If confidence is knowing your strength, humility is an awareness of ones own weaknesses.
We generally admit that humility is a virtue and ego is a vice.
Wed say its more than importantwe know that confidence is essential.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Where does confidence end and ego begin?
Is it about degrees?
How much should you have of each?
Or are the traits opposed to each other?
And if ego is so bad, why do so many successful people seem to have big ones?
The truth is that like all important things the answer is complicated.
Goliath laughs at David, 1915, by Ilya Repin (Wikimedia Commons)
This day I defy the armies of Israel!
If he beat them, the Israelites would be forced submit to him.
For forty days, twice a day, Goliath repeated this challenge.
David and Goliath by Michelangelo, on the Sistine Chapel ceiling (Wikimedia Commons)
Not a single soldier stepped forward, not even the King of Israel, King Saul.
In fact, the Israelites trembled in fear.
This, if youre wondering, is the definition of cowardice.
David hoists the severed head of Goliath as illustrated byGustave Doré(1866). (Wikimedia Commons)
Its not like a different soldier tried every day for a month and all were defeated.
Of course they should have been afraidbut courage is what you do when you are afraid.
It is the triumph of training and spirit over fear.
David with the Head of Goliath, circa 1635, by Andrea Vaccaro (Wikimedia Commons)
Its not as if the army came up with all sorts of different attacks and were repulsed.
They just hoped he would go away.
Then comes young David.
David Presents the Head of Goliath to King Saul, q1627, Rembrandt (Wikimedia Commons)
David is a shepherd and three of his brothers are serving in the army.
He comes to visit and while hes there with them, he hears Goliaths daily challenge.
David brushes aside their teasing and approaches King Saul about undertaking the challenge.
Once again, he is dismissed.
This is the power of cowardice, cowardice and ego.
But David is not convinced by their cowardice, he sees the situation with fresh eyes.
When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.
This then is the definition of confidence.
He has killed lions and bears with his own hands.
He knows what he is capable of.
Its part of his confidence.
So how does Goliath respond to seeing this tiny challenger emerge in front of him?
He responded like most egotistical bullies.
He said to him, Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?
Goliath could see only a small boy, not a threat.
Come here, he said, and Ill give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!
This then is ego.
Goliath had gone unchallenged for so long, he had begun to see himself as invincible.
David might have had strong faith in his god.
That Goliath was right to dismiss him, that it wasnt ego but deserved confidence.
Except subsequent events would prove that demonstrably false.
David tried them on, but found it impossible to move, being so small.
I cannot go in these, he replied, because I am not used to them.
Instead, David went in his shepherds clothing and fished a few stones out of the river.
Believing that he couldnt beat Goliath in an even matchup, David knew he needed to move quickly.
Within seconds, the fight was over.
Hed probably have preferred the war never need to take place at all.
David knew that he was too small and weak to fight in traditional armor.
He could see how it slowed him down.
Yet also aware of his skill with the sling, he knew he had an advantage.
If he could get one shot off, time it right, there was an opportunity.
He was confident enough to take it.
It is here that Davids faith also plays a role.
Just as his belief gave him confidence, it also makes him humble.
He sees himself as a servant of the lord, and also a servant of his king.
In a sense, hes willing to proceed knowing full well that it could go horribly wrong for him.
There is real humility, real courage in that.
In Caravaggios great painting ofDavid with the Head of Goliath, there is a detail that most people miss.
The painting shows David holding Goliaths head in one hand and his sword in the other.
Humility kills ego as well.
Or rather, humility and confidence, in concert with each other, are an unstoppable force.
Is that not the story of all great boxers?
Champ-itis is what they call it.
That was the problem for Goliath, and the moral of his story.
He had gone far beyond confidence, he had gone well into pride and hubris.
For forty days, twice a day, he was right.
No one could beat him.
An entire army cowered in front of him.
But likethe famous story of the turkey, it only took one day to change everything.
Davids life changed too.
In fact, humility makes us powerful and it can be the source of great strength.
As for David it transformed from servant to leader, challenger to incumbent.
What does it mean to be humble?
How can I avoid the dangers of ego and hubris?
Weneed to be wary of egobecause it makes us vulnerable and self-destructive.
Most of all, we need humility to guide and direct us.
