It’s an oldie but a goodie.
It seems ridiculous but it’s more than common in spiritual circles. Even humility (especially humility?) can become a farcical, competitive game.
I remember it well!
Mea culpa.
There is an old story about this: A rabbi is standing in front of his congregation and says, “I was such a good rabbi; now I am nothing. I’m really nothing. God, I was such a good rabbi and I am nothing.”
And so the cantor, the singer, picks it up. He says, “God, I was such a good cantor and I am nothing. I’m really nothing.”
A little tailor in the congregation picks it up. “God, I was such a good tailor and I am nothing, really nothing.”
And the rabbi says to the singer, “Who does he think he is to think he’s nothing?”
Fritz Perls in Gestalt Therapy Verbatim (P. 230)
James RQ Clark 