PRIDE

          I recently thought about pride.   This is considered one of the 7 deadly sins.  According to Wiki:

Pride is an inward directed emotion that exemplifies either a high sense of one's personal status or ego (i.e., leading to judgments of personality and character) or the specific mostly positive emotion that is a product of praise or independent self-reflection. Philosophers and social psychologists have noted that pride is a complex secondary emotion which requires the development of a sense of self and the mastery of relevant conceptual distinctions (e.g., that pride is distinct from happiness and joy) through language-based interaction with others. Some social psychologists identify it as linked to a signal of high social status. One definition of pride in the first sense comes from St. Augustine: "the love of one's own excellence"^. In this sense, the opposite of pride is either humility or guilt; the latter in particular being a sense of one's own failure in contrast to Augustine's notion of excellence.

          When I think of personal pride I think of self-reflection and self praise of accomplishments (see previous post ACCOMPLISHMENTS).   I think of things I "pride" myself upon.  This is something with which up till recently I had a problem.  It has taken me many years to accept that I have any accomplishments upon which to be proud.  The state of a person constantly beaten down.

          I now take great pride in my research of a group of S. E. Asian orchids.  I take great pride in owning a library containing nearly 30,000 pages both physical and digital that took me about 5 years to obtain.  I take great pride in growing, nurturing, breeding, and selling of orchids.  Something I have done for over 25 years.  I take pride in my garden.  I take pride in my painting.  I take pride in my friends (a very eclectic bunch).

         When I think of pride I do not think of it as a sin.  For me being prideful is a way to accept that there is something good about yourself.  Pride leads to the wish to excel.  Pride leads to a want to do better.  Pride leads to self change that leads to a better SELF.  Pride leads to a want to be more connected to the WHOLE and the universe in general.  Pride leads to a connection with all thinks that live.