Magnanimous humility

Despite having several virtues, you do not exhibit them; you keep a low profile. You are not a show-off. You are humble. Humility is understood as a virtue whereby you own your limits, whether they be physical, emotional, spiritual or intellectual, says Annelise Jolley, writing for the Templeton Foundation's newsletter. This can be called self-accepting humility, accepting that you don't know what you don't know. But what if you do know something but you need to pretend to not know that something, in order to put the other person at ease, or to downplay your knowledge, so that it is not mistaken for egoistic sense of superiority?

Humility researcher and philosopher Brandon Yip calls this magnanimous humility, when you engage humbly even as you hold on to your core beliefs, whether they are religious, political or ethical beliefs. This kind of humility will ensure that there is no unpleasant disagreement or argument in the course of engagement.

This is also an exercise in compassion and understanding, to forge better relationships and pave the way for future amiable discourses. The sense of entitlement and arrogance that is usually associated with superior knowledge-holding persons is totally absent here. Says Yip, "They are willing to lower their status in order to do something with you, to engage with you humbly."