Hou a man schal knowe hou mykil pride is in hym.
Testing the Heart for Pride
The author provides a practical diagnostic for identifying hidden pride through one's reactions to praise and criticism.
I've nearly forgotten this image, but now I'm turning back to it. If you want to know how much pride is in you, you can test yourself this way. Look carefully now, and don't flatter yourself: if the affection, praise, honor, or fleshly favor of worldly people or others is pleasing to your heart and turns it into vain gladness, and you feel well pleased with yourself, quietly thinking in your heart that people ought to praise your life and value your speech more than another's; also, on the contrary, if people reprove you and count you as nothing, take you for nothing but a fool or a hypocrite, or if they slander you or speak evil of you falsely, or in any other way despise you or trouble you without cause, and because of that you feel in your heart anguished heaviness against those people and a great rising in your heart with resistance to suffering any shame or insult before the world—if it is like this with you, that is a sign that there is much pride in this dark image, however holy you may seem in people's sight.12 For though these stirrings are only small or venial, they still show clearly that much pride is hidden in the ground of your heart, as a fox lurks in its den.3
Purifying Deeds from Vainglory
The author explains how pride taints good works and calls the reader to constant vigilance in guarding the heart.
These stirrings and many more spring from this image—so many that you can hardly do any good deed without it being mixed with some pride or vain delight in yourself; and so, through your pride, you defile your good deeds and make them loathsome in the sight of your Lord. I don't mean that they're lost because they're mixed with this pride, but I do say they aren't as pleasing to your Lord as they would be if they were pure and rooted in humility.4 And therefore, if you want humility and purity of heart so that you may come to the love of God, you must not only flee resting your heart in vainglory by willfully assenting to pride, and also the careless liking of it that comes from frailty, even when it's against your will; you must also flee and shun the very feeling of pride as much as you can.5 But you can't do that unless you're fully alert and ready in guarding your heart, as I'll explain later.
Read the original Latin
I have nygh forgete this ymage, but now I turne agen therto. Yif thou wolt wite hou moche pride there is in thee, thou mai assaie thisilf thus. Loke now wiseli, and flatere not thisilf, yif lovynge, praisynge or worschip or fleischli favour of wordli men or of othere be likynge to thyn herte, and turneth it into veyn gladnesse, and holde thee wel apaied of thisilf, thenkynge stilli in thin herte that men schulde preise thi liyf, and rewarde thi speche more thanne anothir; also, on the contrarie wise, yif it be so that men reprove thee and sette thee at nought, holde thee but a fool or an ypocrite, or yif thei sclaundre thee or speke yvel of thee falsli, or in ony othir wei that thei dispice thee or disese thee unskilfulli, and therfore thou felist in thyn herte anguisch hevynesse agens the persoones and a greet risynge in thyn herte with agenstondynge for to suffre ony schame or vilonye in sight of the world; yif it be thus with thee, this is a tokene that there is moche pride in this merke ymage, seeme thou nevere so hooli in the sight of men. For though thise stirynges be not but litil or venial, neverthelees thei schewe wel that ther is moche pride hid in the grounde of thyn herte, as a fox daareth in his den.
Thise stirynges and many moo springen out of this image, so moche, that it mai unnethis doo ony good deede but it schal be medeled with sum pride or sum veyn delite in thisilf, and so with thi pride thou defoulest thy good dedes and makest hem wlatsum in the sight of thi Lord. I seie not that thei aren lost for thei are medelid with this pride, but I seie that thei are not so plesaunt to thi Lord as thei schulde bee yif thei were symple and rooted in mekenesse. And therfore yif thou wolt have mekenesse and clennesse of herte for to come to the love of God, thee bihoveth not oonli flee reste of thyn herte in veynglorie bi wilful assentynge to pride, and also the rekles likynge thereinne of freelté, though it be agen thi wille; but also the feelynge of pride thou schalt flee and eschewe as moche as thu mai. But that may thu not doo but yif thou be ful quyk and redi aboughte the kepynge of thyn herte, as I schal telle thee aftir.
Notes
- 1 ↩ME merke here is taken as 'dark/blackened' (the dark image of sin in Hilton's vocabulary), not 'mark' in the sense of a brand alone.
- 2 ↩rewarde is rendered as 'value/esteem' rather than pay a reward; the sense is that others should credit your words above another's.
- 3 ↩ME daren: to lurk or lie hidden; rendered 'lurks' rather than modern 'dares'.
- 4 ↩ME 'symple' rendered as 'pure' (unmixed, single-hearted), not 'simple-minded'; paired with 'rooted in mekenesse'.
- 5 ↩Three levels of flight: (1) willful assent to pride/vainglory, (2) reckless pleasure from frailty even against the will, (3) the feeling of pride itself. 'reste of thyn herte in veynglorie' = settling the heart in vainglory.
Scala Perfectionis (The Scale of Perfection) companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent