By: Sylvia Grant - Jun 15, 2024
According to Roman Catholic theology there are seven deadly vices that spur other sins and further immoral behaviour. The first of the seven deadly sins is pride, followed by greed, lust,e nvy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. It is interesting that pride was considered the first of the seven deadly sins. Some might wonder why pride is even considered a deadly sin. What is wrong with feeling pride?
A closer look at pride and one can see that pride has many negative characteristics. First of all pride indicates a lack of humility. Proud people are often self centered. They concentrate on their own attributes and achievements and fail to notice others. These are the people at parties who only talk about themselves and never bother to ask about others. These braggarts might not strike one as sinners but they certainly make obnoxious party guests.
Not only do proud people only recognize their own achievements, but they also fail to recognize their own faults. These are the people who think they are always right. In relationships they see other people’s flaws but none of their own. People who cannot recognize their own flaws are unbearable spouses, friends and co-workers. They might also be responsible for the poor mental health of those they live and interact with.
Proud people are often so self-centered that they fail to notice the needs of others. On a personal level they fail to meet the needs of family or friends. They do not give to worthy causes or make donations to charities because they do not even realize that problems of others even exist. If a proud person is wealthy, that person might give to an arts centre or a new hospital wing as long as the person’s name appears on a plaque.
People guilty of the sin of pride can never improve themselves. Since no one is perfect, we should always be open to improvement. According to Carl Jung, we can only become whole people if and when we recognize our shadow side. Without recognizing our flaws, we are incomplete human beings.
Another danger of pride is that a proud person cannot ask for help when help is needed. If a proud person recognizes a personal problem, he or she might see the problem as a sign of weakness and because of pride cannot seek help. Without help, the proud person might go through life suffering with a secret problem which might be eased with help. The proud person might be denying himself or herself a much more satisfying life.
In today’s world of scammers pride often prevents people from admitting or reporting that they have been scammed. This allows the scammer to get away with the crime and then go on to scam others. Being too proud to admit you have been scammed means that your experience cannot be a warning to others and it allows the scammer to continue his criminal activity.
The opposite of pride is humility but not low self-esteem and low self confidence. The self confident person who does not have overweening pride has no need to look better than everyone else. The self confident person has a genuine interest in others, does not need to feel superior to others and has no need to force themselves or their ideas on others.
The most basic problem with pride is that it leads to a lack of compassion and respect for others and their ideas and feelings. This can lead to physical and emotional abuse which is both a sin and a crime. Proud people in power have the opportunity to make decisions which hurt and harm individuals or groups of people. Because of the sinister nature of excessive pride, it deserves to be the first of the Seven Deadly sins.