The Beast Within Us: Pride

 

Of the beasts within all of us, pride is perhaps the most interesting because there are 2 kinds of pride. There is good and welcomed pride (virtuous), and there is the pride that is destructive and cancerous to us (vice). Let’s take a look at them by breaking down some of the opposing characteristics of each one.

·         Pride is a virtue when we have a sense of self-satisfaction with our choices and decision (humility is shown here). It becomes a vice when we have an over-inflated sense of satisfaction over those same choices and actions and need to point that out to everyone around us (ego is on display here).

·         It’s a virtue when we are satisfied with ourselves, our lot in life, and we are comfortable with our own skin. It is a vice when we feel the need to engage in one-upmanship with those around us.

·         It is a virtue when we quietly appreciate what we have and do in life (honest and thankful appreciation). It is a vice when we need to know that everyone else around us knows what we have and do in life (hubris or chutzpah).

·         Pride is a virtue when we are proud of our families, as individuals and as a group collectively. It becomes a vice when the bragging begins.

·         It is a virtue when we are proud of our spiritual growth and our ability as we quietly use our talents and gifts to help others. It is a vice when we are pious about our spiritual selves and feel the need to flaunt our Christianity.

Pride truly shows the difference between letting our light shine, and showing our light shining as we do this thing called life.

Bottom Line Thought: As men, pride strongly tugs at us at times, sometimes in the most innocuous ways. Do you find ego creeping in your thoughts as opposed to humility? Do you sometimes consider yourself better than others? Are you quietly comfortable with yourself and your status, or do you get the urge to share it inappropriately to others around you? Do you quietly go about the business of your spiritual growth?