Again and again, Christ, in his teachings and by his example, made it clear that the only authentic sign of spiritual wisdom is a progress in the kind of ego-annihilating humility that longs to express itself in the ever-greater and richer service of all beings. There is nothing to comfort the ordinary or subtle spiritual ego in this stark vision, no place for any kind of pride or grandiosity to hide; Christ made this eternally clear when he himself, as one of his final acts among them before his Passion, washed the feet of his disciples. In the Christ-path, the richest are those who give the most; the highest are those who lovingly take the lowest place; those who really love God prove it in unstinting service to human beings and the creation, and willingly embrace whatever suffering standing for justice and mercy in a vicious world must bring and whatever ordeal is necessary for their inner purification. Christ himself gave, humbly, everything; those who approach the fire of his love slowly learn the force and demand of his terrible humility.
— Andrew Harvey, Teachings of the Christian Mystics