Mat 23:12
And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Christ teaches (as does Sun Tzu) that every action creates its opposite. Folk sayings such as "That which goes up, must come down," echoes this idea. In statistics, we can call it "regression to the mean." But the specific topic here is our relationships in society. Christ has said that those who serve others shall become the most powerful, while those who seek power for themselves shall fall. While the lesson is taken as a religious one, pertaining to the afterlife, the applications of these ideas in everyday life are numerous and its affect on human history momentous.

I think of my sister who has worked for years as an "administrator" in various colleges. While she has continued for years, it seems every time she turns around, she is working with a new president who has the title and the "power" but doesn't understand the organization. She has had good bosses and bad, but they have all come and gone, risen and fallen. In everyday life, people avoid the bosses who are above everyone. All bosses are largely disconnected from the everyday decisions which actually make a difference. Those decisions are usually made by those "low people in high places" like my sister who seek only to make things work. While their bosses rise and fall, these people continue, winning the respect of everyone they work with.

In our modern age, it is easy to see the superiority of commerce, where everyone tries to serve the needs of everyone else, as opposed to central control systems where a hierarchy tries to decide what is best for everyone. The more a country is controlled by its powerful elites, the poorer that country becomes. When people are freed from higher powers, the common, ordinary people produce incredible advances that raise everyone up.

"Exalt" and "exalted" are from hupsoô, which means "to lift high," and "to raise up."

"Abased" and "humbled" are from tapeinoo, which means "to lower," "to make low," and "to bring low."