There are good reasons why pride was once seen as perhaps the deadliest of sins. Typically it came before a calamitous fall. Even if you disagree with anything religious, it is almost impossible not to see the out-working of prideful behaviours in public life today. Without mentioning any names, folks swelled by their own high self-regard, disdain for others and general attitude of superiority (or blind belief in their own indominable agency) will invariably come a cropper.

There is nothing wrong, of course, with taking a healthy pride in your work, in your appearance or in what you have achieved in life. The problem occurs when it swells into something much larger and often uglier, ultimately finding a home in arrogance, conceit and vanity. Once you begin to think yourself superior to your neighbour, for whatever reason, then you have strayed into the realm of negative pride. And it can only get worse from there unless you recognise the malady for what it is and take action.

I speak as a fellow sufferer, having my own portion of intellectual arrogance to blame for a multitude of sins. That is because pride is both a problem in itself and the father of many other problem behaviours. It can spawn murderous jealousy, envy, rage, violence, adultery, theft and so forth. It is the very image of atheism, which contends that there is no God and that 'I will go it alone.' I mean no offence to those atheists who have come to the sad conclusion that there is only the material universe and are none the happier for it, but those swelled by pride and ego.

I am guilty of pride and need to fight against it. But beware, it is insidious and has many 'mild disguises'. Ultimately, the only cure is to cultivate actively a sense of humility, a quality openly mocked in modern popular culture. It is a hard road, but, according to those who have trod it, very much worth it.