by Priscila Azeredo de Souza, London, UK
I always considered arrogance as something ugly, but it was not until recently that I discovered how insidious and evil it actually is. Arrogance is a weapon, a mass destructive-one, discharging separation among us.
Arrogance has many faces. Up until recently I only perceived the ‘superiority’ side of it, but I am learning that it can also come with the ‘false humble’ (or ‘inferiority’) side as well. Bear with me and you will see what I am describing here.
We all have experienced someone being blatantly arrogant:
– “Do you know who I am?”
– “Do you have any idea who you are talking to?”
– “I’ll show you my credentials.”
All of these messages meaning: I’m better than you, I’m different, and I want to be treated differently. These are obvious…
I am not an arrogant person and over the 3 last years of having been involved with Universal Medicine and having Esoteric Healing sessions, I’ve come to understand why in situations where I felt insecure, lacking in confidence, did not feel worthy or good enough I would use ‘arrogance’ as a shield, as a form of protection to try to hide how deeply insecure I was feeling. In these circumstances I would use arrogance to place myself above someone, to make me feel ‘better’.
Something very interesting happened recently that showed me another face of arrogance.
I know deep within I am not an arrogant person, however on certain occasions I can hear a voice saying “You will be arrogant if you say that” or “this behavior is very arrogant”.
And then I am somehow considering myself arrogant… and more voices come: “You are arrogant”, “Do not say that, you are just showing off”. And then I shrink, I hold back saying what I wanted to say, I hide.
Interestingly, here it is not about the obvious examples I mentioned before where arrogance comes in the form of superiority, of being better, ‘more’ than another. It happens in opposite situations – when I am feeling glorious and powerful and I then hold myself back, make myself small; make myself less than the person I’m talking to or interacting with.
This is a more calculated, calibrated and deliberate way of positioning ourselves as less in situations. I found out that this is equally arrogant.
I am learning that anything that makes us feel somehow better or worse, more or less, different than another comes with the fuel of arrogance.
WE ARE ALL EQUAL SONS OF GOD
The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”. Ouch!
We all lose with arrogance.
Arrogance is not part of my essence. And I now know that any thought that comes in my way to sabotage the feeling of EQUALNESS and ONENESS is a mass destructive weapon that comes with the deliberate intent to separate myself from my equal brother.
Deeply inspired by the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
Arrogance is hugely evil. Arrogance is something easily spotted as it never includes the whole. It is simple hence love is always beholding of the All.
Saying that you are more or that you are less – is actually a judgement towards another and with this we create an evil so called ‘accepted normal’ that is even more hiden and evil.
Wow Priscila, thank you for exposing how destructive arrogance is. It helps when we understand what drives us to be arrogant and it certainly helps to take the sting or hurt out of it when we experience someone being arrogant, especially when we choose to not take it personally.
Arrogance is that which offers one individuality whether it is feeling more or less than another it is a total separation from our soul.
Interesting flip on arrogance but it makes sense doesn’t it. We often see the arrogance of ourselves or people but it has many sides apart from the obvious ones. It’s great also to nominate something like this when you see it, respectfully of course. Few would have seen the quality of arrogance that this article is speaking about and would be possibly still scratching their heads or dismissing it. Don’t dismiss what you have just read but simply take what has been said as a possibility and see for yourself the next time the word ‘arrogance’ hits your mind when you are talking to someone. You maybe surprised that you can relate to this article then.
I hate the feeling of arrogance, I can sense sometimes when I drop into arrogance and it is very sickly, the question I ask is why do I choose that arrogance? In many ways it is a defence, a shield and a way of coping with something that may not be what I want to see. Over the years as I become more at ease with myself I find I don’t go into arrogance nearly as often as I used to.
The arrogance , of the others do not deserve the glory that one can bring . This is done a lot towards family towards mother and father because they were not able, for what ever reason to treat their child with love and equalness. So the child can live the arrogance of revenge and treat the parents in a less way . Of course this arrogance is self destructive as all arrogance is, for one will never have an equalness relationship with ether parents or anyone.
“The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”.” Wow this is super insightful and so very true. I know this is how i have played on arrogance, making myself less than others or just not bringing all of me to situations and people. But I love what you have said here, yes when we do this, we are actually saying that others are less also, which isn’t true.
Very insightful Priscilla, to understand arrogance well beyond the obvious rude or superior behaviour is quite a revelation.
In society we tend to champion the “victim”, the “underdog” etc. What you have brought here, as a point of awareness is great because it shows that the person playing small is no different than those who puff themselves up with supremacy energy. It is just the other side of the coin so to speak. When we talk about energy we very quickly get exposed for how we are living.
This is an interesting read, I had not realised that holding ourselves back, being less than who we truly are is a form of arrogance, ‘The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”,’ whereas in essence as you say we are all equal.
Arrogance is settling for less. (How ironic that I could of just expressed this one sentence) – an easier road to repeat and continue what’s comfortable. The next (to initiate) is ignored – the more to expand – the openness to commit in full in life and allow more in. To think we are limited to not having ‘it all’ – all we deserve. Instead, we continue as we are. We are more, and it’s our hands to claim it.
I had not really connected the dots that playing less is also a form of arrogance, but can see clearly from your honest sharings that it is. I also connected on a deeper level that when I have played more than other, how that came from my own feelings of being less, my own lack of self-worth. Thank you for these insights today,and to me for being open to them.
A great exposure of the evil of arrogance and how hidden it can be, ‘I am learning that anything that makes us feel somehow better or worse, more or less, different than another comes with the fuel of arrogance.’
Absolute true. Choosing to be arrogant is choosing to be ignorant of the equality and union that there naturally is.
Arrogance comes in different guises, it actually comes across as if that person is in someway superior than we are, which automatically separates us from one another, and as you say when we hold back we are being arrogant too because we are not giving all that we are.
The catch is when we make it about right or wrong – we loose absolute sight of what truly is – hence we protect and shield away the truth instead of letting it be (accepting it in full).. Your blog made me realize how often I have allowed this arrogance to express through me simply by deciding I could as I felt hurt. That just brought shivers in my body and made realize I can change that forever.
I love the exposing of how we can also be arrogant when we make ourselves less. It makes perfect sense but I had never thought of it like that before. Thanks Priscila.
This is great Priscilla for it shows us that any form of holding back is an arrogance.
We do and have been arrogant and have received arrogance and it does separate us. I know I have used it as a way of protecting me from things I did not want to feel, a sense of aloofness, it is not the answer. the answer for me has been to read energy more and be honest with myself about how I feel.
We lose both ways – when we make ourselves greater than others, and when we make ourselves less… in both cases the world misses our natural vitality, spunk and everything that uniquely makes us who we are.
Quite simply true, we all lose with arrogance if we hold on to our way as being right when there could be a more supportive way that is supportive for all, and brings love and a knowing far beyond physical life to our relationships.
Absolutely great exposure of areogance, even when we are holding back, being measured or being on our “tippie toes” so to speak we could ask the question… why? If we are all equal sons of God than it is a judgement on others if we play small to avoid possible situations we don’t want to be in.
Priscila you have brilliantly exposed the true meaning of arrogance and the harm and separation it inflicts onto others. There are also more subtle forms of arrogance when another is feeling low or needing to feel bolstered as they are feeling less or needing to cover their hurts, this is a form of protection so we don’t get to feel what’s really going on.
Yes ouch indeed Priscilla, thank you for this very sobering insight into the duplicitious sides of arrogance. To see the ‘lesser version’ in it’s true light is a call to the truth of equality… we cannot be less or more than another as we are all equal by our fathering light.
You’ve nailed something very important here Priscila. How often is someone expressing in all of their natural power and indeed glorious nature, falsely labelled as being ‘arrogant’?
Yes it is arrogant of us to play less… yet it is also deeply worthwhile to look at the set-up here, i.e. that anyone actually displaying greatness that is NOT born of superiority or actual arrogance, can be so readily labelled as being arrogant, when in fact he or she is in fact bringing themselves in true equalness to all.
The parts of us that hold back may well often prefer to make such false judgement, than actually acknowledge that we have someone before us who is showing us and leading the way as to where we ourselves could be at, if we simply made the choices to do so.
I love how you describe arrogance as a weapon as that is exactly what it is. It is like a wall of protection that people put up to avoid being hurt yet when that person is shown love and care that arrogance can just drop away.
Re reading your blog this morning and feeling the truth and the power of your words, how arrogance plays out and separates us and makes us the individuals we think we are. The key here is to connect with our body where lays our inner wisdom and the truth of who we all are, we are one.
Priscilla, what you are presenting here is very interesting, that we can be arrogant when we are holding back and making ourselves less – this is an ouch as I always considered arrogance to be people showing off and thinking there are better than someone else not the other way round. I can feel how destructive holding ourselves as less is, as people are not getting the real and full us, we are all equal and can support and love each other, there are no better or lesser people, we are all amazing and all equal.
How compllcated we make life when we judge others and compare them to an image we may hold however unconsciously. It is a sure way to make us feel separate and therefore justified in our thoughts. Taking refuge in our heads like this may be a source of comfort but it can never deliver us the joy and harmony of living in equality with our fellow brothers and sisters, all of us making up the total of humanity.
As Priscila outlines for us here, arrogance is a completely destructive force designed to keep us playing either less or more than our fellow equal Brother, that flies under the radar when we do not live true to the essence of who we are.
Holding ourself as lesser than another really is a great way to hold ourself separate and an identity we can falsely put on ourself, just the same in essence as to holding ourself better than another, just a different expression of the same kind of dividing energy!
I’ve found many ways to apologise for what I’ve felt to say. acting hesitant, timid, apologising for speaking, excusing what I’m about to say, discounting what’s coming through, stuttering, being incoherent etc.This kind of hiding is excruciating. It arrogantly ignores the fact that what is given to me to say may not be presented just for my benefit but I happen to be the person there who can deliver it. To think I know better than God and think myself smaller than who I innately am is arrogant!
‘What do I know’, ‘I may be wrong’, ‘probably you will disagree with me’, ‘it’s merely my point of view’ – these are just a few of the caveats I often find myself adding into conversations. It’s so clear to me now that these are just falsehoods and tricks I have picked up to manipulate others. This form of arrogance usually goes under the radar in our society – so thank you for pointing out Priscilla it’s all just a big game.
To consider anything that takes us away from oneness and equalness as a weapon of mass destruction has got me looking at this in a whole new way. I had not considered holding ourselves back as arrogant but can see your offering here. Thank you Priscila
A very huge albeit much needed OUCH to be felt by everyone because as you say “We all lose with arrogance.”
Very eye opening expression here Priscila. Never has it been so clear to me that we hurt others by holding back our loveliness. When I observe other people doing this I feel angry and/or hurt and that makes sense now. It is easy to feel the imposition of one that is obviously being arrogant, however, we have been taught that self effacing behaviour is acceptable and even kind and this is a huge lie. Acting less is equally imposing as it falsely confirms we are not equal.
This is a very interesting spin on arrogance, it feels true to me, to measure what others can ‘handle’ is already a put down, I never really thought of it that way before.
Thanks you for this insightful Blog Priscila about the other face of arrogance and how it plays out by holding ourselves in separation to others. Serge Benhayon has talked about energy and that everything is energy. One of the gifts of these presentations has been the developing of my understanding of the different types of energy that flow through me and how to identify the energy the voices of ‘arrogance’ carry and empowering me to choose love first. Holding back our amazingness means everyone misses out. Exposing arrogance for the way it plays out in your life means that we get more of the love you are – thank you.
Thank you for exposing the other side to arrogance, a side that we often brush away under the carpet. I know for many years I have used this form of arrogance making myself less then another, I am now learning this does not have to be and it is only a choice that I can change. Great expose, thank you Priscilla.
Arrogance can only exist by thinking you are inherently better than others, which hides the true wound, which is you think you are not enough as the being that you are.
I also feel with Claiming myself to be less than another, it gives me the opportunity to be less responsible in my actions, thoughts and heart of what i can equally be in any given situation.. Ouch!
Thank you Priscilla. Got it now, Huge! great to go deeper into the energetic meaning of the word and get more clarity.
I have alot to understand and digest here Priscilla with what you share. I grasp the concept mentally of what you say but in my self and body right now i cannot relate yet how my experience of offering or feeling less of myself as being of arrogance. Perhaps so entrenched have i been in behaving this way for so long, perhaps lifetimes! .. I cannot see clearly.
So i looked up the dictionary meaning to open myself up to understand more.. Here i paste…”late Middle English: via Old French from Latin arrogant- ‘claiming for oneself’”. I know when i think of situations that I feel less in. I can either fake or pretend that i know something ,when i am not sure i do. This pretence is a type of arrogance, it is a ‘false claiming of something I am not’. I may also say outright that i don’t know, and be comfortable to be the ignorant one, the innocent one, the new comer, the willing ‘student’ . I read these words and all i feel is the belief i carry that I am less and not good enough. I can feel based on the definition of Arrogant: that i have claimed this for myself- that I am less and not good enough . Then arrogance is in the mind and not in the body. Because in the body , we are all equal flesh and hearts have the same potential to love and be loved. So when we are not comfortable with this, our minds can be defensive, protective, be in denial, and can claim for self to have more or less right to be in the space we occupy all together.
Priscilla this is a great reminder that arrogance goes two ways both in claiming to be more or less than another. The fact is, as you say, its not until we hold ourselves and all others as equal sons of God do we get rid of that arrogance.
Absolutely MA, in reading Priscilla’s words today it is clear that arrogance is just the inevitable destination we all must reach when we decide to take Separation Street. As soon as we step down the road where we see ourselves as divided, individual and apart, we cannot help but start to compare and pull others apart. What a tonic then, to live with every step and breath knowing we are one divinely connected to each other, deeply in our heart.
Priscilla that was really an honest blog and I love what you have exposed!: “The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”.” Most of us were playing this game but were not aware of what was really going on – thank you so much for not holding back to tell the truth about it.
Great blog Priscilla; I love how you highlighted being small and less is another form of arrogance;
“I am learning that anything that makes us feel somehow better or worse, more or less, different than another comes with the fuel of arrogance”. What a wonderful insightful lesson for us all.
I get this form of arrogance, hiding by holding back our true and full expression. Yes I agree it is the opposite to being dominating and superior, which is also hiding. Being aware of these two sides of the same coin is supportive of finding out how to be in a world full of both sets of examples, each playing with and off each other. The key is perhaps in connection where we learn to play with each other.
It seems so much easier to see the person who acts superior to another as being arrogant yet when I read your words it is plain to see that playing small, contracted and less is just as (if not more) arrogant and harmful. I have played less many times and the scary thing about it is I have convinced myself other people like it. When we consider what is really being delivered when someone plays less it is absurd that we allow it.
Perceiving arrogance in holding back is so true – it is just the other end of the spectrum from acting in a superior manner over everyone – all part of the same – feeling inferior or superior – same same. .
And we think WMDs consist of bombs, missiles and biological warfare. It’s great for the awareness of us all to consider the equally (if not more so) destructive potential of our actions at the interpersonal level.
Well presented from every angle Priscilla. i really liked your take on holding back being a form of arrogance. Because it can look like shyness or being deferential, it does not necessarily register as arrogance but you are spot on with your observation/s – thank you.
Yes ouch Priscilla, who would have thought making oneself less was in the same arrogant energy as the more obvious ‘l’m better than you’ version we normally associate.
I love your blog Priscilla I could read it again and again, i can so relate to this, what you have done is smashed the illusion of seeing ourselves as more or less then another this kind of exposure is absolutely needed. Everyone should read this.
Arrogance is a weapon of mass destruction whichever side we choose to use, it is through the appreciation and confirmation of who we are that we can break free from its hold over us and live the magnificence of who we are.
Thank you Priscilla for clearly showing both sides of the coin of arrogance. Appreciating and living with equal love for all humanity is the way back to brotherhood and truth.
Thank you for exposing the arrogance in playing less I have recently been feeling my arrogance in holding back. Holding ourselves and others less than equal is indeed arrogance there is no doubt about that. The separation and individualism arrogance holds us in keeps us from true brotherhood and therefore evolution.
Wow I have been less and not realising the arrogance in doing so.
Yes, arrogance is only there to separate us from each other. I feel when I hold back who I am, I am responsible to not only make myself less but also the other(s), it is making life about me and not about everyone equally. And I have the choice to step forward and be responsible for my part in the whole of the universe.
This is a great honest sharing Priscilla, Arrogance keeps us as individuals under the illusion of being protected from the world when in fact our true nature is equality and respect for one another and it is only until we understand this in our bodies that true brotherhood can be lived.
I love the awareness you have come to here Priscila, it is pure revelation. Arrogance is a weapon of mass destruction wielded by the human spirit to further delay returning home to the love of the Soul. As we each have a spirit and each have a Soul, this is a very valuable insight to be sharing with us all, thankyou.
It’s true – we use spiritual pride to puff ourselves up and feel that we are ‘more’ than another when the simple truth remains that before we make ourselves ‘more’ we first have to make ourselves ‘less’. This is because we are all the equal Sons of God, no one being greater or lesser than the other. But as we do not always express in our Soul-full state as an equal Son of God, we end up expressing in a vastly reduced way as a ‘son of man’ and it is in this expression that we fool ourselves that we can be either greater of lesser than our fellow equal Brother. Hence why it can be stated that well before we think we are more than another, we have first made ourselves much less than who we truly are.
Priscila, you’ve clearly shown the 2 sides of arrogance here, the gross obvious one and the less obvious one of holding back, and I’d say the second one is at plague proportions worldwide, I know I’ve often played this one, and as you say, when I do so I am deciding that another gets less, ouch. Really arrogance in all it’s forms has no place in our expression, and is not who we are.
This is great Priscila as you have got underneath the usual meaning of arrogance and understood the way we play at being shy, withdrawn, even pseudo humble as you mention and in comfort think this is who I am or that I can’t help it when really it is a conscious choice by part of us to hold the world to ransom. Definitely the other side of the same coin to the arrogance of those who consider it their duty to draw other people out and inform them of the games they play, believing that they are somehow being better, arrogantly hiding behind a veil of ‘truth’ without expressing from love.
This is such a great blog. In the world where competitiveness and comparison are everywhere and even encouraged, we are constantly placing ourselves better or worse than the others and this whole set-up is basically saying ‘no’ to the Oneness, and what you bring here Priscila makes me realise how we have adopted a warped way of expressing who we are, and holding ourselves back is adding to the supremacy energy that is at play in various shape and forms and sizes, and just as evil.
“The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”.” I agree, this is spectacular arrogance and one I know that I regularly fall into. I also know deep down i am not an arrogant person – none of us are in our inner-most, but when I choose to be less of myself in the world, which if I’m honest is most of the time, there is no question that I am being arrogant. This is something I’m sure none of us want to admit, but it is something that is so common it has become normal. So much so that when someone is actually living in the fullness of who they are those of us who aren’t can react to them as being “too full of themselves”, “bigheaded”, “arrogant”, whereas when we allow ourselves to feel the joy and glory of living this way, we become inspired.
Wow Priscila you have certainly exposed the true meaning of the word ‘arrogance’ and the more subtle forms of arrogance that we can choose that I hadn’t considered before – thank you for bringing this to my awareness.
Thank you Priscila for such a profound insight into how arrogance is played out. I learned a lot. The world celebrates fake humbleness but as you say it is really arrogance in disguise.
Priscila, great to expose this separation that arrogance in its many forms causes in us.
This is a very welcome blog Priscilla as I can see where I can get caught up in the arrogance of holding back for various reasons. We all cringe when we experience the arrogance of someone trying to dominate others with their perceived superiority, but you are also correct in saying that hiding and holding back are other forms of arrogance but just with a different face. It’s all so destructive and unless we stop and notice the behaviours, we don’t question what is happening and the cycle continues.
This is a powerful blog thank you Priscilla, you call something that we normally would not call arrogant arrogant. Thank you for unraveling how tight we hold ourselves in certain beliefs and then behaviours that do not express at all the strength and beauty that we are. So even something that we think is very obvious to what it is, like arrogance, includes so much more than we want it to be. With what you are uncovering here there is no more hiding behind false behaviour, it asks us to question or more so look deeply into our true intentions.
Re reading your sharing Priscilla, is a great reminder not to make myself small as I have done many times in the past without having any idea of the total arrogance on my part. It is a bit of a shock to find that this is what I have done. Thank you!
Thank you for writing this Priscilla, I never really thought about arrogance in this way and I have realised how arrogant I have been in this way. I am forever holding myself back and thinking I’m not good at things and would have bought this was the opposite to being arrogant and it is just as annoying as well.
Arogance is the greatest trick in the book. It has many guises and it takes an astute awareness and dedication to love to expose all the ways that it affects us.
“The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”. Ouch!”
This is so huge and I would love to print it off and read it on a daily basis. This is arrogance in its highest form, not blatant like the arrogant behaviours we recognise, but a silent, perverse arrogance that undermines our society at large.
Very true that we all lose out when arrogance is displayed, because arrogance creates inequality between people, whether that’s an arrogance of superiority or inferiority. I hadn’t fully considered before the real implications of holding my true self back in situations and how calculating, measured and judgemental that truly is. Thanks, Priscila.
There’s a true arrogance in holding back, for in so doing we are measuring another. Thinking and presuming we know best or better than them. That’s about as arrogant as it comes.
This reminds me of a beautiful song ‘Messenger’ from Heaven’s Joy;
“I have no right to be less than who I am
I have no right to be less than a sunshine
I have no right to be less than the divine
Cause it´s your right to get my reflection of true light”
Thankyou SO much for expanding on the meaning of arrogance! I feel what you are saying is totally true; presenting less then the love that we are or holding back is also arrogance. If we don’t give ourselves the right to be fully amazing then it is like we are choking ourselves and saying to other people that its not okay to be amazing.
Making myself small, making myself less than; “this is a more calculated, calibrated and deliberate way of positioning ourselves as less in situations. I found out that this is equally arrogant”. At times this can be so true whilst at other times playing small, less than, can be so diminishing and debilitating. Much to ponder here Priscila, thank you.
Thank you Priscila, for a great blog on the many faces of arrogance, I had never realised that holding back was arrogant. A big Ouch here.
Yes, Priscila I too am learning that arrogance does not always come in the form of being mightier, or aggressive, but that it comes in making ourselves smaller, lesser and holding back. This for me is a revelation as one who has held back all my life and made myself small in countless situations. There is an arrogance to not deliver the truth and beauty of all that we are.
Yes I agree I have felt my tendency to hold back my love and my truth to be arrogance, that it is mine to hold back when in truth it is the love of God and is so needed in the world. The sense of ownership is arrogant and I am humbled at how such qualities as love and truth still flow forth in abundance whenever I selflessly offer them outward.
WOW pricila, OUCH. What a great aspect of arrogance to be aware of. I could hear myself saying I’m not arrogant either until you drop the other side to arrogance. Evolutionary blog for me, thank you Pricilla.
I agree Kimweston2, I would not consider myself an arrogant person at all but your other example of the more insidious form of arrogance is certainly worth pondering on – thank you for this powerful piece.
I loved reading your blog Priscila. It really gave me a new insight into what arrogance is and how it shows itself. I never considered that making myself feel less than someone else is actually arrogant but I can now see that it absolutely is. Thank you for bringing this awareness to me.
Priscila this is a great blog, exposing how arrogant we are, not only when we think we are better than another but equally so when we give our power away and allow another to treat us as being lesser too. Very interesting to observe how clever arrogance tries to be.
I am completely with you Priscila and thank you for writing this blog. Arrogance has many faces and each of them is equally harming to ourselves and the societies we live in.
It is incredible how many ways we have to play out this game of arrogance ” Thank you Priscila it is definitely a big Ouch when we calculate how much someone gets to see from us. Allowing ourselves to feel how grand we are, we all are is bringing an end to the arrogance and returns us back to the Oneness we are coming from.
‘…any thought that comes in my way to sabotage the feeling of EQUALNESS and ONENESS is a mass destructive weapon that comes with the deliberate intent to separate myself from my equal brother.’ Wow that is a very powerful statement and I can feel this is very important for me – and I dare to say for everyone – to read.
Reading this it’s so revealing to feel that I can be arrogant without having to express it or act on it but by simply having the thoughts of being better or of more importance than another in any way and I find myself reflecting on my life and attitudes in it. Thank you Priscila.
‘You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get’ this indeed is a very big ouch Priscila. I was struggling with the comprehension of your blog until I read this line and then I knew exactly what you were saying. I have not viewed arrogance from this angle before. Thank you for making me aware of this.
This has opened my eyes to the many possibilities of Arrogance. It is easy to name arrogance where someone treats you as less and where we may treat someone else as less but to consider it as a way of separating people exposes how evil it can be. I agree with a comment made earlier about arrogance being used as an armour – a way to keep people out and a way of locking oneself in, so that there can be no connection, true sharing or energetic responsibility. Great blog Priscilla,
Awesome blog Priscilla. Arrogance is an armour that allows us to hide our vulnerability and to create battle lines with others to make us feel better than and superior to them. When you see it this way what you share is so true, arrogance is definitely a weapon, a weapon of mass destruction to us all.
I have known someone who wore their arrogance as armour and from my experience and observation it is indeed a weapon of mass destruction. No-one is a winner as both parties end up hurt. The arrogant person is already hurting and through their words and sometimes actions they hurt another.
Priscila, I really related to the sharing on arrogance you have written. I particularly relate to the words ” I am learning ,anything that makes us feel somehow better or worse, more or less , different than another comes with the fuel of arrogance. This is an eye opener but makes absolute sense ! Thank you Priscila.
Yes, this Blog is very revealing of the ways and means of our spirit I agree, but a very welcome reveal as there are so many of those apparent little things that we let slip by that are equally as arrogant as the out there verbal kind. It’s the more hidden ones that you have to watch out for, so great that you are exposing them here Priscila.
Whoa, this blog was a weapon of mass destruction to blow arrogance out of the water! I loved what you brought light to Priscilla and in particular – “I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”. Ouch!” Yes this is a big ouch and one i need to sit with further to feel the full extent of the impact we have whenever we choose ‘more than’ or ‘less than’ rather than being true to who we are.
I agree Marcia,this is definitely something to observe as I have a feeling that if I did this I may find this behaviour could be playing out more throughout the day than I have previously been aware of. Thank you Priscila.
I know what you mean about these more subtle signs of arrogance. The one that has played out for me in the past is holding myself aloof… like you say it often comes because I don’t know what to say, or have withdrawn slightly from an interaction, but what can be felt is the separation and that gives the impression that I am holding myself as different to, or better than. Its good to expose these patterns, and share them so this sort of behaviour gets exposed and an opportunity to live different is presented.
We certainly all lose to arrogance and your example of the ‘voice over doing the judging and then dictating to you how you will come across’ and we listen … How ridiculous is that when we bring awareness and truth to stop the mind having its way with us. It’s liberating when we catch it and very exposing of the thoughts that have fuelled and dictated our behaviours.
Priscila this is a a very different take on arrogance but one that is must deeper than the obvious arrogance we pick up. The fact is trying to be more or holding back from who we naturally are is arrogant. Especially as you say that when we hold back all of whom we are, we are in effect saying “you don’t deserve all of me”. Ouch thats arrogant.
I never thought about it like that but you are right of course. When I hold myself back in front of someone I don’t want them to feel bad or less but in fact I decide they are less in that instant. Thank you for pointing this out.
Wow what a great take on arrogance, it makes total sense it is being less than or holding back ourselves as well as being overbearing.
Whichever way we go with arrogance – superior or inferior – the bottom line is that we are not treating another as an equal…we have made a judgment about them, rather than bringing understanding to the situation by feeling the truth of what is happening.
Thank you for stating the truth of playing less Judith i.e. ultimately we are saying ‘no’ to Love…that is indeed one big ouch! Whether the person/people in front of us are in the fullness of their love or not, we have a responsibility to stand in the fullness of love we are…and thus we either offer a reflection for another to do the same, or we are met with equal love/more love – how gorgeous is that!
Paula it feels so different to be naturally expressing without the weapons or arsenal of practiced responses from the mind. Love then flows, now that sounds a bit like something out of a song but when heart felt the connection, ease of expression, joy are all there and truly felt. It’s such a freedom!
So true Priscila. False humbleness has been part of my ‘strategy’ for a very long time. It is no better than being overtly arrogant and is in truth just part of the same game – neither of which is me, or you, or any of us in our essence. ‘We are all equal Sons of God’ – absolutely. The truth of this just has to be felt to be known within us all. Thank you.
I recall having a run in with a ‘celebrity’ in one of my jobs, all I did was I walked in his path, He said to me ” Don’t you know how I am?” and I just cheekily replied back, ” Don’t you know who I am?” which stopped him in his tracks.
Ha ha, I love this Nat – a great stop moment to support another to come back to themselves.
Very funny indeed :). I realize it is not about defiantly standing up for ourselves when we feel someone puts us down but about taking the opportunity to support others to come back to themselves. Beautiful.
You have beautifully described how arrogant it can be to hold back and I love the way you explain “……that anything that makes us feel somehow better or worse, more or less, different than another comes with the fuel of arrogance.” The idea that arrogance is present in anything that denies our equality is a revelation to me. Thank you Priscila.
Yes arrogance is in fact the thought of us having the power to decide how much the other person will get to see from us. This is a very controlling behaviour.
Yes Lieke ” very controlling behaviour” and we are the ones being controlled by our mind!
And very judgemental too.
Yes the game really is are we in unity or separation and there are many weapons used in this game or war of energy. I know I have fallen many times for the trap of ‘going it solo’ and isolating or cutting myself off from the world or others believing that this will offer me some form of protection, comfort, false power or self gain. However I have also experienced tremendous moments of connection, unity and equalness with others and the strength, true power and inspiration I feel from these moments tells me that definitely together we are stronger. So we should be looking to knock out anything that gets in the way of that unity and one of these things is definitely arrogance and pride.
Wow this is a great expose on the evil of holding ourselves back, and also the beliefs that we take on from an early age. I am very grateful of your reminder Priscila that when we contract and play less we are in fact being judgemental – this is huge!
It is an interesting point, making ourself less is a form of arrogance.. and I do agree it is holding something back from yourself, for another to not be inspired by your amazingness. Not sharing that what we know can inspire so many people, ouch!
As I have read some comments here my understanding has deepened and I feel that any time we make a decision about anything that is not in line with our essence and for the whole, the quality of arrogance is the leading energy.
This is a great expose on the truer meaning of what arrogance really is, a shield which many of us have used to ‘protect’ ourselves or ensure our comfort. It is true though, it is a great separator, including us disconnecting from our divine essence. A great topic which requires this conversation.
‘…I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”. Ouch!’ This is exposing of what really happens when we make ourselves less – in addition to this we will often go on to blame the person on whom we have placed such judgement as being the reason we had to be less rather than taking responsibility for our own choices to do this.
I have done this my whole life, watered down what I felt so I didn’t hurt others. My mind told me I was being polite and well brought up, but looking at this way of being, differently – that playing small transports the message the other doesn’t deserve all of me – totally puts a different spin on this and makes complete sense to me. I’d rather someone felt a bit upset but got the truth, than another remaining in the dark and thinking they’re fine.
Yes I know this being ‘polite’ and ‘nice’ but not realising it is actually very harming to do this. I understand like you are saying, the other person than does not get the truth and even though it may be uncomfortable at times, in the end it is all about living truthfully and lovingly that will change the world as it is.
I’ve been giving a masterclass of being nice my whole life. The results have been terrible as it just allows a situation to continue on and on until it truly becomes unbearable. Better to call it out early and then everyone has an opportunity to live differently.
So true Suzanne – it does put a completely different spin on and highlights the truth of what we’ve been doing when playing small and that is that we’ve been effectively saying to another that they/we’re not equal. Awful.
There is so much sense and wisdom in your statement, “Arrogance is not part of my essence.” and “We all lose with arrogance”. These are statements I can live my life by and truly make a difference to others as I live this.
You make a good point here Priscila. I never thought about my shrinking away from being truly myself as arrogance. But yes when I consciously withdraw from giving someone all of me I judge them as not being worthy of my full attention “so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”. There is much for me to consider.
You are right Carola there is a horrible arrogance in the attitude “they don’t deserve my love” and since I read Priscila’s blog I have recognized this attitude coming from me, and the disconnection that creates in relationships. It has hit home on a raw nerve in me that has gone undetected till now.
Thank you Priscila for lifting the lid off arrogance, both superiority and inferiority are arrogant, I now understand that putting myself lesser is arrogance every bit as destructive as imposing arrogance.
Yes, absolutely true, Carolien. We love to hold on to our hurts through our investments in ideals and beliefs so we can avoid being responsible for what is going on in our life and for the state of our world today. Comfort is a big topic with many perspectives we can choose from to not move on and take our responsibility.
I absolutely agree Joshua, and can feel how much I do this to keep people out. This behaviour keeps people out when really we are just deeply hurting on the inside. Its crazy how much we tend to push people away when what we really want and need is tender loving care and connection, to resolve all our hurts.
Hi Natasha, what we really want and need is tender loving care and connection but we are just not prepared to let this person in.
And when presented so lovingly as you have here Natasha, it makes absolutely no sense at all.
The thoughts that creep in are so sneaky and so sly ~ for you to convince yourself of being arrogant and taking that on as apart of your true quality and essence is false, as you share. It is beautiful to read how much you are understanding that to be something that is not from your truth but rather something you take on to protect yourself, or to hide behind.
Double ouch, well said Judith.
This is a great blog and you have opened my eyed to the both sides of arrogance, thank you. I have not before considered this with arrogance. I can relate to the measure approach of how much of me I give people. Thank you for the inspiration.
There is a lot in what you write Priscila, that I relate to. I can absolutely see how as you mention making ourselves small is arrogance, not sharing who we are separates most definitely. Why would we do this to ourselves or the other person!
“The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: ‘You deserve less’.” – Wow, Priscila. This is brilliant.
Wow Priscila, ouch all right. I had never thought that I had allowed arrogance in me, but after reading your blog it’s as clear as day. I have often held myself less to stop another from feeling. I had never considered how judgmental this is for the person being judged. Thanks for the sharing.
Thanks Priscila for your very insightful blog. I had not considered making myself less and withholding from others as a form of arrogance before but I can see how doing this is actually a form of judgement and anytime there is judgment around there is usually arrogance. When we hold back from our full expression of who we are with others we are in fact judging that they cannot handle us or what we are expressing. We are predicting or projecting or assuming what their response might be, all of which is very judgemental and thus very arrogant.
This is true Andrew. I too am realising I have completely underestimated the insidious depth of arrogance and its destructive effect on both myself and others whenever it is expressed.
Equality with all is fundamental. As you say if we calibrate what we share with another, feeling they ‘deserve’ more or less we are not sharing ourselves equally. Learning to be equal with all for me comes from learning to live with self love first and then through this I have learnt it is natural to share this love with others equally, it cannot be any other way when love is lived.
The arrogance of holding ourselves as less is actually more harmful than the false confidence. With the false confidence, the other person can recognise the imposition easily. When we hold ourselves as less, we are hiding behind ‘being nice’ or ‘not being confident,’ ‘not being worthy,’ etc.
Priscilla expressed here that her experience of playing less was that of sending a message that the other person is not worthy of all of her. I have felt and done this myself but for me I feel the message it can also send is that you’ve read the other person and determined that they couldn’t handle all of you…This is hugely arrogant, limiting and harming to the other person. Harming because you are denying them the opportunity for evolution that you standing before them in your full truth presents.
That’s an interesting point katemaroney1 ” I feel the message it can send is that you’ve read the other person and determined that they can’t handle all of you” we calibrate ourselves to make another feel comfortable thus we shrink or expand ourselves accordingly, that’s such judgement and separation.
Awesome exposure of the depth of arrogance Priscila. It is true, when I hold back something I feel to say I am arrogant as I am determining for the other what they can and cannot receive. Arrogance comes in so many ways and it is deeply healing and unifying to be honest about it. I am still unpicking bits and pieces left and right, but I have also found that understanding what lies underneath it helps me to let go of this form of protection and let people see and have all of me.
Great blog Priscila. I had not felt into the fact by dumbing myself down to someone I treated as some one below me on what-ever level and calibrating myself down. Was worse and more insidious than the blatant arrogance. You are so right that this type of arrogance makes everyone less.
What a great blog Priscila – you nailed it and so no one can hide behind arrogance anymore even myself. It is wonderful how you expose arrogance in such a simple way – thank you.
Pricilla, you have offered us a very powerful message in such a simplicity and humbleness so we can all hear it and feel the ‘ouch’ of the so called hidden arrogance.
The judgements we hold against others so we are not choosing to feel that WE ARE ALL EQUAL SONS OF GOD. Your blog is a contribution to equality amongst all.
Thank you Pricilla for a very enlightening blog, with much for me to consider, as I am the one who often holds back. In this way I am saying “you deserve less” now, that is a big ouch.
Same for me Jill ‘ouch’. I could always recognise the more overt arrogance but up until now was not aware of the more insidious side of it or that that was what I was doing. And thank you Priscilla.
Yes so true this is indeed “ouch”
Another great blog Priscilla; you have a knack for saying what you mean in a way that can be plainly understood. I’d have to agree, whether we’re making ourselves be more or less than another, it’s equally harmful and separative. If I hold another as more or less than me, this is exactly the same thing – because we’re all equal and whilst we can feel clearly the livingness in another (stronger or perhaps not as consistent as ourselves), this changes not the fact, we are all equal sons of God.
“I am learning that anything that makes us feel somehow better or worse, more or less, different than another comes with the fuel of arrogance”.
I love the way you have expanded the definition and our understanding of arrogance in what you have expressed above Priscilla.
I have certainly felt the seed of arrogance and am now much more aware of when I am contracted by it.
Yes Priscilla any thought that is not about equalness is a weapon of mass destruction, I really like what you have done here by bringing to our awareness the impact on everyone when we hold back or hold ourselves more has truly on the quality of energy being exchanged, a whole planet of people dancing with this way of being is like an atomic bomb, most likely worse in truth as it goes on and on with no let up. We can be so great when we all are just ourselves and communicate from there.
Absolutely true, holding back is harmful and it serves no one! Indeed it gives power to the evil.
I too have observed the different ways I can express arrogance and how I have had it expressed around me by others. Priscilla you are correct when you state how insidious it is. The making oneself less type of arrogance is really very sneaky. When we play less than the fullness we are, we not just demand sympathy off others which is exerting a form of control over them. Also when playing less we put on the arrogance hat when we think thoughts such as, we are better because we are not showing off, we can even let ourselves believe this is being humble. It is very arrogant to be everyones equal, yet pretend we are less. Also we don’t have to take full responsibility for what we are choosing and where we find ourselves to be. Arrogance is really a pillar of separation, it is a repulsive tool we use to keep the game of humanities separation alive and thriving.
I’m floored by your writing Priscila. Yes by your fluency and style, but even more so by the content and wisdom being shared here. Your definition of what is truly arrogance needs to go mainstream as it is a game changer. Certainly for me it is, as I realise day by day and hour by hour more deeply, that we are all equal sons of God. Should I feel better than or less than another, I am really saying you don’t deserve me to be your equal. And that is so not true.
Priscilla this is a beautiful and powerful blog, one that I can relate to. Knowing someone as an equal person to us and us being equal to others really changes the way we can relate to one another. It opens up endless and lovely possibilities.
Incredible. Anything which makes ourselves or others feel less is a total arrogance because we are a Son of God, so to not accept that and be any less than that is a form of arrogance. It is me calling the shots. Wow, what an eye opener to ponder deeply on.
Great topic of discussion! Arrogance is insidious and many time unconscious, sabotaging our effots to simply be. I have personally found arrongance to be a protection, a way to not feel or have to deal with that which we believe we cannot handle. Time to gently feel the truth as this is the only way out of the prison arrogance is.
Priscilla what you have shared feels so personal for me at the moment. To be less than I truly am with another because I am not recognising equality in our connection is so arrogant and I can really feel this. Thank you for bringing this up for me to feel and nominate.
I love reading your blog Priscilla!
I can identify with it and can learn from it; thank you exposing and highlighting this issue for me.
I have been humbled in the face of my arrogance at times when I have been met with love and acceptance. Love unites us and arrogance separates us. I choose love.
Great reflections Priscila, arrogance is all its expressions keep us living the lie that we are separate from one another, when in fact we are all equal.
‘The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”. Ouch!’ Yes this is a very big Ouch indeed..Thank you for bringing attention to this, it is something we can do without realising it only to wonder why we don’t feel too good after the event. To bring awareness to this and remind ourselves that we are all equal Sons of God is very precious.
This is true Priscilla. The arrogance of being superior is often obvious to see. On the other hand the arrogance that is associated with a humbleness born of holding another to be more than oneself is even more insidious.
Knock arrogance out of humanity (for a start) and we would be on the road to recovery.
I sometimes let myself go into arrogance and it’s not a nice feeling even though for a little bit i’m on a high thinking “I know it all..” at the end of the day I don’t feel like I am me and I know it’s not the answer to solving my problems.
So well said Priscila – “any thought that comes in my way to sabotage the feeling of EQUALNESS and ONENESS is a mass destructive weapon that comes with the deliberate intent to separate myself from my equal brother”.
Oooh, ouch is right Priscilla, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”. Reading this in black and white leaves me with no doubt that this is a very true statement. I am hereby much more aware of the subtle ways arrogance slips into my way of being with myself and others and can say an emphatic NO to an arrogant thought that tries to separate me from another.
Such an interesting blog Priscila, I could feel my own ‘ouch’ reading this and how I have used arrogance in the past with others. I am inspired to look deeper into my interactions with others to see if ‘arrogance’ is still playing out in any area of my life.
Priscilla this is such a great topic and post, I’d never considered the opposite face of arrogance as deeply as you’ve highlighted here with your words that make complete sense: “The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”.
Whether we feel superior or inferior to another, or about ourselves, we measure this up and serve it the person we’re with – to always leave the residue feeling of LESS THAN, and therefore unequal. Arrogance is evil as you say because it separates.
‘I now know that any thought that comes in my way to sabotage the feeling of EQUALNESS and ONENESS is a mass destructive weapon that comes with the deliberate intent to separate myself from my equal brother.’ Beautifully written. I am beginning to deny these thoughts energy or attention. They are not mine and the do not serve who I am, who we are.
I fully agree with “we all lose with arrogance”. I suppose the obvious “arrogance” is quite easy to detect but an “arrogance” in holding back is more often felt as “lack of confidence” without a realisation of it is actually coming from an “arrogance”.
Awesome Priscilla “The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”. Ouch!” I completely agree, and am humbled by your reminder and as you can I can really feel the ouch!
Thanks Priscila, I can totally relate, the insidiousness of the playing small and being less, which is in fact total comfort and a way to not take responsibility and living what we can be. The only way to truly be is in absolute equalness with all.. and if everyone lived that, how the world would change.
Prisclia, I can really relate to what you have written about playing small. It provides a comfortable place for me to hide away and not stand out. I am slowly learning to catch myself when this happens and trust that it is OK to shine. Thank you for a great reminder not to hold back.
“You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”. Ouch indeed! What a great expose on the arrogance of holding back all that you are as an equal son of God. In this arrogance I realise we are also controlling another’s expression and holding them back as equal sons of God too! What an awful game to be playing with each other and a war within ourselves that must stop. Full stop.
I can feel how I have held myself and others back through comfort. “I am learning that anything that makes us feel somehow better or worse, more or less, different than another comes with the fuel of arrogance.”
This I am learning as well.
We use the difference (being less or more) as a weapon of attack or defence. It is a weapon that arrogantly denies a fundamental truth we are equal yet different.
Great sharing Priscila. I was feeling how it should be called arrow-gance as it is a hard and pointed spear of separation.
Love it Nicole, indeed the weapon of arrow-gance. I love this play-full analogy!
“When I hold back, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: ‘You deserve less’, ‘You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get’. Ouch!”
I can relate to this, Priscila, from a recent experience that totally exposed this for me. Having just had an absolutely amazing experience, when asked to share it, I didn’t think the group could handle it and so held it back – and got to later feel a whole bunch of stuff as to why. Why had I not shared? I discovered and realised that I had arrogantly judged the others present and their mentally analysed ‘readiness’ for hearing about an experince so amazing. I also realised that in saying no to my expression, I was also saying no to the loveliness that was just experienced, and it physically hurt, as I left the amazingness of the experience to arrogantly hold back. Since this strong and exposing experience I have committed to not holding back, but just bringing it in full (to the best of my ability) and trusting the expression that is there to express, and so holding others first and foremost in a deep equality that we are all one and the same; as you say, we are sparks of God, no matter what degree we live this to, so respecting others and accepting wherever we are at and whatever we choose with understanding and not the horribleness of judgement and that awful, ouchful, arrogance.
A great expose of arrogance Priscila, thank you. There is no love in arrogance whatever form it comes in.
Thank you for sharing your insight Priscilla , arrogance is the stubbornness of living as an individual instead of feeling we are all connected divinely in brotherhood.
“We are all equal sons of God”: what a wonderful way of bringing us back to the truth that we are. If we see ourselves in this way, truthfully, there can be no holding back or big-noting of self, as in truth no one is greater than another; therefore all are equally deserving of receiving all of who we are. How beautiful is that!
Beautiful observation, Priscilla. Arrogance is everywhere, not only in the obvious ways, but also in ways we sometimes don’t recognize.
“Arrogance is not part of my essence. And I now know that any thought that comes in my way to sabotage the feeling of EQUALNESS and ONENESS is a mass destructive weapon that comes with the deliberate intent to separate myself from my equal brother.” Thank you Priscila, choosing true thoughts is very powerful, our true essence is never arrogant.
“The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgmental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”. Ouch!” This is a very big ouch especially as you mentioned it is more deliberate form of separating ourselves, I have way to go with this one I feel Priscila.
Hi Priscila: A big ‘OUCH’ indeed. Thank you for the awareness of the fact that holding myself back, making myself small and ‘less than’ is the other side of the coin of arrogance.
This is a very interesting take – looking at the underbelly of arrogance and its darker side. I say darker side because the first kind of arrogance is so much more obvious, but what Priscilla has described is more subtle, less easy to spot, but has exactly the same unequal approach to life.
So true Simon, it is the darker, less immediately obvious, more sneaky side of arrogance. Well said.
Really great angle you discovered arrogance! Thank you for making this clear – I’ ll remember it for sure next time, I should be in such a situation!
Anything that separates us from our innermost is arrogance. We are choosing something that we believe is better than, a way that means we know all the answers. Part of this misunderstanding is using a false humility to hide behind which feels quite condescending. Thank you Priscilla for challenging yet another hidden and cunning way the spirit stops us from connecting within but more so shuts down our light so that we are no longer that reflection of light for others
Wow, what an expose on the Weapon of Mass Destruction we all use to make ourselves less! I would say any form of arrogance is making ourselves less because we are calling in a false sense of ourselves to defend and protect ourselves from a perceived threat or hurt. When you connect and live from the truth you know yourself to be no one is less and any form of arrogance is rendered naught – it is in fact irrelevant!
It’s a turnaround to think of arrogance as also being from “making ourselves less”…. just how many of us live from this viewpoint, especially, as you say, we are all ‘equal sons of God’. I have ‘invested’ my whole life in being less than others and not feeling my equality with everyone… to feel that this is an arrogance is an ‘ouch’. I have stubbornly held onto being less, as it made it very convenient for me to not be all of who I am, to be a victim and easy to transfer blame on others… By choosing so, I keep myself trapped and others too… That is an arrogance. If I am amazing, but choose to ignore it… that’s an arrogance. When I live a lie… that’s an arrogance… When I have already been given EVERYTHING to show me my divineness and still live small… that’s a whopping arrogance!
Rachel, I can really feel the calculation in holding ourselves down in the ‘less’ role – and the clever intent to then be able to point the finger outwards in victim… what a charade and manipulative game of shunning who we naturally are.
Amazing, thank you Priscila. Yes it is also arrogant to hold ourselves as less than another and measure how much of ourselves we will share. It is still a judgement on the person and the situation that is not ultimately needed if we are to relate to everyone as an equal. Your blog portrays this beautifully.
Thank you Priscila for sharing your feelings and thoughts on ‘arrogance’. I found your expression very interesting and quite an ‘eye-opener’ for me to bring me to a deeper understanding and awareness of the other side of arrogance – a side that I had not really considered before. What stood out for me was your sentence “I am learning is that anything that makes us feel somehow better or worse, more or less, different than another comes with a fuel of arrogance”. This is basically something that I have become aware of when somewhere a thought/judgment comes in that the other person is not quite up to understanding//comprehending something that we think that we so ably and eloquently can understand or comprehend – not giving the other person the credit nor the grace to be equal. I can feel why this awareness has been a little disturbing, and now I can feel that that also comes under the umbrella of arrogance – ouch!
Great sharing Roberta and indeed, a big ouch. I have had these thoughts as well, oh he/she won’t understand, I won’t share that with him/her, creating a distance and an instant separation. Very arrogant indeed..
I loved reading your blog Priscilla and have much to ponder about playing it small and deeply feeling the equality in every interaction, “I am learning that anything that makes us feel somehow better or worse, more or less, different than another comes with the fuel of arrogance”.
I also am learning, thank you for the words of wisdom.
Great blog Priscilla, and one I will come back to again. This line today sums it up for me ‘anything that makes us feel somehow better or worse, more or less, different than another comes with the fuel of arrogance.’ – reading it I realised that one of my ways of being arrogant is to be less, and that I can identify with the specialness of being less rather than just being me. Ouch.
Wow I never actually considered that making myself less was arrogant, and I feel I could even ponder on this more and what it actually means. I have recognised that making myself less is basically holding someone to ransom, saying I’m not going to show all of me to you until you do this or be this way or until I feel you deserve it. So in a way I now see that is the arrogance, but you can override it by thinking you are actually making someone feel better about themselves, by you being less than them…. very very evil and destructive of true relationship.
Yes, the choice to make ourselves less is extraordinarily arrogant. It is a choice to hold back the enormous potential for healing, with ourselves and all others. Wow, I am just connecting to the amount of arrogance in this choice. And yes, holding back in this way does leave everyone feeling less because we have not offered all of ourselves so something feels like it is missing. We all feel this when it happens but we may be so used to it that we don’t register that it is happening anymore. I am going to keep an eye on this in myself and others so I may accept more deeply the beauty of bringing all of me to every interaction I have, so rather than shrink I expand and I offer the opportunity to all others to expand as well. Thank you Priscila, a very powerful and simple blog.
To understand that arrogance can also be the ‘poor little me’ or the ‘not worthy to be equal in your presence’ is to ignore and not feel the fact that we ARE all equal. Thank you.
Ah Priscila …the more or less…more or less… more or less game we like to play with others. Often measuring our self-worth against another person.
When we compare ourselves with others, and then behave accordingly, we certainly do not meet in equalness.
For example; If we feel sympathy, give unwanted advice, shy away or hold back in any way we block true connection and this comes with arrogance.
Priscila you have said ‘I am learning that anything that makes us feel somehow better or worse, more or less, different than another comes with the fuel of arrogance.’ You have nailed it.
Let’s re-fresh the tank and fill with the ‘fuel’ of equalness then….
L O V E will be our driver.
Love the blog Priscila, showing the hidden side of arrogance, how sneaky that behaviour can be. The arrogance we all think of, the I am better than you, at least has an honesty about it whilst the hidden and insidious is a truly deceptive form. Thank you for bringing light to this. Much appreciated.
Thank you Priscila for showing so clearly the full meaning of arrogance. When we accept and appreciate ourselves and everyone else as equal Sons of God there is no superiority or inferiority, just a oneness with all.
So true Priscila. This is a great blog that de-constructs the behaviour of thinking we are doing another person a favour by making ourself small. It really serves no one. It actually hurts everyone instead. It’s so much easier to accept simply being equal with everyone.
This is great Priscila, I always thought that arrogance was someone putting themselves higher than someone else, I had not considered that putting ourselves as less than another was arrogance too, what you have written here really helps me to understand arrogance.
‘And I now know that any thought that comes in my way to sabotage the feeling of EQUALNESS and ONENESS is a mass destructive weapon that comes with the deliberate intent to separate myself from my equal brother.’
“I am learning that anything that makes us feel somehow better or worse, more or less, different than another comes with the fuel of arrogance.” Feeling inferior is just the opposite end of the arrogance spectrum. I recognise this one. As you also mention in your article if I make myself less when I am feeling amazing – in order to fit in – I am being judgmental about the other person. Separation, rather than unity then becomes the order of the day. Great post, thank you Priscila.
“Arrogance is a weapon, a mass destructive-one, discharging separation among us.” What a quote, deep in truth and wisdom, when I read it I felt the damage of choosing to be arrogant and how this truly does keep us separate from others and ourselves.
Thank you Priscila for sharing that arrogance has more than one face and that holding back is another form of arrogance – one of which I am far too familiar with. It makes sense that holding ourselves as more, or less, is arrogant and only serves our own needs.
It’s true that most people don’t see holding back as a form of arrogance. We, as humanity, have come so far from a true way of being that we hardly consider our actions at all, let alone what impact they have on others. This is a great sharing. Thank you.
Wow, Priscila – you’ve exposed the dark underbelly of arrogance with absolute precision. Though I can easily recognise the times when I act superior and want to be treated “better than”…. (something I don’t get away with for long, thank-fully) it’s those times when I hold back, thinking I’ve got nothing worthwhile to contribute that is the insidious arrogance I’ve allowed myself to run with for far too long, that has caused the most damage.
Now I am dealing with the momentum of these past choices and so when I do express as an equal player, it can sometimes stir up the arrogance in others….’who are you to say that?’ Perfect karma! It’s taking practice to remember to stay with my essence and hold true, and sometimes I don’t, but when I do it’s amazing where we all end up – a whole new playing field where there is no competing for better than/less than. No more ‘you’re not good enough to get all of me’, as all of me is all of you….no separation there!
I also love your last line Priscilla and it will stay with me today: “And I now know that any thought that comes in my way to sabotage the feeling of EQUALNESS and ONENESS is a mass destructive weapon that comes with the deliberate intent to separate myself from my equal brother.” Thank you.
This is a great expression on the subject of arrogance. You bring a great clarity to this Priscila, to think of ourselves as less and be in arrogance is a challenging but very arresting standpoint. I am slowly learning the many ways in which I can show myself to be arrogant, for arrogant I know I can be.
This is a great eye-opener and reminder that arrogance isn’t always the surface behaviour we’re so used to calling arrogant. Insidious indeed as it’s so hidden – I’m inspired to look at how I am arrogant in ways I don’t realise…
Great Cheryl. Also inspired to explore theses hidden expressions of arrogance.
I have noticed recently how I arrogantly hold expectations on a relationship for example. I’m only going to get out of a relationship as much as I put in, and if I arrogantly think the other person is there to bring everything, we’re doomed from the start…
This is great Priscilla, reading it again, I see that if I hold back and share half of me, then well I’m only allowing a space for half of another, in that another may have to work harder to express all of them as I am not all of me there supporting and allowing this – wow. How we all matter and how we all impact on each other is huge. Holding back really is a damper on everyone (ouch, massive ouch), one to consider as I live, as I know I’ve been holding back a lot in how I can express. Thank you for such a beautiful clear blog.
Thank you for this great article, Priscilla, in exposing the hidden forms of arrogance. I have never considered that if I go into contraction then that is arrogance, but of course there is no difference whether I make myself more or less than another, it’s still ice cream, just another flavour.
Indeed Tim, great analogy with the ice cream.
This is an ‘ouch’ for me Priscila. I have used arrogance many times at school and in my jobs or simply with other people, but feeling deeper into it I used it as a means of survival, as a protection more than a real feeling of being superior to others. Of course, we are truely all equal and nothing can change that. Thank you Priscila for a great article.
Thank you Priscila, for exposing a most fertile area of human behaviour.
Arrogance, whether it be an excessive display of pride or the other, less overt,
sort that you have mentioned, is something that we are all guilty of from time to time.
As you rightly say, ‘We all lose with arrogance’.
Such gems here Priscila, “I am learning that anything that makes us feel somehow better or worse, more or less, different than another comes with the fuel of arrogance” Wow this is fantastic and so exposing to hear. I have often hidden behind making myself less and to see this as a form of arrogance to is to see the truth of what is really going on. Like you have said Priscila, we are all equal sons of god, every single one of us no more no less, thank you for highlighting the roles and games we can play to keep ourselves from that oneness.
Great point Samantha, exposing arrogance as ‘roles and games we play to keep ourselves from the oneness.’
Just re-reading you blog Priscilla and wow it captures so much about why I hold myself as less then others when I am feeling amazing, underlying it I am not wanting them to feel that they are not feeling as amazing as I am. But how can they be inspired to be more if I am not being myself? To even think that they deserve even a smidgen less than absolute love is deeply arrogant, even though it may be very subtle at first to see.
I can certainly relate to holding back some of myself in many situations. I had not considered the other side of arrogance before reading this blog. Thank you Priscila.
Thank you Debra. Indeed this side of arrogance is insidious and it is normally seen as ‘the good one’, but it is so far from it. It plays the ‘victim’ role arrogantly so.
Beautifully expressed Priscila.
Amazing article Priscilla i would have never thought to look at arrogance in such a way. What you have brought up here was a wake up call for me as I have used arrogance without been fully aware of the insidiousness of it, especially in the being less senario. Thanks for your insight.
Wow, thank you for this eye-opening perspective on arrogance. The obvious is plain to see but the holding back of ourselves is I would say even more poisonous as it remains hidden. If I hold back who I am I have judged that person, not accepting them as the equal they are. I feel having read this blog, inspired to look more into my interactions with others.
Well written Priscila – as you say any form of judgement over another is arrogance. There are soo many insidious incidents I can think of where personally I have been arrogant and judgmental about others. I am finding that slowly by developing my awareness and increasing my understanding of others and situations I am being less judgmental of others and myself and as such the arrogance I have carried is falling away.
Great points James. I too have been noticing that if we hold any judgement about ourselves we do the same with others.
That’s an amazing point Alison, our willingness to be open, expose and really be honest, in the way Priscila has done here, about what holds us back feels crucial.
Priscila this is such an awesome blog, you really have redefined arrogance. As someone who has also used holding back as a punishment to the world, and someone who has used arrogance inwardly but not outwardly I find your expose both beautiful and revelatory. So funny that often we perceive people who shrink and hide away as victims, yet all along we are always in full control of our choices and how much of ourselves we choose to share with people. It’s so great to bring this game we play more out into the open so we can begin to choose a different form of expression.
Wow Priscilia. An amazingly insightful and honest blog. Thank you. Your expression and exposure of the flip side of arrogance is certainly a big ouch! For me. I have indeed used this as a weapon of mass separation and know it well. The depth of your insight in the words ‘The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”’ wow Priscilia thank you for exposing this. A lot to feel into.
Thank you Anne Marie. Indeed this side of arrogance is very insidious and, in this working in progress, I have to constantly remind myself of it.
Thank you for sharing this Priscilla, I know this form of arrogance – that which comes from holding back and putting yourself less than others – very well. Just this morning (before reading this blog) I was considering how it really is all the same, the aggressor and the insecure person. Both keep us separate from our true selves and from all others, and it hurts, but what I am realising is that there is a reason why I have chosen to stay in this old comfortable and familiar way even though it feels awful. Universal Medicine has presented us with another way, that of connection and oneness, simplicity and equalness. In knowing this, it is now just a choice to keep connecting to that which is true, and to nominate when the arrogance comes in. A work in progress…
Hi Alison, awesome point you make here – how everyone making themselves less becomes a cycle of arrogance – just spreading arrogance and separation even further.
Ooops and ouch, I felt like being exposed by your blog. I just came out of a day’s work/training I gave to a group and I was wondering why I felt so small and contracted in a way. After reading your blog I realised several things. I just had not shown me in full at the start, not sharing and expressing me with the group, so the imprint was “hello, here I am half shining my light”, and so this was reflected back to me. The group was hesitant to open up and stayed reserved throughout the day.
Thanks Priscila for this wise insight. Tomorrow I have another day with this group. Brand new day, new openings to meet each other in full, hurray!
P.S. The next day turned out to be so different. I brought the full me to the group, just sitting there being me, open and connected to them as equals. Guess what happened? They opened up and I met a lovely group of men.
That’s really awesome Caroline, thank you for sharing.
This is incredible Caroline! I love how you got honest, just said oops and started over…and it was not too late, they were ready for the permission you gave to be full and open, just by being YOU.
Priscila, thank you for this. I too had a similar experience. I felt very deeply how arrogant I am in holding myself back to keep others comfortable, to not have to then deal with the reaction that sometimes comes from others when we live our glory. YUK! Not a nice feeling and it does not serve me in any way but to keep me playing it small. It is time for this way of being to go and for me to be all that I know and feel from within.
I can relate to this Sally. I am aware that I have made choices to play small in life and am now choosing to speak up when I feel I hold something important to share and not hold back because I think it will keep things more comfortable for others and for myself.
Awesome Priscila Awesome.
Awesome Priscila, there is so much here to ponder and reflect upon. There really is no excuse not to step up and claim ourselves as the equally beautiful and deserving Sons of God that we are, as to do so is to hold all our brothers back equally so.
Beautifully expressed Toni. Yes, what we do to others we do to ourselves and what we do to ourselves we do to others.
Definitely Ariana, spot on. The judgement to what is different, better, worse, more, less is insidious and arrogant and comes to divide and separate. And I liked how you put it “when in fact there is no difference and no separation other than what we fool ourselves with”.
Thank you Priscila. I’ve never considered that keeping ourselves small or making ourselves less is a way to divide and separate. I’ve always viewed it as a good thing e.g keeping oneself small so that others don’t feel jealous for example. I will keep an open eye now for any other ‘good ways’ that may be feeding that division and separation and will report back what I discover.
Priscila, this is an awesome and inspiring blog – I have another view of arrogance now and the realisation that I can relate to all you write here. Thank you for bringing further exposure allowing me to discard more of “that which is not”. My chest area already feels more open and expanded in this moment.
Wow Priscila, what an awesome exposure. Indeed this is one to watch out for.
“The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”. Ouch!”
Awesome revelation, thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Priscila, awesome blog. I can so relate to what you have expressed.
I love how you wrote… “The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgemental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”. Ouch!”
Thank-you.
Thank you Bianca.
Guilty from start to finish reading your exposing blog Priscila. I once had the arrogance of being better than everyone else, and expected to be waited on hand and foot just because I had a successful business and treated others less because I was “doing so well”.
Thank you exposing a hidden arrogance hiding so well inside me.
“The moment I shrink, hold myself back and make myself less, I’m not only giving less of myself to someone, I’m actually being judgmental about the person in front of me and arrogantly expressing: “You deserve less”, “You are less than me so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get”. Ouch!”
Much Appreciation for your sharing Priscilla.
Hi Kim, the hidden side of arrogance is so evil it masquerades itself.
Hello and thank you for this inspirational piece of reading :). This is really true – I have understood what you mean and this makes real sense in my eyes, thank you. I will now embrace a new way of positioning myself in future conversations with people :).
Priscila, thank you for this amazing sharing – it has exposed so much for me in how I too have held myself back and made myself less in situations and with people. Never feeling how arrogant this can be, as you have stated “being judgemental and actually expressing you deserve less “and “you are less than me, so I’ll calculate how much of me you can get!”. Ouch alright!! What you have shared has been such a revelation… amazingly so. Thank you.
Hi Raegan, it was a big ouch for me too when I first realised this hidden side of arrogance. And it has been equally empowering as I now know how this weapon works.
Priscila, this is so beautifully expressed. Thank you for shedding light on the ‘being less’ form of arrogance – I can feel how I express this with others and naming it lovingly like this, for what it truly is and the impact it has, is very supportive to choose differently ;). Susan
Thank you Susan.
Ah Arrogance – it is very effective at being seen as bolshie and proud of the differences it bolsters – but so amazing to feel that it works as well and as insidiously when making us feel less. Recently I had the experience of feeling exactly what was happening in society – I connected to the desperation and the sadness that this brought up in me. The words that shone through as the key behind the contraction – how could I have been so arrogant in holding myself back. Making one less or more than equal with all others serves not.
Well said Lee. I am also learning how arrogant it is to hold myself back and it serves not.
Wow Priscila, the self-awareness you present in this article is astounding. I can feel that by recognising these patterns (which are definitely weapons of mass separation) you have taken a giant step towards love and brotherhood. I have never thought about arrogance in the way of contraction, but since reading this I can feel how deep arrogance can be, and I recognise there is more to this to be aware of for myself. Thank you for bringing this up for all of us to consider.
Hi Nicole, it was a revelation for me too to recognise and acknowledge the ‘inferiority’ side of arrogance, it’s so evil as it comes in a hidden way.