John Of Kronstadt. Great post (№ 436336)

Where does the passion for arrogance and self-praise come from in us? From the same place where all our sins originated: from the first ancestral sin. Man was created so that he loves God as the author of his being most of all, so that he looks at His perfections and imitates them, holyly fulfilling His will. But he loved himself more than God, he wanted to appropriate His perfection for himself, he wanted to be as great as God himself, he wanted to be self-righteous, he was subjected to self-love and pride, and he fell. Thus, exaltation or pride is a soul-destroying passion of a person, which makes him hostile to God and contemptuous of his neighbors.