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)
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.
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
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.
oneness, not two.
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.
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!
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. 
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…
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.
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
according to me:
too much of pride and religion hurt.
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.
pride hurts… =(
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.
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
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??
Pride kills the wonders and the wondering.
It closes doors, shuts the eyes, closes the ears.
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’
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
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 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
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?
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,
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
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
@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…
[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’?…
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…
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.
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
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
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
@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..
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
“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..
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.
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
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.
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!
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”
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.
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
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.
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…
Many of us probably agree that it is important to strive, in everything we say or do, to come closer to the (ever changing) idea of the person we want to become.
But if that is the case, is it then possible to make any general statements of “sinful” or even good or bad behaviour? Any act bringing a person closer to his True Self would be “good”, and any act contrary to that goal would be “bad”.
In the light of this, I ask you if you think that anyone really has the authority to determine whether a particular act is “sinful”, or an act of virtue? Can anyone claim to have the sufficient knowledge and ability to see the future ultimate consequences of any given act?
Is not the claim of having such knowledge the worst example of “pride”?
hi im tom and i come from england and i agree with the saying of donal mulvey and i also think no sayings are more guiding than military ones such as ” if you know not of the port you are sailing to , then no wind is favourable” with pride people think they know exactly what there doing like they know wich port to sail to. you seem so confident that it leads people around you into a false sense of security , wich leads to you accumilating a false sense of security and when your pride gets too big you become disorganised wich reminds me of one more proverb before i finish “a large army is always disorganised” like a large sense of pride. why do you think the ancient romans conquered the world. they had small elite and organised forces. i rest my case
I agree to what AVC is saying, to a point. I always go back to that Shakespearean quote, ‘Nothing is either good or bad but thinking makes it so.’
I also think, however, that there are certain ways of being….certain laws of nature, if you will, regarding the positive and negative energies of the world in which you can feel, use and attract to yourself more of the same kind of energy that you’re putting out.
Others have touched upon this here, earlier. That, you can feel inside whether you are doing something that will cause a disruption in the energy field around you… for good or bad. From my experience, I believe that energy comes back to you (karma). So, while I agree that these man-made rules (sins) have been used by the churches to control the masses for their own devices, I believe that they have some foundation in the cosmic laws of nature. You have only to connect with it inside of yourself, to determine which way you need to adjust your energy, so that it best serves your purposes.
But, should we go back into that other discussion of whether or not we can even trust our feelings?! Ha!
Round and round and round she goes…where she stops…noone knows. Ever! Blahhhh, my head is spinning!! Get me off of this perpetual carousel!! 
What a wonderful post and thoughtful comment discussion. I think of pride not as arrogance or a sense of self importance, but rather as a concept of doing one’s best in all things. So if a project is assigned, are we doing our best, even if the outcome is not seen by objective standards as being a job well done? Further, I don’t think humility is the same thing as low self esteem. I think humility is awaareness of ones gifts and talents, and awareness of one’s shortcomings.
I especially enjoyed the Zen fable. So much teaching in this simple story about the truth of our place in this world. Important labels and distinctions mean nothing. What lives in our hearts is what matters.
As a reminder to myself, I sign my name and e-mails with small case letter. It is a small thing, but a reminder to be aware and mindful in all things about humility and to mindful of the places that pride is taking a foothold.
Thank you for this wonderful blog and opportunity to participate in this discussion.
As with many teachings in the bible, this one can be looked at upside down, sideways and inside out, as we should always do with any object/subject we are studying for the purpose of determining exactly what it is. We are looking at first from a position of ignorance, admitting this is an act of humility. Then we discover a truth, which is disclosed in the act of testing the theory in practice. Upside down; the book of James says, The brother in humble circumstances should take pride in his high position, and the rich man take pride in his low position….this is talking about the pride we take on in our material/monetary circumstances. Jesus said, Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Meek means submissive or humble. Store your riches in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy.- Money is nothing. It does not buy Life, you cannot take it with you, and God wants you to give it all to the poor if you’re approaching him with alot of it in your pocket. Pride as sin is talking here about Love of Money, which is said to be the root of all evil. Love cannot be stolen like money. It is a Gift of the Holy Spirit which cannot be taken away. But Love too is to be given away in shedloads, more even than the money we give to good causes. love never runs out at the end of the month. So, another angle at looking at Pride as sin is ….the object/subject we are studying has many facets and faces, disguises and shiny temptations…Not knowing our place, as servants of God, in the universe, and that we are all equal in our curiosities and in his eyes. Knowing our place as servants is something to be proud of, because God is Love,and he said if we are ashamed of him he will be ashamed of us. we are told to love one another as He has loved us, if we do this truly, truly, truly, we will look after each others needs. Then we become His friends, instead of servants, but because we love him with all our mind, soul and strength, we continue to serve him and each other… and i’ve untangled some of a tangled ball of thread, which the online Warrior of the Light threw at us because he likes us to unravel it and hopes we do not get tied up in the process. Paulo are you well? your blog on Greed is lovingly awaited and over-due its usual arrival. I pray all is well. God Bless everyone.LJ
Hello to you all
). But I`ll need a ‘volunteer’ with some spare time to have a look at the things when they are ready, just to check for major mistakes, and you know- second opinion. As soon as this is done I`d be happy to share what I`ve found out. Anyone, who wants to help me out, write at adifos@abv.bg.
Just to say, I`ve begun working on comparing the different language postings. I don`t promise, but I hope I`ll be able to finish the ‘research’ soon (I like the way it sounds
Have a wonderful and smiling day,
Deyan
Hi ! Serenity,
The pride u speak of is not the one which is forbidden, i feel. I think we r all converging on the menaing of the word from diffrent angles.
regards
aditya
question is how to diffrentiate ? r others hurt by our sence of ‘pride’ in us, our work or not ! is that a good yardstick ?
aditya
Please excuse me for being so stubborn, but I really do not like the concept of “sin”, deadly or not. Maybe because I simply do not understand it.
It seems to me that religious people often have very strong opinions on right and wrong. And they quite often extend those views to apply to other people’s lives as well.
To me, this is very difficult to defend intellectually. For instance, would it have been a “bad” thing to shoot Hitler before he came into power, even if you knew nothing of his character and inentions at the time? It would probably have saved millions of lives, at least as far as we can tell in the short term perspective.
On the other hand, did the the second world war really bring nothing but evil consequences to the world?
Who among us on this blog has these answers, I would like to know.
Isn’t death necessary to the regeneration of Life and its evolution? Isn’t it in fact that very death that makes us appreciate Life?
Still, most of us cannot rid ourselves from the feeling of horror when getting close to death; the drive in us to make the most of our lives, to “do our part” as it were, seems so increadibly strong. Hence, it has been quite popular to promise eternal life to the people of the world simply by following certain rules and guidelines, regardless of circumstances.
Is money “the root of all evil”? Sure, you cannot bring it when it is time to die, but that is true for any tool in this world. Is it “bad” for multinational pharmaceutical companies and their shareholders to desire money, when the consequences include the development of new drugs that save millions of lives and mitigate even more suffering every day? I guess this will be discussed later on, but to me the problem is the same regardless of which “sin” we talk about. The merits of any thought or act will be determined by its consequences.
In my view, popular religious thought seems to focus on the “meek” side of life, hoping for the divinity’s ultimate defeat of darkness and death some glorious day in the distant future.
Maybe everything simply is as it is. Neither good nor bad. Does that make this world less divine?
On our journey towards our realization of our True Selves, we definitely need to be able to show mercy at times, but we will also face many obstacles that can teach us the value of the “good fight” and applying severity.
A.V.C.,
You asked, ‘Who on this blog has the answers?’ Well, *I* do! I have all of the answers to all of the questions of life. And, for your information, you’re going to Hell because you are a sinner.
I’m just joking, of course. Felt the need to lighten things up a bit.
I agree, again, with you in regards to how we will never know the merits of our actions/thoughts, until we view the consequences. That is a very true statement.
And, I don’t like the word ’sin’ either it’s too judgemental-sounding. Why don’t we stop calling it that and call it something else like - silly putty. Doesn’t silly putty just make you want to smile?
So, in regards to these ’silly putty’s’ that we’re discussing. I like to think of them more as guidelines of behavior, because, as I was saying before…you must agree that inside of yourself you can tell when you’re doing something just to be a ‘prick’ or because you’re feeling loving. Can’t you? Can’t you at least admit that? Or are you too stubborn? Hee hee!
Surely stubborness must be a silly putty! Ha!
OK..I’ll shut up now. Just had to throw in my two cents worth again.
Have a wonderful, silly putty free day, everyone.
-Crazy Lady
So long as U are, ego is. Sin is. what is sin ? what gives me pain eventaully even if it gives pleasure immediately ? Looks like sex too will fall within the ambit of ’sin’ if we follow what the Church or eatablished ‘religions’ have to say. Sex is the boundry line, some types of sex is not sin but some types are, how to distinguish ? Brother Paulo we need help.
I think we can learn the word from as many angle, as many experiences as we can, but we all will have to arrive at our own indivuidual definations.
I am seeing that since last few blog episodes, and I am writing this after reading your blog on greed Paulo, u simply copy paste ( as we say in the comp lingo )others views. Dear friend this is avoiding work WE ARE HERE TO LISTEN TO YOUR CONDESATION OF ALL THESE WISDOM, MOST OF WHAT U ‘COPY-PASTE’ GO ABOVE MY HEAD,
PAULO WILL U KINDLY OBLIGE BY WRTING A BRIEF PARAGRAPH ON EACH OF THE ‘SINS’, I UNDERSTAND YOUR LANGUAGE, OR at least that is what i tend to beleive.
AVC what is the hurry, let’s hear out paulo then we will decide whether Sin is or is it a figment of THEIR imagination.
REGARDS
aditya
Sin is a bad apple, straight from the Tree of Knowledge (of Good and Evil) Who’s imagination is at work when the sexually abused minor cries in mental pain after the physical feelings cease.? This is not imagination, it is real, there is no grey area, it is either good or bad, and the point is free will to choose, or deny, as seems to be the case for some, which is more profitable for the soul. If there were no sin, there’d be no forgiveness, and if I cannot forgive then I am slave to the unforgiven. In forgiveness, is growth of the soul, and the humble confession, we’re all human. No one to be looked down upon and no one to envy up. We are all as bad as each other at being the best we can !?! Love to all, yeah.
Dear Paulo,
Hello!!
Aditya and AVC, maybe you are getting stuck in labels, what is true is that some acts we humans perform are bad, bad for ourselves!!! If you harm someone that’s bad, if you steal something, that’s bad, if you live in hate, that’s bad, those “BADs” have been labeled sins. Regardless of the name though, what’s more important is the fact that all of our actions will generate a reaction, every cause will have an effect, and so we live bound to this universal principle which governs life.
It seems to me that sinners don’t want to believe in sins because they don’t want to take responsability for their actions and their consequences. Of course not! It’s just easier to be the victims of an ever unffair life design and wrong God. The beauty of life though, is that it gives us freedom, and that also extends to them, sinners are free to believe sins don’t exist!! It will not free them from the consequences of their sins though.
Our souls are on an infinite journey of growth and evolution, some on planet earth, some in other dimentions or even different planets I dare affirm. Life would be much more harmonious and less painful on planet earth if people started understanding that us and only us are the source of the mess we live on today.
Yes, we are all sinners, now let’s rewind and go back to life-on-earth 101.
Clover
Taking the apple is gaining sight, in the meaning of knowledge, consciousness. When we have no consciousness, when we are blind in the sence of knowledge - the fool - we do not know right from wrong. God is our protector and we live in paradise, we are all one. When we do have consciousness, we are not innocent anymore, we are aware of right and wrong, of everything. So, then we are accountable. And we see everything, we feel everything, we have to make choices. And there is no such simplicity as only right and wrong, white and black, left and right etc. Just as the world is not flat, there is no this or that. Having knowledge does not per se mean life will be easier, because we see more and more, we see the whole circle, so we become aware of pain and all the pain in the world. The pain of separation, we are not one anymore. But having knowledge is not the issue, it’s what we do with it, how we act upon it. Seeing and knowing and not act upon that, I think that’s the sin. We have enough examples of men and women closing their eyes very consciously.
About being humble and pride: climbing a mountain and going to the top takes effort, courage and whatever a person need. On the top we can feel one with everyone, we feel we are connected and we are grateful, we thank everyone who supported us getting there. And then we have to go down the mountain again, that’s the natural way of living. If we refuse to descend and we believe we can always stay at the top, at some point a lightning will strike us and we fall.
Is it not pride that brings me shame when I trip or turns my face red when I am embarassed. Most things in life have a dual purpose, it’s just the one who observes the act who interprets their own meanings.
ive just found an interesting proverb that may help you all figure out sins and non-sins here it goes : people kill people who kill people because they think killing people is wrong?
Thank you Tom, that’s a great quote!
pride causes a lot of wars ive noticed. not wiling to back down and not willing to just quit while your ahead leads to full scale wars. yet we are not aware of how corrupt the world has become. were just on our safe little islands not so much as ignoring the fact but not acting against it either. ive watched this happen over and over again. im only young but ive read and seen how pride contributed to vietnam korea afghanistan and iraq. so now i ask everyone this. when will it stop or at least when will we open our eyes and see this corruption. just because our government is rich doesnt mean we have to keep others poor.
thank you ive read into a lot of philosophies and they are based on sins. like good and evil.
i personaly think that you need some pride in yourself to keep going. im only young and every day i wake up and ask my self why i do actually get up. i have an answer. i want to become a writer and when i do i will be filled with pride. but not so much so that it becomes trouble. it is necessary to have some pride so it only becomes an issue when it grows to big
I don’t really think that pride is such a sin cos we need it to improuve ourselves and to carry on
Hi ! souria, Hi Tom !
I could not agree with you more, we need to be able take a ceratin ‘pride’in our actions. But that ‘pride’ has more to do with fulfillment over a job well done, a task acomplasihed to teh best of one’s abilities, the pride in being sincere. Such pride is not a sin but it is a virtue. The pride that is considered as Sin is the one in which we start comparing with others and start looking down upon others as being not as ‘good’ as us, that is the Sinful pride which is road to hell. What so u say !
Aditya
aditya youve got it in one my friend. we need pride as a motivator. but if used too much it becomes a dependent thing and that is not good. we need to have confidence without pride aswell