Licking the Razor's Edge (2015)

Addiction #27 – Freedom from ARROGANCE
“It is not that you read a book or pass an examination, and are then finished with your
education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a
continual deepening of your understanding of self and others.”
~ inspired by Krishnamurti
“Deep down, underlying all our insecurities, beneath all our hopes for and beliefs in
equality, each of us believes we’re more worthy of friendship, love and success than
anyone else.” ~ inspired by Audrey Beth Stein
“The path of peace is not a journey of weakness. It takes incredible strength to find the
good in the ‘less than’, just as it takes incredible strength to refuse to open a can of
‘whoop-ass’ when our buttons are pushed” ~ inspired by T. F. Hodge
Pride is one of the more subtle – and also one of the more insidious – of all the human
addictions. While most of us have encountered people in our everyday lives who can
easily be labeled as “stuck up” or “conceited” or “aloof”, the addiction to pride runs
much deeper than those who either think they are always right or those who believe they
are better than others. In fact, it is safe to say that “aggravated self-assuredness” (a.k.a.
arrogance) is at least a psychological addiction for almost every human being on the
planet – including me … and including you.
Indeed, this addiction is so underhanded that our parents, our teachers, and even our
culture in general all encourage us to be arrogant –- to call out others who are
“mistaken”, to correct ideas that are “false”, or to help others who are “in the wrong”.
Many of us mean well with such pompous behaviors, and yet overly pretentious they
remain -– arrogant to the detriment of others, and arrogant to the detriment of ourselves.
In fact, pride is so commonplace that many of us remain unaware of the subtle ways in
which our arrogance has infected our relationships with others and blinded our
appreciation for life in general.
RECOGNIZING our ADDICTION to ARROGANCE
In order to deeply enJOY life, our entrenched, self-focused behaviors must be replaced
with more Meaning-full alternatives. And yet before such addictions can be so cleansed,
they must first be identified. To help you do just that, consider the following questions:
*Do you express your desires for things you don’t have more than you express your
gratitude for what you already do?
*Do you gossip about friends, associate or enemies?
*Are you happy whenever a “criminal” is caught and/or convicted (i.e. “brought to
justice”)?
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