Saint John Climacus in The Ladder of Divine Ascent speaks to the impossibility of attaining the virtue of humility.
He says that vainglory and pride are one and the same and that pride taints every virtue and leaves its mark on every good work.
“Some would hold that vainglory is to be distinguished from pride, and so they give it a special place and chapter. Hence their claim that there are eight deadly sins. But against this is the view of Gregory the Theologian and other teachers that in fact the number is seven. I also hold this view.”
“The sun shines on all alike, and vainglory beams on all activities. For instance I am vainglorious when I fast, and when I relax the fast to be unnoticed, I am again vainglorious by my prudence. When I am well dressed, I am quite overcome by vainglory. When I put on poor clothes, I am vainglorious again. When I talk I am defeated and when I am silent I am again defeated by it. However I throw this prickly thing, a spike stands upright.”
—Saint John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Chapter 22
Authentic self-knowledge, that is, humility, is attained only after death.
“It happens—I do not know how, that most of the proud never really discover their true selves. They think they have conquered their passions and they find out how poor they really are only after they die.”
—Saint John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Chapter 23
How then does a Christian live a virtue deemed practically impossible to attain while alive?
True, pride is an ineradicable condition of the soul in this mortal life inasmuch as pride is the origin and source of all sin. At the same time, pride is also the subject of our inexorable spiritual struggle, a battle to which every member of humanity is necessarily called.
“The whole of human history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil stretching as our Lord tells us, (Mt 24:13; Mt 13:24-30 and 36-43) from the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding themselves in the battlefield, men and women have to struggle to do what is right, and it is at great cost to themselves, and aided by God’s grace, that they succeed in achieving their own inner integrity.”
—Gaudium et Spes, 37, 2
The battle to live the virtue of humility belongs to this existential imperative.
To be continued
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