"Universal" is a word that describes our total existence — the up and down of it, the back to forward and side to side of it. Nothing or no one is left out. How interesting that this word is incorporated into the ancient saying: "Pride is the universal sin."

What is pride to achieve such incredible range?

President Ezra Taft Benson's address on pride sums up its essence in one sentence: "The central feature of pride is enmity — enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen." He explained enmity as "hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition. It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us. Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God's. When we direct our pride toward God, it is the spirit of 'my will and not thine be done.'

"Our will in competition to God's will allows desires, appetites and passions to go unbridled" (1989 April general conference).

Christian writer C.S. Lewis explained the reason for this enmity: "The natural life in each of us is something self-centered, something that wants to be petted and admired, to take advantage of other lives, to exploit the whole universe" (from Mere Christianity).

Pride, then, is a driving, self-fantasy so deep within and so powerful that it can color decisions and determine the outcome of lives. Pride operates on a childish self-centeredness. It remains childish and is privately nurtured in the dark chambers of the soul at the expense of everyone and everything else, developing into those who are "proud in the imagination of their hearts" (Luke 1:51). Simply put, pride is wickedness that leads to condemnation, the opposite of humility that leads to righteousness. It proved the destruction of the Nephite civilization, was prevalent in the wickedness of Sodom, and has led to the downfall of many people through the ages. Dire warnings regarding pride apply to our generations as well.

It may be, when all is said and done, that pride is the real measure of immaturity. Is there room for immaturity and pride in a celestial society?

We cope with personal pride because we have learned to disguise it — not so well from the outside world which occasionally sees it resting nakedly upon us — but very well from ourselves because one attribute of this self-fantasy is its self-blinders. To what size can it eventually grow? To what extent can it influence choices?

Pride is the universal sin, and the word "universal" can apply within as well.

Consider the application of pride to an individual's flash points — the triggers that when touched can set off anger or frustration. Rage on the road has its inception when a person believes he or she has been wronged. Anger within families happens when one loses patience with another. In these and other instances the voices of self-justification are shouting loudly, behind which the secret-dwelling pride is whispering, "You can't do this to me. I" — that towering monolith that appears again and again — "won't stand for it." Or, "I can if I want to." The results of such pride-spawned violence are so numerous they almost need to be alphabetized, from abuse to war.

Another aspect of pride is the delusion held by those who become habitually attached — addicted, as some would say — to some substance or behavior or person. Much of addiction is based on the pride-infused self-lie that "I can handle this and I will when I am ready."

"Pride and honesty cannot co-exist," states the Church's "Guide to Addiction Recovery and Healing" handbook. "Pride is an illusion and is an essential element of all addiction. Pride distorts the truth about things as they are, as they have been, and as they will be."

In Old Testament times, faithful believers sacrificed the best of their animals. This practice ended with the coming of Jesus Christ, who instead asked for the greater sacrifice of a "broken heart and a contrite spirit" (3 Nephi 9:20).

How much the world would change if, instead of the expression, "Pride is the universal sin," it could be said, "Humility is the universal virtue."