DWQA QuestionsCategory: Divine GuidanceThe summaries of each of the deadly sins are taken from an article written by Father James Shafer, Understanding the 7 Deadly Sins, at simplycatholic.com (https://www.simplycatholic.com/understanding-the-7-deadly-sins/). The first deadly sin is PRIDE: “An excessive love of self or the desire to be better or more important than others. ‘Respect for the human person proceeds by way of respect for the principle that “everyone should look upon his neighbor (without exception) as ‘another self,’ above all bearing in mind his life and the means necessary for living it with dignity.”‘” What is Creator’s perspective?
Nicola Staff asked 1 year ago
Prideful thoughts, feelings, and conduct are indeed destructive and a karmic misstep that will call forth a karmic consequence intended to present an opportunity to make restitution. That is the way to fix a "wrong," by putting a "right" in its place. An act of loving kindness or forgiveness can be a perfectly proportioned replacement for an act taking away something or causing harm to another or the self as well. Pride is a deadly sin because it is all too likely to happen as a consequence of too great an ego involvement. When one relies on their ego to choose their actions, they are putting the wrong part of themselves in charge. The ego is a powerful force for maintaining safety and security but, in its power to preserve and defend, it carries risk of going overboard and dominating others to attain such personal superiority—that can be hurtful and quite harmful and will always damage the self as well, as a consequence. So this description you have in your question, of respect for your neighbor as "another self," is wise indeed. It is a reflection of one of the important divine truths we have promoted for living in divine alignment, that there must be a balance between self-service and service to others in how one goes about their affairs. This is why our first principle is to "Raise up the self with no harm to others," stating clearly there needs to be a balance and not an excess of self-preference, self-praise, self-concern, self-indulgence, and self‑serving impulses and actions. The second divine principle for living is, "Raise up others with no harm to the self," and that is a perfect counterpoint, the opposite side of the same coin, that one should not be neglectful of those around them, and that it is indeed divine to help fellow beings to do their best, be their best, and treat them in the way one would want the self treated, and that is nicely incorporated in these general principles as being a kind of energetic balance to not overdo things in either direction in terms of, on the one hand, favoring the self in a helpful way but not at the expense of others, and to help others in a helpful way but without harm to the self. One can choose to make a sacrifice, but doing things for others at too great an expense for the self is a disservice to one's own soul, and that is a karmic misstep every bit as harmful as harming another.