In 2014, I conducted a pilot (reconnaissance) sociological study among residents of the city of Penza and the region, related to the study of traditional values and stereotypes of consciousness. About 350 people of three different generations took part in it: from 18 to 23, from 40 to 50 and from 60 to 80 years old.
One of the survey questions was: “Is it good to be a proud person?”
The preliminary results of the study surprised me very much.
- About 40% of respondents of different ages believe that pride is a sin and vice.
- About 40% consider pride to be a useless and even harmful human quality that prevents people from achieving their goals.
- About 20% consider pride a positive moral quality, thanks to which a person protects his dignity.
So, what do our contemporaries understand by pride?
From the analysis of the answers it follows that the first group confuses pride with arrogance, and, following their moral and religious convictions, considers it a sin, a deviation from the divine commandments. This confusion can be explained by the fact that even Patriarch Kirill often allows such confusion, and besides, modern controlled media also do not really care about distinguishing between pride and arrogance - after all, it is better, calmer, when there are fewer proud and independent people...
The second group of answers, speaking about the uselessness of this quality, shows the predominance of pragmatic life attitudes, which are confidently spreading in our society. It is no coincidence that the president and his ministers constantly convince their television viewers of the need to be successful and competitive. A pragmatic focus on benefit, success and material well-being have always been important motives of human behavior. But why does pride interfere with these goals? Perhaps because it prevents modern man from being a flexible, obedient, commanding creature; it pits a person against other members of society and harms both him and others. After all, pride presupposes integrity and self-esteem, but these qualities can be a hindrance in a “team game” without clear rules and a clear result. Yes, and in general, in the era of wild capitalism, being proud is a very expensive pleasure. Such is life, say both students and retirees.
The third group of answers, frankly speaking, pleased me. Despite the fact that traditionalists and pragmatists are a clear majority, there still remains 20% of uncompromising people who value their dignity and their beliefs. Maybe such independent proud people are no longer needed? But when you think that for only 20% it is important not to lose their personal dignity and remain honest with themselves, it becomes somehow depressing and sad. Thoughts immediately come to mind about the ineradicability of servility, mass theft and lies, hypocrisy, and widespread corruption, which turn out to be not shameful and morally acceptable means of survival for many.
What happens in the end? The answers show that pride is an extensible concept; you can stretch it wherever you want. Probably, many would like it that way, but the great Russian language and not only it gives a clear definition of pride, and you can’t escape this definite, stable meaning, you can’t evade it. This meaning is enshrined in the concept and has universal significance: “Pride is a sense of self-esteem, self-respect; positive feeling of self-satisfaction.”
Of course, we can, in defiance of everyone and everything, talk about our Russian pride, which is not like others, or about our personal, subjective understanding of it, but if this clearly contradicts the stable and positive meaning of pride, then we will simply leave the universal space of reasonable meanings and values, and other people will no longer understand us and will not want to communicate with us. And if we persist in our opposition to everyone, then this will be nothing more than “pride,” i.e. that excessive and unfounded pride, which we ourselves must condemn.
The task of philosophy is to vigilantly preserve universal human meanings and not allow them to be “stretched” beyond recognition. Therefore, it is important to prevent arbitrary abuses in the broad and opportunistic interpretation of key moral and practical concepts, because the motives of human actions and the life decisions themselves depend on their meanings. Ultimately, it’s whether we will all feel good or not.
Regardless of whether a person is a believer or not, none of the vices will lead him to anything good. Along with envy, anger and greed is pride. Many people confuse this concept with pride, believing that there is no difference between them. Let's try to figure out how and how these two words differ, and whether the difference is big. First of all, let's find out what pride is and how it can be characterized.
Interpretation of the word
According to explanatory dictionaries, pride can be defined as:
- A feeling of satisfaction from an action.
- arrogance, arrogance.
As we see, on the one hand, this is a positive feeling that a person experiences towards himself and others. On the other hand, this concept is negative, since a proud person elevates himself, thereby belittling other people. So what is pride? Is this good or bad? And can this feeling even be called good or bad? It all depends on what underlies the concept in question. If this is a person’s talent, his hard work and success, then the feeling of pride is well deserved. It brings joy to both the person himself and those around him. However, it often happens that the mentioned feeling is experienced without any reason. For example, beautiful girls often elevate themselves and humiliate those who are less fortunate in this regard. Naturally given qualities should not evoke such a feeling as pride. The meaning of the word in this case will be negative.
Different understanding of one word
The same concept at different times can have both positive and negative meaning. A clear example of this is national pride. In most cases, this feeling is welcomed. It means a person’s love and affection for his country, readiness to protect and defend common interests. However, history can also provide quite tragic examples of the use of this concept: Germany in the 30s and 40s (the idea of the superiority of the “superior nation”), the British Empire in the 19th century (the idea of the “white man’s burden”) and so on. What is pride in this case, if not a feeling of superiority of representatives of one nation, race over other people? As the sad experience of past generations has shown, it does not bring anything good.
Pride and its companions
The meaning of the word pride and arrogance are similar, but they also have significant differences. In modern society, the concept of “pride” is used extremely rarely. It is replaced by terms that are similar in meaning: arrogance, ambition, arrogance, vanity, selfishness. Thus, we see that there is nothing positive in the meaning of this word. Unlike pride, it has only a negative connotation. Among the qualities inherent in pride, one can note: hypocrisy, vanity, capriciousness, stubbornness and arrogance. And also suspiciousness, uncontrollability, fussiness, pickiness, selfishness and insolence. In addition, a person susceptible to this mortal sin is characterized by touchiness, hot temper, lust for power, a tendency to harsh criticism, envy and rancor. You can also name such negative traits as intransigence and cruelty, causticity, non-acceptance of generally accepted norms and authorities.
What is pride and what is arrogance?
These two concepts can have opposite meanings. And at the same time be equally negative. To understand, you need to know what causes certain feelings and aspirations:
- pride, arrogance - all this suggests that a person desires to gain power and despises people who have lower
- Ambition and ambitiousness are signs that a person strives to achieve more and move up the career ladder.
- Insolence, impudence, impudence, selfishness and impudence indicate a person’s readiness to achieve his interests at any cost, on those around him.
Many literary works and moral teachings of famous people teach people to be proud. However, strangely enough, pride does not bring people happiness. There are certain reasons for this.
Why does pride have a bad effect on our lives? The fact is that we assign to her all the positive properties of dignity. But these are completely different concepts. Let's find out why.
Why pride has a bad effect on our lives
Pride implies high self-esteem, a reluctance to cross certain boundaries, because of which we can diminish our importance in our own eyes.
A proud person may be offended by something, openly demonstrating his reluctance to further communication. Often his pride makes him rise above others. At the same time, a person experiences positive feelings, believing that he is really better than others in something. If someone begins to encroach on this belief, challenge it, undermine authority, they will encounter strong indignation and opposition. What's wrong with that, you say?
I will list the main arguments in favor of the fact that pride (arrogance, arrogance) is bad, because it:
- Does not accept compromises. It is very difficult to come to a common decision when a person constantly checks that his rights and freedoms are not infringed (this is how he understands any concessions).
- Blinding. It is impossible to prove wrong, to point out mistakes. Any criticism is understood as an insult and is strictly suppressed.
- Destroys relationships. Proud people become unpleasant in communication, demonstrating their confidence in their own superiority.
- It deprives you of opportunities. Pride prevents full communication, networking, establishing useful contacts, and productive cooperation.
- Makes a person unhappy. Constantly defending their right to be proud, such people unwittingly get drawn into conflicts. The offended suffer and accumulate grievances.
- Cuts off the path to reconciliation. Even when he is the offender, the proud man never asks for forgiveness. After all, this is beneath his dignity.
- As a result, it becomes the cause of loneliness (overt or hidden).
There are of course many other negative aspects of pride, but these are the most basic.
The opposite of the quality in question is self-esteem. Let me draw parallels on how it differs from pride:
- A sense of self-worth does not depend on outside opinions. Self-esteem is based on understanding your strengths and accepting yourself. A person is confident in himself, he does not need to prove his importance to everyone. In fact, he doesn’t care much about what they say about him if he thinks he’s right.
- Therefore, such people calmly accept criticism and derive a positive experience from it.
- People themselves are drawn to someone who exudes dignity. Subconsciously it is difficult not to respect him. It becomes interesting, I want to get to know him better.
- The ability to behave with dignity and show respect for others helps to establish useful connections and promotes long-term cooperation.
- For someone who respects himself and knows his worth, it is not difficult to apologize if he is wrong. Even to be the first to reconcile when he is offended. His self-esteem does not suffer from this at all. This is how people get rid of grievances and resolve conflicts.
- The result: a person is harmonious, happy, in demand.
Remember the beautiful biblical legend: the most beautiful angel became proud and wanted to be equal to God. For which he was expelled from heaven. His essence was destroyed by envy, anger, thirst for power and worship. Pride is the beginning of all sins and misfortunes.
Pride resembles a cunning mycelium, penetrating with its tentacle roots into different areas of the human psyche. This happens from childhood, when the child’s vision of the world flows from his parents and others. The foundation is laid in the words: “You’re a boy! Behave with dignity,” “Shame on you, you’re a good boy, you can’t be greedy, give the girl a toy,” “Guests will come, you should be nicely dressed and don’t knock on the plate with your fork - it's indecent." etc.
Our upbringing shapes pride from childhood. The law of comparison is the basis. You should correctly understand and see the essence of this phenomenon. First of all, we must see that pride is a predator. A predator who hunts for people’s energy, which by its nature is intended for completely different tasks. Pride in our perception is often seen as innocent boasting, gambling excitement, cheerful showing off in front of other people, but this is just a disguise.
Osho gives one successful and ruthless example that reveals the predatory essence of pride, its destructive power. Women and men walk along the streets of New York. Fur vests are in fashion this winter. Some women wear vests for $40, others for $150, but there are vests for $2,000. What prompted the woman to pay so much money for a vest? Fashion? Good taste? But you can buy a beautiful vest for one hundred or two hundred dollars. To understand what's going on here, let's look at people's internal reactions and the redistribution of emotional energy between them. A woman wearing a mink vest feels uplifted, strong, triumphant, confident and superior.
And what do other women feel when they look at her? The desire to compete, envy, and some - powerlessness and depression. This is exactly the kind of energy they give to the owner of a $2,000 mink vest. It is these energies that her pride hunts, filling her with a sense of superiority and triumph. The trick is that the feeling of depression arises from the fact that many of the women walking down the street have never had such a vest and never will have it, and this is exactly what gives pleasure to the owner of this vest, since she is identified with her pride. She likes to hold others by the throat, she likes to drink their envy and powerlessness, and on the outside all this is disguised by fashion, good taste, coquetry, charm, etc.
Look at the depth of manifestation of pride in yourself and your friends. It only takes a little honesty and courage to do this work and face the predator in the depths of yourself. Moreover, this predator hunts for the energy of your friends, whom you may love with another part of your being...
Is your pride going through the roof? Find out by ordering a consultation on the Soul Formula (private messages)
You can be proud of a lot and not be burdened with pride.
We can also feel a sense of pride in a child who, as it seems to us, is so smart, smarter than all the others.
You can tell a girl that she has no sense of pride, because... allows her boyfriend to treat her badly.
Three different views pride. What does the Bible say about pride?
The Bible on Pride
The Bible speaks unequivocally about pride: sin!
is a mask that hides fear. Pride originates in low self-esteem and begins from within to force a person to act according to the principle: “I am better than everyone else, I will make everyone love me.” He is simply afraid of turning out to be a nobody, a nonentity in the eyes of people.
In the Bible, in the book of the prophet Obadiah (1:3-4), this is what it says about pride:
“The pride of your heart has deceived you; you live in the clefts of the rocks on an elevated place and say in your heart: “Who will bring me down to the earth?” But even if you, like an eagle, fly high and make your nest among the stars, then from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.”
There is not a single line in the Bible that says that you should be proud of something, that you should be proud of something. And all the components of pride - arrogance, vanity, arrogance, pompousness - are called evil:
“All vanity is evil” (James 4:16).
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” Proverbs 16:18.
“The arrogant stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord prospers” Proverbs 28:25.
“A man’s pride humbles him, but he who is humble in spirit gains honor” Proverbs 29:23.
Scientists about pride
Philologists, psychologists and philosophers can find many definitions of pride. They highlight the positive and negative components of this term. They separate pride from arrogance and arrogance. Equate pride to honor, freedom, strength, courage, success. They believe that pride should be inherent in every fully developed personality.
People and pride
I think that all people are susceptible to pride. There is hardly a person who is completely devoid of pride.
There are many different kinds of pride that now represent nothing of value at all. So why be proud? If pride leads to stress. After all, what we were proud of ultimately disappoints us and does not live up to our hopes. I think we need to take a simpler approach to life, avoid all sorts of feelings of pride in order to protect ourselves from stress.
For example, some event occurs in my life that begins to cause me feeling of pride. I calm myself down. I understand that these events must take place in my life. Everything that happened is normal, good, wonderful, and as it should be. Thank God this happened! But there is nothing to be proud of! After all, if I do something, I do what I should do. If I have success, this is a reward for my efforts. That's it! Thanks to the Almighty for this!
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