Here are some discussion questions to help stir your comments:Do you have a “dark side”?
How does pride manifest itself in your life?
Why is it so hard to be emotionally “naked” in front of other people?
What do you think of the following perspective on these themes: “If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me.” - Jesus Christ paraphrased in “The Message. Matthew 10:39”
(To expand the slides to the left to full size, just clik on them).
4 comments:
This is a timely subject for me because I performed at Mount Royal yesterday and was confronted (again) by my own pride issues. How important is it that I get up there and wow everyone in the room (including myself)? Crucial apparantly, judging by how much I worry about it. (I hardly slept the night before my performance.)
I know that it doesn't really matter if I suck, and yet it matters so very much if I suck. Why? Because I am the most important thing to me.
Perhaps what I need is my own Galileo, someone to prove to me that I am not the center of the universe. After all, isn't it enough of a wonder to be in orbit around the sun without insisting that it's the other way around?
Oh Cherie, you spoke my exact mind. I get so wound up worrying how stupid I might look if I do or say anything I'm incapacitated by it.
Stacey - for the love of God (literally) - get over yourself!
I try to focus on God. I'm bad it at. For some reason it helps if I focus on others. It gets me beyond myself and then my eyes are open to see God, I think.
Stacey
Thanks, Stace! I find it comforting to know that I'm not the only one who suffers from self-itis. They say the first step to a cure is admitting you have a problem, so maybe we're on the right track. Maybe we've accomplished the "getting naked" part simply by being willing to say, "Hello. My name is me, and I'm addicted to myself."
You know I think Pride is a dangerous word. It's a spirit more than a characteristic. In my view, it covers more than it enlightens. It can also be a shallow minded carte blanche to self for a myriad of flaws ranging from the mundane to the profane. It often displaces 'self-esteem'; that's the sober form of internal check by people who still don't care what a higher authority might think. I've read somewhere that PRIDE comes before a fall. So it doesn't matter what clothes you're wearing but we care about that. I was informed by a friend that Armani shirts were going off the rack at $900 a pop. I was shocked. I said: "that's off the hook' (vernacular for "insane"), never mind 'off the rack'! I think I could find a suitable replacement for $100 and still look snazzy where the average joe or joline wouldn't know the difference; (it's only the fashion slaves who ask.imo.) Besides the other $800 bucks could address preventable deaths and diseases in Africa; namely Malaria and Malnourishment (not to mention the Aids crisis and much needed medication. In any case, If I had that kinda money for a shirt I'd have to answer a few other questions.
- Mark
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