chapter 15. MODESTY #1
on knowing and not-knowing
The text of this post has been translated from Dutch to English with DeepL. It will be manually edited and streamlined soon
THE IMAGE of the two trigrams: the Earth is above, a Mountain is below. A mountain below the Earth, a hidden mountain - a mountain that does not show its true stature. At least not a mountain that wants to tower above everything and be seen already from a great distance. A Mountain under the Earth - the image of modesty.
Modesty doesn't seem to be very fashionable. Could it be because it is confused with shyness? With timidity and shame? From all sides we are encouraged to stand our ground and take what we are entitled to. Away with modesty, let yourself be heard!
In earlier times, one wished for a modest guest - because they were not a burden to anyone. At the same time, one had to guard against false modesty, that with an ulterior motive. As Dutch author Godfrey Bomans observed: ‘Often that which we call modesty is nothing but the desire to be praised twice over.’
Despite the layer of dust on modesty, it is still pleasant to be in the company of someone without tiresome self-importance. A relief next to the daily attention-grabbers of likes, hearts and reviews. It has to be said, promoting with modesty is a tricky job. Potential clients might not be reached, it doesn't win elections, success and money will simply keep rolling towards the biggest mouth. In any case humbleness has little use for the influencer and football star, the City lawyer and talk show celeb.
Restraint and moderation may seem outdated - the Book of Change thinks otherwise. It elaborates on them in several places, in part by highlighting their opposite - immodesty. It does this, for example, by interchanging the two trigrams of Modesty. In the resulting hexagram, the Mountain now towers high above the Earth: chapter 23. Shattering. In it is told the story of Icarus and Babel, of hubris and too tall trees catching too much wind.
Where exactly does the essence of modesty lie? Should it be sought in temperance? Or should we go all the way back to a medieval humility? Does it sometimes start with being inconspicuous and subdued, sober and restrained? Or does that make everything so colorless that then there is nothing left to be modest about?
False modesty fishes for compliments. Diplomatic modesty weighs and moves with discretion. Submissive modesty remains silent and nods, because it cannot do otherwise. And humble modesty realizes that there is always infinitely more, than what it knows.
Now a person can have the tendency to have firm opinions in areas in which he has little real knowledge. Without much understanding of the subject, he fancies himself an expert. By knowing very little, it is also not clear how much is still unknown. How many times during the pandemic could you see on talk shows a self-appointed expert engage in a toe-curling discussion with a specialist, someone with real knowledge. Television, the internet and politics are overflowing with the kind of bubbleheadishness which claim omniscience.
But there is a bigger problem: often we don't realize that we don't know much. We overestimate our own knowledge and think we know enough to take an informed position. But why do we so often think we are experts, even though in reality we don't understand a thing? ... Everyone has some subjects about which he knows only a little. Those are the most insidious. Because there you run the risk of overestimating your own knowledge immoderately. You think you know almost everything there is to know because you don't know how much there is to know.
David Van Reybrouck in De Correspondent
The second and third part will follow in the coming days ...