Humility Makes You Real

One of the obstacles in spiritual development is pride. There are two kinds of pride: negative pride like looking down on others and positive pride that happens after accomplishing a job successfully. Negative pride is what we have focused here that must be eliminated.

Pride is basically a feeling of pleasure from one’s own achievements; it is an inwardly directed emotion and an inflated sense of one’s personal status or accomplishments. Pride can be also defined as an exaggerated positive evaluation of oneself, often based on a devaluation of others which can result in a kind of attachment to oneself and aversion to others. It is the result of inaccurate perception and mostly shows a lack of self-esteem.

“The more intelligent a person is, the greater the possibility of a spiritual fall due to Pride.”

Master Choa Kok Sui

Therefore it has been emphasized by many great spiritual teachers and saints that spiritual aspirants should watch out carefully for pride; as well as for envious thoughts and actions that is a manifestation of pride. In fact envy is an indication of the person only being interested in self improvement; therefore the tendency of devaluating of others is strong in him.

It is recommended by MCKS that to avoid a spiritual fall due to pride, one must be extremely ruthless with himself in eliminating pride. One of the ways to eliminate pride is in fact by developing good self-esteem. People who are humble normally have good self-esteem; one must know his weaknesses as well as his strengths. It is not possible for a person to be good in everything! In fact “Self-esteem and self-honesty equal humility.” Master Choa Kok Sui

Absence of pride and a sense of selflessness have been also discussed widely in Buddhism, Sufism and many other doctrines. It is often shown as one of the greatest achievements towards the spiritual development.

“Develop the mind of equilibrium.

You will always be getting praise and blame,

but do not let either affect the poise of the mind:

follow the calmness, the absence of pride.”

Atisha

References

1. (n.d.). Retrieved from Buddha Quotes: http://buddhaquotes.co.uk/All-Buddha-Quotes/?keyword=pride.
2. Buddhist Quotes and Sayings. (n.d.). Retrieved from A View on Buddhism: http://viewonbuddhism.org/resources/buddhist_quotes.html
3. Master Choa Kok Sui. (2006). Creative Transformation, The Golden Lotus Sutras on Spiritual Practice. Institute for Inner Studies Publishing Foundation.
4. Mystical Poems of Rumi. (n.d.). Retrieved from Khamush: http://www.khamush.com/mystical_poems.htm
5. Pride. (n.d.). Retrieved from Widipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride
6. Pride Definition. (n.d.). Retrieved from Dictionary: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pride