Pride’s Pravda

 Pride’s Pravda

 

The difference between belief and Belief equals the difference between truth and Truth, which equals the difference between pravda and Pravda. The latter is for things called ‘faiths’, but which I call ‘Prides’, as in ‘mortal sin’ and ‘pack of apex feline predators’.

Every religious faith tends to become a Pride, and every nationalism, and every ideology. It can be hard to tell the difference between a faith and a Pride. One rule of thumb is that a faith can laugh at itself, but a Pride dare not.

Capital-B Belief in the Truth of one’s Pride makes sense, in a Stockholm-syndrome way. But it’s wise to leaven your heartfelt loyalty to your Pride’s Pravda with a bit of prudent hypocrisy, just in case the inevitable collapse happens on your watch.