Structure, Pride

“The structure of evil in the soul is impossible to destroy as long as it is rooted firmly in pride. Do you want the destruction of this house of evil which the devil I builds in your soul by continually using as stones various plausible and senseless pretexts, whether material or mental, and by constructing its foundations out of thoughts of pride? If this is what you really want, keep the humility of the Lord in your heart and never forget it.”

St Mark the Ascetic.

There obviously is principally talking of the individual level, but the same truth extends into whole ideologies and structures at societal level. You can get right back to this root. Who knows, we might one day get some ideological movement or other even calling itself Pride. That’s unlikely though. This above an extract from Volume One of The Philokalia, an anthology of texts within Orthodox Christianity,

Pride as it affects the soul is akin to the soil around a plant that is very hard, and so even if the plant is watered, that hardness renders its roots impervious to receiving the water and the fruits of it. And in the longest run, to remain in one’s pride is “to die in one’s sins.”