I believe everyone was born in this world carrying nothing. Not even a string to cover one’s body, not even a knowledge to apply, not even a pence to spend. We hadn’t even known what to believe, not even such ‘matter’ we now claim as “God”. We were born as a fragile figure, knowing nothing. Carrying only it’s empty mind, body, and soul.

Sometimes people get too arrogant, too proud, of what they have. Their beauty, intelligence, material possessions, and/or worse, their religion. Like they were born with it. It is something undeniable though, because I myself sometimes get too proud of ‘what I have but the others don’t’. This feeling of exclusivity causes us to brag even more. Then we’ll have that greed of power and attention.

Like you all, I was born with nothing too. I gained my basic knowledge ever since my brain getting adapted to words that people around me said, and it grew since I could read. As for physical possessions, they all belong to my parents. I wasn’t able to afford things on my own.

When these symptoms of arrogance come, I usually bring myself to, which I know as, the lower level of humanity (but it certainly needs greater level of learning to know what this ‘level’ really means). It’s the level where we all are just common people, we are humans. Built on the same structure of cells and molecules, dressed by different genetics. After I got to the lower level, I usually get to the next stage, the vulnerability phase, where I mostly feel like I had nothing. And the only thing that matter is the inter-relation of me and people around me. Then come this thinking of mine when I’m getting too proud of what I possess: Am I the only person having this thing? Does it make me that great? After these questions, in my case, usually that arrogance come off.

This is my method to overcome harmful pride. What’s yours?