Editor's Note: Third in a series on the "ity" words. Second part of the word "humility."

Humility is the most elusive virtue, exactly because its opposite vice, pride, is the mother of all sins and the easiest to commit. "Pride is a sin that can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted in ourselves" (Ezra Taft Benson, "Beware of Pride," Ensign, May 1989).

Humility, on the other hand, if observed in ourselves is almost always the consequence of not being humble. In other words, the principal characteristic of a humble person is his or her complete unawareness of their humility.

The antidote to pride is humility. But, here again, we run into the elusiveness of humility. Pursuing humility for its own sake is almost always counterproductive. Humility is derivative of our acts and feelings. We become humble by subordinating our will and intentions to God and others. If we are really making progress in humility, we won't notice it. We become humble precisely by becoming self-unaware.

The Savior taught "for whosoever will save his life, must be willing to lose it for my sake; and whosoever will be willing to lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it" (Luke 9:24 JST). Or as the poet T. S. Eliot put it:

"In order to possess what you do not possess
you must go by the way of dispossession.
In order to arrive at what you are not
you must go through the way in which you are not."

The Savior, as in everything else, was the perfect exemplar. He "made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:7-8). In his perfect humility, his will was "swallowed up in the will of the Father" (Mosiah 15:7).

In "Mere Christianity," C.S. Lewis describes meeting a humble person. "Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call humble nowadays; he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is a nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all."