Pride Wants More

Just turned in a Midterm paper a little after midnight last night (or this morning?), two days before it was due (I'm anticipating technical difficulties, as this is my first time submitting a paper online, and I had to do it through Google Drive because my preferred word processor, Appleworks, won't work for this). For part of this Midterm paper, we were given a list of quotes from books we've read so far for this class and were asked to pick three, analyze them, and tell how they fit in with the overall theme from the texts from which they came. One of those quotes was from Utopia:

Pride measures her advantages not by what she has but by what other people lack. Pride would not deign even to be a goddess if there were no wretches for her to sneer at and domineer over. Her good fortune is dazzling only by contrast with the misery of others, her riches are valuable only as they torment and tantalize the poverty of others.

I almost used this quote in my paper, but I realized that whatever I wrote about it would A) involve quoting President Ezra Taft Benson and C.S. Lewis, and B) have nothing to do with the book Utopia because I haven't finished reading it yet. So in its place, I wrote, in my own words, about a quote telling how Beowulf was so strong, even the strongest swords would break when he tried to use them because his strokes were too hard. I also decided to share the pride quote here, as well as another few quotes on pride that back the first one up perfectly.

In his well-known talk, Beware of Pride, President Ezra Taft Benson said:

Pride is a very misunderstood sin, and many are sinning in ignorance. ...
Most of us think of pride as self-centeredness, conceit, boastfulness, arrogance, or haughtiness. All of these are elements of the sin, but the heart, or core, is still missing.
The central feature of pride is enmity... Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” ...
Pride is essentially competitive in nature.

All of this led up to a quote that President Benson shared:

In the words of C. S. Lewis: “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. … It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.”
Mere Christianity, New York: Macmillan, 1952, pp. 109–10.

Almost exactly what was said in Utopia. Part of me is thinking that great minds think alike. Another part of me is thinking that wise men come to the same conclusions, especially when they're right. Of course, wise men also learn from the wise men of the past. And the wisest of all men, including President Benson, C.S. Lewis, and Utopia's author, Sir Thomas More, often receive inspiration from the very same source.

Given all of that, I'd say that these people are probably right about pride. Pride is never satisfied with what she has. She always wants more. More than what she has now, and especially more than other people have. But last night, in family scripture study, we read 1 Timothy 6: 5-8:

Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. 

But godliness with contentment is great gain. 

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 

And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

We don't need to have more than what other people have, and we often don't really need any more than what we already have. Let us be content with the rich blessings God has already given us and beware of the competition of pride.