long been told warning of the dangers of arrogance. Icarus flying too close to the sun. Goliath’s dismissal of David. Blockbuster’s disregard for Netflix as a competitor. These stories span ages and societies, showing how ingrained arrogance is in human tendencies.
Our egos house arrogance. Among the many downsides of arrogance, one is especially important and often overlooked: arrogance stunts curiosity. And curiosity is a prerequisite to learning.
Arrogance tricks us into thinking that we know more than we actually do. This phenomenon is the Dunning-Kruger effect. At its worst, we are atop Mt. Stupid seeing nothing except for our own greatness. Because we deem ourselves proficient in knowing something, we don’t see the necessity of endeavoring to learn more. It seems to offer a limited yield for the effort that’s required. Also, it hurts our pride.
What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows.
Discourses, by Epictetus
This leads us to another obstacle pride throws in our way when it comes to learning new things. If we’re aware of a subject we don’t know much about, our egos might convince us that the particular subject isn’t even worth understanding. Our pride doesn’t want to concede anything. To do so would be to undermine its—and subsequently, your—importance.
Arrogance Causes Blind Spots
Much like how Benjamin Franklin was blind to the low-hanging ceiling beam, we too cannot see the things that our pride covers up. These could be instances from which to learn, relationships to form or strengthen, or opportunities to experience new things. The difference is that Franklin’s feedback was immediate. Our feedback, on the other hand, may take years to come back to us, which means it may take us much longer to learn the importance of controlling our ego.
So when it comes to the importance of humility in our own lives, we can choose to be proactive in squashing our egos as Marcus Aurelius strived to. Or we might need a collision like Franklin had in order to convince us.
The best time to reign in your ego was years ago. The second best time is now.
What will you choose to do?
