Pride Goes Before A Fall: Deadly Sins Revisited

prideI’m really fortunate to work with some lovely people who always bring me interesting things to think about. Tonight’s discussion is about pride. A topic, I have to say, that I’ve also debated with my Guides quite a bit.

The phrase I remember from my childhood is ‘Pride goes before a fall’. It was something I heard in my home and my school. Because pride was deadly. It was a sin. Even when I was too young to understand what a sin was. When I got older I used to puzzle about the people who wrote down the list of deadly sins. Who said those things were sins? How did they know? And why did so many people seem to fall into the trap of committing these sins? Of course the origin of this and many other rather interesting stricture comes from the Bible. In full the quotation is something like “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Apparently it can be translated several ways (as most of the Bible can) but is said to refer to the fall of the angels who defied God.

And there is another interesting issue for me. If God is all knowing he must have known the angels were going to defy him. He must have let it happen. Was it their pride that caused them to fall from God’s energy? Or his pride in not preventing them? Perhaps God was proud that they rebelled? You see often this statement is taken to mean that someone is being arrogant. Or has risen above their station. Is not being humble enough. I wonder how we are ever supposed to have pride then? In our appearance? Or in our abilities? In our selves? Because all of those have been told to me too. Repeatedly. And is being humble all it’s cracked up to be? Isn’t it an excuse for others to treat us unfairly. Or unthinkingly. Without consideration?

I have to ask who exactly is falling when we bandy the word pride about. And who might be heading for life as a martyr to themselves. Having a belief in myself is far from deadly. And far from a sin. It’s one of the ways I can sustain myself through the creative process. A way to love what I produce and who I am for bringing it into being. Finally, perhaps it’s time to revisit our use fo words and move away from a centuries old rule that no longer says it all?

Day 978 of my blogging challenge