Humility

                Yuval Noah Harari 

Essay

The essay, “Humility” has been written by Prof. Yuval Noah Harari, a historian, philosopher, and lecturer. The author has presented the conflicting history of human civilization in the essay. The author tells us that humility is a quality that is lacking in most cultures. He exemplifies the virtue of humility  in that he debunks  humanity’s illusions of superiority and mastery.  He claims morality, art, spirituality and creativity are universal human abilities embedded  in our DNA.

The author begins the essay with a line “You are not the centre of the world”. He talks about people of different groups and cultures and their claims and beliefs towards their history and important inventions. In the world, people of different groups boast about their cultures and believe that their cultures as the foundation of human history.  By this arrogant faith, these people tend to stand in the centre of the world.

Greeks consider that history began with Homer (ancient Greek writer and epic poet), Sophocles and Plato (great philosophers whose important ideas and inventions were born in places of Greek as Athens, Sparta (unique for the social order in ancient Greece), Alexandria or Constantinople. Unlike Greek people, Chinese people also have their claims regarding the history of the world. According to the Chinese nationalists, human history really began with the Yellow Emperor and the Xia and Shang dynasties, which later followed and imitated by Westerners, Muslims or Indians and many others. But later on, Hindu nativists  refute these Chinese boasts or claims and argues that even aeroplanes and nuclear bombs were invented by ancient sages in the Indian subcontinent long before Confucius or Plato, let alone mention Einstein and the Wright brothers. They represent examples from Hindu mythology and examples of Maharishi Bharadwaja who invented the rocket and aeroplane, and Vishwamitra who not only invented but also used missiles.  In addition, Acharya Kanad was the father of atomic theory.

He rejects the claims of Chinese human history, saying that nuclear weapons were also used in the time of Mahabharata to explain how later developed civilizations came into existence from it.  The example of the use of nuclear weapons during the Mahabharata period is one of the finest examples of Hindu civilization and has its glimpses in ancient times long before the Chinese pride.

The Jews feel that monotheism should be credited to them and that they are a prominent group in the world — one of the top three faiths. However, there are only 15 million Jews, and there is no reason to believe that they are more significant than the Hindu faith, which has considerably more adherents. Each group considers itself to be the centre of the world, as well as the creator of the most significant ideologies and accomplishments.

Pious Muslims consider all history before the Prophet Muhammad to be largely irrelevant. They consider all history after the revelation of the Quran to revolve around the Muslim ummah. But Turkish, Iranian and Egyptian nationalists argue that their nation was the source of all that was good about humanity and that they are the real preservers of the purity of Islam, even after the revelation of the Quran.

British, French, German, American, Russian, Japanese and countless other groups take pride in their distinctive achievements in raising the human race from barbaric and immoral ignorance.  The Aztecs (nomadic tribes in northern Mexico) claim to have controlled the law of physics and sacrificed human lives to save the universe.

For the writer, all these claims are false. No religion or nation existed today when humans colonized the world, domesticated plants and animals, created the first city, or invented writing and money. Morality, art, spirituality and creativity are universal human abilities embedded in our DNA.

He says that he is all too familiar with such crude arrogance, because the Jews believe that they are the most important thing in the world.  They claim credit for any popular human achievements or inventions themselves. The author once visited Israel where his yoga teacher said that all the basic yoga postures derived from the shape of the Hebrew alphabet. His yoga teacher said that yoga was invented by Abraham. Abraham taught these postures to the son of one of his concubines, who went to India and taught yoga to the Indians. Thus, yoga was introduced by the Jews. Secular Jews may not agree with it. 

At last, the author claims that it is more polite and easy to criticize one's own people than to criticize others or foreigners as they are not familiar to the critics. The Jews believe that they are God's chosen people and that gentiles (not Jewish) are not on pace with them in terms of importance. While some sages have advocated for religious tolerance, the historical trend has always been to persecute those who hold opposing views. Ironically, this is the very self-centeredness. The writer leaves the discussion to the readers around the world to puncture the hot-air balloons inflated by own tribes.


Understanding the text 

Answer the following questions.

a. Describe the claim of the Chinese nationalists about the human history.

Ans:  The Chinese nationalists claim that human history really began with the Yellow Emperor and the Xia and Shang dynasties, which was later followed and imitated by Westerners, Muslims or Indians and many others. 

b. What do pious Muslims believe about the human history?

Ans:  Pious Muslims believe that all history before the Prophet Muhammad is mostly meaningless and that all history following the Quran's revelation revolves around the Muslim ummah.

c. What did the Aztecs firmly believe about the universe?

Ans: The Aztecs firmly believed about the universe that without the annual sacrifices, the sun would not rise and the whole cosmos would collapse.

d. What, according to the essay, are the universal human abilities?

Ans:  According to the essay, the universal human abilities are morality, art, spirituality and creativity.
e. How are the basic yoga postures derived from the shape of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet?

Ans:  The basic yoga postures are derived from the shape of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet as the yoga posture Trikonasanna imitates the form of the Hebrew letter 'aleph,' Tuladandasana imitates the letter 'daled,' and so on.

 

Reference to the Context 

a. How do Hindu nationalists refute the Chinese claim that human history really began with the Yellow Emperor and the Xia and Shang dynasties? Who do you agree with, and why?

Ans:  Hindu nationalists refute the Chinese claim that human history really began with the Yellow Emperor and the Xia and Shang dynasties by claiming that ancient Indian sages developed planes and nuclear bombs long before Confucius, Plato, Einstein, and the Wright brothers.

I agree with the Hindu nationalists over the Chinese claim as Hinduism is found to be the oldest religion in the world according to various scientific as well as archaeological studies.

b.  The author has dealt with a controversial debate on human history. Why do you think history has been a major contested issue in the present world?

Ans:  The author has dealt with a controversial debate on human history. I think history has been a major contested issue in the present world due to egoism. Most individuals believe they are the centre of the universe and that their culture is superior to all others. They believe their history is the oldest and that everything is descended or originated from their culture. Because of egoism, history has become a major source of contention in the modern world. The author wishes to remove humanity's sense of superiority and domination.