Of all angels, Lucifer was the most magnificent
God had created. Aware of his beauty, brilliance, and many
qualities, Lucifer felt elevated above the other angels and, at some point, even above
God. He wanted to be like God, so he created a
throne for himself above the stars and convinced a third of the angelic beings to join his
side and take over Heaven. But Lucifer lost the war and was banished
from Heaven, cast down to Hell. God transformed Lucifer’s beauty – the
trait he admired most about himself – into ugliness, and thus the once so-handsome angel
became the vile, wrathful creature we know as Satan. Lucifer had fallen for the worst of sins,
pride, which led to his inflated sense of self-importance, power, and entitlement. In the thirteenth century, theologian Thomas
Aquinas elaborated on what he called the “capital sins” in his Summa Theologiae, in which
he considered the sin of “pride” the worst of all sins. Through pride, one becomes susceptible to
the other six sins. Pride, therefore, is the instigator, the gateway
drug to evil. However, nowadays, many people seem to encourage
pride. We celebrate those boasting of their accomplishments,
and social media is full of individuals who continuously post about their extraordinary
lives. And we’re not just proud of our achievements:
we’re also proud of where we’re from, what nationality is in our passport, how we
look, what skin color, and even what gender we have. But how and why is such pride bad exactly? And aren’t there good forms of pride, then? The Seven Deadly Sins is a Christian concept
that presents humanity with seven immoral acts: seven transgressions against the divine,
oneself, and the world around us. The idea of the Seven Deadly Sins came to
fruition when the desert father Evagrius Ponticus listed the “eight evil thoughts:” gluttony,
lust, avarice, anger, sloth, sadness, vainglory, and pride, but it had Greek and Roman precedents,
specifically the ethics of Aristotle. In the sixth century, Pope Gregory I revised
Evagrius’ list and turned it into the list of sins we know: pride, greed, lust, envy,
gluttony, wrath, and sloth. This video series explores the Seven Deadly
Sins as a Christian concept and beyond. What’s so bad about these sins? How do they apply to present-day life and
society, and how can they influence our well-being and the well-being of those around us? And can non-Christians benefit from this concept? This essay delves into the mother of all sin:
pride. When prideful, we take satisfaction in a supposed
elevated and preferable position compared to others. We feel better than others, as individuals
or as groups, because of specific characteristics and accomplishments. We might feel this way because of the ethnic
group we belong to, the country we’re born in, or even the gender we identify with. On the surface, pride doesn’t seem so bad. But many Christians believe pride is very
dangerous and a pathway to evil. (10). Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty
spirit before a fall. …says the Bible. Let’s first briefly explore some Christian
views and examples of pride. As we’ve seen in the story of Lucifer, pride
leads to one’s downfall, according to Christianity. The central idea behind the danger of pride
seems to be that we are not greater than God, and as soon as we try to be above him, we
get in trouble. An example of this we see in the story of
Adam and Eve, in which the same fallen angel, Lucifer (now the fully-fledged Satan), disguised
as a snake, convinced Eve that she could be like God if she ate the forbidden fruit. One interpretation of this story is that Satan
tempted Eve by evoking her sense of pride (through the disobedience of God): she assumed
that she knew better than him and was supposed to be like him instead of serving him. From a Christian point of view, when we’re
prideful, we believe we’re self-sufficient, as in, we don’t need God and can live without
him. We think our accomplishments are our own doing,
while they’re actually the work of God, like the proud Pharaoh of Egypt who refused
to set the Israelites free as ordered by God, saying: Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice
to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel
go. End quote. Eventually, by sending ten disastrous plagues
to Egypt, God eradicated the Pharaoh’s pride, so he realized he wasn’t as powerful as
he thought. Again, Pharaoh thought he was better than
he truly was, above God in a way, and he and the people of Egypt paid a heavy price for
it. The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. End quote. Christian scholars have a consensus that pride
is the worst of all sins because (aside from Biblical examples) it generates every other
sin as a gateway drug that leads to other drugs. The reason why pride leads to other sins is
because of the thought of “being better than others.” For example, pride leads to greed because
one feels entitled to have more, often at the expense of others. The lustful individual sees others merely
as objects to be used because he believes he deserves it. Envious people feel they should have what
they want and can’t stand others having what they think they should have but cannot. The glutton feels she deserves more food than
necessary, even when others are hungry, and deprives them of it by taking it herself. The wrathful person believes, in his arrogance,
that he’s always right and justly avenges what he sees as wrong by others. And lastly, the individual whose sin is sloth
thinks she’s too good to work and that others can do the work for her. Hence, in Christianity, pride is a sin and
the worst of all sins. But what can we say about pride from a non-Christian
viewpoint? If we don’t take God into account, what
then is wrong with pride? Pride, on the other hand, is the mother of
all sins and the original sin of Lucifer. An instrument strung but preferring to play
itself because it thinks it knows the tune better than the musician. End quote. A proud person is full of himself; he rates
himself exceptionally high compared to others. He, therefore, feels elevated above others,
and other people’s flaws confirm and strengthen his inflated self-image. Like C.S. Lewis’ instrument, he thinks he knows better
and is more capable than others, often even those who clearly have more expertise than
him. Why would someone delude himself by thinking
his expertise is superior when it isn’t? Why, for the proud person, is the idea of
being on top, the superior one, in whatever way, shape, or form, more important than anything
else? An article by John Amodeo, published in Psychology
Today, explores the root of pride, saying: Pride is often driven by poor self-worth and
shame. We feel so badly about ourselves that we compensate
by feeling superior. We look for others’ flaws as a way to conceal
our own. We relish criticizing others as a defense
against recognizing our own shortcomings. End quote. An excessively proud person feels inherently
inferior; otherwise, the need to be better than others wouldn’t be so high on the agenda. The psychological condition called ‘narcissism’
entails an extreme form of pride deeply rooted in feelings of inferiority. A narcissist needs his pride, his sense of
superiority, to maintain himself in the world, and without it, he would collapse under the
weight of his self-perceived inadequacy. Unfortunately, the coping strategy of pride
often turns out to be destructive. But pride is often subtle as well. For example, don’t we love watching reality
series, mainly to see how stupid the people in them are, compared to ourselves? Don’t we enjoy gossiping about our neighbors
and family members just to feel better about ourselves? And how about canceling other people who do
or say things we disagree with? To what degree do we do this to genuinely
make the world a better place, and to what degree does cancel culture arise from pride. Even though pride may disguise itself as a
force of good, it could actually make things worse. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate
with people of low position. Do not be conceited. End quote. Although it may seem harmless and preferable,
pride and its consequences can be problematic. The story of the Greek mythological figure
Narcissus shows an example of the harmful effects of pride. Narcissus admired himself so deeply that he
fell in love with his reflection in a pool of water, on which he became so fixated that
he couldn’t look away anymore. He forgot to eat and drink, so his health,
and therefore his beauty, declined until he died. There are many interpretations of many different
versions of the story of Narcissus. But at its core, it shows us how self-obsession
leads to ruin. Also, it estranges us from the outside world. We can see this played out today: many are
more focused on their social media image than actually experiencing life, achieving something
significant, and maintaining meaningful connections with others. For example, many were in love with Narcissus,
but he was incapable and unwilling to feel love toward a person. He could only love himself. His pride separated him from the world in
a way prideful people separate themselves from others. Amodeo stated: Such over-confidence and arrogance push us
away. Instead of relating to us as equals, they
display an obnoxious superiority that makes us feel small. They have the knack of making us feel the
shame that they refuse to face within themselves. End quote. Thus, the story of Narcissus shows that pride
can work divisively, which we can also see with national pride, which divides groups
of people. Sometimes, such divisions are innocent, for
example, aside from some exceptions, during a World Cup or the Olympics. National pride can be a source of social cohesion
and solidarity, predominantly among those that belong to the group. But it can also be a source of hostility against
the outgroup. We can see this with ultranationalist hate
towards minorities. And probably the most famous example in history
is national socialism in Germany before and during the second world war, based not only
on national pride but also on the pride of one’s ethnicity. Similarly, some religious people are hostile
toward outsiders. That hostility is evoked by pride: the idea
that their religion is better than other religions and that this makes them better people than
those with a different religion. Within religions, pride also creates divisions
between groups or individual practitioners. This spiritual pride revolves around the idea
that one is a better practitioner than another. For example, a Muslim prays more often and
thus feels she’s a better Muslim than her neighbor. Or a Buddhist monk meditates more than his
fellow monks and thus feels more advanced in the Buddhist path. Or, regarding the sin of pride: a Christian
behaves more humbly than her neighbor and thus feels she’s better than him, which
in itself isn’t very humble. Instead of accepting others, prideful people
place themselves above others, which may eventually evoke hostility on both sides. Like Narcissus, the prideful person closes
himself off from the world, absorbed with his superiority. Author and expert on Tibetan Buddhism Allan
Wallace wrote: Tibetans look at a person who holds himself
above others, believing he is better than others and knows more, and they say that person
is like someone sitting on a mountain top: it is cold there, it is hard, and nothing
will grow. But if the person puts himself in a lower
position, then that person is like a fertile field. For many, being proud of one’s country is
seen as a positive characteristic, including camaraderie, solidarity, and loyalty. Especially at major sports events, national
pride is prevalent and grows exponentially when one’s national team wins: “we won,
we are the best,” they say. But what exactly are they proud of? And how much of it was their own doing? Things like nationality and bodily features
like skin color or height: to what degree were these given to us by fate, and to what
degree have they been our own doing? Most likely, we didn’t establish these features
ourselves. They are products of forces not in our control. Before birth, a baby doesn’t pick the country
he wants to be born in, nor does he choose his skin color or whether or not he’s tall
or short. Yet, for some reason, people tend to derive
pride from these characteristics, as if they’re of their own making. They feel elevated above others based on what’s
not their own doing. Not that it’s wrong to be happy with specific
preferable attributes, but is there any reason to be proud? In a short essay about pride, German philosopher
Arthur Schopenhauer wrote that pride isn’t bad per se, but when it’s unfounded, it’s
cheap. Rejecting pride, he argued, is done by those
who haven’t got much to be proud of themselves. He also noticed that people with no significant
achievements resort to forms of pride, like national pride, as compensation. I quote: The cheapest sort of pride is national pride;
for if a man is proud of his own nation, it argues that he has no qualities of his own
of which he can be proud; otherwise he would not have recourse to those which he shares
with so many millions of his fellowmen. The man who is endowed with important personal
qualities will be only too ready to see clearly in what respects his own nation falls short,
since their failings will be constantly before his eyes. But every miserable fool who has nothing at
all of which he can be proud adopts, as a last resource, pride in the nation to which
he belongs; he is ready and glad to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail,
thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority. End quote. Being proud of achievements that are not our
own is delusional, which is quite apparent. But how much of our accomplishments – things
we’ve worked hard for, like obtaining a Ph.D. or building a successful business – is
genuinely our own? A Christian might say even though we worked
hard for what we’ve accomplished, most of it is God’s work – it’s God’s will. And thus, our pride isn’t just, as we’re
prideful of things that ultimately aren’t our own doing, or at least, not as much as
we’d think. But if we’d take God out of the equation,
does this reasoning still stand? Take, for example, someone who became a professor
of philosophy. This individual had to study, be accepted
into a Ph.D. program, finish it, do a post-doc program, teach classes, publish articles,
and more. Even Schopenhauer would say that after these
many years of toil, the professor of philosophy deserved to be proud: his pride is fair. He might even boast about his accomplishments,
saying: “I did it all myself. I’ve come so far because of my hard work
and dedication.” But to what extent is such pride justified? For example, who paid for his education? Who helped him get accepted into university? Who allowed him to obtain a doctorate? Even if most of these events were due to his
intelligence and hard work: who gave him his above-average intelligence? Who gave him the right circumstances, like
growing up in the right country, having a family with enough resources at their disposal,
having the upbringing that stimulated and encouraged him to study, or, in short, an
environment that facilitated his path to becoming a professor? Was the whole foundation on which his success
was built his own doing? What if he had been born a poor person in
a third-world country: would his intelligence and hard work have gotten him so far? Our accomplishments, regardless of how hard
we worked for them, have been largely built on luck. We could say that even without the Christian
concept of God, it’s reasonable to argue that we generally take too much pride in our
accomplishments as our roles in them are much smaller than we tend to think. For an atheist, it may not have been the Lord
who created the circumstances and characteristics that made his path to success possible. Still, it’s undeniable that fate played
a significant role in it. And so, taking all the credit for one’s
achievements isn’t fair. Taking pride in things that are not our own
doing is, again, delusional. Yet, we often exaggerate our roles regarding
our achievements. Moreover, because of their accomplishments,
people tend to feel superior to others and even resort to calling people with fewer to
no significant achievements (in their eyes, at least) “losers.” But how is it justified to feel better than
someone else when, in all likelihood, the sum of circumstances was less favorable for
that person? The Bible states: Do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support
the root, but the root that supports you. Is ‘pride’ indeed the worst of sins and
a gateway to many evils better to be avoided at all costs? Or is the Christian position toward pride
too one-sided, meaning that pride also contains positive elements? We don’t always perceive pride as an evil
characteristic. In some instances, pride is a positive concept
if we see it as a positive emotional reaction to one’s success or a sense of satisfaction
with one’s circumstances. But if we see pride as arrogance, conceit,
and a sense of superiority, it’s a negative concept. In 2007, researchers Tracy and Robbins published
a study named The psychological structure of pride: A tale of two facets. They proposed a dichotomy of pride consisting
of authentic and hubristic pride. The term ‘hubristic’ stems from the Ancient
Greek word ‘hubris,’ which translates as ‘excessive pride or self-confidence.’ The study argued that authentic pride is linked
to achievement, accomplishment, confidence, productivity, and self-worth. Hubristic pride is linked to dominance and
social validation, which motivates the pursuit of extrinsic goals, as this may lead to obtaining
other people’s acknowledgment but also to aggressive behavior. The authentic and hubristic dichotomy shows
similarities with Schopenhauer’s distinction between ‘pride’ and ‘vanity,’ saying,
and I quote: “Pride works from within; it is the direct appreciation of oneself. Vanity is the desire to arrive at this appreciation
indirectly, from without.” End quote. Looking at the angel Lucifer, we could say
that he tended more toward hubristic pride, as his pride and feelings of superiority were
excessive, and he desired admiration from others by creating a throne above the stars
and waging war to establish his dominance. Nevertheless, pride remains a complicated
emotion. For some, it’s the root of all evil. For others, it’s not all bad; for example,
to take pride in one’s accomplishments. Others would say that most people exaggerate
their roles regarding their accomplishments, which mostly result from external circumstances
– God, from a Christian viewpoint. And because of that, pride isn’t justified. John Amodeo argues that pride isn’t a healthy
form of self-worth because if we base value on achievements or self-image, it’s based
on a fragile foundation. Instead, we could replace pride with dignity. I quote: A more genuine and stable self-worth is based
upon validating, affirming, and valuing ourselves as we are. Self-worth is a function of living with dignity,
which exists apart from any accomplishments. Achievements are ephemeral and can become
a trap. If too much of our attention goes toward accomplishing
bigger and better things in order to feel good, then we become addicted to external
sources of gratification. End quote. So, what do you think? Is pride all bad? Or are there good sides to pride? Please, leave your comments below. Thank you for watching.
