We often mistake humility to mean low self-regard and a sense of unworthiness.

Humility derived from self-deprecation is merely humiliation that is self-inflicted. But here we see a contradiction. If it is morally wrong to humiliate others, why is it a virtue to humiliate one’s own self?

An alternative definition of humility is to be ‘selfless’. A selfless person is liberated from self-consciousness, which prevents them from feeling either pride or self-depracation. Such humility is embodied in both the innocent and the wise.

To be humble isn’t to humiliate one’s self, but to transcend it.