Occupy a rightful space, neither too much nor too little. Focus neither on your own virtues nor the faults of others. ~ Alan Morinis
The dimmi (or questions) for the Nine of Earth are: Where is your rightful place? What is the necessary attitude to take here? I think Mussar (the Jewish practice of ethics) would base the answer to both questions on its definition of humility. Humility is defined as “limiting oneself to an appropriate space while leaving room for others.” This space includes not just the physical, but also what is emotional, verbal, or even metaphorical. The right amount of space can be situational; a judge might hold a larger space in a courtroom, but at a parent-teacher meeting his or her space would be much smaller. While arrogance can make us take us too much space, fear can cause us to take up too little (which is not true humility). Sometimes there may be a space that needs to be occupied by us, and we must stretch ourselves to fill it. The Queen Bee card implies the burden of responsibility (stretching to fill our role). With more skill and experience, more obligations accumulate. To state this biblically, to whom much is given, much will be required. Yet Rupp-Spangle cautions that such a weight can become unbearable, and thus we must not forget to step back and recuperate. It's good to give up our seat occasionally, even if it is only temporary.
segue sideways, why do people think their gods will never give them more than they can bear? false humility while grabbing at straws?
ReplyDeleteI think it is so they won't lose hope when things get tough. :) Perhaps it might be more realistic to say life doesn't pick on any one person; at some point, it sucks for everyone.
DeleteThis is such a thoughtful ethics of space. It puts me in mind of Nirmal Puwar's book 'space invaders' on what happens when a woman or 'shock horror' a black woman enters a space traditionally reserved for the great white male. All the easy affability which is a product of invisible privilege goes out of the window...nothing more threatening than challenging the historic entitlement to space.
ReplyDeleteMussar has some interesting perspectives on ethics. I'm hoping the next American POTUS will be a woman who is a minority. Might be the only perspective that could save us from the path our current White House Tweeter has us on.
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