Pride and Self-glorification

One’s ego amplifies the feeling of pride and self-glorification, eating up a person’s virtues and becoming a permanent obstacle to the development of noble qualities.

According to a tradition, the Prophet of Islam once observed: “Pride and vanity eats up virtues, just as fire eats up food.” (Shuab al-Iman, al-Baihaqi 6861)

The feeling of ego is natural to a human being. No one is bereft of the “I”. This feeling is very precious for a person. This is because a person must have determination and confidence. In leading his life, he should brave all hardships with self-confidence. In that way he will keep on progressing.

But most people make a wrongful use of this feeling. Their feeling of the “I” or the ego turns into self-conceit or self-glorification. This is a wrong use of it. And the wrong use of anything always makes it evil, no matter how innately good things may be.

The feeling of pride and self-glorification is not something simple. It eats up all of a person’s virtues. It is a permanent obstacle to the development of noble qualities. Pride makes a person an egotist. And one who is an egotist lives as if he has encased himself in his personal shell. Such a person is totally lacking in the ability to understand external realities and benefit from others. He fails to make anything external to him a ladder to progress.

When such a person does anything virtuous, that also conveys a feeling of pride. Whatever he does he does for show. His activities revolve around his own self. In reality the better part of a person’s activities should be that which is external to his ‘shell’.

Nature wants to see a person as modest. But a conceited person suffers from the delusion of greatness and loves acknowledgement of his imagines greatness. But it is he who demonstrates a lack of acknowledgement. Such a person wants to be given a very special place, but he does not acknowledge the contribution of others.