Question on Pride

The Understanding of Spiritual, Intellectual and Human Pride



"A little favor, please could you give me some very practical norms to overcome the pride in every single manifestation?"
D. from Columbia

 

September 4, 2005

by Lorraine Michaels


This is a most important question and all spiritual seekers need to look for the beam in their own eye, withdrawing the need to look for the mote in another, to free oneself of pride. The root of all evil is pride. That is the plain and simple fact. And with that knowledge, let us look at this root and how to dig it out of our consciousness, as well as the mass consciousness that has been poisoned by the pride brought to this planet starting with the fall of Lucifer.

Various spiritual beliefs denote pride as one of the most deadliest sins. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. According to Christian theology, pride is the deadliest of the seven capital sins or seven deadly sins. The seven deadly sins are listed as:

  • Pride
  • Envy
  • Anger
  • Sloth
  • Greed
  • Gluttony
  • Lust


The Ascended Masters’ Teachings have taught the Eastern tradition of the Vajrayana Buddhism practiced by Tibetan Buddhists and their belief in the five major poisons that oppose enlightenment and wisdom. The Five Dhyani Buddhas, or Great Buddhas of Wisdom, are a central feature of Vajrayana Buddhism. Each Buddha is believed to be capable of overcoming a particular evil with a particular good quality. Vairochana's transcendent wisdom reveals the realm of highest reality and overcomes the poison of ignorance, or delusion.

Ratnasambhava’s Wisdom of Equality sees all things with divine impartiality and recognizes the divine equality of all beings, transmuting the poison of spiritual, intellectual and human pride.
Amoghasiddhi's All-Accomplishing Wisdom, or Wisdom of Perfected Action confers perseverance, infallible judgment and unerring action which antidotes the poison of envy and jealousy.

Amitabha's Discriminating Wisdom conquers the poison of the passions through discerning that all beings are individuals and unique, yet knowing that every being is an individual expression of the One. His wisdoms antidotes all cravings, covetousness, greed and lust.
Akshobhya's Mirrorlike Wisdom reflects all things calmly and uncritically revealing their true nature. Mirrorlike Wisdom antidotes the poison of hatred and anger.
 
There is a great similarity between the Seven Deadly Sins and Buddhists understanding of the evils or sins of man. While pride is the root of all evil in the Seven Sins, ignorance is the root of all evil in Buddhism. Therefore, pride may be overcome with wisdom, and wisdom may be obtained through enlightenment, and enlightenment may be obtained through knowledge and knowledge may be obtained through humility. Humility is the antithesis of pride. But when one is in pride, humility is the furthest thing from their mind. Therefore, the first requirement of pride is spiritual blindness or ignorance which creates the world of illusion through the human ego.

Pride is undue self esteem or self love, which seeks attention and honor and sets oneself in competition with God. Pride in its milder form is said to be vanity. While vanity is mostly concerned with appearance, pride is based in a real desire to be God, at least in one's own circle. The basis of pride is ignorance or spiritual blindness. But there are many subtle manifestations of pride that trap us. But the best detector of pride within is to look at how much you are bothered by another’s pride. If you feel attacked from another’s pride, and you respond with criticism that the other people are worse than you, you are most likely controlled by the poison of pride to some degree. Another strong indicator is competitiveness. If your happiness depends on defeating others or being better than others, you have built the illusion of the ego.


Overcoming Pride
The greatest tool to overcome pride is to practice gratitude. It is very easy to be grateful for everything you have, everything you do, and everything that comes your way. If you practice gratitude, even if you don’t initially feel it, you will find that gratitude will begin to melt the hardness of heart where pride has encased it in shrouds of pride. Practicing faith and dependency on God, meekness, and service to God through serving your fellow man, are all means to counteract pride. Service can be in the form of spiritual prayers or physical service through helping the needy, sick and less fortunate.

The antidote of pride delivered from the Dhyani Buddha of Wisdom, Ratnasambhava, is the wisdom of Equality, where one sees all things with divine impartiality and recognizes the divine equality of all beings. One sees all beings and the Buddha as having the same nature. The poison of pride is at three levels: spiritual, intellectual and human.
The fallen angel, Lucifer, fell at the level of spiritual pride. The carnal mind is the vehicle that this spiritual pride is manifested in the physical form. It is the intellectual pride that reasons that one is better than another, or one is right and the other is wrong. In the allegorical story of Adam and Eve, Eve was tempted by the Serpent through the carnal logic and reasoning, and she fell from pride in succumbing of temptation, believing the lie and doubting God within her. This is the human pride.

Before we can understand and use the antidote of pride, in gratitude, service and faith, we need to become enlightened to the hidden aspects of pride. Below is a list of some of the subtle signs of pride in our being and the counterpart in wisdom. Although there are three major categories of pride Spiritual, Intellectual and Human, there are certain traits to discern which category one is manifesting. Each list has some overlap, but some traits are exclusive to one of the three.

 

Spiritual Pride:

  • Conceit
  • Arrogance
  • Anger
  • Impatience
  • Intolerance
  • Brusqueness in daily contact with others
  • Inability To Admit You Are Wrong
  • Know-it-all Attitude
  • Not Acting On God's Word
  • Thinking You Are Better Than Others
  • Judging anything doesn’t agree with your beliefs to be in error
  • Opinionated
  • Self-centered
  • Excelling over others
  • Back-stabbing
  • Humiliation
  • Having a prideful haughty look
  • Controlling or ruling others
  • Refusing to submit to anyone else
  • Not accepting things on faith alone when they don't make sense.
  • Self-aggrandizement
  • Resentment
  • In Denial
  • Sarcastic, caustic, and biting in comments
  • Aristocratic
  • Religious fanaticism
  • Narrow focus
  • Above help
  • Aggression
  • Aggressive mental suggestion
     

Intellectual Pride

  • Idolatry
  • Arrogance
  • Impatience
  • Inability To Admit You Are Wrong
  • Know-it-all Attitude
  • Thinking You Are Better Than Others
  • Resentment
  • Hardheaded
  • Religious fanaticism
  • Apathy 


Human Pride

  • Self-Righteousness
  • Haughtiness
  • Disdain
  • Conceit
  • Annoyance
  • Anger
  • Judgment - judging anything that doesn’t agree with your beliefs to be in error.
  • Insensitivity
  • Selfishness
  • Hypocrisy
  • Keeping others at a distance
  • Always rationalizing. Making excuses for self.
  • Not being sensitive to the needs of others. Especially not having patience with others.
  • Neglecting The Bible & Prayer
  • Inability To Admit You Are Wrong
  • Not Submitting To Authority
  • Know-it-all Attitude
  • Criticizing Others - Anyone who criticizes another person considers they are superior to that person. They also think they are qualified to judge another human being (which they are not).
  • Thinking You Are Better Than Others
  • Being Overly Busy - Doing everything yourself because no one else could do it as well.
  • Thinking that you’re the only one who knows how to do things right.
  • Unwillingness to let others help
  • Over-rationalism
  • Opinionated
  • Self-centered
  • Using other people for personal gain
  • Humiliation
  • Boasting
  • Controlling or ruling others
  • Ignoring advice from older, spiritual people
  • Self-aggrandizement
  • In Denial
  • Hardheaded
  • Allowing people to use you
  • Vanity
  • Fear of standing up in Christ
  • Religious fanaticism
  • Failure to discipline
  • Narrow focus


We notice that each manifestation of pride has specific traits that are characteristic of three aspects of people. The first category of spiritual pride is the characteristic of the fallen angels. The additional characteristic of fallen angels is the second category of intellectual pride but is the characteristic of fallen angel Luciferian’s. This intellectual pride is the creation out of the carnal mind from the Luciferians. It is also the characteristic of the mechanized man creations by the Nephilim fallen angels. The third category of human pride is the creation of the human ego. This creation is the result of humankind falling to the temptation to leave off of God direction. These ego creations are in direct opposition to God Being through his sons and daughters and the children of the Light. And the direct opposition to the Christ consciousness in His children.

If we look at the Bible and what Jesus challenged in his three year mission, we see his direct confrontation with the fallen angels in the Pharisees. Jesus told the story of the publican and the Pharisee, both praying in the temple. The Pharisee stood tall before God, saying (in so many words), “Look at me, God. I’ve done everything right. I’ve kept every requirement of the law. I’m not like all those sinners. You’re just so lucky to have me.”

The publican, on the other hand, bowed before God, acknowledging his sinfulness. He was repentant and humble, asking quietly for God’s mercy.

Jesus told His followers that the publican, not the Pharisee, was the one in right-standing with the Father. The self-righteous are seldom those who are righteous before God.

An example of the human pride was when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples just before his crucifixion. The representative of the fallen consciousness, in Peter, objected to the Lord washing his feet, saying “"Thou shaft never wash my feet." To this, Jesus replied, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." Jesus explained to Peter the spiritual purpose behind this ritual that the ritual of the Master washing the disciple’s feet was an ancient custom. And in so doing, the Master was initiating the disciple to come up higher on the initiatic ladder. It signified that the Master had washed his disciple’s understanding. And thus Jesus freed Peter of the human pride through wisdom and understanding, showing that the humble act of being a servant to the least was the key to understanding and knowledge, not the intellect. Jesus teaching the multitudes about the pride of the Pharisees and scribes said:


“But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in [yourselves], neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Mat 23:11-14


In the story of the man who had been blind from birth, and Jesus healed him on the Sabbath, because of this miracle, the Pharisees became very upset. Not only had Jesus performed this healing on the Sabbath, but by healing a man whose illness was believed to be the result of his sin, Jesus directly challenged the spiritual status and authority of the established religious leaders, who, of course, were unable to heal the man.

And most of us know his oft quoted response: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:7-10
Their fear of losing their position as the only qualified spiritual guides of the people of Israel manifested in their judgmental, unforgiving, self-righteous, and uncaring displays. They were so intent on retaining their own power that they would rather see a fellow Jew remain blind than admit that some of their ideas about God might be wrong.

The spiritual pride in these fallen angels was created in Heaven and nothing on earth, not even the Christ or God’s miracles through him can convince them to let go of their pride. We see that the decision to rebel against God was created outside of this physical realm and in order to let go of that decision, the choice has to come from the etheric level in the mind. Pride is the result of that decision. You cannot heal the result without going to the cause. The choice is the decision not to Be what God created you to Be. God has sent his emissaries of Light for eons, in order to give the fallen ones an opportunity to make the free will choice to undo this decision. The cycles have turned and the opportunity is no longer granted on earth.

Jesus was the fulfillment of the Law in giving the opportunities from the Christ mind, to choose Christ over the decision which manifested their prideful rebellion. Likewise, every son of God who has obtained his victory on all seven rays and through all seven chakras and obtained Christ consciousness may also be the judgment, fulfilling the Law. It is the Light that is the judgment and every son and daughter of God knows this. But the fallen angels in their pride, are unable to understand the victory their brethren have obtained by humble adoring love to the Father and His will.

As we awaken to the truth of Being, we awaken to the reality of what is known by every ascended master and cosmic Being. No one can change the mind of another, it is the gift of free will we have been given. And therefore, since the opportunities have advanced and the fallen ones have not turned to the Light and bent the knee, letting go of their pride, their opportunities are finished. The course of action on the earth today is get them off this planet and taken to wherever they may be taken by the angels of light, whether to the other worlds or to second death to be repolarized in the Light of Being.

We must not become entangled with the fallen ones and their pride. We must choose to separate ourselves from all manifestations of pride through humble, loving service to all and turn to gratitude for every blessing bestowed upon us, but most especially to the woes we have brought into our lives through past error. In gratitude we may heal and be further blessed. In gratitude we are free to Be.
Sanat Kumara said in 1996:


"Now we speak of the tribes of the earth and we speak of the twelve tribes of Israel and the thirteenth. * Those who have no light who are the fallen angels, they shall go to the judgment and their pride with them. And these timetables are accelerating and I hope that you realize what a blessing this is.

The acceleration, then, of the exorcism of the mass consciousness of pride in the earth is what the Cosmic Hierarchy has set before you. As I have said, you have the tools, you have the ability, you have the knowledge and you can acquire a tremendous sacred fire of the heart to intensify your actions and your calls.

What is happening now in the Middle East, in Asia and in many nations is not good. As wars begin with pride, so civilizations go down because of pride. If you, then, can tackle this and continue to do so year in, year out, as you strive and give your all and your energies, you will have the sense of a gradual and mighty change in the earth.

It will be as though all the Elohim of God circled the earth, held hands and began to move this planet ever so slowly yet ever so powerfully until this darkness was undone, until it was exorcised, beloved, and was no longer the key in the astral belt, in the dweller-on-the-threshold of fallen ones and even of those who began as lightbearers but who, in taking on that veil of pride, lost some of the very self-esteem that replaces pride--the self-esteem of knowing, “I AM a Son of God. My Holy Christ Self is with me. My Mighty I AM Presence is my ultimate being, and I would be a humble servant unto the Lord.” *

*The Ascended Masters have taught that the thirteenth tribe is the priesthood of Melchizedek, made up of the “Christed ones,” i.e., those who are anointed with the Christ Light, whose souls are bonded to the Sacred Heart of Love.


Gratitude is love in action and I share a deeper understanding in gratitude in my article The Power of God Gratitude. I also share with you a profound key to gratitude. Gratitude is the corresponding line on the cosmic clock, the seven o’clock line, to God Love on the 1 o’clock line. The seven o’clock line is also the first secret ray. It is the doorway into the heart. When you truly send up gratitude to God, the love travels up your crystal cord as a flow of Light back to God I AM. In response, the I AM floods back down the crystal cord into your world so much love that you can feel as if your heart is overflowing with love and gratitude to God and all life, even during times of trying tests in your life. This cannot be faked or manipulated. God knows real gratitude.

The bottom line for every soul on earth is to wake up, wake up to Being and becoming all that you are and were created to Be in God--to Be love in action and in that love to let go of everything outside that love. Gratitude as love, will melt all manifestations of pride. Love will heal. Love will bind you to all that Is Real. There is only one Way. And that Way is to Be who you Are and let go of that which is not real - pride.

 

*Beloved Sanat Kumara with the Seven Holy Kumaras - Dec, 1996, PoW Vol. 42 No 11, Summit University Press, MT

 

Back to top