There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which everyone in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison. It was through pride that the devil became the devil.
Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind. If I am a proud man, then, as long as there is one man in the whole world more powerful, or richer, or cleverer than I, he is my rival and my enemy. As long as you are proud you cannot know God.
A proud man is always looking down on things and people, and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you. The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.
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