261. Pride

Pride is a false sense of worth that derives from something that is not organically part of your Self. It comes from Ahankara - the identification by the mind of your Self with some external thing in the Creation. It gives emphasis to the superiority of a person's status in the eyes of others. There is fear and insecurity in pride because when you aim for status and being highly esteemed and achieve it, you are automatically involved in fear of losing that status. Protection of status then appears to you to be your most important need and this creates anxiety. Pride is very different from self-respect. All respect, including self-respect, springs from knowledge and memory of the Self and your origins and home in the Self. The less you are grounded in the Self, the more imperative is the need for pride. One is proud when he identifies with the ego. The core of pride is Self-rejection.