Chapter 21: The deans of the monastery
If any of the deans are affected by some breath of pride which lays them open to adverse criticism, they should be corrected once or twice or even three times. (From para. 2 of Ch. 21 of Saint Benedict's Rule, trans. by Patrick Barry, OSB, 1997.)
The term "breath of pride" is what catches my attention. Breath -- normally so benign, so necessary -- in this image reminds me that egoism can slip into absolutely anything. There are responsibilities I'm privileged to carry out in my family and community. But I must watch for the insistent false self who wishes to claim glory. Meditation helps my motives to become more pure.
The Breath of Pride is a wonderful expression to understand how it works when pride are coming to live in me. It can take very long time to realize, that it is pride that disturbs some actions for me. I was raised to trust only the ego and myself. Slowly meditation helps me out of that misunderstanding of the human life.
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