Pride."Men are great in their freedom, their transcendence, their consciousness of self and of self being conscious of self. It is part of their greatness that they know their finitude, their contingency, their dependence. And the anxiety that comes from that knowledge is the panic which drives them to their own security, men would be themselves the divinity who alone is independent, not contingent. Each man identifies his own truth, his own goodness, his own creativity with a divine truth, goodness, creativity. The end is always confusion, for each of man's illusions conflicts with the others; and events inevitably smash the whole pretense. Each man reaches out for the power, prestige, property with which to buttress his own existence. The effort is foredoomed to failure.

Image via WikipediaPride."Men are great in their freedom, their transcendence, their consciousness of self and of self being conscious of self. It is part of their greatness that they know their finitude, their contingency, their dependence. And the anxiety that comes from that knowledge is the panic which drives them to their own security, men would be themselves the divinity who alone is independent, not contingent. Each man identifies his own truth, his own goodness, his own creativity with a divine truth, goodness, creativity. The end is always confusion, for each of man's illusions conflicts with the others; and events inevitably smash the whole pretense. Each man reaches out for the power, prestige, property with which to buttress his own existence. The effort is foredoomed to failure.




"The pride which Christians are called to repent is not a social nuisance, but a universal tragedy. Such pride is the self's self-defeating, destructive centering upon itself - which self can never even be itself until pride is broken and the self knows its center in God. Appropriate self-respect comes only when there is a real self to respect, when pride is past, when we accept the significance we cannot establish, when we trust God for the ultimate security He alone can guarantee" (A Handbook of Christian Theology - Pride - Theodore A. Gill).



From our "pride" to "God's Kingdom" is where we should move.



"In being truly converted to the kingdom of God, everything we do assumes its direction, purpose, and meaning in light of the Kingdom, i.e., in light of God's will. This does not rule out the possibility, indeed the probability, that we shall occasionally act against this fundamental choice for God. But only a fundamental reversal of that choice (what the traditional textbooks called "aversio a Deo," a "turning away from God") is sufficient to cancel out the original decision to understand oneself in relation to God and to orient one's whole life in view of that new self understanding" (Catholicism-Richard P. McBrien XXVI, 955).



As we have read, as long as we do not quit loving God with complete commitment to him and eager to receive his Love, we can continue on in this Love. We have to approach this Love as a Child. We are to be childlike with humble and sincere hearts, weak and dependent people with no status or influence.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Making The Unconsious Conscious With Dowsing (teachstreet.com)
• Can Science Explain the Soul? (beliefnet.com)
• Changing your brain's factory settings (psychologytoday.com)
• The Christian Logic Of Power, Pride, Humility, Free Will, Original Sin, And All-Consuming Divine Narcissism (camelswithhammers.com)