Humility , by Yuval Noah Harari : Summary + Exercises
Humility
( By : Yuval Noah Harari)
1. Essay in Points :
What is Humility : Humility is Humbleness, Modestness. It is the opposite of Arrogance.
a. Introduction :
This essay is a comment on the superiority complex of humans and their nature of having self importance in all the matters. This is egotism. We all think ourselves superior to other people. This the writer has said this in the reference of the confusing claims regarding the history of human civilization.
b. Illusions of Supremacy and Mastery :
People of almost every country, religious group, or society think themselves to be forerunners of human civilization. They think the world became civilized only because of them. This is superiority complex. This is only egotism. All such claims are false. Here the essayist has proved such claims to be wrong.
c. Universality of Human Abilities :
Rather than being the monopoly of this or that country or society, all human abilities and traits are universal. Morality, art, spirituality and creativity are all universal. No particular country or group has any monopoly over such traits. The writer criticizes egotism of cultures which boast about their supposed contribution to the universe.
All abilities and creativities are in our DNA. From the stone age till date people of every part of the world have been creative. It is because of this reason that human civilization could be possible.
d. Humility :
It is not good to criticize others. The writer thinks it is more polite to criticize one's own people than to criticize others. That is humility.
Being himself a Jew, he has presented more examples from Judaism to debunk (expose) such ludicrous and self important narratives.
He ends the essay urging others to expose such false self-centered egotism of their culture, (as here he has done about his own culture).
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2. Summary :
It is human nature that we think ourselves to be superior in comparison to others. The same thing applies when we talk about the starting and development of human civilization. It is really ludicrous (foolish / funny / nonsensical) when we find people from different countries or societies claim themselves to be the wellspring (place from where something originates) of human civilization.
The writer starts his essay with several examples of how people of different countries or religious groups think themselves to be the forerunners of human civilization.
In other words, they all think that their forefathers and their culture is responsible for our civilization. If they had not made efforts, the world never have been civilized. In simple terms, they think themselves to be the lynchpin (center) of human history and civilization.
Let us take some examples presented by the writer. Greeks think that history of human civilization started with Homer, Plato etc, whereas Chinese think that history really began with the Yellow Emperor and the Xia and Shang dynasties.
In the similar way, Muslims, British, French, Americans, etc. all think that it is only due to them that mankind became civilized, otherwise they would have remained ignorant and barbarous (savage/ uncivilized).
All these claims are false. The writer thinks that this all is an illusion (misconception/ fantasy).
This an 'Illusion of Centrality'.
He makes it clear that in the very beginning when humans started to settle (instead of moving from place to place), domesticate plants and animals, built villages, there were no religions or countries of today. So it is only foolishness for a certain group or country to claim that humans became civilized only because of them.
In order to be civilized, morality, art, spirituality creativity etc. are needed, and such traits are universal human abilities, which are already present there in our DNA. The entire civilization and all the human achievements inventions etc. are the outcomes of shared human skills and abilities and achievements.
It is not the outcome of this or that particular country or religious group.
In the final part the writer talks about the egotism (vanity/ pride) of his own people (the Jews) frankly. They also have a very high opinion of themselves. They think that the cosmos (the world) exists because their rabbis (religious gurus/ Jewish religious leaders) read their religious books. The orthodox Jews even think that if the rabbis stop reading their religious books, the whole cosmos will be destroyed.
While presenting such examples, the essayist is aware that it is not polite to criticize others. That shows arrogance. Rather it is polite to criticize one's own people, than to criticize others. That is humility.
So he criticizes his own people more than others. He even laughs at them saying that the Jewish claim that they started and spread yoga practices all over the world.
In the end he urges his readers to expose and illustrate such ludicrous (nonsensical/ stupid) practices of of superiority of their own places, as he is doing here about his people.
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3. Exercises
Understanding the Text:
Answer the following questions :
a. Question : Describe the claim of the Chinese nationalists about the human history.
Answer : The Chinese people claim that history really began with the Yellow Emperor and the Xia and Shang Dynasty. There was no history that. They also claim that what other societies have achieved is only an imitation of original Chinese development.
b. Question : What do pious Muslims believe about the human history ?
Answer : They believe all the history prior to the prophet Muhammad to be irrelevant, and all history after the revelation of the Quran revolve around the Muslim community.
c. Question : What did the Aztecs firmly believe about the universe ?
(Aztecs : Name of a civilization, the Aztec civilization ended in 1521)
Answer : They believed that without the sacrifices they performed every year, the sun would not rise and the entire universe would disintegrate (break into pieces).
d. Question : What, according to the essay, are the universal human abilities ?
Answer : According to the essay, the universal human abilities are morality, art, spirituality and creativity.
e. Question : How are the basic yoga postures derived from the shape of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet ?
Answer : According to a yoga teacher in Israel, basic yoga postures were derived from the shape of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Asanas like 'trikonasana' posture imitates the shape of the Hebrew letter 'aleph', 'tuladandasana' imitates the letter 'daled' etc.
(Note: 'aleph' and 'daled' are names of Hebrew alphabets)
Reference to the Context
a. Question : How do Hindu nationalists refute the Chinese claim that human history really began with the Yellow Emperor and the Xia and Shang dynasties ? Who do you agree with and why ?
Answer : The Hindu nationalists completely refute the Chinese claim. They argue that things like airplanes , nuclear bombs etc. were invented by their ancient sages even before Plato or Einstein or Wright brothers . They will refer to their religious for proofs.
For example, we find Rishi Vishwamitra invented missiles , or that Acharya Kanada was the father of atomic theory.
It is difficult to agree with any one of these theories, because all these are only hypothetical things.
b. Question : The author has dealt with a controversial debate on human history. Why do you think history has been a major contested issue in the present world ?
Answer :There is no doubt that history has been a major contested issue in the present world. One major reason behind it is that neither is history writing an easy job, nor whatever written in history books, are all true.
Human civilization has a very long history. Earliest civilization began approximately 4000 to 3000 B.C. In its long history of civilization, several civilizations have risen and fallen. And several times they have been rewritten, and every time history has been written and rewritten, they have been called into question.
There are several other reasons of it also, only some of them are presented here.
One reason is that historical events are often subject to multiple interpretations. There we find conflicting interpretations of many events. In some cases some bias history writers present their own perspectives which eventually becomes reason of debates.
Another important reason is that history is written by winners, powerful groups and nations. So only one side of truth gets place over the other. History of the losers gets no place in the pages of history.
Next reason of disputes and disagreements is several inscriptions, manuscripts etc. along with their scripts. Sometimes some such very old documents are difficult to decipher (decode/ interpret). Scholars have different opinions, and this brings disputes.
Further, the illusion of centrality and superiority is another reason of disputes. As we find in this essay, people of different places and groups claim that their culture has been the center of civilization. People from Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China etc. all claim that their country has been the spring of civilization.
In this way there are several reasons that history has always been a matter of disputes.
Reference beyond the text :
a. Question : Write a short essay on The Conflicting History of Human Civilization.
The Conflicting History of Human Civilization.
Mr. Harari is true when he says that when our ancestors started to settle and colonize the world, domesticated plants and animals etc., none of the religions and nations existed there. So, history of that time has to depend on lack of proper evidences. This makes the history of human civilization conflicting.
There are many more reasons of this conflicting history. In its long history it (human civilization) risen and fallen and merged into one another several times. Many old civilizations reached at their peaks and collapsed due to several reasons. This has made history conflicting in studies.
There have been different civilization clashes in the history on the basis of political, economic, or religious ideologies. Such clashes have been a major reason of historical conflicts.
Further, conflicts also result from a number of other reasons like influence of power, discriminations against people from a different society. Every time powerful people or nations have presented historical events in their own interest and from their own perspectives.
In conclusion there are several reasons of conflicting history of human civilization.
b. Question : The author claims, "Since it is more polite to criticize one's own people that to criticize foreigners." Do you agree to his claim ? Give reasons.
Answer : I only partially agree with his claim.
First, the agreement side.
No doubt criticizing others is neither good, nor safe. Morally it is bad. It brings malice. No one can tolerate if we criticize a person, or his country, society, or religion. They might retort back harshly, or in some cases there might be assault too. In worst case one might be sued also.
It can never humility to do so, rather it is arrogance.
Now, about criticizing one's own people -- well, it might be safer than criticizing foreigners, but not so always. Orthodox or conservative people would react bitterly. Is it polite to do so ? Both 'yes' or 'no' -- it depends upon the intention of the critic.
If the intention of such criticism is reformative, to bring positive changes, to point out weaknesses, then it might be humility to do so. But if the criticism is to demean somebody, or laughing at a group, or if such criticism is to prove your supremacy over others, it is neither politeness nor humility, may be it criticizing others, or criticizing one's own people.
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Some terms and their explanations:
Paragraph 1 :
a. Homer : Homer was an ancient Greek poet whose two famous epics are -- Iliad and Odyssey
b. Sophocles : Sophocles was an ancient Greek tragedian.
c. Plato : Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher 427 - 348 BC
d. Athens : Athens is the capital of Greece. It was also at heart of Ancient Greece, a powerful empire.
e. Sparta : Sparta was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece
f. Alexandria : The second largest city in Egypt
g. Constantinople : It is a city in modern day Turkey that was the capital of the Roman Empire.
h. Yellow Emperor : The Yellow Emperor is a mythical Chinese sovereign and culture hero.
i. Xia dynasty : It is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese history, and is thought to have existed from around 2070 to 1600 BC
j. Shang dynasty : It is the first Chinese dynasty to be verified by written records and archaeological evidence ruling from around 1600- 1050 BC.
Paragraph 3:
Prophet Muhammad : An Arab religious , social and political leader and the founder of Islam.
Paragraph 4:
Aztec : Aztecs were Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post classic period from 1300 to 1521.
Paragraph 5.
The Stone Age : The Stone Age was a prehistoric period when human used stone tools and weapons. It lasted for about 3.4 million years, ending between 4000BC and 2000 BC.
Paragraph 6.
Abraham : The first patriarch of the Jewish people
Hebrew : It is the official language of Israel and the traditional language of of the Jewish people.
Isaac : Isaac is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Paragraph 7.
Judaism : Judaism is an ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural and legal traditions of the Jewish people.
Rabbi : A rabbi is a Jewish scholar or teacher, specially one who studies or teaches Jewish law.
Talmud : The Talmud is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law.
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