Meekness

Meekness is an attribute of human nature and behavior. It has been defined several ways: righteous, humble, teachable, and patient under suffering, long suffering willing to follow gospel teachings; an attribute of a true disciple.

Meekness has been contrasted with humility as referring to behavior towards others, whereas humility refers to an attitude towards oneself – meekness meaning restraining one’s own power, so as to allow room for others.

Main article: The Virtue of Meekness

Monk

Christianity

The Israelite Apostle Paul gave an example of meek behavior when writing to Timothy:

“The servant of the Lord must be gentle, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.” (2 Tim. 2:24–25)

Sir Thomas Browne explained: “Meekness takes injuries like pills, not chewing, but swallowing them down.” This indicates that meekness allows a person to overlook or forgive perceived insults or offenses.
The meek feature in the Beatitudes, and were linked thereby to the classical virtue of magnanimity by Aquinas.
Latter Day Saint Apostle of Jesus Christ, Elder David A. Bednar, said in April 2018,

“Meekness is a defining attribute of the Redeemer and is distinguished by righteous responsiveness, willing submissiveness, and strong self-restraint.” He further said, “Whereas humility generally denotes dependence upon God and the constant need for His guidance and support, a distinguishing characteristic of meekness is a particular spiritual receptivity to learning both from the Holy Ghost and from people who may seem less capable, experienced, or educated, who may not hold important positions, or who otherwise may not appear to have much to contribute.”

Criticism

Beethoven rejected meekness and equality in favor of cultural elitism: “Power is the moral principle of those who excel others”.
Nietzsche rejected Christian meekness as part of a parasitic revolt by the low against the lofty, the manly, and the high.

Other traditions

Main article: Faqr and Ghina (Poverty and Richness)

Monk in Buddhist temple

Buddhism, like Christianity, strongly values meekness – the Buddha himself (in an earlier life) featuring as the ‘Preacher of Meekness’ who patiently had his limbs lopped off by a jealous king without complaining.
Taoism valorized the qualities of submission and non-contention.
Book of Numbers chapter 12 verse 3: Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.
In Islam, faqr, sometimes translated as “poverty“, is one of the central attitudes in a Faqeer. It was also one of the attributes of the Prophet. He said “faqr is my pride“. In a spiritual sense, faqr is defined as the absence of desire for wealth, recognition or for the blessings of the otherworld. One of the aspects of one who has embodied the true essence of faqr, is that the mystic will never ask anything of anyone else. The reason for this is for one to ask someone else for anything they would be relying on a created being. To receive something from that same being would produce gratitude in the heart which would be geared toward the giver, not towards God.

Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia