Pride is the spark that ignites the flame of our greatest achievements, but it can also fuel the fire of our most catastrophic failures. Lucifer was God’s favorite angel. His brilliance had no match, his beauty was flawless, and his wisdom was brilliant but due to his own corrupt nature his brilliance turned into darkness, his beauty turned into ugliness and his wisdom into ignorance. As many theologians, including Thomas Aquinas, stated that pride is the worst sin of them all. It is certainly the gateway to all major sins. A person who is a slave to his own ego and pride feels like he is self-sufficient and that he doesn’t need God to accomplish his goals, whereas that’s not the case. For example, running a business, completing a degree or getting a promotion or because of achieving any type of accomplishment people tend to feel superior from others they believe they do not owe anyone anything even God.

Pride is often called the mother of all sins, it is the root from which every major sin grows, it is the gateway to a sinful life according to the bible. A proud person is self-obsessive; this leads to narcissistic mindset. For example, Narcissus, from Greek mythology, who is also known as the son of river God of Cephissus, was extra ordinarily beautiful which led him to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Excessive pride can make you blind, Narcissus lost his able to recognize true love and he also lost his ability to love someone other than himself. A Narcissist believes a lie that he is better than everyone else. Their poor self-worth and shame in admitting their mistakes, makes them find flaws in others to satisfy their own ego and their own self obsession. These kinds of people find it hard to respect others.

Pride can come in a lot of ways. It’s not just self-obsession it can also be pride in one’s ethnicity, sects, cast and spirituality. In today’s society we have people who believe that their ethnicity is superior to others i.e. two neighboring countries fighting a war over ethnicities. In many religions people belonging to different sects have fought wars against each other for example Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims have fought multiple times against each other, Pope Innocent III started Albigensian Crusade against Catharism that lasted 20 years and resulted in death of one million people. In the same way, pride can make divisions among religious people as well. The spiritual pride means that one person practices religion better than the other. For example, a Muslim praying five times may feel that he’s better than his fellow Muslims, or a Christian going to church may have same feelings towards his fellows.

As we strive to overcome pride, we may find inspiration in the stories of those who have walked this path before us, and their examples may guide us towards greater wisdom and compassion. Ultimately, the battle against pride is a lifelong journey, one that requires patience, self-reflection, and a willingness to learn from others. 

“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”
                       – C.S. Lewis