C.S. Lewis on Humility (and Pride)

C.S. Lewis on Humility (and Pride) by Dr. Art Lindsley

Lewis goes on to say that if you want a test by which to know how proud you are, “ask yourself, ‘How much do I dislike it when other people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of me, or shove their oar in, or patronize me, or show off.’”

It is comparison that makes you proud. It is not necessarily pride to think that you are rich, clever, or good-looking. But it is pride to boast in being richer, cleverer, or better looking than others. Pride might make a man try to take another man’s girlfriend not because he wants her but to show himself better than the other man. Pride is never satisfied, but always demands more.

Pride is a major obstacle to knowing God. Lewis says:

As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

Later, he says, “ . . . pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.”

Lewis is careful to point out a few things that are often confused with pride, but are not pride. First, pleasure in being praised is not pride, for Christ will say to some, “Well done thou good and faithful servant,” and it is not wrong to feel pleased when He says it. When a child gets good grades, it is not wrong to praise him or her or wrong for them to be pleased with the compliment. In fact, the prouder the person, the less they care what others think, as if their opinion mattered.

Second, it is not wrong for a father to be “proud” of his son, or of his father, or of his school, etc. In this case, proud might mean having a “warm-hearted admiration for.” This is not a sin. But if a father started bragging about his school as if his attendance there made him better than others, that would be a problem. Lewis says, “To love and admire anything outside yourself is to take one step away from utter spiritual ruin; though we shall not be well so long as we love and admire anything more than we love and admire God.”

Third, the reason God forbids pride is because He wants you to know Him. To know God means to put off our airs and be who we really are.

Fourth, it is easy to miss-characterize humility and to think that we have to look dejected and forlorn. Lewis says:

Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call “humble” nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, swarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seems a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.

The first step in acquiring humility is to realize that you are proud. Until you realize this, nothing can be done about it. “If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.”