Pride

I've been thinking and hearing a lot about pride lately. I've been reading the book of Proverbs daily as well as skimming back through The Final Quest. Two things have really caught my eye about pride: 1) pride causes blindness and misinterpretation. I'm getting that the only way I can ever hope to see things as they really are is through the lens of humility. And just when I think I'm humble and seeing something clearly - BAM - there's more pride showing itself through blind spots I didn't know I had. Humility has more levels down that I ever thought.

And 2) I think we fight off pride by submitting ourselves to community. Interesting that the smarter, more learned, more studied, wiser we want to be the more we must submit ourselves to other people in community. And how opposite that is from what it would seem! The way of the world is to hoist up anyone who appears smart or wise onto a pedastal and isolate them. Does this effectively destroy any real wisdom by giving a way in for pride?

My dad's continual advice to one of my brothers was to "keep a low profile." He wasn't very good at that (my brother; not my dad). That advice seems to leave some breathing room for wisdom to settle in. I also think of the scripture (maybe in 1 Timothy?) that encourages us to make it our ambition to lead a quiet life...or something like that. When does God give people a big stage? Is that ever God?

Just as I was sitting here typing I realized that I've been particularly enthralled with Pride & Prejudice lately. Period stuff really gets me going. I may not be a woman well-versed in pop culture, but give me some good period films and books and I'm IN. I've watched pieces and parts of this movie so many times over the past 3 weeks. Why do I love it so much? If you're a fan -- tell me, please -- why do I love it so much? And does it have anything to do with this pride stuff? I learned that the first title of that book was actually "First Impressions." This goes back directly to my comment above... the only correct lens to view something is through humility. And aren't most (fleshly) first impressions infused with pride and therefore highly subject to blindness and mistake?