MY BELOVED IS MINE AND I AM HIS: SELF-KNOWLEDGE IN THE ...

of self-knowledge enabled self-deception, self-deception led to rash assertion of self-will,
and rash assertion of self-will led to ruin. 119
What, then, are the dynamics of pride and how does it emerge specifically in the
monastic context to which Bernard writes? For the abbot, all forms of human pride begin
with one’s curiosity about others and one’s subsequent, self-serving comparisons with
one’s fellows. Within the monastic setting, where holiness and virtue are especially
esteemed, these comparisons will inevitably concern personal sanctity. The monk will
tend to direct his attention to his brothers, scrutinize their conduct, and identify their
inevitable failings as fallen human beings. This curiosity about the spiritual lives of
others has, for Bernard, two immediate and spiritually dangerous consequences. First,
when the monk directs his sensitive and mental attention elsewhere, he soon begins to
neglect himself, to overlook his own failings, weakness, and sinful tendencies. In the
absence of such sustained, critical self-inquiry, he grows ever more susceptible to that
love of his own excellence which led to Adam’s fall. Neglecting to embrace the hard and
often painful work of honest self-scrutiny, the monk finds it ever easier to embrace
gratifying thoughts of his own sanctity and virtue.
This budding love of his own excellence is, in turn, only nourished by his
perception and judgment of his brethren. Sense perception is his way to the knowledge
of things outside him, but it fails to penetrate the heart to reveal the true inner
dispositions of his brothers. Basing his judgments of his fellow monks solely on sense
perceptions, he soon begins to identify and count up his brothers’ flaws, whether real or
119 As was observed in the Introduction, Bernard’s doctrine of pride and pride’s self-deception in
the cases of Lucifer, Adam, and Adam’s descendants in every age draws heavily on Augustine’s teaching
in De civitate Dei XIV (CCSL 50A).
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