The Seventh Step of the Ladder of Humility is that a person not only admit outwardly but is also inwardly convinced that one is inferior to all and of less value.

This is rather similar to the previous Sixth Step. The two go hand-in-hand, it seems to me. If you accept the lowest and most menial treatment, it stands to reason that you would consider yourself inferior.

This is a Step which takes us closer to God. When you consider that Jesus was executed for crimes He didn’t commit, and was treated like the lowest of the low of common criminals, we see that this Step takes us closer to His Cross.

It is a Step which is sacrificial in nature. It is the one which says “Nothing is beneath me, not even assuming that others are better than I.” Who are we to say that any one of us is better or superior to another person? To some homeless person on the street? To some drunk dead in an alley? “But for the grace of God, go I,” a common saying in the rooms of 12 Step recovery movements.

As lunatic that this Step may seem to secular psychologists, I think that this Step helps to keep us sane. It prevents us from believing all sorts of nonsense about ourselves, either stuff foisted upon us by someone else, or fantasies of our own making. It keeps our egos in check. It enable us to be of service to others because it clears away false conceptions of ourselves, as long as we have a reasonable and rational assessment of our skills and talents. Like in the Sixth Step, we have to do a balancing act between this rational assessment and this matter of faith.

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