Pride Is The Origin Of Many Conflicts
Because life has no definite categories or absolute definitions, there are multiple ways we can look at pride. Psychology distinguishes two kinds of pride, a positive and a negative kind. We call positive pride self-confidence or self-esteem, and negative pride we call arrogance.
The first kind is necessary to feel safe and balanced, to appreciate yourself appropriately, and to find your place in life. This is completely healthy. The latter, which separates us from others, is one of the greatest instigators of conflict.
The negative side of pride is defined as an excessive focus on oneself and one’s merits, which leads you to believe that you are better than others. This type of pride prevents you from acknowledging and making amends for your mistakes and from showing humility.
Humility, which is the opposite of pride, is what allows us to adopt an open, flexible and receptive attitude towards learning new things. People who are too proud complain a lot about other people, situations, the weather, the country etc., all because of their inflated ego. This inevitably leads to some type of conflict.
When pride turns to arrogance
Arrogance is the belief that one is above the other. It is a sense of superiority that leads the person to brag about their own qualities or ideas and minimize those of others. Pride can turn into arrogance when one becomes too vain.
Feeling superior to yourself every time you compare yourself to another can lead to an inferiority complex, which in turn can cause you to try to prove that you are always right and to brag about your merits, virtues and achievements.
It can make you terribly intolerant of other ideologies because you hold onto that single point of view and don’t allow anyone else to give you their opinion. It will make your capacity for self-knowledge very small, and it will take you a great deal of effort to apologize and change yourself. Maybe it won’t even occur to you to change because you think you’re already doing everything right.
Arrogant people display emotional coldness and aloofness. It’s very hard for them to get over an insult. These characteristics interfere with their interpersonal relationships.
Use honesty to break your pride
Honesty can be very painful at first, but in the long run it is quite liberating. It allows us to confront the truth about who we are and how we relate to our inner world. This is where the path to emotional well-being begins. There are many therapeutic effects that developing honesty entails.
First, it reduces the fear of getting to know yourself and facing your dark sides. It also prevents you from hiding behind masks to please others and to be accepted by your social environment and work environment. At the same time, it keeps you from sweeping your emotional conflicts under the rug.
Honesty empowers you to take a critical look at yourself and identify the deceptions, lies, and temptations that threaten you from within. To the extent that you integrate honesty into your life, your pride will fade once you no longer feel the need to play a role and portray someone you are not.
