Modesty and Humility
Avoiding boastfulness and excessive pride.
Boasting and excessive pride invite spiritual punishment and community disapproval. Success is acknowledged quietly; fortune is attributed to divine favor rather than personal merit. Humility maintains social harmony and spiritual balance.
The tall corn is cut first; keep your head low.
Humility values reflect the leveling mechanisms that maintain social cohesion.
Living Tradition
Written about in
- What the Maya tradition says about envy and comparison
"The tall corn is cut first; keep your head low." Good fortune is attributed to divine favour rather than personal merit — partly piety, partly protection against being the tallest thing in the field.