Hubris, Pride and the Monstrous Self

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." - Proverbs 16:18

I've written several times about the Greek concept of Hubris (which they considered to lead to insanity), and which they correctly identified as the source of so many problems in the world. The ancient Hebrews and the Bible (both the Old and New Testament) called it Pride.

The late Russell Kirk called it "the Monstrous Self" and said it was the source of all the evil in the world. He and the others were right. It is the source of all the evil in the world.

The late psychiatrist M. Scott Peck said "scapegoating was the genesis of human evil," and he was right. But scapegoating - or projection - is but a manifestation of the Monstrous Self. Any of the Seven Deadly Sins - envy, greed, gluttony - are but manifestations of that Monstrous Self.

I've had some tell Pride is a good thing, but they don't know what the Bible and later church fathers meant by it. They didn't mean the arête (excellence) that leads to eudemonia (well-being).

They meant the Pride that leads one to being a "godless self-god" (which is how one critic referred to the ogre Karl Marx). The one that leads to destruction - what Greeks identified as Nemesis.

That Biblical Pride (originally called "vainglory") was considered the worst sin of all, and the basis of all the rest. They were (and are) right. The Monstrous Self seeks in vain "glory" for itself - power and money. Power and money to use to exploit others.

The modern definitions of that Monstrous Self include such words as narcissist, borderline, sociopath, psychopath - people with no guilt, no conscience, no remorse, no ability to love. People are just things to them to be manipulated and abused for their sadistic pleasure.

Quite a few years ago I spent several months reading the True Crime books of the late Ann Rule (who knew Ted Bundy while the police were searching for the serial killer who turned out to be Bundy).

How in the world, I wondered, could anyone be a serial killer who slaughtered dozens of women, chopped them up - and then had sex with their body parts? Turns out all of them are psychopaths - consumed by what retired FBI profiler John Douglas called "power, domination and control." Again, no conscience, no guilt, no remorse, no love. Just hate, rage and envy - and an overwhelming desire for vengeance.

I've written before about the complete ignorance of frauds such as Roissy, Roosh and "Vox Day" when they write about "the Dark Triad." They know nothing about it. Anyone who exhibits the Dark Triad is at minimum a narcissist and at the worst a psychopath.

I have actually met psychopaths (none of the grifters above can claim the same). They can be quite charming (hence the "con" in "con man" - as in "confidence man"). But all of it is a sham calculated to charm their victims. It's all a lie.

I've also mentioned my parents read me a lot of "fairy tales" (folk tales) as a tiny kid and when an adult I analyzed them. Many are about the perils of envy, which again is an aspect of the Monstrous Self (think of the Monstrous Self of the Evil Queen in "Snow White," in which she tries to murder Snow White out of envy, and how the step-mother tells her daughters to cut off parts of their feet to make their feet fit Cinderella's slipper).

The Greeks advised people to "know their selves" and suggested Sophrosyne – this means more than anything else to know your limitations.

Because those are nothing but their Monstrous Self don't know their limitations - and that's why Nemesis always mows them down. That's what Vainglory invariably does to all of them.