Page 43 - The Arrogance of Satan

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Hidden Arrogance

valued, a person who nurtures hidden arrogance strives to
earn the approval and appreciation of others by pretending
to be modest.
As we said earlier, hidden arrogance is dangerous, since
it manifests itself in ways we do not expect. And, being
confronted with a person' s hidden personality can be quite
shocking. For instance, when faced with failure or criticism,
a person who is not known to be arrogant may lose his
temper and conduct himself quite unseemly. That is because,
the idea of others being aware of his failure deeply hurts his
pride. It may well be that his arrogance had never surfaced
only because his wishes or expectations had never been
challenged. However, believing that he has lost all his
prestige in the eyes of people, now he has no qualms about
revealing his arrogance and wickedness, which had till then
been hidden.
Hidden arrogance may also appear in the form of acts of
immorality. A person may lie in order to conceal his own
imperfection, or he may try to make others' failures known to
others in order to make himself appear better. Should a flaw
of his be noticed, he would try to avoid all possible reactions,
and defend his base nature. For this end, he resorts to evil
methods, such as weeping or making others pity him.
The arrogant express their discontent through silent
protest; they give the cold shoulder, overreact, or become ill-
tempered. Therefore, one who encounters such clear signs
will easily be able to diagnose arrogance. In the case of
hidden arrogance, however, almost all of these signs are not
recognisable. Such people, by all appearances, are cheerful,
and of normal vitality. Normally, their behaviour doesn' t
betray a hint of deviousness. Even, in some cases, they pose