The trouble with getting rid of unnecessary pride is that it has a tendency to be called out by those who don’t have a pride problem. Introspection rarely renders consideration of oneself as prideful or delusional. Rather, introspection often results in amplification of seeded thoughts, which if left unchecked, spiral out of control. 

Maybe this speaks to the wonder of humans needing each other to survive – after all, in the words of Donne:

“No man is an island,

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thy friend’s

Or of thine own were:

Any man’s death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; 

It tolls for thee. “