The seven cardinal sins were eight, organized at the beginning of Christianity by the Greek monk Evágrio do Ponto, and defining the principal negative inclinations of the human being (it is curious that on Evágrio’s list, the most serious sin is gluttony…). All of them were able to take us to hell. In the 16th century, Pope Gregory made the first changes in the list, including “envy” but merging pride and vanity. In the 17th century the list was rewritten again, and “melancholy” ceased to be a sin, being replaced by “sloth”. Now we have today’s list as a basis on which the next seven columns will be based.
According to the dictionary: Feminine noun, pride comes from the Latin Superbia. It means haughtiness, conceit, arrogance, presumption.
According to the Catholic Church: Self-esteem that goes beyond limits and places itself above love for God. It goes against the First Commandment (You shall have no other gods before Me), and it was this passion that caused the rebellion of the angels and the fall of Lucifer.
In a Zen fable: The grand master of Tofuku noted that the monastery was busy. Novices ran back and forth, employees stood in line to receive someone.
“What’s happening?” he wanted to know.
A soldier came up to the master and gave him a card which said: “Kitagaki, the governor of Kyoto, has just arrived and is asking for an interview.”
“I don’t have anything to discuss with this person”, said the master.
Minutes later, the governor came up, apologized, crossed out what was on the card and delivered it again to the master.
It said: “Kitagaki asks for an interview”.
“Welcome”, said the Zen master of Tofuku.
On an aircraft carrier: “MISSION FULFILLED” (banner on the USS Lincoln on May 1, 2003, when President Bush announced the end of the major military operations in Iraq. On that day, the number of American soldiers dead came to 217. On the day that I am writing this column, the figure has exceeded 2,700)
For Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz: “When someone tries to discover who you are, using secondary things as a way of comparison, he finds a series of empty shells – which depend on each other to make sense.
“It is not correct to define yourself as a friend of Tom, son of Dick, an executive in such a post, doing this or that task”. Because all we will discover through this method are aspects of ourselves – aspects that are usually gloomy and incomplete, of someone who is trying to become visible at the expense of others.
“The only relationship possible is with the Lord; from then on, everything begins to make sense, and we open our eyes to a greater meaning”.
According to St. Augustine: Pride is not grandeur, it is swollen-headedness. What swells seems big, but really it is a disease.
Advice from the Tao Te King: It is better not to fill a vase completely rather than try to carry it if it is full.
When we sharpen a knife too much, its cutting edge will not be preserved.
When gold and jade fill a room, their owners will be unable to keep them safe.
When wealth and honors lead to arrogance, for sure evil will come soon after.
When we do our work and our name begins to become famous, wisdom consists of withdrawing into obscurity as soon as the task ends.
(next: Greed)
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This to AVC’s observations: Correct, but what you say would put most religions out of business. If there is no threat, create one – its much bigger business than one may ordinarily fathom or care about!
It helps in creating such a fried chowmein and other fried things – like most deep fried food, its not healthy, since one barely comes across an “idea” of hell except being deep fried – one assumes it would be physical after death!
So apart from the incongruity of that, its often better for such religious idiots to put such an idea into effect and fry a person alive in the psychological sense – makes good politics and obviously helps those idiots who have big egos and small brains!
The only trick – it usually backfires since entire nations are not idiots though they may be ignorant. One can forgive ignorance – no other choice…
But does an individual have that power or is it the incongruity of being deep fried in hell the reason behind such assumptions.
May be the string theory may not really work too well, but Newton still is quite fine in amny senses. So, maybe those religious bigots and fanatics who would like you to believe something as fantastic as that, may perhaps know more than they may be revealing – and that usually is about their own guilt!
So its merely their guilt and the consequences, projected unto someone else! But surely, they are creatures, not the creator of the universe and there are laws that govern creation. So…
good you have got the point the gita is supposed to be read and understood on our own and i what i meant by many ppl have read it is simple it adds to the power any thing which has been read and chanted by a lot of ppl will have the power of all those people.
Dear Sean,
I read something beautiful on this very blog. one of whose lines were
worthiness without LOVE creates arrogance.
The moement we are faced with hostile reactions like others treating us as arrogant, we ‘judge’ others but hardly ever ‘judge’ ourselves. The only reason for our interaction may be love, if it is so then things become diffrent. e.g. in a way i am interacting with u ( all ) here, so far as the best interests of others and myself is the basis on whcih I contribute here, it should be fine. If someone accuses me of being arrogant, then I better check again what I wrote, it may have been to ‘show off’
Dear AVC
U said “To my mind, there is no need for anyone to judge or condemn, much less to inflict punishment.” Yet all of us, we do judge others, continuously. U have rightly said, anyone who is not acting in accordance with True self will pay the price, but u see that paying the price happens where & how, it happens in our inetractions with ‘rest of the world’
As I write here, I become clearer on issues, hence I don’t wat to resist the urge.
regards
Aditya
A common saying in English is “Pride comes before a fall.” Personally I think the main problem with pride is that it can lead to a feeling of self-importance which leads to a feeling of superiority and all of a sudden you feel you have the right to enforce your ideas, religion, belief system or culture upon others.
I know I’m not truly humble and I am certainly not dignified (I can’t think of anything worse). Perhaps developing a sense of self-respect is a safer path for me.
In reply to Peter from Ireland, Im from Ireland myself and what you say is true but one addage my father always says at appropriate times is
“pride comes before a fall”
Does anyone else here find that you do things so as to gain a sense of pride in yourself, greater self-esteem…it may be things like writing a great story, cooking a great meal, or even pursuing knowledge…and then when you finally feel confident, others see you as having become proud/arrogant? And then your confidence and self-esteem fall and the cycle repeats itself over and over again? I certainly do…and I’m still struggling to find the sweet spot of confidence without becoming arrogant. It would be great to hear anyone else’s comments on this…
It’s a great ‘coincidence’ that I come across Paulo’s blog for the first time and the article’s on pride because it’s exactly the issue that was making me feel all upset tonight. Thank you my guardian angel! :)
Can there really be any “sin”, other than striving to become one with your True Self, i.e. to realize Gods Will? And can anyone really tell what the True Self of another person is?
There will always be people, institutions and states who try to dictate the ways of others for their own means and purposes, and that will use whatever arguments may be necessary to scare them to the appropriate conduct.
For example, why not promise people eternal life provided that they strictly obey the commands that you have allegedly received from an almighty authority…? Not working to your satisfaction? Try throwing in a threat of afterlife torture, pain and agony.
If it still doesn’t work, burn those people already in this life, stating that you have been awarded this power over life and death from above!
Anyone acting in opposition to his True Self will pay the price. To my mind, there is no need for anyone to judge or condemn, much less to inflict punishment.
Hi ! Joshephine ( swe) & Ande,
I almost missed this beautiful comment till u pointed out.
“in finding your dignity you can swallow your pride”,
that will be the day when u don’t have to swallow u’r pride; in situations as u have said, when others may ‘tease’ mischiviously, u don’t feel hurt u feel a piety for them, for the only reason anyone ever inflicts hurt upon others is when “one knows not what one does”, did he not say that, “forgive them o lord !”.
Vishesh ! it does not help me if other powerful persons have read Gita or not, what matters is have I read it, really !!. Only test will be if my actions become in line with what that fellow krishna called ‘sthithipragya’ one who is establised firmely in his own awareness. It better to fight, fall, get hurt and LIVE rather than leaving like a corpse who is afraid of these and just crawls, to his death / her death. That way i appreciate u’r quest. as Nike says “Just do it” i will just add one word ( it has been my passtime to add some suffix to this slogan like right, or wrong or funnily or sadly, and then live a few days remebering the slogan with the suffix e.g. when I am “Just do it, funnily” I will like to add a little humor to everything I do, likewise for other suffixes). On the path, as warrior of light my current slogan is “Just do it, intensely”
In case any one of u will like me to shut up, please say so.( not that I promise to shut up ). ha ha ha !!
aditya
Dear Deyan,
Being Dutch I sometimes have difficulties trying to find the right words in English, so maybe the nuances are lost by translation. That’s why we have to read between the lines also… :-)))
Greetings.
“i am i and u r U.”
-thats why you and i are special.
i accept your point on philosophy but remember the gita and other works have been read by many a great men and women so they have power..
Ande – that was terrificly said!
“in finding your dignity you can swallow your pride”
I was thinking on how to respond to Peters words of “pride”… I have through the years been struggling
a lot with this word due to the fact I’m a very tall woman
(197cm or 6’5 3/4) and I was always the tallest kid and bullied in school. I was sensitive and in the same time not very good in listening or following the “social codes”.
The bullying filled me with anger of the injustice, an
anger I still carry around today. I want to claim the right to be who I am and still be respected, if you understand what I mean. But the fact that some people feel challenged just by my nearness, that I must always be the patient one when stupid comments are made – well – there you have it,
you will hear of very few very tall people who are arrogant. Society itself has forced upon us to “be humble” and “gentle giants” so that we can be accepted!
That’s why I like the words of Ande so much – when we know who we are we can stand above all these remarcs, of bad attitudes, of need of acceptance etc – the sense of dignity overrules pride. Stupid comments bounce back to the person who said them.
thanks :-)
*smile*
Josephine
Deyan Hi !
My guess is that if same people are not involved ( in fact even if same people are involved but contribute in diffrent moods ) then there may not be much similarities ( some similarity will be there ) between blogs in diffrent languages. For even though on the same text views are being formed, the people forming them r diffrent. to illustrate – they say reality or truth or god or what-ever is one but there are so many versions of it, in fact each individual has a version which is not identical to the next. Anyway it would be inetresting to carry out a study in that direction – and share with us the results.
regards
Adity
Hi Vishesh !
Don’t u worry about ‘overstaying our welcome’. Paulo is generous, he has allowed us to make it ( this blog ) our temporary home on the internet, if we so wish. if u don’t beleive me, just view the blog for past few issues, we have been like children chatting about this & that, half the time not even related to what paulo wrote, yet he has been generous, may god bless his soul ! And ya although we all seem wlecome welcome here, there is no one to welcome us per se, we r on our own ( or so it appears ).
I liked u telllimg me the method of reaching your blog, u know for few days I was wonedring why some names appear in blue while mine in black like few others, all it needed was a click on the roght place, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. but u could have ommitted that first few words, ‘I think ….’ bit, when u knew then u could have just said so. But then again, looks as if this ‘I think..’ u use like what we call takiya kalam in hindi.
I did visit u’r site, twice. Sorry to say this but it appeared very difficult reading and to tell u the truth, i could not understand much of it. neither the questions and nor the answers, unreality of death ??. The stuff about dwaite & adwaita, wel….. i think we should write our own personal commentaries on these concepts and do so many times after a fap of few years, i feel there may be chnages in our commentary e.g. we read the bible or say Holy Gita, do u think that Zesus will use the same language or Krishna will use the same verses that was used then ?? my point -revise & revisit. One last point, u said somewhere that all of us r special, is that an indirect, round about way of convincing ourselves that we are special, if all r so we too must be, kind of logic. why does it pain to accept that we are not special, we are just we, i am i and u r U.
let’s all learn before nature has to resort to something it does not really enjoy, giving us ‘pain’. so let’s LOL.
aditya
Hey Deyan,
Why don’t you go and read the comments yourself? You can get free online translation devices and copy and paste the text from the other sites into the translator. Of course, sometimes stuff gets lost in translation. But, I’m always amazed at how much gets lost in translation just from person to person in English, too. :)
-Deb :)
In a crowded world, humbleness has left me gloomy one time too many. So, sometime, I experimented on being proud of what i truly have and what i truly deserve to have. They listened to me. However, I have left the crowd gloomy with their own humbleness. They felt lower than me. And upto this date, I consider that one of the most hurting sins Ive commited to others. I stopped there.
Hello All,
Peter from Ireland; I understand completely where you are coming from, may I just say that in finding your dignity, you can swallow your pride! Although similar they are different things!
Everyone your thoughts!
be well,
Ande
Hello to you all,
As I was clicking around the blog, a thought came to my mind. Comments as the one we make here in English are made in three more languages, by different people probably (I mean there might be someone posting both in English and Italian section for example, but not much probably). So, what I`m interested in – if any comparison was made between the postings in different languages, would there be similarities between what is said? After all, the comments are made upon the same texts. My guess is ‘yes’, but what do you think?
Good day,
Deyan
@aditya:i think by clicking on my name u can reach there..
i think it speaks for me..see the poems especially…
and ya i too have been guilty many a times but next time i see myself closely…
i think we are overstaying our welcome..maybe we shld go to my blog..
Naomi Hi,
Not that I know, but your question has sent me pondering what is ‘being humble’. may i share my thoughts with u ( all ) on this, interetsing question i must say.
1. For one, whenever we r dealing with others, if we realise that it’s a twist of fate ( chance ) that i am where i am and the other person is where he is. very easily, i could be in his/her shoes and s/he could be in mine. This realisation takes away much of the ‘complex’ that we may suffer from, both inferiority and superiority complex ( actually there is no superiority complex, it’s only a camoufalged version of inferiority complex ). This makes us humble in the face of the weak and strong when faced with oppression.
2. Being humble is remembering in our moments of glory that it’s not just our own efforts but of countless others which make us and our efforts possible, remebering that unseen hand which harvested that grain which we eat.
3. being humble is being aware, and being aware is the path… to what … ha ha ha don’t ask that. will love u’r & others views on this.
regards
Aditya
Dear Paulo,hello
From the experience of my own simple life I know that of all our natural passions pride is the most dreadful. I’ve been struggling with this sin for about two decades but can’t boast of much success. Pride is not always well-expressed arrogance or a haughty attitude. It might be a secret feeling which dwells in the bottom of your heart and manifests itself in different ways. It may be a self-confidence that you’re right or your will is important. Pride leads to loneliness and self-isolation. It is a disease. Isn’t it accidental that most of the patients with mental disorders have delusions of grandeur.
With pride it is impossible to approximate to God. The only weapon that might reduce pride is humility. We should cultivate the feeling of being humble and repeat to ourselves many many times Christ words “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble-hearted”.
Nona from Georgia
Dear Vishesh !
Thanks for reminding me. U know I wrote “False pride has always been a bane for we Indians, without imbibing the spirit of our ancient culture we assume that we know it.” I too am guilty of it, I too, many a times, OK mostly, say things which I myself am not 100 % sure of, It has been one of my recent observations – whatever advise i give to you or for that matter anyone else, are applicable for me also. as Paulo tells us sometimes the angel within speaks to us from our freinds mouth, sometimes the same angle also speaks through us as we ‘converse’ with freinds. I need to listen to my own ‘advises’ more carefully !!!
Tell me about u’r blog,I may come there, sometime.
regards
aditya
Pride. I wonder too about the word and meanings. What do we feel when we have overcome problems or fear, when we reached the top of a mountain etc. etc.
I think we enjoy victory, but I think that’s not the same as pride in the sence of being a great person. It still does not say anything about who we ARE.
I do not think that we could do ‘great things’ just by ourselves. We could do those things because of other powers and because of our loved-ones who support us or by others who stimulate us (also our not-loved-ones).
That does not mean that I am nothing or nobody. I mean: I cannot reach the mountain top by myself alone.
I also feel that it is very important not to forget your birthright – that is: as a living creature or a human on this planet.
We are all the same and we all have the same goal: to live here, so also the same right: to live here.
When does people describe themselves being humble? In what context? What do we really mean by being humble? (apart from the meaning described in the dictionary) Just wondering…
[quote comment="989"]I have heard it said that pride inhibits humility; that it is necessary to be humble in order to truly care; and that without caring, we deny the reality of connection and compound the illusion of separation. I don’t know where I heard this, but I know it to be true for me.[/quote]
What do we MEAN by ‘being humble’?…
@aditya:well nice point you mention about patients..
but there is another way of kowning things that is pain(not exactly physical).i think you shld go through my blog you may get an idea about me…
hay all&paulo,
a funny thing happened last night.i was at my girlfriends grandmothers house last night for a family dinner. her grand aunt is a 86year old nun.in conversation i mentioned that i was originaly from cork county.she wondered if i knew of a few of the nun orders she was involved with. i didn’t but,i told her that my fathers family was from capaquin in waterford and i knew of mountmelory where a few monks live. i then said that i knew the groto.now she was intrested!the old nun then asked if had seen mary.of course i had,its a fantastic statue!she got even more excited and said did she appear to you. no she did not appear to me! it was an amazing reflection thinking back to all the times i visited there.when i got home my father told that my greatgrandmother use to own the land the groto is built on. amazing.i am taking a trip down to visit in two weeks. i cant wait to see it again.just hope it wont kill me!thats a different story from 22years ago…
kealan
HI ! Peter from Ireland,
U’r views on the subject as also those of Deb and others here help me better understand the word ‘pride’. Yes we should all live our days in such a manner as to be able to look back with a sence of pride. I think when someone says that he is ‘good’ it’s not pride, but when someone says he is better or best then pride, the kind which is preached as being road to hell comes into play.
Aditya
Dear Anonymous,
U said ” As a child, I saw myself as innocent and pure.” See our mind can play strange tricks on us. As a child u cannot see u’rself as innocent & pure because the moment these thoughts come into play u r no more child, child is innocent & pure but is not aware of it, the moemnt u become aware, u can choose to be child like, burt that innocense is of saints.
Dear vishes, pride is not required, pride hurts, real bad. self esteem yes pride no. actually only those who have a feeling of inferoroity somewhere try to compensate for by being boastful ( either in words or ations ). Vishesh one last advice, just because u have read or heard those (hi)stories don’t ever assume that u know them. Knowing them requires patience, which is a rare commodity now a days sadly.
Hope u don’t mind, not that I will be hurt if u do. False pride has always been a bane for we Indians, without imbibing the spirit of our ancient culture we assume that we know it.
regards
aditya
Hi Peter From Ireland!
How’s it going? We’ve missed you! :)
I just wanted to say that I think we all agree with you. It’s that whole semantics thing again…we’re all meaning the same thing, but, saying it differently. Don’t ya think?
Self esteem is the good kind of pride that we’re all referring to, from what I gather.
When I was growing up, I had NO self esteem, and had to earn enough to stop abusing myself and allowing others to do the same. To me, having ANY self esteem, at first, felt so awkward, and, well, when you throw in the ‘growing up Catholic’ experience…I felt really bad for having self esteem at all.
It’s a hard balancing act,sometimes – to feel good about yourself, yet not to seem arrogant. I often apologize for sounding overly confident at times, and my friends laugh and tell me that I could never be confident ENOUGH to be arrogant. So, that makes me feel good…but not TOO good… Ha! :)
Have a wonderfully confident day, everyone…but not TOO confident.
-Deb :) The ‘underly’ confident one. Is that a word?
i would like to say paulo thankyou for invoking my personal dream and thankyou for making me see clearer. i am now discovering things i wouldnt have if i hadnt read your books i wish you a healthy life and the success of many more books
paulo thankyou for the inspirational material in all of your books and this article(s) i would have to say i am going to establish myself as a writer and i wont live forever but my name will. one day you may see a book and the author tom usher just take an extra second to wish luck to that book
I recognise what Debbie sais, about ‘being satisfied with an achievement’. I practise sports, and cannot see how I hurt someone by doing this. If pride means superiority, yes, of course, that could lead to sin. But pride itself a sin? I don’t think so… For example: if I make a 42 day’s walk from coast to coast through the Pyrenees, I feel proud to have overcome all the difficulties and to arrive in Banyuls. But I never felt superior because of that, because I think people all have their reasons to do what they do. And then, when you achieve your objective, pride is not the only sentiment, there can also be sadness, because the wonderful time is over, your complete sense of freedom is gone. Your ordinary working-life starts again.
Kind regards to everyone
Hello Paulo and friends…
On the subject of pride, a quotation I once read went something like ‘Never does a man look so small as when he is trying to look big’
However, I disagree with the people who said they would not tell their children to be proud.
In my culture (maybe it’s an Irish thing, most of you will know our history) the ‘old’ people, especially from rural backgrounds, would imbue their children with a sense of pride, not the boastful conceited type but rather with a sense of identity, not to trample on other people but yet not to be trodden upon.
And a sense of pride in one’s life in general.
Whatever you do, do it well and to the best of your abilities and talents.
At least this is what my parents ‘told’ me.
They never verbally explained what the word ‘pride’ translated as, or what it meant to be proud, rather their actions and their integrity created this meaning for me.
I now tell my children to remember who they are, where they come from, how much they are loved and yes, to be ‘proud’ of themselves, in their thoughts and actions.
They know and understand, by knowing and understanding me, and their grandparents, that ‘pride’ as I mean it here, is the strong, self-believing kind, the stuff of the old fashioned, quietly sung hero or, perhaps, of the modern day Warrior of Light.
Not everyone out there will agree with my take on this. I respect their opinion. I am nonetheless ‘proud’ of my interpretation, and the generations before me who brought me gently (yet firmly) to this understanding of what it means to me, in my soul, to be proud.
I wish all of you a Happy New Year. May you look back at the end of it with ‘pride’
Pride kills the wonders and the wondering.
It closes doors, shuts the eyes, closes the ears.
well aditya-we indians are aware of these (hi)stories…
pride is required but excess of any good always hurts us..
may be it may be 4 r country too…what do u say??
What is pride ? is it a feeling od superiority, of superiors possessions, why is pride considered a sin in almost all religions. Let me share with all fellow bloggers ( and pretenders to being warriors of whatever )the story of Ravana, the great demon king. if u have heard about India u may have heard of Rama, Sita & Ravana. If u look at the two personalities without any pre conceived ideas, what u see
Ravana : A great devotee, a great warrior, a great musician, a great statesman ( he made his kingdom buildigs of Gold , great this and great that. even to the extend that he possesed the ultimate mythical wepon the “brahmastra”. But he did not use it against Rama, even when his whole army, rel;atives everyone including finally himself was destroyed by Rama. A great man ! can we say, a man of great acompalishments ! errr a greta ‘demon’ so to say.
Rama : Neither a gerat devotee, nor a great ruler, i mean till he fought Ravana to free his wife, he had barely any claim to fame.
Yet Rama is god and Ravana is demon …. so say our wise. why ? one distinction : Rama is humble, he never boasts of his own powers which too are great, he never takes the credit for his victories. and Ravana he is ego and pride personified. No doubt Ravana was self made man ( errrr demon ) and he had defeated even gods by his might, his claim of strength and wisedom was justified, yet no such claim is justified, in claiming itself is the seed of pride.
Request Paulo to not to take this series lightly, I am not sure.
Aditya
vanity… quite the pandemic sin. But I think humility could be a sin too. It all matters on the reasons for your actions. As a child, I saw myself as innocent and pure. Well, at least much more so than right now. I really loved being humble for no reason except that I was. However as time went on, people started telling me I was humble. Now, late in my teens, I question myself- am i being humble becuase that’s what I am or am I being humble becuase that is what I want to be? Even as a teen who has experienced still such a small portion of life, I know that something is not what it is but rather it is for me to decide on what it is. Of course, this does not apply to everything but it is an aphorism one knows. What is seen as a virtue can be a sin. What is seen as a sin can be used as a virtue. What one believes may be what another doesn’t believe.
pride hurts… =(
Great, those thoughts on pride! I think pride has a lot to do with pretence. If a person is proud because he gave love or did something nice for this world. Love has nothing to do with pride. An act of love has nothing to do with pride. If a person cheers for himself after an act of love, the magic will vanish.
Is the river proud because it reaches the ocean? Or does the river just follow its heart and, therefore, has to act upon that? It’s the nature of things.
according to me:
too much of pride and religion hurt.
Debbie – I had the same words in mind as you!
Always thought I will not teach my future kids to be proud of themselves, but to be satisfied and confident with themselves…
A late Happy New Year to everyone!
*big smile*
Josephine
In Sanatan Dharma of India, there are basic six sins. Kama (lust or desires) , krodha (anger), mada (pride or ego), moha (attachment), lobh (greed) and matsar (envy).
There is only one thing to be proud of – Our connection with God. All other pride are various forms of our false ego. Sense of doer ship induces ego and pride in oneself. Knowing Karma-Yoga ( Science of Action ) , one can understand that our Soul is without form,action and emotion. The work done through us is in accordance to scientific circumstances evidence. Pride vanishes by itself when we realize that we are the instruments of God.
One has heard about these classifications. Must be instant coffee variety in those days. It is interesting and has obvious uses, though one keeps on encountering the irrational and the fanatic. One of the small lessons one has heard in such matters is the judgement of the Self over recogniion of what is the ailment and the respective identifications and capacities may perhaps underline a little the uniqueness of individuals and of course their place in the classification. As broad swathes, like consumer profiles – they serve as good psycho-graphic profiles to slot a customer in, though I doubt if that would not be akin to acceptance of natural stratifications that marks a “Pope” from the bible carrying fanatic, eager to have everyone read the “Words” of “God” or carry out a “Jehad” in the name of that book and the utter poverty of identities that mark such war cries (- apart from the structural considerations that would be very material and in defiance of the commandment of not having other Gods – how that is interpreted is itself a mirror to the mind of the reader).
Although non-response is the best answer, sometimes one would like putting them up…
At the end, it is always the individual self and aware of its own limitations – and we have guilt (much of it taught) and a good business based on the exploitation of that, and subsequent petty politicking costing precious lives elsewhere- in a direct and ugly contrast! An ailment that marks most of such enterprises!
So, in a humble submission one would perhaps barely nod at the poem about a person called Abu Ben Adhem and the cultivation of the soul that is displayed there…
And in arrogant swollen headed pride – look at how a captive snake strikes back at the charmer, think about those who like talking about such captures and wonder about their psychological states and in arrogant pride shout “preacher know thy commandments before thee pretends to preach” – and get swamped by the book-carrying brigade and their war cries of BLASPHEMY!
So one shrugs and keeps posting on these blogs…
I was visiting with a friend of mine yesterday who is running for a local public office. He is a Being of Light and it showed in his response to one of my questions.
I asked him if he felt he was going to win. He said, ‘Yes, but if I don’t, it’s o.k. because either way, I’ll be doing what The Universe wants of me. I’m just enjoying the journey and I know whichever way it’s supposed to go, it will go.’
He talked about how he dislikes having attention drawn to him, but has to do all kinds of interviews now, and accepts that this is the role he has to play to do what he feels he is being called to do to bring in the light to our area.
To some people who don’t know him, they might think that he’s being prideful and I realized that when you are following God’s will with confidence, that it can appear this way.
I looked up both ‘pride’ and ‘confidence’ in the dictionary to distinguish between the two and found that pride generally involves a feeling of superiority, although there was one definition that referred to it as ‘satisfaction with your achievements’. I felt that to be satisfied with your work, to me, doesn’t constitute a horrible sin, unless you fail to acknowldege the Divine Force that worked through you. I suppose this is where the sin comes in.
I found it interesting that the word ‘confidence’ can imply ‘trust in oneself’ or ‘arrogant self-conceit.’ It can be either positive or negative, and as mentioned above, can mask or be perceived as pride.
It reminded me that none of us can ever really know another’s heart, judge or lay claim to their path, and that perhaps I should lay off of the semantics.
May we all follow our dreams with confidence – the good kind…not the prideful, arrogant, kind.
-Deb :) Who is confident that she knows nothing. ;)
Thank you Paulho for the lovely article.
My mother used to tell me when I was young, everytime a child would say something to hurt ,” Pride comes before a fall.” She would tell me to wait patiently and to watch and not to judge the situation till the very end!
Thank you for reminding us that God has the final decision!
Wishing everyone a wonderful and splendid new year with health, wealth and wisdom!
Pride is something that people experience when there exists an emptiness inside of them. Sometimes they are oblivious to the fact that this emptiness even exists. Yet something inside of them is unsatisfied so they try to fill this void with material things only to further bury this hole. Eventually what is left is a pile of useless things which are stacked on the void and blind what is really necessary.
oneness, not two.
In Islam God has 99 names one of them is the proud.
While God asked us to share with him his other names such as the passionate, the living, the merciful…etc., he kept pride for him self no human being is allowed to share it with him…
May God bless all of us in this new year.
Well said and well phrased.. Thank you my friend.
I have heard it said that pride inhibits humility; that it is necessary to be humble in order to truly care; and that without caring, we deny the reality of connection and compound the illusion of separation. I don’t know where I heard this, but I know it to be true for me.
What a great thing to write about. If we look at people they are uasually preoccupied by one or more of the deadly sins! AMAZING.. I think my only problen is that I am a 24year old child. Thank God that is not a sin
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