I sometimes think I’m right and everyone else is wrong. I need to develop humility - unless I am right.
Often, I don’t think I’m right, but I think everyone else is overconfident. Do I need to develop humility in this case as well?
Perhaps the distinction is between humility before the complexity of the truth, and humilty as a tool to make interacting with other people easier.
Still, I think, both these versions of humility can be forces of passivity - “I should be humble and not make ambitious goals, or act differently than the people around me”, or fuel for arrogance - “since I am actually right, I just need to act humble”.
Maybe it’s just a matter of accuracy? And yet I don’t think that telling people “only be arrogant if you’re actually good” is a recipe for success.
I think humility before God is helpful here. You are not performing for others, and whatever your level of skill or accuracy, you recognize that you are far short of God’s power and can never hope to reach Him. But you also can give thanks to God if He assists you and act confidently.
Obviously you claim to be humble to God, while still being arrogant and dismissive. It takes work.
From bahai.org:
True humility does not breed passivity or inaction, and should not be confused with a lack of motivation. Humility and trust in God bring steadfastness and joy to a spiritual life.
From the writings of Bahá’u’lláh:
Grieve not at what hath befallen thee, but put thy whole trust in God, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, the Wise. Raise thy house upon the solid foundation of divine utterances, and give praise to thy Lord. He, verily, shall suffice thee above all the peoples of the earth.
From the writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:
[Self-love] is a strange trait and the means of the destruction of many important souls in the world. If man be imbued with all good qualities but be selfish, all the other virtues will fade or pass away and eventually he will grow worse.