Because it is a background virtue, humility (derived from the Latin for ‘low’) is best described in terms of what it isn’t. It isn’t ambitious, holds no opinions, declines to judge, has no enemies, does nothing unnecessarily, is unconcerned with image, doesn’t need notes.
The virtues are an absence before they are a presence. Courage is the absence of fear, innocence of lust, humility of pride. And what is this purifying fecundity, this mothering absence? Love, actually.
Feelings of lack or insufficiency express an estrangement, an absence. Love is presence.
Be the absence of wall, a window or door, so light shines in.
Joy is a state of absolute fearlessness. An absence cannot be validated theoretically.
Men's Work 