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To: grasshopper2
Nope, self-esteem is a different, more subtle vice than pride. Conflating the two makes it easier to fall into self-esteem. I'll need to review the portion of St. John Cassian's work included in the Philokalia before I can give a clear explanation.
18 posted on 10/20/2003 9:32:04 AM PDT by The_Reader_David
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To: The_Reader_David
St. John Cassian's distinction between self-esteem and pride can be, I think, summarized by saying that self-esteem leads us to think we are fine the way we are, for example that either when we speak we are eloquent or that when we are silent we have attained stillness, but does not drag us down that extra step of attributing what we have to ourselves rather than to God as pride does.

Self-esteem is, according to St. John Cassian, the most subtle of the vices, as it can take many forms, attaching itself to either worldly or spiritual pursuits to either laxity in avoiding the other vices or to rigorous flight form the other vices. Pride however lacks subtlety and is the vice of Lucifer, and the vice with which Eve was seduced: setting ourselves equal to God.

19 posted on 10/21/2003 9:23:09 AM PDT by The_Reader_David
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