I’ve been musing over humility and pride. By “pride” I mean something positive, like self-esteem. I believe that it’s good to be proud of who we are. Pride is not arrogance. Arrogance is egotism. It’s thinking we’re better than others.
I dislike false humility. Often when I hear people talk about it, they’re talking about a type of “I’m not worthy” concept that I don’t think is true humility. Too often, people who preach humility are actually arrogant. If you say, “I’m so much more humble than all those other people,” you’re actually being arrogant, if you think about it.
Pride is simply the idea that you are as good as everyone else, and you should be proud of who you are.
Humility is simply the idea that you are no better than anyone else, and you should avoid arrogance.
Both ideas are really the same idea, from two different perspectives. If we believe that everyone is essentially equal (deserving the same respect, justice, mercy, dignity, etc.), than these are two different ways of thinking about our equality with everyone. Pride emphasizes you being just as… good, capable, lovable, likeable, etc., compared to everyone else. Humility is recognizing everyone else’s ability to contribute to humanity. So, both are the same, with two different emphases.
So, Pride = Humility.