How does pride manifest itself? Pride: the cardinal sin or all-consuming sense of selfishness

Human! This is great! It sounds... proud!

M. Gorky “At the Bottom”

“You take yourself too seriously,” don Juan said slowly. - And you perceive yourself as a damn important person. This needs to change! After all, you are so important that you consider yourself entitled to be irritated for any reason. So important that you can afford to turn around and leave when the situation doesn’t turn out the way you want. Perhaps you believe that by doing so you are demonstrating your strength of character. But this is nonsense! You are a weak, arrogant and narcissistic guy!
K. Castaneda. "Journey to Ixtlan"

What do we know about pride?

This feeling, recognized as base by many religious and philosophical concepts, has a huge number of manifestations in everyday life. What for modern man is the norm of behavior, and is often encouraged by society, since ancient times it has been a reason to work on oneself.

The most ancient collections of wisdom that have survived to this day, the Vedas, contain forty signs of pride, and many of them can easily be detected in the composition of their personality by almost every person.

Surprisingly, in the signs given below, we will not find a biased attitude in modern world: some are extolled as virtues, others are preached as gender characteristics of behavior, but, unfortunately, few can be considered an extra burden that is worth getting rid of:

• I'm always right.
• Patronizing and looking down on others.
• A sense of self-importance.
• Humiliation of yourself and others.
• Thoughts that you are better than others.
• Boasting.
• The ability to put an opponent at a disadvantage.
• Control over the situation, but unwillingness to take responsibility.
• Arrogant attitude, vanity, desire to look in the mirror.
• Flaunting wealth, clothing, etc.
• Not allowing others to help themselves and work with others.
• Take on overwhelming work.
• Work without measure.
• Attracting attention to yourself.
• Touchiness.
• Excessive talkativeness or talking about your problems.
• Excessive sensitivity or insensitivity.
• Excessive preoccupation with oneself.
• Thoughts about what others think and say about you.
• Using words that the audience doesn't know or understand, and you know it.
• Feeling of worthlessness.
• Unforgiveness of yourself and others.
• Creating an idol from yourself and from others.
• Changing behavior depending on who we are talking to.
• Ingratitude.
• Ignoring small people.
• Inattention (while studying sastras).
• The presence of an irritable tone.
• Raising the voice in anger and frustration.
• Disobedience to the will of God, Guru, Sadhus, Shastra.
• Lack of self-esteem.
• Recklessness and madness.
• Dishonesty towards yourself and others
• Inability to compromise.
• The desire to always leave last word behind you.
• Reluctance to share your knowledge in order to control the situation.
• Inattention or excessive attention to the physical body.
• Thoughts about the need to solve other people's problems.
• Prejudice towards people based on their appearance.
• Excessive self-respect.
• Sarcasm, humor, the desire to prick another, joke, laugh at another.

Pride in yoga practice has its manifestations. Often, having achieved some spiritual experience or siddhi, a person becomes swollen with arrogance and pride. He thinks too much about himself, sets himself apart from others, treats others with contempt, and cannot communicate normally. If one is endowed with moral virtues such as the spirit of service, self-sacrifice or brahmacharya, such a disciple may declare: “I have been observing brahmacharya for twelve years, who could be purer than me? For four years I ate leaves and roots, for ten years I worked selflessly in the ashram. No one demonstrated such service except me.”

Laymen are swaggeringly proud of their wealth, and sadhus and disciples are proud of their moral virtues. There is an opinion that pride is a serious obstacle on the path, a condition associated with blocking the Vishuddha chakra. If you do not try to overcome pride and keep it for yourself as a reward for your work, then Vishuddha will be the limit to which the practitioner’s energy can rise along Sushumna. In turn, the harmonization of all chakras will enable the practitioner to concentrate his energy in the area of ​​the upper centers, which will make the practice of self-knowledge more effective.

Why should you strive to get rid of pride?

Pride, the sense of self-importance, is the source of harmful thoughts and emotions. When a person puts himself above or below someone, he begins to condemn, despise, hate, get irritated, and make claims. The feeling of one's own superiority over others gives rise to arrogance and the desire to humiliate by word, thought or deed. A sense of self-importance gives rise to subconscious aggression towards the world. A feeling of pride means that a person places himself above the Universe and God. He does not want to accept situations that do not correspond to his expectations, he considers his understanding of the world to be the most correct, and strives to subjugate the world around us. The inconsistency with his ideas about what the world around him should be causes a surge of aggressive emotions in his soul: anger, resentment, hatred, contempt, envy, pity.

Pride- this is, first of all, the result of a lack of understanding of one’s true place in the Universe, one’s purpose in this life, a lack of awareness of the purpose and meaning of life. All the energy of a person filled with pride goes into direct or indirect proof of his rightness, into fighting the world around him. This is as absurd as if a cell began to fight with the entire organism and defend its interests, regardless of the interests of the entire organism.

Pride, like any other human behavior, has its own positive intention: it is the desire for perfection, and the desire to feel calm and comfortable, and the desire to declare oneself to the whole world. Every person wants to feel that he lives in this world for a reason, that there is some meaning in his life, that he inner world has the right to exist. But to feel your value and exclusivity due to your elevation above others means wanting to destroy the worlds of other people, their uniqueness. After all, if one is better and higher, then others are worse and lower. But in fact, on a subtle level, we are all equal. Not wanting to accept another person's world, we make our own own world poor and wretched.

How to free yourself from pride?

To love and accept the world as it is, without judging, comparing or blaming anyone, including yourself. You should learn to accept any situation in your life without complaints or offense, and to thank life for events, no matter how negative they may seem at first glance. The well-known saying: “Everything that is done is for the better,” most fully reveals the whole essence of what is happening in life. The positive aspects in any situation are sometimes obvious, and sometimes hidden from our consciousness, and understanding the lesson comes later.

But sometimes it happens that a person cannot overcome this limitation of his inner world on his own. And at such a moment, it is very important to be able to hear the “senior comrades.” Those who have already overcome such mental obscurations and are moving further on the Path of self-knowledge.

But the most effective method of curbing your pride is, of course, service. Service in the full sense of the word. Service, not only to your loved ones and acquaintances, but service to society, service to the World. Try to do something every day not only for yourself, but also for those around you. And you will see how the World around you will immediately begin to change.

It is not for nothing that the sages of the past commanded us: “Change yourself - the world around you will change.”

And yet, pride, especially at the beginning of the journey, is a powerful incentive to move forward and a serious assistant in the fight against obstacles. Pride in one’s own merits in asanas and pranayamas will allow the practitioner not to stop there and move forward in mastering them. Pride from pacifying the flesh in food and pleasure will not allow you to break at the first fleeting desire. And even pride from moral virtues will be the engine at the beginning of the practitioner’s path.

It is easier to perceive pride as a stage in a person’s personal, internal evolution, helping him at the beginning and dying out as unnecessary during development.

Each person lives in his own world and creates his own unique world. This is what determines the exclusivity and individuality of any creature. Let's imagine the human body. There are trillions of different cells in it, and together they are united by life, the desire for the whole, and service to the one. At this level, all cells are equal to each other, there are no better or worse cells.

Any organism is a deeply balanced system. All cells are interconnected, but at the same time, each cell is unique in its own way, as it carries out its specific functions for the benefit of the whole organism. And if the cell copes with its duties perfectly, then it receives from the body everything it needs. Each living creature, an object is a particle of the Universe. Here everyone is equal, everything in this world is united by one common goal- striving for the Whole: for God, the Universe, the Supreme Mind. Everyone makes their own unique contribution to the overall universal process of development, we are all moving in the same direction, but each on our own path. It is very important for a person to feel his value, importance and uniqueness in this world, but not by elevating himself above others, because each person and object is important in his own way, but by realizing his uniqueness in the single organism of the Universe.

Introduction

Today it is generally accepted that the words pride and arrogance are not synonymous; the former means self-esteem, self-respect, and is usually used in in a good way, and the second almost always expresses a negative attitude, meaning arrogance and arrogance, excessive pride, most often unfounded.

As a positive word, love has acquired many negative meanings. Likewise, the word “pride” is initially negative, in spoken language does not mean at all what pride does in the patristic writings, but something positive.

However, is there really a difference between these very similar concepts?

The word “pride” comes from the Old Slavonic “grad”, which may have Greek roots. In Latin there is a similar sounding word “gurdus” - “stupid”. The explanation for the concept is as follows: pride is an emotion that arises not only as a consequence of one’s own successes, but also the successes of others. The second interpretation of this word is self-respect, self-esteem. Pride has the same origin as pride. But its meaning is somewhat different: arrogance, exorbitant pride, coming from selfishness.

Here's what the dictionaries say:

• 1. Email Wikipedia dictionary: Pride, arrogance (lat. superbia), or Arrogance is one of the seven deadly sins, the most serious of them. Pride differs from simple pride in that a sinner overwhelmed by pride is proud of his qualities before God Himself, forgetting that he received them from Him.
• 2. Philosophical dictionary: PRIDE (PRIDE) (Greek hybris) - 1) in ancient thought: daring going beyond the limits determined by *fate; 2) in the biblical tradition: an insane claim to equality with God, the source of all evil. 3) In Orthodox asceticism: opposing oneself to God and the world. 4) Eastern asceticism identifies pride and arrogance. 3. Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary: Proud - Arrogant, arrogant, arrogant; pompous, arrogant; who puts himself above others.

But the dictionary of S.I. Ozhegova, N.Yu. Shvedova separate these two concepts.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language.

HUMIDITY, -i, f.

• 1. Self-esteem, self-respect. National city
• 2. A feeling of satisfaction from something. G. victory.
• 3. whom or whose. About who (what) they are proud of. This student of the city institute.
• 4. Arrogance, an excessively high opinion of oneself, arrogance (colloquial). Because of his pride, he is not friends with anyone.

PRIDE, pride, many. no, *fem. (*book *outdated). Excessive pride (see proud in 2 * meaning), arrogance.

IN different cultures, in different eras, ideas about what can and cannot be a source of pride diverge significantly.

The Greek writer Theophrastus wrote a number of famous character sketches in which he defined pride as "a certain contempt for everyone except oneself."

Pride is fatal for small people. Yes, and to those who are taller,

It's not easy to live with her; it will fall heavily on your shoulders,

Only grief will happen. Another way is more reliable:

Be righteous! In the end he will certainly put the proud to shame

Righteous. It’s too late, having already suffered, the fool finds out.

The concept of “national pride” was often understood as a person’s feeling of involvement in the power of his state, capable of confronting other countries from a position of strength. This view national pride was especially characteristic of empires. An example would be British Empire XIX century (Kiplin's concept of “burden white man"), the Japanese Empire and Nazi Germany of the 30s - 40s of the XX century (superiority of the “superior nation”), Soviet Union(pride from belonging to a country with communist ideology). The consequences of such pride, however, are very ambiguous, for the unity and power of the people were paid off by cruel sacrifices and the oppression of others.

No less controversial is the history of pride as a concept associated with gender - “male and female pride.” In the established tradition, it is assigned to a man and a woman various set qualities that can serve as a source of pride: for a man, these qualities are, first of all, strength, social success, the ability to provide financial well-being family, for a woman - modesty, affection, homeliness and fidelity. As social mores evolved, these views changed, and now for many representatives of the fairer sex, the criteria for female pride is their economic and psychological independence from men. Which, in my opinion, again carries more of a negative meaning than a positive one. A change of roles between a man and a woman is an unnatural phenomenon that disrupts the natural balance.

From a philosophical point of view, pride helps people improve and set new goals. And pride often prevents us from adequately perceiving ourselves and our problems. Pride elevates you above other people, but this elevation has no underlying reason. Therefore it leads to degradation.

In other words, pride is perceived as a kind of defense mechanism against established foundations, stereotypes, etc., which a person refuses to recognize while defending his position. So, if we look specifically at pride, we can find a stimulating component in it. Wanting to have something better than others, a person begins to act, activating his resources, be it power, authority, etc. Pride, in some way, is a catalyst for human potential; it helps a person hide his weak points, forcing you to move forward and not bow to any difficulties.

Pride should neither be suppressed nor even weakened: it should only be directed towards worthy goals. Claude Adrian Helvetius

It is fitting for Caesar to die standing. (Caesarem decet stantem mori.) Suetonius (Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus)

Although not all philosophers adhered to this position

Perhaps the most famous statement of Voltaire is “Infinitely small people have infinitely great pride.”

Many other philosophers also criticized this quality

Pride that dines on vanity dines on contempt. - Franklin

Who is overwhelmed by pride beyond measure,

He is sweet to himself and in the ways in which he is funny to others;

And often he happens to boast about this,

Why should he be ashamed? Ivan Andreevich Krylov

A proud man is sure to become covered with an icy crust. There is no way for any other feeling to pass through this crust. Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy

It often happens when pride is transferred to other people. As Epictetus said, if you were adopted by a king, you would certainly be proud of it, so why are you not proud of the fact that you were created by God? When we create for ourselves some kind of idols, idols (it’s not for nothing that one of the Ten Commandments is “thou shalt not make for yourself an idol”). After all, an idol is just our pride, transferred to the idol, and we are proud not of the idol, but of ourselves in the image of the idol.

However, if philosophy still allows for a positive assessment of pride, different religions share a common point of view.

Everything... comes from pride. This main source all our sins, evils and disasters (St. Macarius).

John Climacus very beautifully allegorizes pride as a rider riding on the horse of vanity. Pride and vanity give rise to the whole other numerous host of human sins and passions: greed and envy, fear and sin, resentment and contempt.

The Bible says. Book of Proverbs: “When pride comes, shame will come, but with the humble comes wisdom” - (chapter 11, verse 2). “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (16:18).

There is another interesting explanation in the Bible about who we are. God is the Potter. and we are the potter’s creation, so can the pot be proud of why the potter created it?! He created one for one need and another for another, but both are necessary in their place. and pride moves us to another place and then it turns out to be a mess.

The Proverbs describe God's attitude towards pride: "This is... what the Lord hates... proud eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood... Among the 7 "qualities" pride is named first...

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” that is, a person can cultivate pride in himself or not notice it, but then he will lose grace.

Pride in Islam is also a great sin and the cause of other sins. Because of his pride, Iblis, who was one of the most knowledgeable jinn, became a cursed creature - the Shaitan - he refused to bow to Adam, whom Allah created.

“Satan refused to bow down to greet Adam. He became proud and said, “I am better than him,” and he became an infidel. » (Koran).

Pride fundamentally spoils good deeds and beliefs. Having become proud, a person does not notice this disease in himself, loses his understanding of the truth, and in return acquires blindness of the heart.

“This is how Allah Almighty puts the seal of error on the heart of every arrogant tyrant” (Quran, 40:35)

There is also a well-known hadith: “He who has even a speck of arrogance in his heart will not enter Paradise.”

In the next world hellfire awaits him and severe punishment. In a sacred hadith, Allah Almighty says: “Pride is My outer garment, and greatness is My undergarment, and whoever disputes this, I will put him in hell,” i.e. “Pride and Greatness are My special qualities, so do not it is fitting for someone else to have them.”

Thus, it is clear that attitudes towards pride can be different and it is obvious that it is from it, whether justified or not, that the terrible vice of pride begins to grow.

Let's look at the most characteristic features pride:

• 1. Pride, first of all, is manifested by a sense of one’s own infallibility and the rightness and wrongness of others
• 2. The next manifestation of pride is self-pity. A sense of self-importance is a hidden self-pity, a person feels unhappy, he experiences fear and fear of the whole world, and in order to protect himself from it, he flaunts his importance, significance, and prosperity.
• 3. Condescending attitude, condescension. A person feels superior to others, and therefore considers all people inferior to himself.
• 4. Patronizing attitude towards someone. This manifestation of pride is next to condescension. Usually people who help someone demand gratitude and respect. From such people you can hear: “You should be grateful to me for that. What have I done for you!”
• 5. A manifestation of one’s own importance is the opinion that “the world cannot exist without me.” Such people think that everything depends only on them, everything rests on them: the world, work, family. There is a fine line here between a sense of responsibility and self-importance.
• 6. Excessive importance, in turn, gives rise to another problem - a person begins to focus on what others think and say about him. He is fixated on his problems and constantly talks about them, he exhibits narcissism and narcissism.
• 7. Bragging. Feeling superior to others. A person begins to praise his virtues. And he does this because he has an inferiority complex, and he just needs to get the approval of others, to feel his importance.
• 8. Refusal to help. A proud person does not allow other people to help him. Why? Because he wants to get all the fruits himself, he is afraid that he will have to share with someone.
• 9. The desire to gain fame, respect and honor, to rise. People take credit for the merits and works of other people. But they also have a tendency to make idols out of people.
• 10. Rivalry. The desire to do something bad hurts your opponent. Any competition leads to tension, causes aggression, a subconscious desire to humiliate an opponent, which ultimately leads to breakdowns and illness.
• 11. The desire to condemn people for their mistakes, actions and actions. Such a person consciously looks for shortcomings in people, mentally punishes them, all this is done with feelings of anger, irritation and hatred. Sometimes you even want to teach a person a lesson.
• 12. Reluctance to share your knowledge.
• 13. Reluctance to thank and forgive. Touchiness.
• 14. Reluctance to admit that you have shortcomings - spiritual problems and pride.

Obviously, each of us has a number of similar characteristics, but justifies this with “self-esteem.” However, in my opinion there is a significant difference: Pride is self-respect based on superiority, and dignity is self-respect based on equality. Recognition of human equality devalues ​​objects of pride, and indifference to the height of one’s own merits is equally as to the superiority of other people’s merits, i.e. modesty turns into self-esteem in a person.

Dignity frees a person from the need to pretend to look good and allows him to be relaxed, natural, and sincere. The owner of dignity feels at ease both at the bottom of society and at its top, while the proud person changes from contempt to servility. The calm confidence of dignity is unattainable for pride; it always rushes from greatness to inferiority.

Pride is the lot of the faint-hearted and notorious, because a self-sufficient person will not look around at those around him and compare their level of well-being with his own. And the goals that pride pushes us towards are often illusory. No wonder Francois de La Rochefoucauld wrote that shortcomings are sometimes more forgivable than the means used to hide them; By admitting to small shortcomings, we thereby try to convince others that we do not have major ones.

To summarize, it should be noted the consequences that pride leads to: disharmony with oneself, the appearance of a mass negative emotions taking a lot of energy, and therefore causing nervous disorders primarily other diseases different types, discrepancies between image and reality, as well as the destruction of relationships with others, and therefore leads to loneliness. He who exalts his pride devalues ​​everything that he loves and values ​​in his life.

Love is patient and kind, love does not envy, love does not boast, it is not proud.

1 Corinthians, ch. 13 NEW TESTAMENT

Pride deprives us of the opportunity to love truly, and not through the prism of ourselves, deprives us of time with loved ones, prevents us from saying the most important words, asking for forgiveness and forgiving ourselves, and ultimately simply does not allow us to be happy. Is wounded pride really worth that much?

Pride... Pride... the root is the same.

There are countless shades of behavior...

And, if vices are overcome in Pride,

Pride is unfamiliar with the word “honor.”

pride pride vanity

The greatest expert on the depths of the human spirit, Rev. Isaac the Syrian in his 41st word says: “He who has felt his sin is higher than the one who raises the dead with his prayer; he who is worthy to see himself is superior to him who is worthy to see angels.” It is to this knowledge of oneself that consideration of the question that we posed in the title leads to. And pride, and pride, and vanity, we can add here - arrogance, arrogance, conceit - all this different types one main phenomenon – “turning inward”. Of all these words, two are distinguished by the most solid meaning: vanity and pride; they, according to the “Ladder,” are like a youth and a man, like grain and bread, like the beginning and the end.

Symptoms of vanity, this initial sin: impatience of reproaches, thirst for praise, seeking easy ways, continuous focus on others - what will they say? what will it look like? what will they think? Vanity sees the approaching spectator from afar and makes the angry ones affectionate, the frivolous - serious, the absent-minded - concentrated, the gluttonous - abstinent, etc. - all this while there are spectators. The same focus on the viewer explains the sin of self-justification, which often creeps in unnoticed even into our confession: “sinful like everyone else..... only minor sins..... didn’t kill anyone, didn’t steal.”

The demon of vanity rejoices, says the Rev. John Climacus, seeing the increase in our virtues: the more successes we have, the more food for vanity. “When I fast, I become vain; when, to conceal my achievement, I hide it, I am vain about my prudence. If I dress nicely, I become vain, and if I change into thin clothes, I become even more vain. If I begin to speak, I have vanity; if I maintain silence, I indulge in it even more. Wherever you turn this thorn, it will all turn upward with its spokes.” Worth appearing in a person's soul good feeling, direct spiritual movement, as immediately a vainglorious glance at oneself appears, and behold, the most precious movements of the soul disappear, melt like snow in the sun. They melt, which means they die; This means – thanks to vanity – the best that is in us dies, which means – we kill ourselves with vanity and the real, simple, good life We replace them with ghosts.

Increased vanity gives birth pride .

Pride is extreme self-confidence, with the rejection of everything that is not one’s own, a source of anger, cruelty and malice, a refusal of God’s help, a “demonic stronghold.” She is the “copper wall” between us and God (Abba Pimen); it is enmity towards God, the beginning of all sin, it is in all sin. After all, every sin is a free surrender of oneself to one’s passion, a conscious violation of God’s law, insolence against God, although “one who is subject to pride has an extreme need for God, for people cannot save such a person” (“The Ladder”).

Where does this passion come from? How does it start? What does it eat? What stages does it go through in its development? By what signs can you recognize her?

The latter is especially important because the proud usually does not see his sin. A certain wise old man admonished one brother in spirit so that he should not be proud; and he, blinded by his mind, answered him: “Forgive me, father, I have no pride.” The wise old man answered him: “How could you, child, better prove your pride if not with this answer!”

In any case, if it is difficult for a person to ask for forgiveness, if he is touchy and suspicious, if he remembers evil and condemns others, then these are all undoubtedly signs of pride.

In the “Word on the Gentiles” of St. Athanasius the Great there is the following passage: “People fell into self-lust, preferring their own contemplation to the divine.” In this brief definition the very essence of pride has been revealed: man, for whom hitherto the center and object of desire was God, turned away from Him and fell into “ itself -lust”, desired and loved himself more than God, preferred contemplation of himself to divine contemplation.

In our life, this appeal to “self-contemplation” and “self-lust” has become our nature and manifests itself at least in the form of a powerful instinct self-preservation , both in our physical and mental lives.

How malignant tumor often begins with a bruise or prolonged irritation specific place, and the disease of pride often begins either from a sudden shock to the soul (for example, great grief), or from prolonged personal well-being, due, for example, to success, luck, constant exercise of one’s talent.

Often this is a so-called “temperamental” person, enthusiastic, passionate, talented. This is a kind of erupting geyser, which with its continuous activity prevents both God and people from approaching it. He is full, absorbed, intoxicated with himself. He sees and feels nothing except his passion, his talent, which he enjoys, from which he receives complete happiness and satisfaction. It is hardly possible to do anything with such people until they themselves fizzle out, until the volcano goes out. This is the danger of any giftedness, any talent. These qualities must be balanced by full, deep spirituality.

In the opposite cases, in experiences of grief, the same result occurs: a person is “consumed” by his grief, the world around him grows dim and fades in his eyes; he can neither think nor talk about anything except about his grief; he lives by it, he clings to it, in the end, as the only thing he has left, as the only meaning of his life.

Often this focus on oneself develops in quiet, submissive, silent people, whose personal life has been suppressed since childhood, and this “suppressed subjectivity gives rise, as compensation, to an egocentric tendency” (Jung, “Psychological Types”), in a wide variety of manifestations: touchiness, suspiciousness, coquetry, desire to attract attention, finally, even in the form of direct psychosis of the nature of obsessive ideas, delusions of persecution or delusions of grandeur.

So, self-focus takes a person away from the world and from God; it, so to speak, splits off from the general trunk of the worldview and turns into shavings curled around an empty space.

Part 2. How this spiritual illness goes away

Let's try to outline the main stages in the development of pride from slight complacency to extreme spiritual darkness and complete death.

At first it is just preoccupation with oneself, almost normal, accompanied by good mood often turning into frivolity. The person is pleased with himself, often laughs, whistles, hums, and snaps his fingers. Likes to seem original, to amaze with paradoxes, to make jokes; exhibits special tastes and is capricious in food. Willingly gives advice and intervenes in a friendly manner in other people's affairs; involuntarily reveals his exceptional interest in himself with such phrases (interrupting someone else’s speech): “no, what I I’ll tell you,” or “no, I know better case”, or “I have a habit...”, or “I adhere to the rule...”.

At the same time, there is a huge dependence on the approval of others, depending on which a person suddenly blossoms, then withers and sours. But in general, at this stage the mood remains light. This type of egocentrism is very characteristic of youth, although it also occurs in adulthood.

A person will be happy if at this stage he is confronted with serious concerns, especially about others (marriage, family), work, labor. Or his religious path will captivate him and he, attracted by the beauty of spiritual achievement, will see his poverty and squalor and desire grace-filled help. If this does not happen, the disease develops further.

There is sincere confidence in one's superiority. Often this is expressed in uncontrollable verbosity. After all, what is talkativeness but, on the one hand, a lack of modesty, and on the other, self-delight. The selfish nature of verbosity is not diminished in the least by the fact that this verbosity is sometimes on a serious topic; a proud person can talk about humility and silence, glorify fasting, debate the question: what is higher - good deeds or prayer.

Self-confidence quickly turns into passion for command; he encroaches on someone else's will (without enduring the slightest encroachment on his own), disposes of someone else's attention, time, energy, becomes arrogant and insolent. Your own business is important, someone else’s is trivial. He takes on everything, interferes in everything.

At this stage, the proud person's mood deteriorates. In his aggressiveness, he naturally encounters opposition and rebuff; is irritability, stubbornness, grumpiness; he is convinced that no one understands him, not even his confessor; clashes with the world intensify, and the proud man finally makes a choice: “I” against people (but not yet against God).

The soul becomes dark and cold, arrogance, contempt, anger, and hatred settle in it. The mind becomes darkened, the distinction between good and evil becomes confused, because... it is replaced by the distinction between “mine” and “not mine.” He goes beyond all obedience and is unbearable in any society; his goal is to lead his line, to shame, to defeat others; he greedily seeks fame, even scandalous, taking revenge on the world for lack of recognition. If he is a monk, then he leaves the monastery, where everything is unbearable for him, and looks for his own path. Sometimes this power of self-affirmation is aimed at material acquisition, career, social and political activity, sometimes, if you have talent, for creativity, and here a proud person can, thanks to his drive, have some victories. On this same basis, schisms and heresies are created.

Finally, at the last step, a person breaks with God. If earlier he committed sin out of mischief and rebellion, now he allows himself everything: sin does not torment him, it becomes his habit; if at this stage it can be easy for him, then it is easy for him with the devil and on dark paths. The state of the soul is gloomy, hopeless, complete loneliness, but at the same time sincere conviction in the rightness of his path and a feeling of complete security, while black wings rush him to death.

Strictly speaking, this state is not much different from insanity.

The proud person at this stage is in a state of complete isolation. Look at how he talks and argues: he either does not hear at all what is said to him, or hears only what coincides with his views; if they tell him something that does not agree with his opinions, he becomes angry, as if from a personal insult, mocks and furiously denies. In those around him he sees only those properties that he himself imposed on them, incl. even in his praises he remains proud, closed in on himself, impenetrable to the objective.

It is characteristic that the most common forms of mental illness - delusions of grandeur and delusions of persecution - directly follow from a “heightened sense of self” and are completely unthinkable for humble, simple, self-forgetting people. After all, psychiatrists also believe that mental illness (paranoia) is caused mainly by an exaggerated sense of self, a hostile attitude towards people, loss of normal ability to adapt, and perverted judgment. The classic paranoid never criticizes himself, he is always right in his own eyes and is acutely dissatisfied with the people around him and the conditions of his life.

This is where the depth of the Rev.’s definition becomes clear. John Climacus: “Pride is the extreme misery of the soul.”

The proud suffers defeat on all fronts:

Psychologically – melancholy, darkness, infertility.

Morally – loneliness, drying up of love, anger.

Physiologically and pathologically – nervous and mental illness.

From a theological point of view, it is the death of the soul, which precedes physical death, Gehenna while still alive.

In conclusion, it is natural to pose the question: how to fight the disease, what to counteract the death that threatens those following this path? The answer follows from the essence of the question: firstly, humility; then - obedience, step by step - to loved ones, loved ones, the laws of the world, objective truth, beauty, everything good in us and outside of us, obedience to the Law of God, finally - obedience to the Church, its statutes, its commandments, its mysterious influences. And for this - what stands at the beginning of the Christian path: “Whoever wants to come after Me, let him deny himself.”

Rejected... and rejected every day; let a person take up his cross every day - the cross of enduring insults, putting oneself on last place, enduring grief and illness, silently accepting reproach, complete unconditional obedience - immediate, voluntary, joyful, fearless, constant.

And then the path will open to him into the kingdom of peace and deepest humility, which destroys all passions.

To our God, who resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, glory.

A person is an emotional person, with established life rules. He has a large reserve of energy, with the help of feelings he expresses his attitude to the world around him, but what potential a person’s thoughts are charged with and what emotions he emits in the process of communicating with people depends on himself. Let’s try to formulate what pride is and why it is named for a person.

Pride - what is it?

Pride is a feeling of superiority of one’s own person over others. This is an inadequate assessment of personal worth. It often leads to making stupid mistakes that hurt others. Pride manifests itself in arrogant disrespect for other people and their lives and problems. People with a sense of pride brag about their life achievements. They define their own success by personal aspirations and efforts, not noticing God’s help in obvious life circumstances, and do not recognize the support of other people.

The Latin term for pride is “superbia.” Pride is a mortal sin for the reason that all qualities inherent in a person are from the Creator. Seeing yourself as the source of all achievements in life and believing that everything around you is the fruit of your own labors is completely wrong. Criticism of others and discussion of their inadequacy, ridicule of failures - strokes the pride of people with pride.

Signs of pride

The conversations of such people are based on “I” or “MY”. A manifestation of pride is the world in the eyes of the proud, which is divided into two unequal halves - “He” and everyone else. Moreover, “everyone else” in comparison with him is an empty place, unworthy of attention. If we remember “everyone else”, then only for comparison, in a light favorable to pride - stupid, ungrateful, wrong, weak, and so on.

Pride in psychology

Pride can be a sign of improper upbringing. In childhood, parents are able to inspire their child that he is the best. It is necessary to praise and support a child - but for specific, not fictitious reasons, and to reward with false praise - to form pride, a personality with high self-esteem. Such people do not know how to analyze their shortcomings. They did not hear criticism as children and are not able to perceive it in adulthood.

Pride often destroys relationships—it is unpleasant to communicate with someone who is proud. Initially, not many people like feeling an order of magnitude inferior, listening to arrogant monologues, and not wanting to make compromise decisions. Stricken by pride, he does not recognize the talents and abilities of another person. If such things are openly noticed in society or company, then the proud one will publicly refute them and deny them in every possible way.

What is pride in Orthodoxy?

In Orthodoxy, pride is considered the main sin; it becomes the source of other mental vices: vanity, greed, resentment. The foundation on which salvation is built human soul- Lord, above all. Then you need to love your neighbor, sometimes sacrificing your own interests. But spiritual pride does not recognize debts to others; the feeling of compassion is alien to it. The virtue that eradicates pride is humility. It manifests itself in patience, prudence, and obedience.

What is the difference between pride and arrogance?

Pride and arrogance have different meanings and manifest themselves in a person’s character according to different characteristics. Pride is a feeling of joy for specific, justified reasons. She does not minimize or demean other people's interests. Pride is a boundary; it denotes life values, reflects the inner world, and allows a person to sincerely rejoice at the achievements of other people. Pride makes a person a slave to his own principles:

• forces you to build relationships based on the principle of inequality;
• does not forgive mistakes;
• has a grudge;
• does not recognize human talents;
• prone to self-affirmation on the work of others;
• does not allow a person to learn from his own mistakes.

Causes of pride

Modern society forms the opinion that a woman can do without a man. Women's pride does not recognize a family union - marriage, in which the man is the head and his opinion should be the main one. A woman in such a relationship does not recognize the man’s rightness, clearly puts forward her independence as an argument, and seeks to subjugate his will. It is important for her to be a winner in a relationship with unshakable principles. It is unacceptable for a proud woman to sacrifice her own ambitions for the good of the family.

Excessive control, sawing and female irritation over trivial matters poison the lives of both. All scandals end only after the man admits his guilt and the female Ego wins. If a man is forced to praise the superiority of his wife for any trivial reason, he feels humiliated. His love fades away - passions rise, and he leaves the family.

What does pride lead to?

Pride is called an inferiority complex. An unhealthy sense of superiority over others does not allow a person to admit his shortcomings and encourages him to prove in every way that he is right - to lie, brag, invent and dissemble. The vain and proud have a developed sense of cruelty, anger, hatred, resentment, contempt, envy and despair - which is characteristic of people who are weak in spirit. The fruits of pride are those that generate aggressive behavior to others.

Sometimes we don’t notice the differences in words that are similar in meaning, and we don’t attach any importance to it. However, misunderstanding the meaning of a word can lead to sin. Let's consider the question of what is the difference between pride and pride from the point of view of Orthodoxy. I will explain to you why pride is a mortal sin, and pride is a positive self-esteem. We will look at the manifestation of pride in comparison with the fall of Lucifer and try to find the answer to how to avoid the Fall in the modern world.

Pride is positive quality person, as it manifests itself in self-respect for oneself or another person. How often have we been proud of the achievements of our parents, grandmothers or great-grandfathers. Many grandfathers took part in the Great Patriotic War and returned as winners. We are proud of our mighty fatherland, as we are the descendants of the victors.

Pride is a sense of self-worth. We were taught from childhood that a person sounds proud. Man has mastered space, discovered the laws of the universe, learned to fight the natural elements and conquered many previously incurable diseases.

Pride manifests itself in respect for oneself and others. If a person feels his own dignity, then he also respects this in other people. Very often, a person falling into pride tries to cover up his sin with pride, explaining his actions with noble goals and ideas. However, remember that in the manifestation of pride there is no humiliation or indifference to others, but if it appears, we are not talking about pride, but about arrogance.

Pride is a mortal sin

In the Orthodox tradition, pride is considered one of the eight deadly sins, because it was it that led to the fall of the once faithful Lucifer. But we do not compare ourselves with angels and archangels, so we take such important concepts as pride and arrogance lightly. Is it shameful to be proud of your homeland or excellent grades at school? We simply do not understand the difference between pride and pride.

The Orthodox Church has a firm belief that pride leads to spiritual death. Why? Because this state of soul leads to the development of other vices and is the starting point for further sin. A person blinded by pride extols his own qualities above all else and even encroaches on comparing himself with God. A person who is weak in his essence forgets who endowed him with such qualities. He is completely confident that thanks to his talents he can achieve everything on his own.

Pride is exaggerated pride and arrogance.

Why does he need God if he has so much confidence in his strengths and skills? Lucifer thought the same way, which led to his fall. The bearer of light became an angel of darkness because he became proud before his Creator. Lucifer decided to become independent from God and equal to him in properties. He hated man because the Creator called him his equal. Who could it be equal to god, if not his close associate Lucifer? Hatred led to the renunciation and final fall of God's day - he was cast out of heaven.

The church fathers instruct us not to be like Lucifer and not to cultivate the seeds of pride in ourselves. How often does a person forget that he is completely defenseless against the forces of nature and relies on his own mind and skills. In vain vanity, he does not take into account that he owes his well-being to the Creator. Who gave man the senses - sight, touch, hearing and speech? Who takes care of his food and shelter? Pride convinces a person that only thanks to his own merits he has all the blessings in life.

Sin is a distortion of God's commandment, its opposite.

Just as Lucifer lost the sense of distance between himself and the Creator who created him, so man forgets himself in narcissism and exaltation. This is facilitated by the enemy of man - Satan, former angel Sveta. Could God create such evil? The church fathers believe that God did not create an evil angel - he himself distorted the principle of God's love, which led to his fall. How could Lucifer distort the principle of love? He transferred it from God to himself and began to love himself.

Pride in the modern world

Let's look at what a person's pride can lead to. If you do not realize in time the harmfulness of pride, it can even lead to crime. We saw this in the example of the development of fascism in Europe, when the German nation began to consider itself better and more important than other nations. How much grief and tears fascism brought to everyone, including the German people.

Pride leads to national chauvinism, when one people considers itself to have the right to oppress other peoples. People are filled with national swagger, confusing chauvinism with national patriotism. In its extreme manifestation, this leads to physical violence against representatives of other peoples or nations, intolerance towards other people's traditions and beliefs.

To recognize the spiritual disease of pride, you need to know its main signs and manifestations:

• arrogance;
• swagger;
• arrogance;
• arrogance;
• hatred;
• prejudice;
• vanity;
• desire to humiliate others;
• irritability and intolerance;
• unwillingness to forgive and admit your mistakes.

I have listed the sources of food for pride. We have seen from historical examples how far a person can go in demonstrating his pride. But you may not agree with the listed examples manifestations of the properties of pride, because many people do not know how to forgive and behave arrogantly. That's true. However, pride begins when a person ceases to control his feelings and allows them to completely master him. In this case already we're talking about not about a simple sin, but about a manifestation of pride.

How to deal with pride

The first fruit of pride is aggression towards other people. A proud person is arrogant, quick-tempered, and intolerant. A sense of self-importance can lead him to think about his superiority and uniqueness. This will lead to him creating an idol of himself and starting to worship himself. If someone dares to object to a proud man, he will begin to take revenge on him.

A proud person is often touchy, which he tries to carefully hide from others. Unsatisfied resentment and unfulfilled revenge can lead to mental and health disorders. This is a very dangerous state for the proud person himself and for those around him.

How to resist the manifestation of pride? First of all, you need to realize your spiritual illness and admit it. If a person does not notice the manifestation of pride in himself, he will not fight it. Listen to the opinions of others - what do they say about you? Do they notice your shortcomings, and what exactly? This will be a reason to think about your character and properties.

If you often get irritated with people, are you becoming proud? Find the motives for irritation in yourself - what bothers you most? Then start following these rules in your life:

• accept the world as it is;
• do not try to subjugate people to your will by any means;
• learn to listen to people's opinions;
• for everything give thanks to the creator of life;
• in any situation, try to see the positive sides.

If you cannot cope with pride on your own, seek help from spiritual mentors from your church or ask older people to help you cope with your qualities. The wisdom of the older generation can only benefit the young.