Pride/Arrogance (Latin, superbia)
Pride is almost always listed as the first and most serious of those seven deadly sins – the ‘sin of sins’, if you will -- because the thought is, if you didn’t have pride, you’d not have the arrogance to commit the other six.
Thomas Aquinas summed it up this way:
Inordinate self-love is the cause of every sin…the root of pride is found to consist in man not being, in some way, subject to God and His rule”
Dante’s definition was:
love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one’s neighbour
In Dante’s version of hell, the punishment for pride was being broken on the wheel.
In Milton’s Paradise Lost, it’s pride that gets Lucifer and his band of angels thrown out of Heaven and into Hell—they think they’re just as good as God, and shouldn’t be subject to His laws. It was the sin of pride which transformed Lucifer from an angel into Satan himself.
Yet we live in a society where pride is considered a virtue, not a sin.
We’re supposed to take pride in our accomplishments-
We’re supposed to take pride in our children-
We’re supposed to take pride in our country, our heritage, our neighborhoods, our homes, our appearance…
It’s all very confusing, isn’t it?
We just got through talking about the sin of envy—and I thought we said that you had to love yourself first in order to love others?
I specifically said envy was the result of low self worth.
And that we need to build our self esteem to do better and envy less-
Yet pride is one of the seven deadlies – and not just one, but the worst one!
And isn’t pride all about having high self esteem?
In order to have pride, you must have a sense of your own value—and that makes pride fundamental in the achievement of self esteem.
So is self esteem a good thing? Or the route of all evil?
Damn it’s an endless loop!—A vicious circle…
OK—stop and think.
You only need to have a child to realize that from their earliest days, we as parents consider it our solemn duty to instill a sense of self-worth in our children. We want them to believe they can make a difference; we want them to be able to confront, not retreat, from life’s challenges—to be able to bounce back when faced with difficult situations. We want them to learn from their successes as well as their failures, and to treat themselves and others with respect. We understand that ultimately, we are teaching our children to assume responsibility, to act independently, to be able to deal with frustrations…
Without pride, we have no means to obtain self esteem and without self esteem, we’re doomed.
Circles…
The ancient Greeks called excessive pride hubris. In their literature, it was usually the trait that led to a tragic hero’s downfall. This type of pride was seen when the protagonist attempted to go outside or beyond human knowledge, action, or capacity—
It is in this negative connotation that pride is usually referred to with respect to religion.
Speaking of religion, did you know that Pride is mentioned forty-six times in the King James Bible, but it’s never referred to in a positive way? The reason is simple. God doesn’t see pride as a virtue.
The Christian belief is that pride destroys. In fact, the Bible says:
Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.(Proverbs 13:10)
In Christian ethics, humility is the virtue which counters pride. Pride is the attitude of self-sufficiency toward God. Humility admits that we are unworthy, inadequate, weak.
********************OK Stop the bus for a minute!*************************
First, we teach our children that they should value themselves—we puff them up.
Then we teach them that humility is a virtue?
It makes no sense
.
Pride and Humility can’t both be considered virtues because they are in direct opposition.
We send out mixed messages.
I was right—it’s a vicious circle!
******************************Start the bus again******************************
Let me try it this way…
The expressions of the deadly sin of pride as Dante spoke of it, are: arrogance, vanity/narcissism, and dominance/aggression.
These are the expressions of pride run amuck.
If you are arrogant:
- You are unjustifiably confident in your ability
- You believe yourself superior to others
- You look down on others
- You fail to give credit due
- You belittle others to make yourself look better
If you are vain/narcissistic:
- You are unjustifiably confident in your attractiveness to others (i.e., conceited)
- You are overly concerned with yourself in a shallow or superficial way
- You are selfish – it’s all about You You You…
- You are egotistical
- You are elitist
If you are dominant/aggressive
- You are controlling
- You are manipulative
- You believe yourself superior
- You are selfish – your desires are most important
- You are not opposed to using violence, or threats of violence to get your way
So is it all just a matter of balance? Sometimes pride is good/sometimes pride is bad?
Maybe.
There is certainly a thin line between righteousness and self-righteousness. But there’s actually more.
Pride is deceptive. It lies. Pride skews our perception of reality. We say, “I don’t have a problem with pride. I’m just being myself.” It’s hard to see the truth when it’s your own heart that’s lying to you.
So instead of saying I’m wrong; I think I am right. I stagnate; I don’t learn, I don’t move in a positive way forward.
Instead of saying I’m sorry; I don’t ask for forgiveness. Even though, most times, others are willing to absolve me. Rather than move on, I carry guilt.
Instead of listening to those around me, I insist I am right. I shut ideas off instead of opening my heart to new and better ones.
Instead of admitting that I’m getting old, I cover up the signs of age. I make beauty about the physical instead of about the truer deeper meaning. And in doing so, I cheapen it.
I think I must always be strong – weakness is not allowed. I don’t ask for help when I need it. I isolate myself—I cause our own loneliness.
And on and on – selfish, hurtful, blind…..we think we are invincible**
WHY?
WHY?
WHY?
My opinion is this: We’re full of pride, because we’re afraid to admit our own mortality…..we’re afraid to see that we’re all going to die.
We don’t want to be reminded of the ephemeral nature of youth and beauty…We don’t want to be reminded of the brevity of human life…And we most certainly don’t want to be reminded of the inevitability of death.
Because of our fear, we lose sight of the thing that’s most important in life. We lose sight of love.
Love is patient, Love is kind, does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.--1 Cor. 13: 4-7
**thanks scaly for that thought
***thanks again ed for this guest spot on your space.
