Don't over-estimate yourself

The scripture says, "Be not righteous overmuch, and do not make yourself overwise; why should you destroy yourself?" (Ecclesiastes 7:16) Who can tell for certain what such a passage means?

For a teacher who is always defending the right cause, the right course or the right position, his constant sense of being in the right can mask his failures. The cause, course or position he's defending may be right but always being right (or thinking he is) can be addictive and it can blind him. There's something dangerous about not being challenged frequently and it's even more dangerous if we are never "proved" to be wrong—even when it's clear to just about everyone else that we are. Certainly we can't wish to be wrong just so we can be taught to be humble—that won't work. But it's astonishing how quickly we can become irritated if someone dares to question our accuracy when we've been accustomed to the grateful acceptance for our wise oracles and brilliance.

When the young and inexperienced oooh and aaah over us only God can protect us though sometimes we so enjoy the adoration that we prefer not to be protected. And so we pass on a narrow vision of truth and life to those that esteem us too highly and the vicious circle continues.

Some of us are severely tempted to move only in a tiny circle and to ensure that we're the big fishes in the small ponds but choosing to move only among those who are more ignorant than we are will blind us to the depth of our ignorance, which would show up if we moved in a wiser circle that reads more widely. The tragedy of that is that we can over-estimate ourselves and miss humility and without humility no one can be truly wise or righteous; they certainly can't be taught. Poor souls and high-strung, some of us are too insecure to risk the exposure.

Being morally decent may look impressive if we move only among those who are degenerate in their behaviour but what if we moved in the company of those who were generous rather than simply "upright"? It wouldn't be the first writer who fell in love with his own work only to stumble across Shakespeare or Hugo or Dickens and put his hand over his mouth remembering with a rosy pudency the things he thought, and worse, some of the things he wrote. So it must be when we meet people whose lovely lives beggar description and we (if we're blessed with shame) feel shabby with the rebuke.

Then there's the little crab in the pool in the rocks. The tiny pool that was left behind yesterday evening when the tide went out. There he is, Mister Big, "Top of the world, Ma!"

And here's comes the vast ocean, silently flooding in and bringing the giants with it.

"Be not righteous overmuch and be not overwise. Why would you look a fool and destroy yourself into the bargain?"

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