“VANITY, PRIDE & ARROGANCE” oh my –  “There were cases, too, where we had damaged others who were still happily unaware of being hurt.  Why, we cried, shouldn’t bygones be bygones? Why do we have to think of these people at all? These were some of the ways in which fear conspired with pride to hinder our making a list of all the people we had harmed.” (12 & 12, p. 79)

“The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, and pride and arrogance.”

– Samuel Butler (1835-1902) English novelist

Sri Swami Vishwananda speaks on pride and ego

Pride (In the Name of Love ) – U2 (4:07)

Shikisokuzeku (All is Vanity) Zen Meditation (6:43)  

How has pride and vanity partially blinded you from seeing the truth, lately?

At the Gym

by Mark Doty, 1953

This salt-stain spot
marks the place where men
lay down their heads,
back to the bench,

and hoist nothing
that need be lifted
but some burden they’ve chosen
this time: more reps,

more weight, the upward shove
of it leaving, collectively,
this sign of where we’ve been:
shroud-stain, negative

flashed onto the vinyl
where we push something
unyielding skyward,
gaining some power

at least over flesh,
which goads with desire,
and terrifies with frailty.
Who could say who’s

added his heat to the nimbus
of our intent, here where
we make ourselves:
something difficult

lifted, pressed or curled,
Power over beauty,
power over power!
Though there’s something more

tender, beneath our vanity,
our will to become objects
of desire: we sweat the mark
of our presence onto the cloth.

Here is some halo
the living made together.