Everyone who saw the film "The Devil's Advocate" remembers the last scene where the devil in the form of a journalist persuades the hero Keanu Reeves to an exclusive interview. And the young lawyer agrees again, so as not to spoil his reputation. Then the devil, again taking on the charming image of Al Pacino, says: “Pride is my favorite sin!”
What do we know about pride
In one person, as a rule, many different character traits are mixed, for which one can love and hate him. His reputation among acquaintances depends on the frequency of manifestation of good or bad qualities. Sometimes you can hear that the same person is just an angel for some people, and the devil in the flesh for others. Who is right? All. It's just that sometimes a person treats people the way his conscience allows him. But often such a difference in attitude towards others directly depends on the pride that owns his heart. It is very difficult to understand right away that this particular sin has settled in the soul of a person. To do this, you need to know what passions feed him.
Pride and the Church
BOrthodoxy considers this sin to be one of the most insidious, so the signs of pride were studied very carefully. It is characterized as a kind of unambiguous superiority over the rest. It is believed that Dennitsa, the most beautiful, intelligent and devoted of all the angels of the Lord, was struck by this sin. When the realization came to him that many things that the Lord did were also subject to him, he became more and more immersed in the thought that his skill was even higher than the knowledge of his master. So why should he obey someone who is equal to him or even inferior to him?
Gaining an army for himself, Dennitsa also aroused pride in the angels. This became their banner under which they went against God. Of course they lost. Since then, every person who feels more significant than everyone else has joined the ranks of the angels who once rebelled and turned into demons. When a person behaves inadequately from the point of view of Orthodox canons, they say about him that he rages, rages.
The main signs of pride
Is it so easy to define it? When a person behaves arrogantly, boasts of all his merits, does not put a penny on the opinion of others about himself, this is obvious. Such behavior clearly shows that a person is mired in pride. But in Orthodoxy, the signs of pride are understood more widely.
Exaggerated pride also belongs to them. It manifests itself in the desire of a person to ex alt his merits. He considers this a feature of his character, freedom from the opinions of others, his exceptional significance.
Talking aboutyourself, sometimes it is very difficult to resist telling an attentive listener everything that was, is and what will happen to you. If in secular society this is considered ordinary talkativeness, then in Orthodoxy such behavior also refers to one of the signs of a terrible sin - pride.
No one wants to admit that associating only with successful people and contemptuous attitude towards those who have not achieved anything in this life is called arrogance. It also nourishes and nourishes the pride of a person, causing him to sink more and more into sin.
How often do you hear the phrase "If not me, then who?" An excellent reason to think about whether this is really a necessity or another sign of pride? Selfishness rules our world, people reject social norms in order to distinguish their personality from the crowd.
Even banal boasting, which many people take with a smile, is one of the signs of sin. Before talking about your successes, it is worth considering whether the listeners need it, what they will gain from this conversation, what you will get.
Sometimes it happens that resentment accumulates in a person's soul. Resentment is a sign of pride. This may be due to real cases or people's behavior, but often the person himself comes up with grievances that are not specifically related to anyone or anything. Such resentment also feeds pride. Sometimes even in a real situation, when a real conflict flares up, the winner does not try to hurt his opponent, but simply opens his eyes to reality. The loser begins to consider the winner as his enemybecause of unrelenting resentment. Rummaging in his soul, everyone can find such cases. Don't get drunk on your emotions. They cultivate pride like good fertilizer.
Irritability, which has become an integral part of our lives, also has its origin in pride. There is a clear definition among the people: “Everything infuriates me!” The last word in this phrase clearly shows who our emotions work for.
How can you calmly treat a person who behaves incorrectly? But it is also a sign of sin. Each person is an individual with their own strengths and weaknesses. You can not perceive a person as comfortable furniture. This is a holistic character. If he does not do what you want, this is not a reason to despise him. From his point of view, you live wrong. But he does not teach you, but perceives you as you are.
How often you can hear from young people that the commandments given to people by the Lord himself are outdated long ago, that now is not the time to keep them. But even this leads people to cultivate in themselves the qualities of a proud man, for whom even the Lord is not an authority.
"Love your neighbor" is the main commandment given to us by Jesus. Following it, we can say that anger at people and hatred towards them are automatically classified as sins, that is, signs of pride.
When a person is sure of his incredible significance, this means that vanity has settled in his soul. It is difficult to distinguish it from pride, since it is one of the signs of this sin.
How many signs of manifestationpride
You are deeply mistaken if you think that there are only a few of them. Many sins, which a person, as a rule, considers independent, are signs of pride. How can pride be compared to self-abasement? It seems that it cannot be put in one row. In fact, a person who constantly scolds himself for some wrong actions or insufficient results sees himself as better than he shows in life. This happens because he was once brought up with a sense of superiority over others, but in life the poor fellow faced a reality where many people are better than him.
40 signs of pride Orthodoxy highlights for a more specific understanding of this sin. You can find more of them, as each sign brings something else into our lives. The string of sins can be very long, even endless. In the list of signs of pride below, only the main part of the sins that give rise to it:
Angry, anger, dissatisfaction (with oneself and others), resentment, irritation, condemnation (of oneself and others), annoyance, disappointment, slander, slander, revenge, boasting, fear, anxiety, anxiety, doubt, uncertainty, pity, regret, compassion, despondency, longing, depression, gluttony, gluttony, flattery, greed, greed, stinginess, lies, deceit, envy, hypocrisy, jealousy, fornication, adultery, contempt, hostility (to others and to yourself), accusation (others and yourself), criticism (of others and yourself), hatred (of others and yourself), claims (of others and yourself).
What an Orthodox Christian should do
The Church helpsman to struggle with many sins. When signs of pride are found in a person, the main thing in this case is that the sinner himself recognize this and wish to part with the vices. Priests offer confession and communion, read special prayers to help fight sins. Fasting and giving alms can also help the sinner get rid of pride. One has only to remember that no one imposes his will on anyone, since the Lord created man with freedom of choice.
The Church is given to man to help in many problems that the world imposes on us. Often the problems themselves do not mean absolutely nothing for a person’s soul, but in order to understand their worthlessness, a person needs to go through a long path of awareness and repentance, which the priests offer him. Not everyone has the desire to get rid of sin, as well as the patience to reach the end. Some will have to spend the rest of their lives on this path. However, it is also worth remembering that neither notes to churches, nor the most sincere prayers help if a person does not want to renounce his sin.
Pride in other creeds
Signs of pride in a person are distinguished not only in Orthodoxy. Many ancient books contain lists of vices that are the germs of this sin. You can often see a list of 40 signs of pride from the Mahabharat epic, which has come down to us from Ancient India. As can be seen from these sources, the behavior of people who neglect the opinions of others has always been considered a deviation from the norm, which led to an understanding of immersion in sin.
If in Orthodoxy signs of pride are indicated in the names of specific sins, then in the ancient Indian epic it is rather a listing of specific actions of a person in relation to himself and others. This difference made the ancient teaching more preferable for the inhabitants, since it is much easier to understand your involvement in pride and work out ways to get rid of it if you see exactly what actions led you to these problems. The following is the most comprehensive list of the 64 signs of pride:
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- Confidence in one's own constant rightness (infallibility).
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- A patronizing attitude towards others, an attitude of condescension.
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- Feeling unique.
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- Feeling like a victim.
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- Bragging.
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- Attributing to oneself the works and merits of other people.
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- The ability to put an opponent at a disadvantage, managing people to achieve what you want.
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- Control over the situation, but without taking responsibility for the situation.
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- Vanity, the desire to often look in the mirror.
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- Show off we alth, clothing, etc.
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- Unwillingness to be helped, unwillingness to work together with others.
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- Drawing attention to your personality with your voice, mannerisms, behavior.
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- Gabbering or constantly talking about your problems and biography.
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- Patience.
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- Excessive impressionability or insensitivity. Haste to jump to conclusionsface the facts.
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- Excessive preoccupation with oneself, introversion.
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- Focus on what others think or say about you.
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- Using words the listener doesn't understand and you know about.
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- Feeling worthless.
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- Refusing to change or thinking you can't.
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- Reluctance or inability to forgive yourself and others.
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- Dividing people into hierarchical levels - who is better or more important. Reluctance to recognize seniority.
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- Feeling that you become very important when you do a particular job.
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- Take on back-breaking work, and also find pleasure in idleness.
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- Suspicion of people, God, Messengers.
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- A state of concern about what impression you make on others.
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- The thought of being above ordinary law and on a special mission.
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- Reluctance to take the risk of committing yourself to an important cause. There is no higher purpose and creativity.
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- Creating an idol from yourself and from others.
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- Lack of free time for self-discovery and communication due to worry about money.
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- Changing your demeanor depending on who you're dealing with. Lack of simplicity in relationships.
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- Superficial in gratitude.
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- Ignoring the "small" people. Making the most of your position.
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- Not paying attention to what you are currently in contact with.
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- Misunderstanding how each of the listed components of pride manifests itself in you. Underestimating the power of illusion.
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- The presence of an irritable tone, intolerance to the manifestations of errors and shortcomings. Splicing with negative and positive mental states.
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- “I am body and mind. I am doomed to live in the material world.”
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- Fear of showing your emotional state and attitude, speaking with your heart.
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- The thought of teaching someone a lesson.
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- Misunderstanding bias and unwillingness to clarify it.
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- Spreading rumors and gossip.
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- Disobedience to the will of God and elders, dependence on their own desires.
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- Dependence on anything that pleases the senses, madness.
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- Lack of self-respect based on self-understanding.
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- “You don’t care about me.”
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- Reckless, suppressed sense of proportion.
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- Having an attitude: “My band is the best”, “I will only listen to my own, I will serve only them.”
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- Individualism, unwillingness to be in the family and in society, to be responsible for loved ones in prayer and practical actions.
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- Dishonesty and dishonesty in relationships.
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- Inability to understand others and come to common solutions.
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- The desire to always have the last wordyourself.
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- Refer to the statements of authorities in order not to deal with specific situations. Stamped worldview.
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- Dependence on advice and opinions, irresponsibility.
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- Reluctance to share one's knowledge and information with others in order to be able to control it.
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- Inattention to the physical body under the pretext of spirituality or excessive attention to it to the detriment of the soul.
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- The idea that you should do it, because no one else can do it better.
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- Indicating the mistakes of another in a tone of condemnation or humiliation.
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- The thought of saving others from their problems.
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- Communicate and support others, as a result of which they become intellectually and emotionally dependent on a mentor.
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- Changing attitudes towards people based on their opinion, appearance and so on.
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- Disregard for the external norms and rules of culture accepted in society and one's family.
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- Feeling the right to dispose of the property of others, ignoring the norms adopted in another family.
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- Sarcasm, cynicism and rudeness in statements and feelings.
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- Lack of happiness.
Is it worth paying attention to minor details
As you can see, some items from this list have common features, they are repeated. Never rush to discard what seems already learned. Sometimes a problem viewed from a slightly different angle looks likeotherwise, it brings more adequate changes to the decisions. Of course, you can consider 54 signs of pride, fight them and come to decent results. It's always better than no cultivation at all.
How pride is born
In our time, everything contributes to the development of this sin. From a very early age, the child is taught the concept of his individuality and originality, his genius and talents. However, no one tells him that every person who has come into this world is just as unique, brilliant and valuable in his own way. Even if he is very different from the image of the ideal person that is drawn by public opinion in our imagination, it is still worth considering him equal to yourself.
Who suffers from this sin
The answer to this question is:
- Those who are subject to pride suffer.
- Who lives next to this person.
- Who faces him and his ambitions in society.
- Who suffers the consequences of his wrong actions.
As an example, we can take the modern upbringing of a woman. From childhood, the girl is taught that she is no worse than boys. She is brought up on an equal footing with boys, taught the same subjects, the same rules of behavior in society. When she becomes a girl, she is told that before starting a family and having children, she should pursue education and a career. Thus, a woman is initially denied family happiness, which is built on subordination to a man.
How to deal with sin
As mentioned above, first you need to realize the presence in the soul of signs of pride. Next, you need to develop a clear understanding in yourself that in order to get rid of sin, you will have to change your life, your behavior and attitude towards people and even towards God. Having carefully worked out and clarified for yourself what kind of vices have taken possession of your essence, you need to choose the main ones that give rise to smaller ones. Perhaps it will be easier for someone to first get rid of the less significant signs, and then take on the main ones. The main thing is to go to the solution of this problem stubbornly and purposefully.
Humility
In many religions, humility is considered one of the main ways in the fight against evil. What does it carry? Firstly, a person realizes that everything that happens in his life is sent to him by God or Fate in order for him to become more perfect. In this case, a person does not try to overcome any difficulties. He humbly accepts them, thereby tempering his soul.
The opinion of others
Often, pride in a person is fed by society itself, referring to an upbringing in which it is not customary to speak frankly to a person about his shortcomings. At the same time, nothing prevents him from condemning the same individual behind his back, laughing at his delusions. In this situation, a person can learn about his mistakes by chance or from a person who is fundamentally honest. The main thing in this case is not to fall into the other extreme of pride, that is, into resentment. No matter how difficultaccept criticism in your address, it is worth considering every word of the person who expressed his opinion about you.
Deliverance from sin
Summing up, it is worth recalling once again the main commandment of Christianity "love thy neighbor". When this commandment is understood and accepted, there will be no room for pride. A mother who cradles a baby loves him without any conditions. He brings troubles and problems into her life, but a woman will not allow anyone to remove their source from her life. Growing up, children do not always meet the expectations of their parents. But ask a mother if she would agree to change a bad son or a negligent daughter for successful and famous people? Never.
If such love for every person comes into your life, then you can forget about sins. But to achieve such results, you will have to work hard on your soul.
