toxic pride

Look at Noovs, the class of social climbers (mostly dominated by politicians, bureaucrats, money rakers, flyby night operators etc) that have recently come into power and money. They are an embodiment of pride in the attitudes, expressions and activities. The way they look through the corners of their eyes, use their voice and the manner of their walking, sitting, talking as also the postures of strutting with the chin normally raised are all indicative of a distinctive way of showing their proud, arrogant, and egoistic character. Their false ego is nothing but pride in its inflated form. Unduly or excessively proud of their wealth, status, learning and their ability to manipulate and maneuver, these arrogant men show ego in spirit of conduct and are unwarrantably overbearing and haughty. With their heads swollen like the swelling caused by dropsy, these guys think very highly of themselves and poorly of others and claim much for them and concede little to others. Arrogance is an absorbing sense of one’s own greatness. It is a feeling of one’s superiority over others. The play of the ego pervades their whole life.

The proud men may become characteristically aloof, sarcastic, cynical, or contemptuous, wearing a nearly permanent sneer or ‘bad smell’ expression. They may like others to stand before them, wait in service and may not like to go to meet others even though the latter could teach some good things to them. Posing to be unbelievingly busy, for these kinds of fellows’ subordinates and visitors must be kept waiting on principle, diaries full and interviews strictly curtailed. They may not like to sit near the common people, and may not do trifling things with their hands. When dealing with people, they simply forget that they are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures that also bustle with prejudices and are motivated by pride and vanity. Pride and humility are evident from their dress and mannerism. Name dropping tendencies and boastward inclinations would quite often steer them into contriving to have someone else to do boasting for them.  A team of flatterers, basking in their sunshine, is always there to sing their praises to raise their status.   

Pride rears its head even in the most unsuspected corners. One may be proud, that he is proud, and another proud, that he is not proud. Try a status conscious bureaucrat/ businessman, enjoying all the money, power, comforts and luxuries on earth. Should you get him on to travel a crowded bus (from residence to the workplace at least) he may do it but bemoaning of course about the jostling and other discomforts he meted out during the journey. To find himself jolted into griping about it all is nothing but a disguised blow to his pride. Subjective pride is a habit of the self and objective pride the action resulting from the habit. By considering oneself superior to others one feels gratified and is prone to be proud in humility i.e. proud in that they are not proud.

Learned men, effete intellectuals, noovs, worshippers, religious preachers, zealots and (even) devotees are seldom free from the evil consequences of pride. The refusal to accept the truth and contempt of fellowship is the worst form of pride which does not allow these fellows to acquire knowledge and to accept the truth. A large number of them are prone to feeling proud, despise others and expect honour from every one. They would usually create an impression on the minds of people regarding themselves as saved and others as lost. Too rigid scruples are in itself a concealed pride. Vanity is one of the causes of the pride. If one is vain about his acts of worship he becomes careless about them. He does not consider his sins to be sins. He hopes to be excused by God for his smaller sins; he is not afraid of God. Pride destroys fear of God.

Proud men like Pharaoh and Namrood challenged God and refused to recognize Prophets due to ignorance and insurgence. For sheer vanity they disobeyed and challenged the commandments of God and did not accept hearing it from others. Kibr, the pride, means something like ridiculing and rejecting truth and looking down on other people.’ The proud men think themselves superior to others and look down upon them, because they admire themselves. Pride is the sense of superiority over others, and vanity, the self admiration, is something we call self elation. The cause of vanity is ignorance; the cure for it the knowledge. Vanity is manifested either in such acts as are in the power of man as charity or in such things that are beyond his power; like beauty, strength, pedigree etc. Often there is more vanity in the first case than in the second. The worshipper’s vanity of his worship, learned man’s vanity of his knowledge, the beautiful man’s vanity of his beauty are hollow since all these qualities are God’s gift.    

Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. While pride does not wish to owe, vanity does not wish to pay. Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need. The charity that hastens to proclaim its good deeds, ceases to be charity, and is only pride and ostentation.  Like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast flying cloud, a flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, man passes from life to his rest in the grave. But then why on earth should the spirit of mortal be proud! In pride, in reasoning pride, our error lies; all quit their sphere and rush into the skies. The mask of one's own faults, to be proud and inaccessible is to be timid and weak. Pride is an admission of weakness; it secretly fears all competition and dreads all rivals. There was one who thought himself above me, and he was above me until he had that thought. 

Paradoxically speaking the infinitely little have a pride infinitely great. He that is proud eats up himself. It makes some men ridiculous, but prevents others from becoming so. The truly proud man knows neither superiors nor inferiors. The first he does not admit of; the last he does not concern himself about.  Pride is his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle; and whatever praises itself but in the deed, devours the deed in the praise.  It may do well for pride hath no other glass. To show itself but pride, for supple knees feed arrogance and are the proud man's fees. Finally we all know pride hath a fall.