What is the difference between pride and arrogance. Psychologists about pride. Modern understanding of hubris and pride

Pride is a very multidimensional concept and one of the many manifestations of fear. Man's eternal desire for perfection is manifested in the form of pride. A person feels that inside he is endowed with divine perfection, but he misuses this perfection, always striving to be right to the detriment of other people.

There are two forms of pride: mental and spiritual.

Mental pride is a characteristic of those who believe that they know everything. As soon as we question their knowledge, pride manifests itself and the person begins to be stubborn in order to prove his point.

It seems that only he can be the only winner, and others will inevitably and always be losers. The power and authority that pride seems to give is merely an illusion, for in reality it is always the proud who loses.

If you realize that you are being stubborn in a given situation, find out if it is pride that is driving you. To do this, ask yourself what exactly motivates you to do this. In general, if a person has an opinion different from the opinion of other people, and if he is not captured by fears, he easily accepts the existence of a different opinion and is not stubborn. When stubbornness takes over, you are usually driven by one or more fears. Ask yourself, “What bad things will happen to me if I allow another person to have a different opinion?” This way you will not allow pride to overwhelm you, and you will become aware of the limiting opinions that are unfavorable to you.

A great way to help you stop being stubborn is to say, “Can we both accept that we disagree on this issue?”

Mental work should be used to elevate yourself, and not to humiliate yourself and belittle the importance of other people. Simplicity and sincerity give much greater happiness than the desire to always be right, that is, pride!

Be careful with spiritual pride! Mental pride comes from the position “I know and think better than you,” and spiritual pride is fueled by the thought that “I am better than you.” How more people is engaged in personal growth, and the personality, for those who do not know, is the mind and ego, the more conscious he becomes, and the greater the danger of falling into the net of spiritual pride. As a rule, under the influence of spiritual pride a person feels superior to other people. Such people think: “Since you are not as developed as me, it means that I am better than you...”.

As you become more aware, be mindful. Even if you are on a higher level than another person, this does not mean that his essence is lower than yours, the difference is only in its manifestation.

If you look at others as if they are inferior to you, it is the same as comparing yourself to an elephant and mistaking others for mice. Is an elephant a more important animal than a mouse?

They say that pride is the greatest scourge of humanity. Pride is the source of the greatest strife social life, rivalry between peoples, wars, intrigues, hatred and anger against other people.

Some people do not consider themselves proud and blame other people for this. If you think so too, it means that your pride is much stronger than other people's pride, even if your stubbornness is not overt. When you think that you are right and someone else is wrong, this is also pride, regardless of whether it was expressed out loud by you.

Proud people very rarely admit that they are filled with pride. They are so arrogant that any attempt at even a hint of pride remains unsuccessful and usually infuriates them. They don't want to know anything. They do not tolerate resistance or obstacles.

When pride takes over, you stop being yourself and you no longer show your internal state. You are influenced by pride. And you lose a lot: love, relationships, health, happiness! Is pride worth it?

Pride is the exaltation of your ego mind as opposed to your essence and individuality. As your individuality develops, your pride will lose its power over you.

Pride resists all internal changes. She always tries to prevent us from seeing GOD in everyone, from forgiving, from expressing our feelings or emotions, from being real, from learning about ourselves, from having any opinion.

If you are now experiencing anger and cannot imagine how you can, first of all, ask another person for forgiveness for being offended by him and, then, for not seeing love in his actions or words, this indicates that that your pride is preventing this. Asking for forgiveness and showing love does not mean “losing” or “winning.”

Everything always comes back to one thing - to love. Every manifestation of love solves all problems and changes everything in life. Love has the magical gift of healing on a physical, emotional and mental level.

As I said above, there is always some kind of fear hidden behind pride. Fear that we are not loved, fear of being rejected, fear of condemnation, criticism, fear of not being up to par, fear of losing a person or object.

To deal with pride, you must first acknowledge it and admit to yourself that you have a fear of rejection. With this understanding, you will be able to feel how much you suffer from the thought that others will stop loving you.

It is impossible to get rid of pride that has been present in you for several generations and lives in an instant. You can only overcome pride gradually, with small daily victories, through actions driven by love.

The best way to teach you how to deal with pride when you meet a person who wants to be right is to not be stubborn yourself. Accept that in this moment this person knows the truth, which is very important to him. Tell him: “I accept your point of view, even if it differs from mine.”

When you realize that you have allowed your pride to get the better of you during a conversation, I encourage you to talk to that person. If you need to ask for forgiveness, do it. Tell him that you realized that you wanted to be right at all costs, and that you were driven by pride. Confess to him that you have decided to pull yourself together and ask him to be patient with you, because it is impossible to give up pride in an instant.

If you meet a person from whom pride is pouring over the edge, try to see suffering and fear in his behavior, and most likely your mirror. Perhaps this person will try to change you, intimidate you with his behavior or powerful, sharp statements. But don't pay attention to it, because in reality he is more scared than you. Don't try to answer him in the same tone. Such checks of Space occur constantly.

You may be shocked as you read this to learn how much you are driven by pride, but I am not trying to overwhelm you or make you feel guilty. I would rather you become more aware, allow yourself to see the pride in yourself and make decisions accordingly. If you realize that you too have pride, you will need to deal with it, because it is what prevents you from loving and perhaps being truly loved. See if pride is worth your health, inner peace, relationships, happiness, love? Are you ready to continue paying such a high price?

DISADVANTAGES OF PRIDE

Pride leads to loneliness. A proud person does not know how to forgive and ask for forgiveness, depriving himself of friends.
Pride leads to moral decline, making a person spiritually weak.
Pride deprives a person of the opportunity to look at things soberly, preventing him from achieving his goals.
Pride narrows one's horizons. Proud people crave power, but rarely achieve anything.
Pride makes a person callous. Most of these people will go over their heads for the sake of their goal.
Pride creates a wall between a person and the truth.

MANIFESTATIONS OF PRIDE IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Family relationships

A false understanding of pride often does not allow those closest to them to openly express their feelings and desires, which in some cases leads to the breakup of even the most prosperous families.

Story

Unshakable confidence in the invincibility of his army and exorbitant pride led Hitler, blinded by his greatness, to inevitable defeat in the war with Soviet Union. IN equally this also applies to Napoleon.

Literature

In Dostoevsky's work "Crime and Punishment" main character- Rodion Raskolnikov - believes that he has the right to shed “blood according to his conscience,” thinking that everything is allowed to him. Blinded by pride, he goes on a killing spree.

Art

Marina Tsvetaeva repeated tragic fate many great people who fell victim to their pride. “Pride did not allow Marina Ivanovna to get along in the emigrant environment. Tsvetaeva, unfortunately, did not find understanding and upon returning to her homeland, she hanged herself in Yelabuga at a moment of despair and loneliness.”

SIGNS OF PRIDE

Not accepting that you might be wrong.
Persistence is that you are always right.
Treating others patronizingly or looking down on you.
Having a sense of self-importance.
Humiliation of yourself and others.
The thought that you are better than others.
Boasting.
Attributing to oneself the merits, works or efforts of other people.
The desire to put an opponent at a disadvantage.
Managing people to achieve what they want.
Control over the situation without sharing responsibility.
Constant need to be the center of attention.
Arrogant attitude and behavior.
You turn up your nose or look down on people.
Vanity, often look in the mirror.
Exhibiting your talents, clothes, wealth, appearance.
Not allowing others to help you or work with you.
Attracting attention to yourself.
Talkativeness or constantly turning the conversation on oneself.
Touchiness.
Excessive sensitivity or insensibility.
Excessive preoccupation with oneself.
Thoughts about what others think and say (only) about you.
Using words that the other person does not understand and you know it.
Feeling of worthlessness.
Not forgiving yourself and others.
Reluctance to change or even think that it is necessary to change.
Placing people in order of importance on the hierarchical ladder and, depending on this, the attitude towards them.
The thought that you are more important than others due to your work.
Obsession with work, the desire to receive praise, doing many things at once and your desire to show that only you can do it.
Distrust of other people and God.
A state of preoccupation with the impression you make and people's opinions of you.
The idea that you are above the Law or that you are a special son or daughter of God.
Creating an idol from yourself and others.
Working beyond all limits of your body's capabilities.
Change your demeanor depending on who you're talking to.
Ingratitude.
Ignoring "little people".
Inattention.
Lack of awareness of your pride or any problems (spiritual blindness).
Presence of an irritated tone.
Raising the voice in anger or annoyance.
The thought of teaching someone a lesson. Talking to or about a person in a derogatory manner.
Conflict and disobedience to the will of God.
Not submitting to the will of God.
Lack of self-esteem.
Recklessness or madness.
Having a “What could you do for me?” relationship.
Dishonesty towards yourself and others.
Inability to work with others, inability to compromise.
The desire to always have the “last word.”
Reluctance to share your knowledge in order to have control.
Inattention to one's own inner world, to your physical body, or excessive care about it.
The idea that you have to do everything because no one else can do it better than you.
Mentioning another person's mistakes in a judgmental tone.
The need to save other people from their problems.
Prejudice towards people based on their appearance, clothing, skin color, etc.
Pride in one's position.
Excessive self-respect.
Sarcasm and trolling.

SPIRITUAL PRIDE

If you are interested in development, spirituality, or engage in spiritual practices, the likelihood that you are to one degree or another possessed by spiritual pride is extremely high. These signs are very subtle, not exhaustive, but quite thought-provoking.

One of the insidious signs of spiritual pride is an illusory unawareness of pride in oneself. Sometimes a Man who has reached spiritual growth first results, begins to tell others that either He does not have problems with the ego, or begins to demonstrate what effort He makes on himself in order to loosen the grip of the ego. This is a manifestation of vanity generated by the ego itself. All Humans undergo a test of self-importance, which is vibrationally opposite to the sense of Divine Dignity.
Lack of Gratitude to those who helped you during the appropriate period of Life on the Path with advice, deed, Energy, etc. “Forgetting” what was important at that moment. The illusion is that you achieved this yourself with your own labor.
Theorizing your Worldview. The lack of Practice and lived Experience indicates that your ego is out of control.
Spiritual pride is a lack of responsibility. Responsibility means the following: all your words must be lived by you in the literal sense. Responsibility for your thoughts, words and actions to other People means that you have lived and tried what is currently a suitable, effective means specifically for you. You can recommend this to your neighbors, but with the caveat that this remedy is not a panacea.
The desire to resist, to defend your point of view. Loud arguments and trying to convince your interlocutor are akin to a struggle for survival. This is a sign of the presence of mental blockages - deadened beliefs and dogmas.
Rejection of new things. Fear of Change - fear of the death of the old and the birth of the new, unknown. Getting used to the idea that everything is enough and change is not needed, the fear of getting lost under the onslaught of the Wind of Transformation is a common sign of spiritual pride. The ego perceives the Mergence with Consciousness itself as its own death.
Condemnation of other points of view, methods, lifestyles and worldviews of other people. Condemnation is defensive reaction ego from expanding the worldview. The Ego is desperately trying to convince the Human Consciousness that other people live wrongly, incorrectly and cannot teach anything “useful”.
Focus on quantity rather than quality. This is a trick of the ego - a waste of your Energy due to the lack of a clearly defined goal, or your Goal is conditional, prone to changeability. Dispersing your efforts into many projects, an impossibility, but the desire to embrace the vast is spiritual greed, one of the qualities of spiritual pride. And this has nothing to do with the Service. Treat each of your projects as if they were own child, decorate it, love it, pay attention.
Belief: information is given for a select few, not for everyone. The emergence of new terms, the complication of what is simple and accessible, the desire to look spectacular - all these are low-vibration manifestations of the ego beyond control.
The focus is not on Service, but on getting paid for your efforts. The primary task, the first step to Spirituality, is selflessness. If you learn to be selfless, your efforts will be rewarded. And there is no paradox in that. It is paid to those who give from the Heart. Otherwise, a Person may become irritated at being asked to help for free.
Return from lack, not from excess. Sometimes a Man talks about how others can make money without having gained it himself. material basis under your feet. Or he does charity work, but, due to laziness or lack of faith, does not try to live in abundance. All this is spiritual hypocrisy - one of the manifestations of spiritual pride. If you yourself don’t know, can’t, don’t know how, don’t offer, but try to learn, be able, be able to, achieve. And then give from your abundance to your neighbors, be it money, information or the Energy of Love.
Feeling like a teacher knowledgeable people. In the fourth dimension of Awareness there is a Gift for absolutely all Awakened people - to know and predict the actions of the ego. Knowledge of the psychology of egoic nature and the ability to analyze it does not mean that you have reached the heights of Wisdom. This feeling of “knowing everything about people” brings satisfaction to the “teacher”, because the illusion of being informed about everything arises. In fact, this illusion comes from fear of the unknown, veiled under the psychological mask of “knowledge of human nature.” For such a Person, the terrible word that can escape from His lips is “I don’t know.” In reality, neither the Higher Self nor the Mentors, devoid of duality, can know and predict people. Why? There is a Space of Options, Free Will and Choice. Friends-Mentors and Higher Selves do not have the emotion of fear of the unknown: for Them every decision of a Person is always a Miracle! They know that there are no mistakes, there is a unique Experience! Tell me: how can you know a Man? Did you know Him yesterday? But this morning He woke up with new thoughts, feelings; He was enriched with Knowledge, Experience; Certain situations, meetings, etc. happened to Him. So on what basis did you conclude that you “know” the Man? Based on past experience? Based on the fact that you were able to calculate His life moves several times? Dear ones, this is one of the greatest illusions of spiritual pride.
The feeling that the Knowledge received is sufficient. In this case, there may be a desire to expand the acquired Knowledge and disseminate it without studying the New. Religious and ideological movements with a narrow specialization emerge.
An emotional reaction to what is a Lesson. Anger, resentment, irritation, etc., arising as a result of pressing on a painful point is only a catalysis of the Beginning of the Lesson. Those who are possessed by spiritual pride try not to accept the Lesson, not to work on themselves.
Emotional and mental dependence on the feeling of “need”. For a Person whose Consciousness is dominated by spiritual pride, the feeling of Self-Love is alien. That is why recognition and a sense of need are vitally important to Him - in order to accept himself through the reflection of others.
A feeling of being chosen and exclusive. Everyone is unique, but what we mean here is that this Person declares that He is unusual, and everyone else is typical and monotonous. Sometimes a Man talks about his special alienness or that His Kind is quite ancient and mystical. Dear ones, you are all aliens, and your Family is the entire Family of Light!
Spiritual fatigue. A person thinks that he has known and seen enough; Nothing surprises or inspires him. This is a blockage of Creative, Mental, and also Heart Energies.

HOW TO OVERCOME PRIDE

Modesty

In your attitude, imitate Jesus and Socrates. Think about why Jesus said, “I no longer call you my children, I call you brothers.”

Self confidence

It is the feeling of uncertainty and insecurity that forces you to mentally raise yourself above the crowd and prove your superiority again and again. Believe in yourself and you will stop looking funny in the eyes of others.

Awareness

Find the strength to recognize your excessive pride and admit your weaknesses. There is no need to hide your weaknesses: they are what make you human, and in some cases will help you become a winner.

Interaction

As you know, pride is an attempt to prove one’s rightness, the desire to always be right in everything. Learn to listen, and most importantly, hear your opponent’s opinion. Look at the situation from different angles, do not think linearly, soberly evaluate all the pros and cons. Don't be afraid to change your point of view over time or be proven wrong about something. Only fools are always right smart people It's common to make mistakes.

Sympathy and empathy

In order to overcome pride, the first thing you need to do is get rid of the habit of judging others. You don't always know what to do best. There is no need to waste time on moralizing and labeling people. Each person is unique in his own way and has the right to choose his own path in life.

Help

Proud people are distinguished by the unpleasant ability to condescend to a “little” person and throw him a handout, pompously calling it charity. Give and help sincerely: make spontaneous good deeds, without demanding anything in return and without expecting gratitude. You can do this anonymously.

REQUIRED QUALITIES:

Humility, patience and philanthropy.
Kindness, love, desire for spirituality.
Sympathy, compassion, forgiveness.
Modesty, simplicity and meekness.
Trust in people, selflessness and responsiveness.
Honesty, justice and mercy.
Honor, harmony and joy.
The spirit of cooperation, mutual assistance and gratitude.
Glorifying our Creator of all things through communication with ourselves and others.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PRIDE AND A SENSE OF OWN DIGNITY

But very often you fall into the error of confusing it with arrogance. So how is self-esteem different from pride?

Pride arises from feelings of unworthiness or an inferiority complex. Deep down proud man does not believe in his dignity, so he has to balance it with pride. Self-esteem comes from the awareness of one's unconditional worth. Pride compares oneself to others. According to some signs, criteria, be it intelligence, the number of good deeds, the size of property, etc.

A person with self-esteem “competes in excellence” only with himself, encouraging himself to overcome his ignorance and shortcomings of character.

Pride divides people into better and worse or higher and lower. That is, for an arrogant person, the “matrix of people” looks vertical - and in it he is certainly superior to someone.

For a person with self-esteem, people are “divided horizontally” – into those close and distant. Souls are like warriors, those who recognize each other unite, and those who do not recognize each other disperse.

Pride is dependent on external factors– opinions, events, relationships. This makes a person a slave to material things and a hunter of worldly goods and human honor.

Self-esteem is free from attachment to external advantages. His wealth is the wealth of thought and spirit. As one of the sages said: “If you are in a hurry to succeed in acquiring worldly goods, if your heart is attached to property and position in society, then one day you will meet a person for whom all this does not matter, and then you will understand how poor you are.” .

Pride manifests itself in defiant behavior, which, according to the proud person, imitates self-confidence. Self-esteem is manifested by calmness, goodwill, interest in others, in the interlocutor.

Pride does not disdain bad deeds in order to strengthen one’s opinion about oneself. A person with self-respect can sacrifice personal interests for the greater good, for the sake of truth.

A proud person is anxious and hasty. A person with self-esteem is confident and calm.

The Fall of Lucifer

Many Christian theologians have spoken about pride as a mortal sin. However, the most complete definition of it was given by St. John Climacus:

Pride is a renunciation of God, a demonic invention, the humiliation of people, the mother of alienation, the fiend of praise, a sign of sterility, the predecessor of insanity, the cause of epilepsy, the source of irritability, the door of hypocrisy, the support of demons, resistance to God, the root of blasphemy, ignorance of compassion, cruel torturer, protector sins, inhuman judge. Where the fall took place, there was already pride: Pride is an apple that has rotted inside, but shines with beauty on the outside: there is extreme poverty of the soul.

The Science of Pride

From a psychological point of view, pride is excessive pride, arrogance, arrogance, selfishness and arrogance. In its highest manifestation, pride is considered a spiritual deviation, which is accompanied by the following symptoms:

- touchiness, intolerance to criticism, unwillingness to correct one’s shortcomings;

- constantly blaming others for your life problems;

- uncontrolled irritability and disrespect for other people;

- a person is regularly visited by thoughts of his own greatness and uniqueness, he exalts himself above others and demands that they admire him;

- inability to ask for forgiveness;

- the desire to constantly argue, to prove that one is right.

Each of us has experienced one of the listed feelings at least once in our lives. This is explained by the fact that all people have pride, but for many it manifests itself within reasonable limits.

For example, being proud of winning a sports championship or getting the highest score at an Olympics is, according to psychologists, normal (this is the difference between pride and pride). Sometimes pride and self-esteem are the most important components of a happy and successful life.

Dr. Medina is confident that the manifestation of pride to one degree or another “depends on our ability to learn and accept everything new.” The CaMKII gene is responsible for the appearance of this feeling. It is he who arouses our ambitions, arrogance and arrogance.

Fragment “Pride” from the work of Hieronymus Bosch “The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things”

Methods to combat pride

In Christian teachings, pride is seen as the opposite of one of the virtues - humility. This means it is necessary to come to terms with, “realize the greatness and infinite potential of every human soul“,” “accept your insignificance before God,” thank him for all the good and bad that happens in life.

Psychologists advise:

- begin to be interested in other people, pay attention to their achievements;

- learn to respect others and listen to their opinions;

- do not take credit for all the merits and achievements;

- try to help people unselfishly, treat them with kindness and love;

- learn to adequately accept constructive criticism;

- share your positive experience, otherwise it will only increase the growth of pride;

- and most importantly: you must be able to admit your mistakes, find the courage to forgive insults.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Pride and pride are the same root words, but they have different meanings. Pride is called positive self-esteem and self-respect. You can be proud not only of your own successes and achievements. For example, you can feel proud of your son, your country, team, parents, etc. What is the difference between pride and pride? Pride has a negative connotation and in different religions is considered the cause of all sins. A proud person is arrogant, has exorbitantly high self-esteem, and is unable to rejoice in the successes of others.

Let's turn to the interpretation of words

Not knowing lexical meaning words pride and pride, a person can put a completely different, incorrect meaning into them. But it's never too late to clarify the situation. Let's look at 3 famous ones explanatory dictionaries– S.I. Ozhegova, D.N. Ushakov and V.I. Dalia.

What is pride, Ozhegov’s definition:

Definition of pride from Ushakov’s dictionary:

“Abstract noun. to proud (pride of gait, character).
The character or behavior of a proud person (his pride did not allow him to forgive meanness).
What (the one who) is proud of (warships are the pride of Soviet shipbuilding)"

Now let's move on to the question of what pride is. The definition of this word is the same in all dictionaries, and is interpreted as “exorbitant pride, arrogance” by V.I. Dal did not see any difference between pride and arrogance, and defined both words as follows: “Pride, arrogance, arrogance is the quality, the property of the proud. To be proud, to be considered stupid. Proud – arrogant, arrogant, arrogant; inflated; who puts himself above others"

Indeed, the line between pride and pride is very thin. Pride often develops into arrogance. What’s remarkable is that this happens unnoticed. A proud person does not notice his guilt or sin. It really seems to him that he is better than others, more worthy, higher.

Where is the line?

Many people try to eradicate pride in themselves, believing that this is the beginning of pride. However, they forget that it also has benefits. Thus, pride protects a person from causing harm to himself and others, and prevents him from sliding to the bottom. A proud person will never stoop to theft, gossip, rudeness, or immoral behavior. Synonyms best characterize pride: honor, dignity, self-respect. In relation to someone, it can be replaced with the word joy. For example, “I rejoice at my son’s success.”

Pride itself is not a sin, but it can very quickly lead to it. Let's take other passions, for example. Food can be used to satisfy hunger, or you can overeat on it, and then it will be the sin of gluttony; sexuality can be used to strengthen love with your husband (wife), or you can fall into the sin of fornication. In other words, excessive pride develops into sin - pride:

“Pride... Pride... the root is the same.

There are countless shades of behavior...

And, if vices are overcome in Pride,

Pride is unfamiliar with the word “honor.”

Pride in the Bible

To answer the question of what pride is, let's turn to the Bible. God hates pride. The proud are so blinded by their pride that they think that they do not need God, attribute his merits to themselves and worship themselves. They stop seeing their shortcomings. Pride is a sin of the soul; in all Christian teachings it is considered mortal.

To understand how deeply one obsessed with pride falls, let us remember the story of Satan. Before his exile, he was one of the most beautiful and chosen angels. He was called the shining star and the son of the dawn. But his heart became proud because of his beauty, and arrogance destroyed his wisdom. And God cast him to the ground as unclean. Pride was inherent in Adam and Eve. Imagining that they themselves would become gods, they ate the forbidden fruit and were punished. The synonym for proud in the Bible is sinful, unclean, godless, hypocrite.

“He who is filled with pride knows nothing, but is only struck by a passion for controversy and verbiage. All this gives rise to quarrels, evil speech, evil suspicions” (1 Timothy 6:4).

Signs of pride

To finally understand the definition of pride, what it is and how it manifests itself, we suggest studying its signs. We list only the most important ones:

Proud people are also characterized by others negative qualities. Pride breaks moral standards. A proud person can resort to hypocrisy, vanity, and revenge in order to elevate himself even more. It is impossible to hide pride. Even if a person is silent, it can be read in his cold, arrogant look, gestures, and head held high.

Pride for a woman

Preservation of chastity has traditionally been considered a woman's pride. AND we're talking about not so much about virginity, but about spiritual purity and prudence. Pride protects a woman from dubious connections and relationships. A proud woman does not tolerate disrespect, rudeness and rudeness, both towards herself and others.

Some people understand female pride as inaccessibility: “a woman should not be the first to meet,” “a man should woo a woman, win her heart.” However, inaccessibility and coldness are more characteristic of pride. Only an arrogant person can please her vanity with the advances of a man. A proud woman is simple and straightforward.

Author's opinion. Pride is the desire to rise above others. This desire is especially strong among people who consider themselves defective in some way and depend on the opinions of others. Pride comes from self-dislike and rejection.

“The boys at school used to tease me about being fat.” I dreamed of becoming petite and slim like the other girls in class, and I hated myself. When I grew up, I finally managed to lose weight. But this was no longer enough. I wanted to prove to everyone how wrong they were, that I was better than others. I won several beauty contests and, completely unnoticed, I began to be arrogant towards my plump competitors. I was incredibly proud of myself. This is probably why friendships with girls did not go well. Only a few years later I realized my mistake, fell in love with myself and began to relate to everything more simply. Now my soul is light and pleasant"

Pride and arrogance are very similar, but, nevertheless, different qualities. To distinguish one from the other, it is enough to look a person in the eyes. For a proud person they will be cold, full of contempt and arrogance. The eyes of a proud man glow with joy, he is calm and not at all rude.

Snezhana, Taganrog

Regardless of whether a person is a believer or not, none of the vices will lead him to anything good. Along with envy, anger and greed is pride. Many people confuse this concept with pride, believing that there is no difference between them. Let's try to figure out how and how these two words differ, and whether the difference is big. First of all, let's find out what pride is and how it can be characterized.

Interpretation of the word

According to explanatory dictionaries, pride can be defined as:

A feeling of satisfaction from an action.
arrogance, arrogance.

As we see, on the one hand, this is a positive feeling that a person experiences towards himself and others. On the other hand, this concept is negative, since a proud person elevates himself, thereby belittling other people. So what is pride? Is it good or bad? And can this feeling even be called good or bad? It all depends on what underlies the concept in question. If this is a person’s talent, his hard work and success, then the feeling of pride is well deserved. It brings joy to both the person himself and those around him. However, it often happens that the mentioned feeling is experienced without any reason. For example, beautiful girls often elevate themselves and humiliate those who are less fortunate in this regard. Naturally given qualities should not evoke such a feeling as pride. The meaning of the word in this case will be negative.

Different understanding of one word

The same concept in different times can have both positive and negative meaning. A striking example this is national pride. In most cases, this feeling is welcomed. It refers to a person’s love and affection for his country, readiness to protect and defend common interests. However, history can also provide quite tragic examples of the use this concept: Germany in the 30s and 40s (idea of superiority " supreme nation»), British Empire in the 19th century (the idea of "burden white man") and so on. What is pride in this case, if not a feeling of superiority of representatives of one nation, race over other people? As the sad experience of past generations has shown, it does not bring anything good.

Pride and its companions

The meaning of the word pride and arrogance are similar, but they also have significant differences. IN modern society The concept of “pride” is used extremely rarely. It is replaced by terms that are similar in meaning: arrogance, ambition, arrogance, vanity, selfishness. Thus, we see that there is nothing positive in the meaning of this word. Unlike pride, it has only a negative connotation. Among the qualities inherent in pride, one can note: hypocrisy, vanity, capriciousness, stubbornness and arrogance. And also suspiciousness, uncontrollability, fussiness, pickiness, selfishness and insolence. In addition, a person susceptible to this mortal sin is characterized by touchiness, hot temper, lust for power, a tendency to harsh criticism, envy and rancor. You can also call these negative traits, as intransigence and cruelty, causticity, non-acceptance of generally accepted norms and authorities.

What is pride and what is arrogance?

These two concepts can have opposite meanings. And at the same time be equally negative. To understand, you need to know what causes certain feelings and aspirations:

pride, arrogance - all this suggests that a person desires to gain power and despises people who have lower
Ambition and ambitiousness are signs that a person strives to achieve more and move up the career ladder.
Insolence, impudence, impudence, selfishness and impudence indicate a person’s readiness to achieve his interests at any cost, on those around him.