Pride

I've been thinking a lot about Pride lately. It's always portrayed as a positive, but yet Pride (not Ego) is listed as one of the seven deadly sins. I always used to confuse the two growing up - ego was obviously bad. Ego meant being overly proud of yourself for something. But I'm starting to think that Pride might be worse, or at least mor insidious. I don't think it's an accident that Pride and not Ego is listed as a deadly sin. Think about it - Ego generally hurts only the person who has the big Ego. Pride, on the other hand, can be much more damaging. Generally speaking, it's based on something that is true about you, making it harder to dismiss out of hand. When I look at my life, it's at the root of most of the bitterness I experience ... why did so-and-so get this, they're not that good ... why not me ... why doesn't anyone seem to appreciate what I do ...Bottom line is that I think Pride is worse because it starts affecting our relationships with other people. It puts people in a position to have to take sides. It treats life as a zero-sum game (if X gets a promotion, then I won't/I'm less thought of/I'm less valuable). It can lead to jealousy, which affects not only the prideful/hurt person, but also the other person that has caused the perceived slight.

So often pride gets mixed in with self-esteem. But self-esteem is based on knowing that I do something well. That's fine. Everyone should have an evaluation of themselves as to what they do well and what they don't do as well. But it's when this evaluation looks for external validation - gets proud and wants/needs others to acknowledge it - that pride leads to sin.