One of the characters played by Al Pacino in the famous movie Devil's Advocate said this phrase: “Vanity is my favorite of sins.” Unfortunately, at present, almost every person, if not self-serving, is ambitious. Alas, it is. And what does this vice mean and what is its nature?
Vanity is a form of self-affirmation and exaltation of one's own person in the eyes of others. If a person is conceited, it means that he has a great need to praise his personality.
Representatives of the clergy give an unambiguous assessment of ambition and pride, relating them to mortal sins. However, they argue that if a person is conceited, this can be corrected: you just need to repent to God for your evil deeds.
It should be emphasized that if a person has a burning desire to assert himself, then the level of his mental stress is beyond. In this state, the individual by all means seeks to gain power over others. If on the way to this goal he encounters barriers and obstacles, then he becomes even more cruel and evil. About whom can one say that a person is conceited? This is someone who does not want to perceive reality, because his thoughts are focused on the following: “What do they think about me and what impression will I make?”
Of course, every individual in one form or another suffers from ambition. At the same time, it is unusual for people to demonstrate the above vice publicly. That is why a conceited person is one who carefully conceals from everyone that he urgently needs flattery and praise. Psychologists argue that a person can outwardly show modesty, which should be interpreted only as one of the variations of masked ambition.
In particular, one individual can be so vain that the opinions of his family and friends mean absolutely nothing to him, and the second, on the contrary, seeks to enlist the support of others in order to further use it in his interests.
It must be emphasized that ambition can take extremely dangerous forms. Not only does the conceited person begin to engage in useless activities that are directed towards his person, forcing him to constantly think about his interests, he does not care at all about his close circle. Moreover, the ambitious person ceases to understand the true value of interpersonal relationships, his perception of reality becomes false.
No other vice can so disfigure the free development of personality as vanity. It should be noted that ambition has not been for the benefit of anyone. What does conceited mean? The word itself gives an interpretation of this truly terrible sin of mankind. This is "empty", "vain" glory. An ambitious person cannot live without confirmation of his superiority. As a result, he ceases to adequately assess the importance of his own role in society.
Of course, this vice must be eradicated everywhere, it is not only possible to fight it, but it is also necessary!