Pride is the Root of all Evil
Hi Folks,
all these years, I had valued Pride as an important value. Without pride in myself, how do I have the confidence to face the World? I was taught, since young, that I had to have pride in myself, in order to achieve BIG things. If I had no pride in me, then I would end up doing shameful things: I remember hearing comments like; "look at him, such shameful acts, he has no pride at all!"
My schooling years had been very focused on academic achievements, and I was very successful academically. My pride and confidence grew. I felt good and proud of my academic achievements, especially when people praised me.
My career achievements were good too. I didn't feel or even believe that I have too much pride in me. It is part of me, and I am part of it.
However, I had no peace in my life. Much that I prayed for peace in me and my family, I didn't feel that God was answering my prayer. I can't recall what made me suspect that I had PRIDE as one cornerstone of my problems. I decided to ask God to give me Humility. And I thought I was humble enough :-(
God's answer to my prayer was swift and ..... painful. I do not wish to mention what I went through. But it was enough to drive me to my knees in sorrow and humility. I realise the depth of my pride was the scourge of my life. Thankfully, God gave me the courage and wisdom to accept His correction as good for me.
I decided to pray for humility, again. I thought I was humble enough (and that thinking itself was pride). Again, God answered my prayer, with a swiftness I least expect. This time round, it was so damaging to my ego and confidence... that I even had suicidal thoughts. God pulled me out of the mess and consoled me by letting me hope for the future, and acknowledge the sin of Pride in me.
I realised God was quick to answer my prayers, as long as I prayed for the right thing. I had been praying for peace for years, but to no avail. Now I understand that for my situation, PEACE is a CONSEQUENCE. I had to remove certain blocks to achieve Peace. Pride is one big block.
PRIDE results in:
1. jealousy
2. arrogance (of course)
3. unforgiveness
4. impatience
5. lies
6. inability to take criticisms
7. stubborness
8. talking down others
9. materialism (as it feeds Pride)
10. showing off
11. over sensitivity about one-self (as we cannot take criticism)
12. lack of sensitivity for others
13. fear -of doing something right in case it backfired and hurt us (and our pride)
14. inferiority complex (that is if our fundamentals are based on things that build up Pride)
15. hurts
16. selfishness
17. anger and hatred
18. insecurity, leading to hoarding and 'kiasuness'
You may be amazed why I list down so many offshoots of Pride. How do I know? Because I had all of them.
Modern society and values shun humility and raises pride. Children, including my own, have lots of pride in them at an early age. Pride is as good as THE ORIGINAL SIN.
all these years, I had valued Pride as an important value. Without pride in myself, how do I have the confidence to face the World? I was taught, since young, that I had to have pride in myself, in order to achieve BIG things. If I had no pride in me, then I would end up doing shameful things: I remember hearing comments like; "look at him, such shameful acts, he has no pride at all!"
My schooling years had been very focused on academic achievements, and I was very successful academically. My pride and confidence grew. I felt good and proud of my academic achievements, especially when people praised me.
My career achievements were good too. I didn't feel or even believe that I have too much pride in me. It is part of me, and I am part of it.
However, I had no peace in my life. Much that I prayed for peace in me and my family, I didn't feel that God was answering my prayer. I can't recall what made me suspect that I had PRIDE as one cornerstone of my problems. I decided to ask God to give me Humility. And I thought I was humble enough :-(
God's answer to my prayer was swift and ..... painful. I do not wish to mention what I went through. But it was enough to drive me to my knees in sorrow and humility. I realise the depth of my pride was the scourge of my life. Thankfully, God gave me the courage and wisdom to accept His correction as good for me.
I decided to pray for humility, again. I thought I was humble enough (and that thinking itself was pride). Again, God answered my prayer, with a swiftness I least expect. This time round, it was so damaging to my ego and confidence... that I even had suicidal thoughts. God pulled me out of the mess and consoled me by letting me hope for the future, and acknowledge the sin of Pride in me.
I realised God was quick to answer my prayers, as long as I prayed for the right thing. I had been praying for peace for years, but to no avail. Now I understand that for my situation, PEACE is a CONSEQUENCE. I had to remove certain blocks to achieve Peace. Pride is one big block.
PRIDE results in:
1. jealousy
2. arrogance (of course)
3. unforgiveness
4. impatience
5. lies
6. inability to take criticisms
7. stubborness
8. talking down others
9. materialism (as it feeds Pride)
10. showing off
11. over sensitivity about one-self (as we cannot take criticism)
12. lack of sensitivity for others
13. fear -of doing something right in case it backfired and hurt us (and our pride)
14. inferiority complex (that is if our fundamentals are based on things that build up Pride)
15. hurts
16. selfishness
17. anger and hatred
18. insecurity, leading to hoarding and 'kiasuness'
You may be amazed why I list down so many offshoots of Pride. How do I know? Because I had all of them.
Modern society and values shun humility and raises pride. Children, including my own, have lots of pride in them at an early age. Pride is as good as THE ORIGINAL SIN.
posted by more-or-less at 2:11 AM
4 Comments:
I have to disagree completely. To me pride me caring enough to do a good job and that's all. Caring that the work you do that bears your name was done as well and you could do and you feel good about it. It is NOT a driven by the ego as you are alluding to. It has its place and we feel different emotions for differents reasons and those emotions are specifically designed to brign about action. These actions allows us to be motiviated in succeeding. Success is NOT a bad thing. Making something out of yourself is NOt a bad thing. And feeling pride at your accomplishements is not a bad thing. Your are wasting your time suppressing what is there for a reason. ONe can feel pride without it being negative or conjuring up anything evil.
Michelle, you raise good points. My own experience has been very close to that of the author, while I also recognize truth in the points you make.
I think one important distinction which helps here is between pride and self-respect and self-belief. If I have self-respect and self-belief, that's good, and I will believe that I am a human created in the image of God and should therefore be my best always and show that light. I will encourage others to do the same.
Pride however is ultimately about comparison, the belief that I am better than others. This is the foundation of countless sins -- C.S. Lewis called it 'the great sin', and declared that all other sins are mere 'fleabites' next to pride. If a proud person is excelled by another, the outcome is suspicion, jealousy, and rivalry - more sins. As C.S. Lewis pointed out, pride IS competition. A proud person can not be truly happy for others, as s/he must always be #1, and the outcome is enmity towards the fellow man.
The transition from pride to humility has been hard for me too, but it is a much safer and happier place. Only with humility does the greatness of God begin to become more apparent, while my own state of dependence on God becomes increasingly obvious. I'm more of a team-player and less selfish. I want to do my best for me, not to 1-up or out-do anybody else so I can feel pride toward them. I'm a better and more faithful friend. I could go on, but humility is a beautiful thing. I strongly believe that pride also creates a false self-esteem and can be easily ruined by adversity, while humility provides an entirely different kind of self-esteem that grows and does not easily suffer setbacks with the changes and chances of the world.
All religions describe pride as a sin and humility as a virtue. In the Bible, Jesus only calls two people great, both toward people who lowered themselves in His presence and showed humility.
Prosperity used to cause me to swell with pride, and adversity to shrink, but now neither affect me and I know they are transient. Humility is a happier place.
Michelle, you are talking about a different type of pride. Simply caring enough to do a good and being pleased by your accomplishments, are not the sinful pride that was talked about in the post.
Sinful pride, is choosing to put your will before God's will. In other words, choosing to do you want, rather than what's right, and/or believe what you want, rather than what's true.
PRIDE leads to other things like fear.Fear is never good and as sinful a thing as pride.I agree with you on this particular thing and believe that all humanity is drenched in this pool of pride and fear.We want things just to be proud of them and we fear for our failures.We are afraid to face the failures.Humbleness leads to a different sort of pride which is also bad.Most wars are fought in this very name of pride and humbleness.I believe in neutrality and Individualism which are a very rare sign in itself and hopefully it will be the prime characterstic of man.
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