Patristic Christianity to Aquinas

Christian writers repeatedly warn that the self can convert virtue into spectacle. This is not only hypocrisy in public; it is an interior theater in which one watches and applauds oneself.

John Climacus: Vainglory as Spiritual Counterfeit

In The Ladder of Divine Ascent, John Climacus treats vainglory and pride as advanced temptations that often follow real progress. The ascetic may begin in sincerity, but later begins to seek recognition, narrating the act to an imagined audience [1]. What looked like discipline becomes self-advertisement.

Climacus's method is psychologically acute: he notices that the ego can survive criticism by disguising itself as humility. A person may perform modesty and then secretly enjoy the reputation for being modest. In this model, spiritual life is not linear ascent; every gain can become raw material for self-exaltation.

"Like the sun which shines on all alike, vainglory beams on every occupation. What I mean is this: I fast, and turn vainglorious. I stop fasting so that I will draw no attention to myself, and I become vainglorious over my prudence. I dress well or badly, and am vainglorious in either case. I talk or I remain silent, and each time I am defeated. No matter how I shed this prickly thing, a spike remains to stand up against me. A vainglorious man is a believing idolater. Apparently honoring God, he actually is out to please not God but men." [1]

"Pride is a denial of God, an invention of the devil, contempt for men ... Pride begins where vainglory leaves off. Its midpoint comes with the humiliation of our neighbor, the shameless parading of our achievements, complacency, and unwillingness to be found out. It ends with the spurning of God's help, the exalting of one's own efforts and a devilish disposition." [1]

The placement is the point. Climacus does not put vainglory and pride at the bottom of the Ladder but near its summit (Steps 22 and 23). In his logic, pride is the spawn of vainglory: first the self seeks to be seen, then it begins to adore its own image. The most dangerous corruption appears not before discipline, but after it.

Augustine: The Battle Moves Inward

Augustine's Confessions Book X radicalizes the problem by focusing on memory, desire, and hidden intention. He asks not only, "Did I act well?" but "What was I seeking while acting?" [2] The answer is often uncertain even to the actor.

This uncertainty matters because it blocks moral self-certainty. A generous act may still contain a hunger for distinction. A pious confession may still function as identity management. Augustine's language of temptation can be read as an early account of divided agency: motives conflict, self-knowledge is partial, and the will is unstable.

"I have become a troublesome soil that requires overmuch labour... It is I myself — I, the mind — who remember... But You, O Lord my God, give ear, behold and see, and have mercy upon me, and heal me, — Thou, in whose sight I have become a puzzle to myself; and this is my infirmity... I am delighted with praise, but more with the truth itself than with praise." [2]

Aquinas: A Systematic Distinction

Aquinas separates related but distinct dynamics. Vainglory concerns disordered desire for recognition. Pride concerns disordered self-exaltation in relation to God and right order. Proper self-love remains possible when ordered to truthful goods [3].

This distinction prevents a common mistake: collapsing all concern for reputation into vice. For Aquinas, social honor can be good when it tracks real excellence and serves the common good. The vice begins when appearance outruns reality, or when honor is sought as an end.

"The desire for empty or vain glory denotes a sin ... Now glory may be called vain in three ways. First, on the part of the thing for which one seeks glory... secondly, on the part of him from whom he seeks glory... thirdly, on the part of the man himself who seeks glory, for that he does not refer the desire of his own glory to a due end, such as God's honor, or the spiritual welfare of his neighbor." [3]

Implication for the Present Project

Together, Climacus, Augustine, and Aquinas describe a recurring structure: reflexive awareness creates opportunities for self-audit, but also for self-fabrication. Religious language names this as sin and temptation. A secular reading can still preserve the insight: the self is a strategic interpreter of its own behavior.

Throughline: Pride in One's Humility

The main thread of this essay is pride in one's humility. Climacus names the sequence (vainglory breeding pride), Augustine exposes its interior opacity, and Aquinas distinguishes its forms. The problem is not that humility fails; it is that ego can hijack humility itself.