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How one acquires itThe manner to acquire the trait of submission and the way to facilitate its acquisition is for one's thoughts and reflections to be set on seven topics:

(1) The root and origin of his existence is from a putrid drop (of human seed) and blood, after they became foul and stenchful. Afterwards, he was nourished from blood of tuma, all the days of his stay in his mother's belly. Afterwards, he exited, and was weak and fragile in body and limbs. Then, he advanced from stage to stage until most of his years have passed. Afterwards, he will become ill from old age until he completes his days (dies).

One of the wise men would say on this matter: "I am amazed at how one who has passed through the pathway of urine and blood two times can be proud and haughty?" Contemplating this or similar things regarding the nature of man necessarily brings humility, as king David said: "O L-ord, what is man that You should regard him, the son of man, that You should consider him?" (Tehilim 144:3), and "Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble" (Iyov 14:1), and "But I am a worm and not a man" (Tehilim 22:7), and "How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is but a maggot?" (Iyov 25:6).

(2) When one contemplates the severity of the tribulations that befall a man in this world such as hunger and thirst, cold and heat, sickness, accidents, worries, which one has no assurance against until death. When an understanding person puts all this to heart, and he realizes how weak he is, how limited and helpless he is from protecting himself from all of this, he will recognize his predicament. He is not only similar to a prisoner in this world, he truly is a prisoner! And so he will humble himself like the humbling of a prisoner who is placed in a dungeon, and who has no strategy or ability to free himself without his master's consent, as written: "May the cry of the prisoner come before You" (Tehilim 79:11), and "Bring my soul out of prison"(Tehilim 142:8).

(3) When one considers his fleetingness, and the swift coming of death, and the abrupt cutting off of his desires and aspirations at that time. He must leave all of his possessions, and abandon hope that he can take with him any of them as provisions or that any of them will be of use to him when he is in the grave. The countenance of his face has already dimmed, its appearance darkens. And his flesh (after death) will bring up worms, decay and putrid liquid. The signs of his physical beauty vanished and an increasingly rotten odor will exude from him,as if he had never washed or scrubbed or put on a good fragrance. When he puts this or similar considerations to mind, he will feel humble and lowly. He will not become arrogant. His heart will not arise and become high and proud, as written: "Withdraw yourselves from man whose breath is in his nostrils, for in what is he to be esteemed?" (Yeshaya 2:22), and "men of low degree are but vanity, and men of high degree are but a lie; were they to be put on a scale, together they would equal nothing" (Tehilim 62:10).

(4) When one contemplates on the service he owes to G-d for the benevolent goodness and abundant kindness bestowed on him, and he considers how much he has neglected the precepts and fallen short in their observance, both those which reason mandates and those which the torah commands, and how his pleas and excuses will be cut short when the day of reckoning comes and he will be full of regret on the great day of assembly. Then he will be submitted and his spirit will be broken, as written "For lo, the day comes, glowing like a furnace, and all the audacious sinners and all the perpetrators of wickedness will be stubble. And the sun that comes shall burn them up so that it will leave them neither root nor branch, says the L-ord of Hosts" (Malachi 3:19), and "who can endure the day He comes" (Malachi 3:2).

(5) When one contemplates the greatness of the Creator and His infinite might, who observes one's outer and inner life. When one fixes his mind on this great theme and considers what our sages report regarding the impressive and awesome presence of the pious sages in previous generations, for example "he (Rav Sheshes) gazed his eyes on him and the man (died and) became a pile of bones" (Berachos 28a), or as it was said of Yonatan ben Uziel: "when he would expound the torah, any bird that would fly over him was instantly burnt."

And there is no doubt that the prophets were greater than them, and you will find that the prophets' strength melted and they bent their knees and prostrated themselves when they were visited by angels, as written by Daniel, Yehoshua, and many like them. And you will find in the books of the prophets that the angels bow and prostrate themselves before the Creator, as written "the hosts of the heavens bow to You" (Nechemia 9:6), and "Behold, He does not trust His servants and He casts reproach upon His angels" (Iyov 4:18), and "in His temple does every one speak of His glory" (Tehilim 29:9), and "And one cried unto another, and said, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the L-ord of Hosts'" (Yeshaya 6:3).

And when one reflects what is manifested to our intelligence in what He created, such as the sun, moon, stars, the celestial spheres, and the earth and all that is in it such as minerals, plants and animals - this should be sufficient for anyone who has understanding and intelligence, as written "How great are Your works, O L-ord! Your thoughts are exceedingly deep; A brutish man knows not; [neither does a fool understand this]" (Tehilim 92:6), and "all the nations are as nothing before Him" (Yeshaya 40:17), and "all the inhabitants of the earth are as nothing" (Daniel 4:32).

When an understanding man considers his significance relative to all of humanity, and the significance of humanity relative to the earth, and the earth relative to the lunar sphere, and the lunar sphere relative to the cosmos, and that everything relative to the greatness of the Creator is as nothing, he will be humbled in his soul and will lower himself before the Creator, as written "[when I contemplate Your sky, the moon and the stars..] What is man that You should be mindful of him?" (Tehilim 8:5).

(6) When one reads the books of the prophets and he sees the great punishment meted out to the arrogant and proud and also G-d's great protection over the humble and the lowly. Regarding the arrogant and proud it is written: "The lofty eyes of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the L-ord alone shall be exalted on that day"(Yeshaya 2:11), and "For the day of the L-ord of Hosts shall come upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon everyone that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low" (Yeshaya 2:12).

Regarding both types, it is written: "The L-ord lifts up the meek: He casts the wicked down to the ground" (Tehilim 147:6), and "Though the L-ord be high, yet has He respect unto the lowly: but the proud He knows from afar." (Tehilim 138:6), and it is said about the lowly "the humble shall inherit the land" (Tehilim 37:11), and "the L-ord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the humble" (Yeshaya 61:1), and "With the lofty and the holy ones I dwell, and with the crushed and humble in spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the crushed"(Yeshaya 57:15), and "Before destruction comes pride, and before stumbling [comes] a haughty spirit" (Mishlei 16:18), and "Before ruin, a man's heart becomes haughty, but before honor there is humility." (Mishlei 18:12).

(7) When one observes the changing of people's situations in this world, the swift changing of governments and rulers, and the passing of people from one condition to another, and the fall of one nation promoting the rise of another, while the end of all is death, as written "Like sheep, they are destined to the grave; death will devour them" (Tehilim 49:15), he will submit and will not pride himself on any worldly possessions, and he won't place his trust on any matter of them, as written "Praiseworthy is the man who made the L-ord his trust, and did not turn to the haughty and those who turn to falsehood" (Tehilim 40:5).

If a man's mind is never empty of these seven matters we mentioned, he will always be humble and lowly. Humility will cling to his nature and will not separate from him. When he clings to humility, all the snares of arrogance, haughtiness, and pride will keep far from him, as we mentioned. He will be saved from sin and from stumbling as written "and that His fear may be before your faces, that you sin not" (Shemos 20:20). And our sages said: "Reflect upon three things and you will not come to sin. Know from where you came and where you are going and before whom you are destined to give account and reckoning. From where have you come? - from a putrid drop. Where are you going? - to a place of dirt, worms, and maggots. Before whom are you destined to give account and reckoning? - before the supreme King of kings, the holy One, blessed be He" (Avos 3:1).