The Relationship Between the Practice of Humility and Self-Knowledge

Teresa’s practice of the virtue of humility coupled with the daily practice of mental prayer had brought her to spiritual heights that only a few Christians before her had reached. Teresa wrote extensively about these spiritual and mystical experiences in her other books—The Way of Perfection and The Interior Castle. She talked of interior delights and inner beauty which to her made inferior all the delights and the beauty summed together that were experienced through the human senses.

For the uninitiated and the unguided soul, the practice of humility may not bring about the desired spiritual fruits that it wishes to achieve unless the person endeavors to know the self first. Otherwise, the truth seeker might just be engaged in false humility. Teresa discovered this truism little by little at a time. Perhaps it began at the time after Teresa’s brief flirtation with vanity and her association with “worldly” friends when she was brought into an entirely new world and new experience. Teresa talked about this in the 3rd chapter of her Autobiography.

This is the story. When Teresa’s older sister got married her family found the perfect excuse to send Teresa to a convent school to shield her from any further risk of bringing harm to her soul. After they lost their mother, Teresa’s older sister served as her surrogate mother. Teresa loved her sister and she had only grateful and kind words towards her. In Teresa’s time, when young women misbehave they are sent away by their parents to convent schools to be reformed. The nuns in these convent schools were known to be very strict and stern disciplinarians. Teresa admitted in her autobiography that she was very uncomfortable and uneasy during the first days of her convent life.

Then she met and befriended a nun in the convent who, maybe was kind and gentle and helpful to her. She received plenty of good counsel from this nun. During this time Teresa was engaged in an interior debate on what to do with the rest of her life. She was not attracted yet to the religious life but at the same time she was also fearful of the married life. Perhaps in a subtle way, the nun who became her friend and whose virtues she admired tremendously tilted the balance towards her going into the religious life after her stay in the convent.

Teresa became aware of how friends and company could greatly affect one’s life. Through a mental and prayerful activity of reflection and discernment St. Teresa learned that bad company could lead you to bad direction in your life and good company could lead you to a good direction in your life. This is the reason why Teresa, in her writings, counsels the parents to be very careful about the company that their sons and daughters go with. Those who go out with virtuous friends are most likely to lead a virtuous life and those who go out with friends who are excessively interested only with their own selves and who are overly preoccupied with material things are likely to lead a worldly life.

In her book St. Teresa tells us:

“We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble.”

(Cesar R. Ledesma, OCDS)