Tag Archives: Humility

Ep95 Encore: Pride is a Demon

July 12, 2023UncategorizedAlbert Einstein, Arrogance, Bishop Sylvester Treinen, COVID-19, Doctors, Egotistical, Envy, God, Humility, Instagram, Isaac, Jack Schafer, Lucifer, Nurses, Pride, Richard Dawkins, Satan, Ulysses S Grantwrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:59 — 35.7MB)

Father Len reveals that pride is damaging lies we tell ourselves about ourselves.

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Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

Pride is a cancer that often goes undetected until it’s too late.
“The Truth Detector: an Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide for Getting People to Reveal the Truth” by Jack Schafer
The moment you tell a lie about yourself you are owned by the lie.
Happy people don’t need to feel superior.
The fall of humanity began when Adam and Eve were enticed by pride to define for themselves what is moral.
The prideful lie is always about portraying yourself as superior in some way.
Pride produces a damaging ripple effect on us and everyone around us.
Father Len compares Albert Einstein and Richard Dawkins to illustrate the damaging effects of pride and the positive effects of humility.
“I am not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in a position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows somebody must’ve written those books.” – Albert Einstein
The prideful are not open to truth because they feel compelled to defend the lies they tell about themselves.
The prideful are always defensive and feel the need to posture, provoke, pick fights and bully because they fear wrestling with the truth.
Confident and humble people don’t fear grappling with the truth and allow themselves to be challenged, probed, and questioned.
The prideful can never be happy because they make their insecurities and flaws the center of their identities.
The prideful don’t recognize or appreciate their self-worth.
Lies about who you are, what you know, what you’re good at, and what you’re not good at are sure signs you have a pride problem.

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Ep71 Pride Poisons Everything

October 27, 2021UncategorizedAct of Contrition, Alexander the Great, Atheist, Bible, Coppa Magna, CS Lewis, Defensive, God, Humility, Marriage, Meekness, Nebuchadnezzar, Pride, Respect, Satan, Self-Deprecating Humor, Spiritual, Status, Temptation, Vulnerability, Yahwehwrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:46 — 28.2MB)

Father Len explains how pride can poison everything in life from relationships, to religion, to marriages, to organizations and companies.

Highlights, Ideas, & Wisdom

Pride and its effects are often so subtle as to be unrecognizable.
The easiest way to manipulate people is to use their pride against them.
Father Len shares the story of how an FBI agent uses the pride of criminals to induce them to confess their crimes.
“The Truth Detector: an Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide for Getting People to Reveal the Truth” by Jack Schafer
Prideful people are always defensive because their professed self-worth and inner strength is a façade.
Father Len reveals how pride causes him to “freak out and become defensive and disrespectful” when people don’t respect his time.
Pride is seductive and addicting.
Pride is like an animal that must be fed over and over.
Pride is like a freeway off ramp that takes you off the path to God.
Father Len tells the sad story of how pride caused Alexander the Great to kill his best friend.
Father Len explains how Satan uses our pride to tempt us to sin.
“Little Shop of Horrors” Movie
Prideful people have a constant need for outward signs to demonstrate that they’re okay which ironically leads them to feeling less and less okay inside.
The prideful are always armored up and defensive.
“The ruthless, sleepless, unsmiling concentration upon self is the mark of Hell.” – CS Lewis
Prideful people have difficulty laughing at themselves because of their constant need for input on how great they are.
Great leaders share two qualities: selflessness and humility.
Leaders with excessive pride bring nothing but destruction to their companies and organizations.
“Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t” by Jim Collins
Father Len’s litmus test for a spiritual person: one who believes that pride poisons everything.
Irish shares the story of how he’s been unwittingly sucked into a corrosive game of pride by a prideful friend.
Humility and vulnerability are the antidotes to pride.

Ep70 Pride is a Demon

October 5, 2021UncategorizedAlbert Einstein, Arrogance, Bishop Sylvester Treinen, COVID-19, Doctors, Egotistical, Envy, God, Humility, Instagram, Isaac, Jack Schafer, Lucifer, Nurses, Pride, Richard Dawkins, Satan, Ulysses S Grantwrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:39 — 34.5MB)

Father Len reveals that pride is damaging lies we tell ourselves about ourselves.

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

Pride is a cancer that often goes undetected until it’s too late.
“The Truth Detector: an Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide for Getting People to Reveal the Truth” by Jack Schafer
The moment you tell a lie about yourself you are owned by the lie.
Happy people don’t need to feel superior.
The fall of humanity began when Adam and Eve were enticed by pride to define for themselves what is moral.
The prideful lie is always about portraying yourself as superior in some way.
Pride produces a damaging ripple effect on us and everyone around us.
Father Len compares Albert Einstein and Richard Dawkins to illustrate the damaging effects of pride and the positive effects of humility.
“I am not an atheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in a position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows somebody must’ve written those books.” – Albert Einstein
The prideful are not open to truth because they feel compelled to defend the lies they tell about themselves.
The prideful are always defensive and feel the need to posture, provoke, pick fights and bully because they fear wrestling with the truth.
Confident and humble people don’t fear grappling with the truth and allow themselves to be challenged, probed, and questioned.
The prideful can never be happy because they make their insecurities and flaws the center of their identities.
The prideful don’t recognize or appreciate their self-worth.
Lies about who you are, what you know, what you’re good at, and what you’re not good at are sure signs you have a pride problem.

Ep54 Humility is a Superpower

March 19, 2021UncategorizedAdam Grant, Butler University, Chris Bosh, Daniel Kahneman, Dr. Stephen R Covey, Dwayne Wade, Emotional Contagion, Hostility, Humility, Lebron James, Miami Heat, Narcissism, NBA Basketball, Patrick Lencioni, Reality, Religion, Ronald Reagan, Shane Battier, Social Media, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, The Bible, The Great Gatsbywrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:35 — 35.3MB)

Father Len explains why humility is the foundation for success in life.

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

There is an epidemic of narcissism in our current culture fueled by social media.
Humility is the cure for narcissism.
Father Len discusses the dangers of ego and self-obsession by comparing the psyche of movie stars to people in prison.
Father Len shares the story of three superstars, Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, who joined the Miami Heat NBA basketball team thinking winning a championship would be easy with all their talent. Turns out it wasn’t so easy until humility became a key ingredient of the team.
Human beings are very communal and emotions run through a community faster than a virus.
Because of our communal nature, it turns out that when people see other people behaving morally or immorally, it’s likely they will mirror that behavior.
Father Len shares the story of how tiny Butler University is able to compete and win against the much larger major powers in college basketball because of its team culture of humility.
“There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit” – sign on former president Ronald Reagan’s desk
Ego destroys community because it traps people in a prison of self-obsession.
Humility is not low self-esteem. It’s low self-preoccupation.
The less we are preoccupied with thinking about ourselves the more room we have in our heads and hearts to think of others.
Humility helps us connect emotionally with others.
“Humility is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age” by Edward D Hess & Katherine Ludwig
Pride causes more problems than it solves.
Humility is the gateway to an open mind because it allows us to process information without being defensive and reacting in fear.
Humility allows us to see and accept reality.
Humility inspires success.
Success in life without humility can ruin you.
The Bible is filled with stories about how God hates pride and arrogance and how and why humility makes us true human beings.
The Bible says all those in heaven have humility written across their foreheads indicating the ultimate victory belongs to the humble.
The proud want glory for themselves, not for the community, not for the business, not for the team, and not for God.
Intelligence is not just being able to think and learn, but also the ability to unlearn and rethink. That requires humility.
“Prayer is unlearning what the world has taught you.” – St. Bernard of Clairvaux
We should feel as much joy in learning that we’re wrong as we felt in learning a truth.
“I have this voice in my head telling me 20% of everything I think is right might be wrong.” – Father Len
“Seek first to understand, then seek to be understood.” – Dr Stephen R Covey
“Think Again: the Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know” by Adam Grant

Ep52 Dying to Live

March 5, 2021UncategorizedAsh Wednesday, Atheist, Catholic, Christ, Delusion, Denial, Faith, Gospel of Prosperity, Human Beings, Humility, Jia Jiang, Litany of Humility, Marriage, Monastery of St. Paul, Parenting, Positive Psychology, Pride, Spiritual, The Bible, Way of the Crosswrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:24 — 19.6MB)

Father Len reveals the path to a happy, healthy, and holy life involves multiple deaths and funerals.

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

Father Len shares the story of an alcoholic to illustrate the consequences of denying death in life.
The “gospel of prosperity,” which professes that if you’re good God will give you health and stuff throughout your life without sacrifice, is a hoax.
To get to happy and holy requires doing a lot of funerals.
Change is easy, transitions are hard.
Every change in life involves a death. Every step forward involves a loss.
Money can be like steroids for your worst vices.
It is dangerous not to accept the many deaths and funerals required to get to a better life.
People want change in their lives, but what they can’t stand is the transition to the change.
The way of the cross means dying to your ego, selfishness, greed, and fears; dying to all those things that prevent the fullness of life.
The opposite of the way of the cross is a constant need and desire for more – more wealth, more security, more stuff – and a constant fear of losing anything we have which actually makes us prisoners of fear and greed.
The spiritual life is not about addition, but subtraction. The way of the cross is the way of subtraction.
Christ shows us that the way of life is through the cross.
“Litany of Humility” Prayer
The spiritual life is this choice between death and life. It’s kind of a trick question. Those who choose a type of death, dying to things like hate, selfishness, fear, addictions, and their own agenda are choosing life. Those who choose life as it is right now will experience no change, no growth, no increase in love or compassion. What they’re really choosing is death.
“If you die before you die, when you die, you will not die.” – Sign at the Monastery of St. Paul in Greece.
TED Talk from Jia Jiang about conquering fear by dying to it: “What I learned from 100 days of rejection”
Dying to fear sets us free.
There are lots of funerals on the bridge to happiness.

Ep20 Good and Evil Are Hard to Define and Fully Understand

July 24, 2020UncategorizedBook of Job, Book of Wisdom, Coronavirus, evil, Faith, God, Heaven, Humility, Jesus, Moral Contagion, Religion, Satan, spirituality, Suffering, The Biblewrestlingwithgodshow

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:48 — 21.8MB)

Father Len explains why defining and fully understanding good and evil is pretty much beyond our ability as humans.

Highlights, Ideas, and Wisdom

The only wise reaction to evil is faith in God.
The mystery of what seems like evil to us may actually be something used by God for our good.
Father Len explains why we shouldn’t settle for cheap and easy answers for why evil and suffering exist in the world and instead humbly ask questions and more questions.
We will not understand evil until we can have the same perspective as God.
There might not be answers about good and evil that we can see and understand until we get to heaven and can look back in time.
Real wisdom is acquired through intimate experience with suffering.
What we proclaim as good may actually be bad for us.
What we proclaim as evil may actually be good for us.

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Tag Archives: Humility

Ep95 Encore: Pride is a Demon

Ep71 Pride Poisons Everything

Ep70 Pride is a Demon

Ep52 Dying to Live

Ep20 Good and Evil Are Hard to Define and Fully Understand