Introduction to the Effects of Pride

Having followed the spiritual masters through the stages of pride in its development and descent as the soul turns in toward itself, we move on to examine pride in its effects. We begin with the words of Jesus ben Sirach, a wise Jew of the second century BC, as he warns against the great sin of pride, which he notes to be “the beginning of sin” (Sir 10:15 DRA). From this one verse flows the great tradition already noted in part 1 of pride being the source of all the vices, set apart as their queen, something common to all sin.

From Sirach we turn to Augustine, not only a spiritual master but a brilliant and insightful commentator on both Scripture and human nature. Augustine provides us with a classic definition of pride as “the craving for undue exaltation.” He notes that pride preceded the sin of Adam and Eve in believing the serpent and eating the fruit; it is only because they had already turned from God toward themselves that they sought to become gods by disobedience. That sin of disobedience was great, but the greater evil was the pride that preceded it.

Next, St. Luke presents to us Jesus’ parable of the righteous Pharisee who boasts of his justice in the Temple while looking down his nose at the miserable tax collector who appeals to God for mercy. Truly, Jesus says, it was the tax collector and not the Pharisee who went home that day justified. Augustine draws on this parable to show that the proud cannot pray for prayer requires a lacking and belief in something more, whereas the proud man is already full of himself; there is no room for more. For this reason, the proud man cannot pray; he does not have faith. Rather, the prayer of faith is the prayer of humility. To complement Augustine’s position, Cyril of Alexandria presents the Pharisee as one whose righteousness leads him to sin. This parable becomes a warning to all those who consider themselves righteous: beware pride, for by it the righteous perish in their righteousness.

Finally, we move on to the early Renaissance as Mike Shramm unpacks Dante’s treatment of pride and humility in the Divine Comedy. This is followed Dante’s own words in cantos X through XII of the Purgatorio, wherein he and his guide, Vergil, begin their ascent of Mount Purgatory with the proud—heavily laden with great stones, forcing them to bend down and look at the ground. Here we are exposed to not only the punishment but the cure for pride: humility—and there we must pause. Humility must wait until part 3 of this issue.

With Dante, then, let us linger as we bear the burden of pride and its effects, and as we look with longing for the heights of humility.

Aaron P. Debusschere
Editor