The Oxford English Dictionary has two relevant definitions for pride:
1. A feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one‘s own achievements, the achievements of one’s close associates, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired
2. The quality of having an excessively high opinion of oneself or one's importance
It seems to me that the Christian sin is the second one.
For the first form, it seems to me that pride has to be earned; it's not something that one can just feel whenever one wishes. I can see how false pride would be a bad thing, but that's really a form of arrogance.
Aristotle considered pride the greatest of all virtues. It's a big leap from there to the worst of all sins.
For me, pride is a psychological reward that we earn from living our values; from being just, honest, having integrity, and so on. Living unethically destroys the chance for pride -- so I don't understand how that goes along with pride being a sin.
Perhaps it's that in order to feel pride, one must live for themselves? Is that the aspect that's sinful?
Its less complicated than you might think. It is unfortunate that English has only 1 word for this concept. French makes a more subtle distinction between Fier (the kind of heart swelling pride you are talking about) and Orgueil (the obnoxious, self-absorbed, me-first kind). The Judeo-Christian Pride which is considered a sin (one of the 7 Deadly Sins: Pride, Envy, Sloth, Greed, Anger, Lust & Gluttony) is the act of violating the 1st commandment, putting one's self above God, the act of making one's self into an idol - in essence, a false god. Hope that clarifies for you.
ReplyDeleteGerman has the same distinction between Stolz (reasonable pride) and Hochmut (arrogance). Thanks for the piece.
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