I think selfishness is the biggie.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I was going to say greed, but I think all 3 are very closely related.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

True.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Religion

by Anonymous 14 years ago

There is nothing wrong with being proud, if you have accomplished something, because it makes you feel good about yourself, which is a good thing. IMHO, bragging is the real problem. Be quietly proud, people!

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Well, there's a difference between being happy/feeling accomplished and being proud. Pride means you think you're better than others.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Pride doesnt mean you think you are better than others that would be arrogance. E.g. you can be proud of an achievement or something you have created while still admitting that someone elses achievement or creation is better than yours. Another example is being proud of your heritage. This simply means you are proud of where you have come from and are not ashamed to admit it, which is an excellent quality to have but in way, form or manner does it come close to implying that you think you are better than other people. I assume you are proud to be from the US? Arrogance is where you think you are better than others without exeption and whilst it may be true that pride can lead to a fall(hubris and nemesis)it's not always the case, arrogance will always lead to the fall and if further proof is needed the war in Afganistan is the perfect exmple. History shows that every army that has tried to invade her has failed as NATO is prooving the natives wont a puppet governement o

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Pride doesnt mean you think you are better than others that would be arrogance. E.g. you can be proud of an achievement or something you have created while still admitting that someone elses achievement or creation is better than yours. Another example is being proud of your heritage. This simply means you are proud of where you have come from and are not ashamed to admit it, which is an excellent quality to have but in way, form or manner does it come close to implying that you think you are better than other people. I assume you are proud to be from the US? Arrogance is where you think you are better than others without exeption and whilst it may be true that pride can lead to a fall(hubris and nemesis)it's not always the case, arrogance will always lead to the fall and if further proof is needed the war in Afganistan is the perfect exmple. History shows that every army that has tried to invade her has failed as NATO is prooving the natives wont a puppet governement or a foreign one

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Allow me to quote C.S. Lewis here. "We say in English that a man is 'proud' of his son, or his father, or his school, or regiment, and it may be asked whether 'pride' in this sense is a sin. I think it depends on what, exactly, we mean by 'proud of'. Very often, in such sentences, the phrase 'is proud of means 'has a warm-hearted admiration for'. Such an admiration is, of course, very far from being a sin. But it might, perhaps, mean that the person in question gives himself airs on the ground of his distinguished father, or because he belongs to a famous regiment. This would, clearly, be a fault; but even then, it would be better than being proud simply of himself. To love and admire anything outside yourself is to take one step away from utter spiritual ruin; though we shall not be well so long as we love and admire anything more than we love and admire God." So, yes, being "proud of" your heritage, or an achievement, or something else is all right...

by Anonymous 14 years ago

As long as that admiration is not directed at yourself at all. Be proud of your heritage because it is what it is, something to be loved, not because you are part of it. Be proud of an achievement not because you are so amazing for having achieved it, but because it maybe helped someone, or gave glory to someone whose help was utilized. You know?

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Cont. from above @80950 (Rocky): Your quote from Lewis rather proved my point you have been far to general with the use of the word pride as it encmpasses a huge range of concepts and ideas. I would be more inclined to agree with your statment had you written 'arrogance' instead of 'pride'. Pride is far to general a term, however, arrogance would be better as it simply means the belief that you are better than someone else. To my mind religion and arrogance are the root cause of the majority of the world problems very very closly followed by greed and the abuse of power (I am assuming that power is implicit of trust in this case before you say anything). I do not think it is appropriate or correct to say the worl has only one big or 'biggest' problem.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

Let me clarify. "Pride" means something akin to arrogance, but the word in its adjective form (proud) has reentered common language in a different, selfless sense. Pride itself, the true definition, is bad. It leads to all other vices.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I like Jane Austen's definition: "Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us."

by Anonymous 14 years ago

True, but vanity is a whole thing altogether. Let me quote C.S. Lewis again... "...vanity, though it is the sort of Pride which shows most on the surface, is really the least bad and most pardonable sort. The vain person wants praise, applause, admiration, too much and is always angling for it. It is a fault, but a child-like and even (in an odd way) a humble fault. It shows that you are not yet completely contented with your own admiration. You value other people enough to want them to look at you. You are, in fact, still human. The real black, diabolical Pride, comes when you look down on others so much that you do not care what they think of you. Of course, it is very right, and often our duty, not to care what people think of us, if we do so for the right reason; namely, because we care so incomparably more what God thinks."

by Anonymous 14 years ago

For that quote to apply you would have to assume that the whole world believes in God or a God. Inthis day and age it is just not the caseand indeed it wasnt at the time Lewis wrote it. I don´t understand how you can say the world has got just one biggest problem...that is my problem with your statement.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

I'm saying pride is the problem that leads to all others.

by Anonymous 14 years ago

are you sugesting that pride causes curruption, child abuse, human trafficking, famine ect?

by Anonymous 14 years ago