Pride is an issue both Pope and Swift dwell on in their writings… and I find this interesting because so often pride is the flaw we tend to excuse the most. In An Essay on Man, Pope says, “Shall he alone, whom rational we call, be pleased with nothing, if not blessed with all?” I found this funny because we “rational” humans want and want and want… and are never satisfied for very long. We excuse the incessant wanting as natural, but there is a reason the Houyhnhnms believed Gulliver was telling of “the thing which was not” when Gulliver told of what wars are fought over and the lengths people go to acquire more stuff! We sound so silly! To become upset over not getting our way and dislike others simply because they are not like us… how God must look on us with sadness! This world is not what He created it to be because of sin, but how often do we as Christians fall into the mindset of the world? Trying to acquire things, people “who find not Providence all good and wise, alike in what it gives, and what denies?” Thinking we know better than God and trying to orchestrate events so they go the way WE want them to. I know I’m guilty of it. It’s just convicting to read this and think about how you live and what you spend your time and effort and money on. Are they things that moth and rust will destroy, or are they treasures in heaven? Pride and selfishness are two of the hardest sins to overcome because they are so much a part of our sinful human nature. Swift paints us to be only slightly more rational than Yahoos, and it seems the Houynhnhnms have a hard time believing we are “smart” creatures when we waste so much effort through falsehood, scheming, and destruction just to get our own way. So, maybe I just went off on a tangent; I’m sorry! It just bothers me to think about how much money and time we spend on luxuries when people are dying and going to hell without knowing Christ. There’s such a bigger purpose for us being here than primping (Rape of the Lock) and planning and searching for happiness. I loved how Pope ended An Essay on Man:
“Know thy own point: this kind, this due degree/ Of blindness, weakness, Heaven bestows on thee./ Submit…/ Safe in the hand of one disposing Power…/ All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee/ All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not see/ All Discord, Harmony not understood/ All partial Evil, universal Good/ And, spite of Pride, in erring Reason’s spite/ One truth is clear, whatever is right.”
It’s all clear to God. Even though our pride makes us stumble and occludes our reasoning, He is in control and does whatever is right. We might not understand, but we aren’t supposed to; it’s just our pride that tries to take the reins and say “Okay God, I’ve got this. Let’s do life my way.”
Hopefully you understood my scattered thoughts! :)
P.S. Commented on Samantha’s
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