There was once an old man who was so frail that he shuffled his feet and called this walking. He forbade everyone-even his wife-from offering him assistance. As a result, people lived in expectation of his fall.
The Transcendent Function (Jung) is the process whereby we transcend the most crucial problems of life after confronting our conscious inability to solve them.
As ego learns, ego becomes confident.
In the Kaballah tradion, Ego is the “fallen angel,” the devil of the Christian tradition.
It is wise to remember that ego has an important role in psyche, as ego translates experience for Self. To remove or destroy ego would amount to an inability to function in society. This can really only “work” for those in a monastic tradition, hospitalized, or imprisoned, where basic needs are met and supervision ensures safety.
When confidence becomes arrogance, the result is pride. Pride lets us know that we are trusting in ego instead of Self/Atman. From the Vedas, we know that Atman (Self) is Brahman (Nature/Universal Mind/Collective Consciousness). Brahman is omnipresent (can be in multiple places) in the same way that coffee and electricity are. It’s the properties of Brahman that make up Atman/Self.
Life has unfolded to allow Nature/Brahman/Self to experience themselves. This is the “point” of life. Difficulty and obstacles are neccesary for wisdom and spiritual growth. Suffering, on the other hand, is optional.
As ego develops confidence, we learn. When ego develops arrogance, we suffer.
Pride is an obstacle to awareness because it recognizes ego above Self in the hierarchy of psyche. By resisting or denying that we (ego) are not in control, confidence becomes arrogance, and we invite conditions designed to “humble” us and restore the hierarchy/harmony of psyche.
We may recognize this process within the symbols of Biblical tradition, where “God” is Atman/Self and ego is the devil/”fallen one.” The Bible, like all mythology, is a coded reference to psyche. The Vedas are the master key. As such, if one searches for references to pride (in the Bible) one will discover confirmation of the Vedic system, in general, and specifically with reference to restoring harmony with God/Natural law/Psyche hierarchy.
Modernism rejects traditional meanings, forms or techniques in order to create new order to replace the old; Postmodernism combines the traditional and the new in order to pursue the odd or interesting. ~TheVerySoil, Jed A Blue
Aperture of Brahma 