It has been said that the most difficult thing for an individual to conquer, the ego that binds a person most tightly, the quality that drives a person away the arms of the Creator, is arrogance. Not stealing, not killing, but arrogance. You know why? Because an arrogant person needs nothing and knows everything. He knows that he’s right about everything, and everybody else is subservient to him. And he doesn’t bend.
If we make a mistake but are not arrogant, at least we are able to admit we did something wrong. We can say, “You know, I’m going to try not to do that again.” Even a person in the throes of an addiction could potentially be open to the fact that there is a need for change and may say something like, “I’m going to try tomorrow not to do x, y, or z…I’m not going to take.”
An arrogant person, on the other hand, thinks he is fine where he is. He doesn’t admit to any other possibilities, any other situations. This is why arrogance is one of most difficult things for us to overcome.